Kirby Air Riders Direct Preview: Sakurai’s New Racing Game Is a Wild Ride
Today’s 45-minute Kirby Air Riders Direct gave us a colourful, chaotic, and honestly brilliant first look at the revival of Kirby Air Ride, twenty years after its GameCube debut. Presented by the game’s original creator Masahiro Sakurai, well known for Super Smash Bros, this new entry feels like a love letter to the original’s quirks, with some smart updates and welcome modern flair.
Kirby Air Riders is set to release on 20th November 2025 for Nintendo Switch 2 and you can watch the full direct here!
*Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the pod! 🫶
Related: More Nintendo Switch 2 News
Check out my Ultimate Guide to the Nintendo Switch 2
Image: Nintendo.com
What is Kirby Air Riders?
If you never played the original Kirby Air Ride, it was a 2003 GameCube title that threw Kirby onto hover machines and let you zip around bright, sprawling tracks with a single button control scheme. While it wasn’t much of a hit on release, it developed a cult following for its unique feel and especially its now iconic City Trial mode, a kind of open world power up hunt mixed with a mystery mini game finale.
Kirby Air Riders brings that core concept back, and this time, there’s more depth, more chaos, and a real sense of polish. Developed by Bandai Namco (not HAL Laboratory this time), it puts the emphasis not just on speed, but on how you ride, who you choose to ride as, and how you power up along the way.
Image: Nintendo.com
Riders, Not Drivers
This time, you choose your rider as well as your machine, hence the name Air Riders. Where the original only had two characters, here we’ve got a full roster, including series favourites Meta Knight and King Dedede, each with their own traits and abilities. Your rider affects performance, heavier characters might slow a machine down but give it more punch, while lighter ones offer nimbler control but less defence.
There’s more freedom now, too, no longer are you locked into one machine per character. Instead, you mix and match, pairing your preferred riding style with whatever machine suits you best. Some glide better, some have stronger attacks, others are faster but more fragile, and that balance becomes even more important in some really gorgeous looking race tracks.
Image: Nintendo.com
City Trial Returns – Bigger Than Ever
While the races look great, City Trial is back and it looks like it’s going to be the main event. This time, the city is set on a floating island called Skyah, with themed districts like urban centres and flower fields. You’ll spend five minutes dashing around, swapping machines, gathering power-ups and dodging (or causing) chaos. All the while, random field events can occur, like bosses appearing or meteors crashing down, often opening up secret rooms with rare upgrades.
The loop is simple but brilliant:
Choose your rider and drop into the city.
Find and upgrade your ideal machine (or steal someone else’s if they break down!)
Rush to the stadium for the finale, which might be a race, a battle royale, or a flying challenge, and you won’t know until the timer’s up.
It’s hectic, strategic, and wildly fun, especially with up to 16 riders (8 online, 8 CPU) in a match. Plus, similar to Fortnite, there’s a vote system for the final stadium challenge, but you won’t always get your pick, so you’ll need to prepare for anything.
Image: Nintendo.com
Copy Abilities and Combat
Kirby’s signature copy ability returns, and for the first time, other characters can use it too. Pick up a special item mid-race and you’ll transform, into a sword-swinging warrior, a jet-powered blaster, or something stranger. Each comes with its own moveset, strengths and weaknesses. The addition of a second “special” button (on top of the classic boost charge) means races and trials are more tactical, do you save your charge for a burst of speed, or use it to pull off a devastating special?
Some machines specialise in combat. Others are built purely for speed. There’s even a lesson mode to help you learn the subtleties of gliding, cornering, and timing your boosts, something the original never quite taught well enough.
Image: Nintendo.com
A Wild and Colourful Return
Visually, Kirby Air Riders is absolutely stunning. The game’s full of kinetic energy, bright tracks, fluid movement, and lots happening at once without ever tipping into messiness. The music is punchy and heroic, with that classic Kirby blend of whimsy and intensity.
Races are fast and full of personality, from grabbing scattered star fragments for speed boosts to smashing through the chaos with a Jet Hammer. You can tweak race settings, like lap count or tempo, and in Air Ride mode, jump into a new race online the second you cross the finish line. It feels ready-made for quick, satisfying matches – or long, chaotic City Trial marathons.
Image: Nintendo.com
Release Date
Kirby Air Riders launches 20th November, and based on this deep dive, it’s shaping up to be a really great looking game, and maybe even the definitive version of what Sakurai was trying to create all those years ago.
Whether you're in it for the nostalgia, the wild multiplayer, or the delightfully strange mix of racing and power up strategy, this could be one of the most unexpectedly exciting Nintendo releases this year.
Looking for Cozy Nintendo Switch 2 News?
Affiliate Reminder: I may earn a small commission if you purchase through any of the links in this post. Thank you for your support! 🫶
