What Was In The Kirby Air Riders Direct?

Reprising his style of announcements from the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate era, Masahiro Sakurai, director of the new Kirby racing game Kirby Air Riders – serving as a successor to the 2003 GameCube title Kirby Air Ride – detailed the title for the first time in a 45-minute-long video presentation.

In this article, we'll cover everything mentioned therein, most notably including how Kirby Air Riders will differ from Mario Kart World, another more prominent funracer which it was often unvaforably compared against in a lot of fan speculation.

Why Kirby Air RIDERS?

After quickly reminiscing about the predecessor Air Ride, Sakurai explained that the title of its sequel was derived from the fact that here, multiple playable characters that can ride different vehicles, unlike the first game, where only Kirby had that privilege. Meta Knight and King Dedede were limited to one mode of transport each.

Highlighted new Riders include multiple differently-colored versions of Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Gooey, Bandana Waddle Dee, Chef Kawasaki, Cappy, Waddle Doo, Knuckle Joe and Starman, who notably all debuted in games that Sakurai directed; newer entries in the franchise after Kirby Air Ride in 2003 were all developed without his involvement and have thus rarely been represented in his work, notably lacking playable representatives in the Super Smash Bros. games as well...However, in an attempt to disprove any allegations of directorial favoritism, the game’s roster includes some later fan-favorites as well, such as Magolor, debuting in 2011’s Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, Susie from Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016) and Gooey from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (1995), one of the few older titles he didn't direct. But these 12 playable characters simply weren't enough for us here at EarlyGame, which is why we immediately got to thinking who else we'd like to see join the roster.

Why Develop the Sequel Now?

According to Sakurai, the game was requested of him by Nintendo, back when he was still busy with the development of the DLC content for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The fact that he only now considered himself ready to take on Air Riders effectively proves he currently isn't directing the next Super Smash Bros. game; something that many fans of the series had hoped despite Sakurai repeatedly announcing to not currently be involved.

Instead, the new racing title is the result of a new collaboration with the same team at Bandai Namco which brought Nintendo's platform fighting series to life for more over a decade now.

Similarities To Mario Kart

Like in the original Kirby Air Ride, players accelerate automatically (a functionality present in Mario Kart since 2017's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe), leaving them to only have to press on button to break and charge their boost, working similarly to drifting in newer Mario Kart games.Like Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders offers small missions called “Lessons” to teach players how to master its controls and techniques. These techniques also include rail grinding, one of the main features highlighted in the Switch 2 launch title's marketing.

The director went as far as openly rejecting comparisons of his Kirby racing game with the Mario equivalent, claiming that the main appeal of Kirby Air Ride was never in the head-to-head racing through linear courses, but instead in certain other mode.

What he was referring to is a mode where you explore a huge open world, though that one was admittedly present in the original Kirby Air Ride and works vastly different than in Mario's racing adventure, which is why we'll get into more detail in...

Differences From Mario Kart

The main attraction is clearly the return of the City Trial game mode from Kirby Air Ride, where players have a certain amount of time to fight for stat upgrades, find better vehicles and explore the overworld (now a completely new setting called Skyah), before being confronted with a random challenge in the Stadium (though you now have the option to at least make a selection of challenges beforehand), where they have to best their opponents. There are also new events that can randomly impact exploration in this phase of the mode. Even better: City Trial has been upgraded to allow for 16 concurrent players rather than just the four of the GameCube entry!

Similarly to how Final Smashes worked in the Smash Bros. games, within the cast of Kirby Air Riders, each Rider has their own Special Move, some of which actually mirror the ones from the popular fighting game series. In addition, for the first time in series history, characters other than Kirby and his Animal Friends can use copy abilities, including both returning favorites and completely new ones. These can be obtained in typical fashion by absorbing enemies roaming the tracks, just like in the first title. The Air Ride Machines themselves are way more distinct than the karts in Mario Kart as well, controlling vastly different and having unique applications, with many returning from Kirby Air Ride.

Depending on the game mode, the machines can seemingly be “overclocked” when having taken too much damage, becoming slightly faster. You’ll need to be careful though, seeing as they may just break when having to endured too much, forcing the respective racer into retirement.

While Mario Kart World expanded the amount of characters participating in each race to 24, Kirby Air Riders aims to stay more focused, including only 6 each. Sakurai even makes a slight jab at the seminal funracing giant by remarking how too many racers can make the game feel messy and unsatisfying.

The online seems to be better-designed than in Mario's newest showing as well, with players who have completed the race not having to wait for the others to reach the finish line before entering the next match. Players also have way more options in voting for certain rulesets instead of being confronted with one that may or may not be subject to Nintendo worsening it through patches.

Conclusion

The presentation ended with the same new lyrical main theme with which it began, with Sakurai explaining that the song along with some other tracks from the game will be made available on the Nintendo Music app at the same day as the presentation.

The very final shot teased a mysterious new villain, bearing some resemblance to Dark Matter from Kirby’s Dream Land 2.

The game is set to release on November 11th, 2025 exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2.