Although Mario Kart is currently Nintendo’s iconic racing game, it is not the only one. It hasn’t even always been the most popular and relevant. There was a time when the company’s premium racing game was F-Zero and, the one that received favored treatment, was this one. But those are no longer our times and unfortunately, we have to settle for things like F-Zero 99. Fortunately, creators like Masahiro Sakurai can do what they want within Nintendo, including a kart game that is not Mario Kart, and thus Kirby Air Ride was born.
Kirby Air Ride is a racing game released in 2003 for the Nintendo Game Cube. Although it was a critical failure and never achieved the sales of other titles from the company, perhaps because it was released almost at the same time as two of the most notable driving games in Nintendo’s history —F-Zero GX and Mario Kart: Double Dash, for many, the two best games in their respective franchises—, it managed to sell over a million copies worldwide. Creating a cult following for the game.
This has allowed for the announcement of a sequel: Kirby Air Riders, in anticipation of Nintendo Switch 2. To tell us everything, they have made a 45-minute Direct to clarify all the relevant details about the game. And we have come to explain it to you in detail.
What’s new
One of the peculiarities of the original game is that it had a single pilot: Kirby. Although it had different colors, what made the difference were the different ships, which defined different ways to play. Sometimes, in an absolutely radical way. These were not just differences in maneuverability or acceleration, but some could be controlled in completely different ways. But in this sequel, they have decided to add a new feature: pilots.
Now, in addition to Kirby, we can choose other iconic characters from the franchise such as King DeDeDe, Bandana Waddle Dee, or Meta Knight, among many others. Each with their own specials that will give them unique characteristics when playing.
Because another addition to the game is that it is now controlled not only with the joystick and one button, but with the joystick and two buttons. We need a second button to activate the special button, which is associated with the character we have chosen. It can involve charging with great acceleration, making particularly intense attacks, or throwing super spicy curry plates to incapacitate the other racers around.
What’s old about it
As in the original game, we will not have a button to accelerate or need to press forward to advance. Our pilot will move forward without us having to tell them to do so. The available button that is not for executing our special is the brake, which will allow us to drift and charge our ship’s acceleration, forcing us to know when to use it not only to avoid losing speed but also to gain acceleration at critical moments. As any veteran player of Kirby Air Ride will know.
In addition, it has been confirmed that the Air Ride modes and urban trials will return. The former are races of up to six people in lavish settings where mastering the characteristics of our pilots and ships will be essential. The latter are a kind of arenas for up to 16 people where we will have to face other pilots while collecting bonuses for our pilot to reach a final arena, where the winner will be the one who achieves the best result in the final trial.
When is it released and what is its price
With a release date set for November 20 and a price of 70 euros, both in physical and digital formats, it is significantly cheaper than Super Mario Kart World. Although with 25 gigabytes confirmed, it is also quite a bit heavier than that one.
What is all that extra space used for? We don’t know, because as Sakurai explained in the presentation, many things have been left unsaid. Extra modes present in the original game have not been shown, the character selection UI seems suspiciously empty, and there is still more than enough time to share even more details about the game. But what is clear is that anyone looking for a kart game that is less of a party game and more of a technical racing game that favors learning and technique above all else, Kirby Air Riders is the title you shouldn’t miss this year.
