Nintendo’s big Switch 2 direct back in April revealed a lot of games releasing during the console’s launch window, and one of them was Kirby Air Riders, an apparent sequel to the GameCube racer from 2003. Today, Masahiro Sakurai himself walked us through the new game in great detail, showing off its characters, mechanics, modes, and ending with a release date.
Watch The Archive Of The Kirby Air Riders Direct Here
The original Kirby Air Ride’s big selling point is its simplicity – everyone plays as Kirby (save for two unlockable cameos), and there’s only one button, which you use to drift around corners. It’s only natural that the sequel, Kirby Air Riders, would expand on each of these aspects. For starters, you can play as a lot more than just Kirby. Here’s the full roster so far:
- Kirby
- Meta Knight
- Waddle Dee
- King Deedeedee
- Chef Kawasaki
- Cappy
- Magolor
- Gooey
- Waddle Doo
- Knuckle Joe
- Susie
- Starman
Each character has slight differences. While Kirby is a simple, all-around racer, Meta Knight can glide, King Deedeedee can swing his hammer, and Cappy (the little mushroom, not to be confused with Mario’s sentient hat) can use his mushroom cap to avoid taking damage. Each rider is relatively balanced, however. While Kirby was the only one who could copy abilities in the original, now everyone can gain copy abilities from enemies roaming the tracks.
There’s also a second button now; when your meter is full, press Y to activate a special move, unique to each character. They unleash an attack and/or speed boost to give you a big advantage right when the moment demands it. It’s another incentive to choose a character other than Kirby.
The two modes detailed are Air Ride, a standard race that now supports up to six players, and City Trial, where players explore an open map to collect power-ups before facing off in the end. City Trial now has a new map, too – the floating island of Skyah, a mishmash of different mini-areas to explore. Up to eight players (on different consoles) can play City Trial locally, but it supports up to 16 online.
Finally, the showcase ended with a tease of a mysterious new character with an exhaust pipe for an eye. Then, we got a release date: November 20, 2025. Kirby Air Riders will be available just three months from tomorrow, making it one of Nintendo’s big holiday games. For more Switch 2 news, check out our review of Donkey Kong Bananza.
