Kirby Air Riders | REVIEW | Nintendo Switch

''RICK ROLLED...THEN RASHED''

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Developed: Hal Laboratory

Published: Nintendo

Genre: Racing

Release Date: November 20th, 2025

Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2

*Review copy provided to me by Nintendo

Kirby Air Riders is the latest racer to hit the market, following the lead of Sonic Racing Crossworlds and Mario Kart World, and it is developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. With the last iteration being on the Gamecube many many years ago, Nintendo and friends decided it was time to bring a little chaos back into our lives and revive the Kirby Air Ride series. But was this the right Gamecube game to breathe fresh new life into? or should it have stayed a thing of the past? Only one way to find out, so lets race!

''EVERYTHING THE THE LIGHT TOUCHES.. ISNT YOURS''

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GAMEPLAY:

Our boy Kirby has had quite the last few years with Kirby Star Allies, The Forgotten Land, Switch 2 upgrades with Star Cross World, etc, the little pink blob of cuteness has been on a tear and now that momentum continues towards the end of 2025 with the goal in mind to send mister poyo off for the year with a bang. But this time, it wont be with just a mere platformer, nope, instead its in the form of a resurrected racing game that originally had its debut on the Nintendo Gamecube, then called Kirby Air Ride. This title was a little frantic racer that had you racing at top speeds similar to that of F-ZERO. Which speaking of F-ZERO, when the heck are we going to get another one Nintendo? like seriously, is it THAT hard? the devs of Fast Racing series have been doing it for years, so come on Nintendo, SHOW ME YOUR MOVES. Ranting aside, it was a very different beast compared to other racing themed games on the market, and now here with its sequel, Kirby Air Riders, not much has changed in that aspect. Kirby Air Riders this go around brings a very unique take to a Nintendo themed racer, especially if you compare it to something like Sonic Racing Crossworlds, since those are your more traditional racing games with you going round and round multiple laps, only having to worry about other racers, their projectiles or track hazards, but here in Kirby Air Riders? screw that, your own enemy is YOURSELF and the speed at which this game zooms by in. If you're coming into this game expecting something similar to the recently released Mario Kart World then you are going to be highly disappointed because this game is all about disorienting you with how fast and crazy you can go, slamming into walls, grabbing power ups, bashing into other racers, etc. Ok I kind of lied, there is an enemy you need to watch out for besides just yourself, which of course is ME. In case you havent guessed yet, I'm all about reeking havoc, attack people in games and destroying anything I can, its kind of my calling. This does not change here in Kirby Air Riders since sometimes instead of racing, as I explore the hub world at my own leisure, I decide that ITS TIME TO GET DESTROYED! and just begin chasing people on purpose for the sole purpose to make them crash and steal their Rider so I can use it for myself. NO ONE IS SAFE, YOU'RE ALL MY PAWNS, MWHAHAHA. Although the game is rather chaotic and a bit daunting at times due to its speed, especially for newcomers to the series, it does retain its cute visuals and signature color pallet you've come to love and know from the Kirby franchise in general, just with a bit more mayhem than usual. Heck, I'm all about some extreme mayhem, so again, you can count me in because IM NOT the one who will be taken down today.

On paper, yes, Kirby Air Riders can be see as a racer, similar to again, racing titles in the Mario and Sonic franchise, but also mixed with a style of gameplay that's more akin to fighting games or an even MORE arcade feel than other Kart racing games on the market due to the fact here here in Kirby Air Riders, all your vehicles auto accelerate on their own and making you be in charge of just TWO buttons. Yes that's right, two buttons will be usable in this game, with these two main buttons controlling your steering, braking, drifting and using Copy abilities that you acquire to gain the advantage against your opponents, alongside characters having their own special moves on top of it. I won't lie to you, the game can be pretty unforgiving at times and requires your complete focus and concentration to gain victory because unlike other Kart racers, projectiles wont bail you out of EVERY situation and most of the time your reflexes, persona skill and self determination will determine if you fail or succeed in your races. Now now before people start complaining ''OH MY GOD ITS TOO HARD, I DONT LIKE IT'', firstly, let me just say shush it and calm down, its fine, even Bender agrees with me, tell them Bender. The reason I say calm down is because you need to focus a bit more on offense using the in game combat by sneaking up on racers to auto attack them and then collecting any Copy Abilities you can find laying around that relate to Kirby himself or his other friends that also have unique attack moves that can give you an advantage in a race. You can combat other racers by wiggling on the control stick a bit that allows you to spin quickly and deflect attacks or attack a foe directly, which gives you a boost of speed when doing so to further gain ground in your race... and if done around a group of racers, will allow you to perform combo moves which allow for even quicker speeds than before. However, try not to get OVERLY happy with smashing into people like myself, cause yes, I know it can fun to be a huge jerk to people, but keep in mind, your vehicles CAN get destroyed and they WILL explode should you take too much damage with them, which makes your next plan of action, one of your most important ones, that being, your actual vehicle selection and parts used for it. Every vehicle has their own advantages and disadvantages such as Warp Star that is your more balanced vehicle for newcomers looking to just dive into the action, but then you have vehicles aiming more towards people who love combat over anything else, vehicles that work better on land, others that do better when gliding through the air, speedsters that make turning tight corners at high speeds a bit easier, etc, it all really comes down to the way you wish to play and WHO you want to play as. For me, It's mostly my boy Rick all the way, cute little fat hamster looking guy, but there's also a ton of other racers too, like fan favorites like Meta Knight and even... wait? whats that in the sky? is it a bird? is it a plane, no... its..... Starman!. Yup that's right, naked super hero Starman is also playable, and he's pretty awesome as well.

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''A FLYING POYO!''

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Races in Kirby Air Riders for me deliver an even more exhilarating experience than I experienced in other Kart racers released this year due to its intense speeds and focus on precise movements and timing, especially when going up against higher in difficulty opponents. Granted, I'm not THAT good at the game and screw up a lot, which I won't lie, it does get me ticked off a fair bit when I'm so close to winning and then end up screwing up due to my own lack of skill here and there. But I am at least able to try again and realize my own shortcomings and get better at the game, rather than be like a lot of other gamers nowadays that prefer an ''easy'' button to have the game complete something for themselves, and if its ''too hard'' for them, they just deem it as ''this sucks'' and blaming the game itself, but even then, the next game they go to, they'll just complain there too, so there's no satisfying that crowd really. But there is more to the game than just normal racing, which duh, should be obvious, and these come in the way of City Trial and Road Trip Story mode. City Trial makes its grand return from the original Gamecube version, but being even more nuts and frantic due to its battle royale style of gameplay, and its probably the mode that you'll be spending the majority of your time in. In City Trial you are dropped into various sprawling maps with the goal of hoarding and collecting all the stat boosting items that you possibly can within the allotted time you're given, which in doing so will allow you to participate in finale events that put your skills to the test relating to speed, weight, gliding and seeing if you can out-compete people in various bonus games for the highest score. But unlike normal Grand Prix mode, you can actually ram, attack and steal other players Warp Stars and vehicles to take them for your own and if you cant find one, well.. uhh, then have fun because then you'll be walking on foot the entire time till you find a replacement or a new ride. Have you tried wobbling around as Rick the hamster with all the dangers that are going on around you? yeah... NOT that easy. During your running around, random events will pop up that let you go toe to toe with others online, all putting your vehicles and skills to the test, which some events favor ground vehicles, others favor people with gliding vehicles, so swap out and pick the right one to use if you can find one before taking on any of these events, especially ones that end up a free for all knock out style of combat, which gets absolutely insane.

Last mode here in Kirby Air Riders is the Road Trip story mode. This mode feels more roguelike, so if you aren't a fan of that genre, well, it might be a bit tedious for you, especially when the current landscape of Indie games is completely oversaturated with the concept. In story mode, obviously, you get bits and pieces here and there of cinematic cutscenes that feed you a narrative as you play, but in the mean time before that, you pick your character for this journey and taking on challenges, vehicle swaps and collector rewards as you win races or even take on battles against the enemies you face, with the hardest foes you come across giving you your biggest reward, should you happen to best them in battle or actual races.  As you push through it, you start to unveil the mysteries through great looking cutscenes that show weird and mysterious machines that have started to invade Planet Popstar and of course its up to you to play to find out just exactly how you're going to actually stop this invasion as well, even if you keep losing over and over and getting a tad bit annoyed. But while I did get a bit peeved a few times, in my mind, I needed my Wrestlemania moment and just like Cody Rhodes, I thought to myself, I HAVE TO FINISH THE STORY. I won't give too much away for it, but make sure you don't screw up too bad because there IS both a good ending a TRUE ending depending on what you do, so keep that in mind when you're grinding through your Road Trip.

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''OUT OF MY WAY, CHUMP''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Kirby Air Riders ended up a chaotic and fun time, albeit with some headaches here and there due to how unique and untraditional it is for a racing game, especially for the modern era. Obviously there are faults for it such as the overall track variety and quantity isnt on the level of Mario Kart or even Sonic Racing, which can be a bummer for people that are used to a large variety, but it does make up for a tad bit with rails, gliding sections, dash panels and zipping through rushing waterfalls at the very least, as well as some being unlockable that you may remember from the original Gamecube version, but still, it lacks in quantity overall. Slow starting can also be a detriment to people looking for a good time as it can take some time getting into the game at first trying to figure out the controls and movements and rules, which may trigger people without a lot of patience. But even with those negatives, with unlockables similar to Smash Bros which let you collect new characters, rides, tracks, hats, decals from objective smashing titles or using coins to buy more, high speed action making every movement feel like an intense ride, Road Trip mode that mixes both the high octane speed action alongside cinematic story, City Trail that allows you to dive in to an open area map to take the fight to other online players for some fun or for a place to hang out, etc etc, it's all one big amazing package. Is it gonna win a game of the year nomination? no, but it doesn't have to. If you're a Nintendo fan that was a bit disappointed at the amount of content Mario Kart World has to offer so far, well, then you won't be disappointed here because the amount of content and depth Kirby Air Riders provides completely overshadows the amount currently available in Mario Kart World and it's not even a close comparison, so make of that as you will. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW

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