Kirby Air Riders Is a Switch 2 Sequel With More Style Than Substance (Review)

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I never got to play the original Kirby Air Ride on GameCube. Even though I had a lot of GameCube games growing up, I somehow missed out on it, despite my friends always recommending it. So, when I learned a sequel, Kirby Air Riders, was coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, I was really excited to finally experience what everyone loved and see how the new version stacked up.

I finally got my hands on Kirby Air Ride, and honestly, I don’t think I missed out on much. It looks amazing, the courses are beautiful, and it’s super easy to learn – anyone can jump in and play. But after a few hours, it just started to feel a little thin and repetitive. It’s fun at first, but doesn’t really hold your attention for long.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Pros Cons
Music and overall presentation are top-notch Gameplay doesn’t have enough depth to remain engaging
Simplistic controls that anyone can pick up and play Each game mode quickly gets old
A great party game to play with friends and family Grand Prix mode is desperately needed
Plenty of collectibles and challenges to keep you busy

Kirby Air Riders Would Make You Think It’s a New Super Smash Bros. Game at a Glance

The newest game by renowned director Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby Air Riders, shares many similarities with his popular Super Smash Bros. series. When you start the game, you’ll notice the presentation is almost exactly like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, featuring a song and introductory video before a menu that looks nearly identical.

One of the best things about Kirby Air Riders is how well everything comes together. The music is especially good – you’ll likely find yourself humming the catchy tunes long after you’ve stopped playing. The game is full of charm and was a genuine pleasure to play.

Gameplay Is Simple to a Fault

Playing Kirby Air Riders is a unique experience. Unlike racing games like Mario Kart, it’s designed to be much simpler. The characters – including Kirby, King Dedede, and Meta Knight – ride vehicles that steer themselves. You control almost everything with just one button, letting you speed up, slow down, and even copy abilities by absorbing enemies.

I enjoyed the simple racing style of Kirby Air Riders, but as I played more, I realized it lacked complexity. While there are some subtle techniques to learn – gliding, for example, can be tricky but rewarding – your choice of vehicle and character feels more important than your skill while racing. Ultimately, strategy relies more on pre-race setup than in-race maneuvers.

I didn’t enjoy the main mode of Kirby Air Riders, called Air Ride, as much as the other modes. While all 18 stages are beautifully designed and feature locations from throughout the Kirby series, the races themselves can be pretty boring, particularly if one player quickly takes the lead. Unlike many kart racers, Kirby Air Riders doesn’t strongly try to keep racers close together, which can lead to less exciting and competitive races.

Top Ride is a racing mode played from a bird’s-eye view. It’s even more straightforward than Air Ride, but offers a really fun, classic arcade experience. You can customize a lot of things, which keeps the races fresh and exciting. Want a chaotic 99-lap race with 8 players, items, and obstacles? Top Ride lets you do that! This makes it super replayable and the easiest mode to pick up and play whenever you want.

City Trial Is Chaotic Fun With a Lackluster Endgame

The most fun part of Kirby Air Riders is probably City Trial, because it’s wonderfully chaotic. This mode, which returns from Kirby Air Ride, throws all players into one stage and gives them five minutes to collect power-ups to boost their vehicles. Things can quickly become hectic, and that’s exactly what makes it enjoyable.

One of the most exciting parts of Kirby Air Ride is quickly flying around the stage and bumping into other players. It’s a fast-paced game where you compete for vehicle upgrades, fight computer-controlled opponents, and try to unlock new parts of the course – it’s a lot of fun!

The main problem with City Trial is that each match always ends with a single mini-game deciding the winner. These mini-games vary – sometimes it’s a simple race, and other times players have to defeat the most opponents within a time limit to win.

Although the final mini-game technically determines the winner of City Trial, it often feels unimportant. The most exciting parts of City Trial actually happen in the first half, making the last challenge the least enjoyable. These weaker games don’t ruin the whole City Trial experience, but they do make it less fun, especially when you’re stuck with one you don’t like.

Kirby Air Riders Isn’t Bad, But It Won’t Be for Everyone

Okay, so Kirby Air Riders isn’t perfect – I definitely have some issues with it. But honestly, it’s not a bad game. It reminds me a lot of Super Smash Bros. – it’s just a really fun game to play with others! I wasn’t able to try it out much with friends during my review, but I can totally see this becoming one of the best multiplayer games on the Switch 2, especially if you’ve got people to play with regularly. It could be a blast!

Playing Kirby Air Ride alone isn’t very satisfying. The single-player mode, Road Trip, mostly reuses content from the other modes in shorter chunks. Plus, the story is so niche that only dedicated Kirby fans would probably enjoy it.

While Kirby Air Riders has plenty of things to collect and challenges to complete, I don’t think I’ll be playing it much longer. It definitely tries to do things differently from most racing games, and that makes it stand out. However, the game doesn’t have enough content to keep you engaged for very long, so you’ll likely find yourself putting it down pretty quickly.

Kirby Air Riders will be available on Nintendo Switch on November 20th. We received a copy of the game from Nintendo for review purposes.

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2025-11-19 14:11