Seven years after the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, legendary game director Masahiro Sakurai is blessing us with his next work. At the request of Nintendo themselves, he’s brought us a sequel to the GameCube classic Kirby Air Ride. It is strange to see another racing game from Nintendo in the same year they published a new Mario Kart, but knowing Sakurai’s track record it might work out anyway. Let’s see if that’s the case!

Gameplay

What is Kirby Air Riders? Well, Sakurai described it as “basically like Mario Kart”, although I think that was more aimed at the general audience who has never tried the series. I would describe it more as a maturing of the kart racing genre, in which the chaos and silliness are preserved while the randomness is (somewhat) left behind. Throw in some more complex mechanics and turn up the speed about 2 or 3 times — then you’ve got a game like Kirby Air Riders. 

Technically, there aren’t any “karts” to be found, but rather two classes of vehicles known as bikes and stars. Stars hover above the ground at a moderate speed and once becoming airborne can glide for significant distances, allowing riders to take shortcuts and avoid danger. Bikes move faster on the ground and can take sharper turns, but don’t do well in the air. Both the classes contain a number of different vehicles with various advantages and disadvantages. While this does include the usual “faster, but worse turns” and “slower, but better control” options that you’ll see in any racing game, Air Riders takes some things pretty far.

If you’re like me and have played Smash Bros. with friends, you’ve had those moments where you need to discourage others from picking certain characters. Some of them are far too complex for an inexperienced player to use, and it’s all but certain that frustration will ensue if your friend refuses to switch. This isn’t much of an issue in Mario Kart, but it’s absolutely a situation you will run into with Kirby Air Riders.

Some of the vehicles in this game control completely differently from all others, like the swerve star which has great speed but is unable to turn while moving. Each turn requires you to come to a complete stop (which happens instantly with this vehicle) before realigning and boosting back to full speed instantly. There’s also the transform star, which sacrifices the ability to perform a quick spin (an attacking move that nearly all vehicles can do) in exchange for the ability to transform between a bike and a star when the move is input. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love that this game does this. It’s quite often in Mario Kart that I change up the vehicle and character I am using only to find that the new combination feels nearly indistinguishable from the previous (even if the stats actually have changed). In Kirby Air Riders, changing my vehicle requires me to tackle the same challenges in completely different ways, while the differences are obvious and felt within seconds. 

You can choose your rider too, of course, and although I’d say it’s not as big of a deal as selecting a vehicle, it still greatly impacts your experience. Many of the riders have their own special passive abilities like unique automatic attacks or movement modifications. They also come with their own special ability, activated after filling a gauge. Knowing what these abilities are and how to use them (which isn’t always obvious) is crucial to getting an edge up on the competition.

The biggest downside when it comes to gameplay is definitely the controls. Nearly all the player’s moves are bound to the B button (including brake, inhale, descent, and attack). This means that you can’t do things like obtain and use copy abilities without also slowing down (or descending if you are in the air). I can’t say that it feels terrible, but I am certain that I would have enjoyed the option to split these into separate buttons. It often just makes things feel awkward. 

Worse still is the quick spin move. This is performed by moving the left stick (the same you use to, you know, steer) side to side quickly. Just like the other moves, this cannot be rebound, meaning you will often find yourself spinning when you’re trying to make direction adjustments. And when you actually want to perform a spin, the act of slamming the stick side to side feels sluggish and awkward. It takes significantly longer than pressing a button and is less precise, which is a big problem in a game where you are moving at incredibly high speeds and have fractions of a second to make your move. 

I understand there are reasons for them doing this — it’s simpler for newer players, and not allowing these to be rebound prevents experienced players from getting too large an advantage. But it just feels worse to play. 

Modes

There’s much more to this game than racing, though. This is the area in which I say Air Riders really outshines Mario Kart. 

City Trail was a favorite among players of Kirby Air Ride, and it’s back here and better than ever. You’re given just 5 minutes to roam around a large arena and collect stat boosts, attack items, and machines before battling it out in a random event at the end. It’s the perfect thing to play with friends, as it brings back in a lot of the randomness that is rarer in the other modes. You may spend the entire session buffing your attack stat in hopes of crushing your friend in a battle to the death only to find that you’ll be competing for the furthest gliding distance and your offensive capabilities are worthless. 

That doesn’t mean that those with skill won’t have the upper hand, though. You’re still asked to make choices constantly — what items to pick, which machines to use, which stats to buff, etc. Technical expertise is also greatly rewarded as you can quickly fall behind if you fail to power up enough. It’s that balance I love in Mario kart where the best players usually win, but not always. Definitely my recommended go-to for those looking to play with people new to the game. 

The Air Ride and Top Ride modes are back as well. Without going into too much detail, Air Ride is the top pick for those looking to achieve technical expertise with this game. It’s a classic racing mode, where you ride around a course for a number of laps and obtain powerups (copy abilities) to slow others down. Instead of drifting, there is a brake and boost system where you slow down before launching off at top speed. This means the courses are designed with VERY tight turns, and it feels a lot different than the kart racers I’ve played. All the old courses are back, along with some new ones that are super fun, filled with hidden paths, and are begging to be broken with weird and wonderful strategies.

Top Ride is much more simple and much less interesting. You play from a top down view on shorter courses that are over very quickly. There are items as well as copy abilities available, but your movement options are more limited so it just feels like a worse version of Air Ride. I also found it more difficult to take advantage of the vehicles’ mechanics.

The mode new to this game is Road Trip, a short and replayable campaign where you complete various challenges as you venture through different areas towards… well, I won’t spoil it. The story is way more epic than I expected it to be, and the cutscenes you encounter during your adventure are top-quality (although quite brief). Despite the length, I think Road Trip is fantastic. It encourages you to get familiar with the different vehicles and prepares you for the other modes. You can’t unlock everything on your first go-through either, so you’ll have to beat the campaign at least twice if you want to see all the goodies it has to offer. Just be warned, if you play online before you’re done with the second playthrough, you might encounter spoilers.

Last thing I’d like to cover here is the vehicle customization. I would dare say it tops the amazing Mii fighters you could create in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I knew there’d be fun stuff to mess with here, but I was floored upon checking out the online vehicle shop. You have WAY more freedom than I expected, and people have been flooding the market with crazy cool and creative vehicles I never would have thought possible. It reminds me of modded cosmetics you see in PC games like Gary’s Mod. 

I’m sure some people will take advantage of this feature to create offensive content, but Nintendo does moderate the store, and so far they seem to be doing it well. But I’m not sure if that will be the case for years going forward.

At the end of the day, it’s the wealth of ways to play that really makes Kirby Air Riders enjoyable. It’s just like Smash Brothers — if you want to hone your skills and compete online, you can do that. If you want to have chaotic fun with your friends, you can do that. If you want to play alone and unlock a ton of cool stuff, go right ahead! 

Graphics

I don’t think that many will be surprised to hear that the graphics in this game are superb. The UI is sleek and snappy, the frame rate is (mostly) smooth, and the resolution is consistently sharp. Even more impressive is the color pallet and course design. You’ll race in some really fantastical places, where crystals grow like plants and where space comets are mechanical and sentient. The Kirby universe has always felt surreal to me, and to see so much effort and money put towards displaying it in greater detail is awesome.

Music 

The tracks in this game are pretty solid all around, but not many of them stick out to me. It’s pretty surprising considering how good Kirby music usually is, so I am a bit disappointed that there aren’t more standout tracks. Fortunately, the main menu theme is one of the greats, so I’ve had plenty of time to enjoy that. Also, if you’re a Kirby series veteran, you may notice a lot of older music remixed in this game. Some of those turned out to be favorites of mine as well!

Faith Perspective

While this game has little concerning content in the traditional sense, there is an often-overlooked issue that is becoming more and more common these days: the game is stimulating as heck. 

Now, it is fun when a game is stimulating. In fact, the two terms are often used interchangeably. But in a world where it is becoming common for people to spend several hours a day scrolling on social media and watching short videos in an effort to be entertained constantly, we are increasingly aware of the dangers overstimulation can pose. 

In some aspects, Kirby Air Riders is reminiscent of the TikTok and Instagram reels experience. Most of the modes have you completing races, challenges and battles extremely quickly while rewards are constantly showered down upon you. It’s far different than playing a game like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom or Minecraft where payoffs are less frequent and you are instead rewarded for playing thoughtfully and carefully. 

I find that after each gaming session with Air Riders, I usually need some time to stop and decompress before moving on with my day. It’s just that stimulating. I thus advise those who decide to pick this game up to carefully consider how much time they spend with it, and to try and limit the number of times they play it each day. I’m no psychological expert, but I think fewer, longer sessions are preferable to frequent shorter sessions when you’re trying to live a focused and reflective life (which we all should be striving for). 

Conclusion

Kirby Air Riders is an incredibly solid addition to the Switch 2 lineup, and will likely appease hardcore gamers more than Mario Kart World. Unfortunately, it’s a tougher sell for the more casual audience who already own the latter. But for those who are into racing or are looking for a party game to enjoy with (experienced) friends, it’s more than worth the entry fee. 

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