The Return of a Masterpiece

Nintendo has been doing long-time fans a real solid recently. In a Nintendo Direct for the Switch 2, the company’s upcoming console to be released in June, there was a reveal for a new Kirby game. The game, Kirby Air Riders, is a sequel to the game Kirby Air Ride that was released on July 11, 2003. Like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this is a gem of a game that has been awaited by fans to see its return. Like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it has been over 20 years of longing. This game means little-to-nothing to people who haven’t played Kirby Air Ride. To people like me who have played it, this game is massive. For the ones who don’t know, I’ll explain why.

So, Kirby motherf***ing Air Ride. It just looks like a racing game for Kirby. The Mario franchise has Mario Kart, the Sonic franchise has Team Sonic Racing, the Donkey Kong franchise has Diddy Kong Racing, and heck, there’s even a Shrek racing game called Shrek Smash n’ Crash Racing. What makes Kirby Air Ride special? Well, there’s this little game mode called City Trial that had the unique concept of merging racing both with a quasi-open world and RPG elements. In sum, you get the fun of racing, the fun of exploration, and the fun of improving/progressing your character all wrapped in one. You’d think the convergence of so many genres would result in a sloppy mess, but it somehow worked. And not only did it work, it worked amazingly. I’ll break it down some more.

In City Trial mode, you play as a certain colored Kirby and are dropped off somewhere in a map that consists of a city. You start off on a machine called the Compact Star that you proceed to ride around on in a limited amount of time up to ~7 minutes. During that time you can explore the area picking up a variety of items from different-colored boxes, landmarks, or events. While the map doesn’t change, the items and events that spawn and occur are random which makes every round unique. Further, the Compact Star is only the default vehicle you start with—other machines like the Swerve Star, Rocket Star, or Winged Star can also randomly spawn around the map and each has a unique way of maneuvering (e.g., limited turning ability, swift acceleration, and prolonged flight respectively). Items that increase or decrease stats can further create unique builds for each round of City Trial. Other players or NPCs (non-player characters) are also at play, making certain machines and items that much more coveted due to the competition of potentially losing out on something good should someone get them first. At the end of the time limit, a random Mario Party-esque game follows that you and your fellow players/NPCs must compete in with your machine and its stats you’ve acquired. These games range from straightforward races to player-versus-player melees in unique areas, and being able to predict what machine and stats you want to dominate these games is up to you to strategize. In essence, City Trial provides near-endless replayability with no round being the same as another.

Not only is City Trial mode replayable as heck, it provides something both for competitive play as well as unserious play. You can be a sweaty hardcore tryhard and collect the best machine and stats and min-max, or you can be chill and just roam around the city and let the randomness happen around you. It’s also got something for completionists or single-players, in the way of its checklist. While machines and stats don’t carry over between rounds, in each round you have the opportunity to complete an achievement, trial, or something of that nature to fill out a box in the checklist—this could be destroying all of the trees in the forest area of the city or eating 3 hot dog items in a single round. Some boxes in the checklist may not earn anything, though many provide some sort of reward like a new color Kirby or a music track. It’s pretty great that Kirby Air Ride has something for everyone, from competition to family and friend activity and to single-player activity. In addition, it’s not at all time-consuming, as rounds altogether amount to roughly 10 minutes each. For more on how this game has a special place in my heart, check out my blog post on player-generated content.

I can go on and on about City Trial mode—I haven’t even mentioned the legendary machines—but there’s only so much I can convey about how this simple game was a masterpiece. What truly made it special can really only be known by experiencing it firsthand. If you picked Kirby Air Ride up and got together some friends or family to play it with on a couch, count yourself lucky, because you know. As for Kirby Air Riders, I’m ecstatic to perhaps regain that experience once again.