Kirby Air Riders

It's very likely to become a timeless classic—perhaps misunderstood by many, but highly praised by the patient and the crazy ones. Sakurai has crafted a work that reflects his own tastes and everything he loves about the medium.

I was one of the biggest Kirby Air Ride fans back in the day, so the fact that we're getting a sequel to the divisive cult classic is a dream come true. Kirby Air Riders is everything I could have ever wanted and more. It's a project filled with love, passion, and a celebration of all things Kirby. From the robust character roster, surprising depth of customization options, and an impressive amount of content to see, do, and unlock, Kirby Air Riders is easily my favorite racing game of the year. It's a triumph from start to finish, and I can't wait to spend countless hours in City Trial and beyond.

Kirby Air Riders lands on Nintendo Switch 2 as the comeback nobody expected, but once it’s in your hands, it feels almost inevitable. Sakurai brings back the experimental essence of Kirby Air Ride and boosts it with the ambition of a modern console: more modes, more characters, more vehicles, and a flood of ideas that keep the formula alive without betraying its spirit.

Kirby Air Riders shines with creative and accessible gameplay that evolves from simple to deep, once again showcasing Sakurai’s brilliance. Its one-button mechanics, varied modes, addictive progression, and extensive unlockable content make it a fun, solid, and surprisingly complete experience. A unique title that stands out for its style, pacing, and personality.

Kirby Air Riders pleasantly surprises with its excellent controls and the developers' creative approach to track design. It's impossible to get bored here, and thanks to the many great game modes, everyone should find something for themselves.

Kirby Air Riders realizes the full potential of its predecessor, delivering a chaotic, colourful and vibrant experience that is not only overflowing with enough content to keep you hooked for dozens of hours, but is unique and enjoyable enough to make sure that you don’t question whether the time you’re clocking in is time well spent.

Kirby’s latest airborne adventure succeeds at standing out simply by embracing its own weird, charming identity.

When it comes down what truly matters, I can be a dingus mushroom and wear an eggshell for a hat. That alone makes Kirby Air Riders one of the best spin-off games a platformer’s ever had.

Kirby Air Riders is a fantastic follow-up to a GameCube classic. The racing is deceptively complex with a high skill ceiling.

Kirby Air Riders shakes up the kart racing genre in a massively refreshing way, and has a ridiculous amount of content to explore.

In creating a game that won’t appeal to everyone, Sakurai has created an experience that never fails to be entertaining if you choose to challenge yourself with something beyond your comfort zone. Personally, I loved Kirby Air Riders and immensely respect the courage it took to make a game like this. While I’ll always wish that there was more content, as a completed game, Air Riders stands as a contender for my favorite Nintendo game released this year and my favorite of the major racing games that have launched recently.

Kirby Air Riders delivers a bold and surprisingly polished comeback, packed with variety and smart improvements. Its chaotic City Trial mode and wide roster of Riders and Machines keep every run fresh. Not perfect, but absolutely worth the ride for arcade racing fans.

Plenty of modes, plenty of unlocks, this is a full and fun package of wild racing.

With its boost‑and‑drift mechanics and chaotic action, the concept may take some time to fully click. Once it does, Kirby Air Riders becomes an exhilarating, stylish racer with plenty of depth. Road Trip brings real longevity, the returning modes are better than ever, and the wealth of unlockables keeps the momentum high. It’s a colourful, technically impressive showcase and a passionate revival of a cult favourite. Kirby Air Riders is a Nintendo Switch 2 essential, built with passion and unbound fun at its core.

You can have a great time if you stop there and just enjoy the game at its most fundamental, but if you take your time, get into the details, and get to know the different drivers and vehicles, you will find a game with enormous depth. It lies in the small details, and there are many of them here.

An excellent return for Kirby, delivering an utterly enjoyable adventure packed with a wealth of modes and a fantastic multiplayer experience. On top of that, it offers impressive visuals and easy-to-grasp gameplay without sacrificing challenge. Fans of the series will be more than thrilled with Air Riders.

Kirby Air Riders is so full of variety, hearty challenges, and pure joy that I highly recommend it to anyone who relishes unconventional gaming experiences. Plus, its online component is so well implemented that it may just be my new go-to game for multiplayer fun.

As oddball as the puzzling puffball on the cover, Kirby Air Riders is a spectacular example of twisting preconceived expectations into something weird, wonderful and altogether incredible – inviting you to go fast and kick arse in equal parts.

Kirby Air Riders is a game that is so clear in its desire to be joyful and over-the-top, one that is unapologetically chaotic, that I can see why that might put some players off. While I love a good blend of chaos, my sessions on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate filled with matches where items are cranked up and stage hazards are kept on, there are some who opt for something a little more grounded. For those people, Kirby Air Riders may prove a little too much. Every mode is a blast to play but fills the screen with a flurry of… well… things happening all at once. The controls are simple but perhaps at times overly so, that it can be tough keeping up with what power-up you may have unleashed unknowingly or why you span when you didn’t want to. It’s a game that’s not as accessible as Mario Kart and certainly not as easy to explain, but I really enjoy it for all the above reasons. It’s just so different.

Kirby Air Riders is a fun and addictive racing game with simple yet deep controls, featuring a variety of game modes, unlockable characters and vehicles, and a charming visual style that, combined with its smooth performance, delivers excitement and adrenaline in every race.

For those feeling nostalgic for the GameCube version, I promise you'll have an amazing time; it's the same concept, but executed almost to perfection.

For me, Kirby Air Riders manages to stand head and shoulders above Mario Kart World as one of the definitive racing games on the Switch platform.

Kirby Air Riders combines tight controls, excellent gameplay and a plethora of content to make the best mascot racing game on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Kirby Air Riders may fall short in terms of track selection compared to Mario Kart World, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t the best racing game released this year, and one of the best first-party Nintendo games to launch on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Kirby Air Riders offers a chaotic, frenetic, and highly enjoyable experience where action takes precedence over racing, blending multiple modes including Air Ride, top-down races, and an inventive battle royale that rewards skill and experimentation. Despite occasional minor frustrations in the campaign and online features, its vibrant visuals, extensive customization, and relentless fast-paced gameplay make it a unique and addictive title that shines both solo and with friends.

Kirby Air Riders is a robust racing game for the Nintendo Switch 2 and the product of beloved game developer Masahiro Sakurai of Smash Bros. fame. While I do hope Nintendo has plans to add to the overall package with at least some new Air Ride and Top Ride tracks, there is still a wealth of content here for fans to enjoy. If you're a racing fan or looking for something fresh to play with friends, Kirby Air Riders should be a strong consideration for your Switch 2 library.

Kirby Air Riders is the most chaotic racing game of recent years, yet it offers more depth and scope than almost any other title in the fun racer genre.

Kirby Air Riders is a bold and addictive reinvention of the GameCube classic, full of personality and featuring City Trial mode that shines brighter than ever. It’s not the visual leap we expected on Nintendo Switch 2, but it makes up for it with solid gameplay, plenty of variety and content, and a social focus that can keep it alive for years.

Kirby Air Riders is an inflexible experience, forcing the player to learn its mechanics and engage with all its modes to get the most out of it, and it's a better game for it. Its gameplay is simple to learn but hard to master, and with such a variety of machines and modes, there are a lot of different definitions of what that mastery looks like. It's a game with a strong, unique identity that likely won't unseat your favorite racing game, but it isn't trying to. Kirby Air Riders is a star shining for no one but itself, and I can't help but respect it for that.

A mix of racing and brawling, with a touch of party game, Kirby Air Riders preserves the soul of the original GameCube game and highlights the identity of Masahiro Sakurai, whose essence is everywhere, from the inventive menus and challenges to the minutiae of gameplay. Despite being a fast-paced title, there's something comforting in the positive and unpretentious atmosphere it conveys.

Kirby Air Riders is a masterclass in game design and in how to make an anticipated sequel. It has everything that made the original game so incredible, and it adds so much content that it seems like an infinite title. You can play it by yourself or with friends in local or online multiplayer, and in any way it will make you have a blast.

Kirby Air Riders is clearly the product of a development team driven by passion. This is especially evident in the effort they put into elevating it to so much more than just a simple fun racer. Nevertheless, not every spark ignites.

Kirby AirRiders delivers vibrant, colorful racing action fun with plenty of charm. The controls take some getting used to, but the variety of modes and the presentation are impressive.

If you own a Switch 2, have additional controllers, and a group of gaming friends, get yourself Kirby Air Riders. This is an adrenaline-filled game that represents the essence of good party games. Just don’t expect too much when playing alone.

If we overlook the small discrepancies in balance (which, however, could be corrected shortly with a dedicated update program) and some content that is a little less focused compared to the high level of the rest of the production, Kirby Air Riders is a true masterclass in game design, the unmistakable fruit of the creative flair of one of the best authors that modern video games can boast.

Kirby Air Riders delivers a distinct and fast-paced spin on the racing genre that is about so much more than just reaching the finish line.

Kirby Air Riders is a surprise contender for kart racer of the year. Excelling well beyond its cult predecessor, the pink blob’s latest adventure is filled with some excellent and surprisingly deep racing where your skill, expertise and management are what put you ahead of the pack. Its courses are gorgeous and intricate, City Trial is aptly chaotic, and the brand new Road Trip mode is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure filled with strategy and risk vs reward events. With a lot to see, tick off and do, along with accessibility options to refine your experience, Kirby Air Riders is crafted to be the kart racing event of the year. Eat its dust, Mario Kart World.

Kirby Air Riders is pure adrenaline! It's the return that few expected but many longed for. A game that combines accessibility, style, a good level of customization, numerous challenges to tackle, and an infinite amount of content. The game's spirit and numerous game modes offer variety and a fun-filled experience. Technically solid, artistically top-notch, and with an explosive soundtrack, Sakurai's new project is one of Nintendo's best games of this year.

I asked earlier why anyone would buy this for Switch 2 when Mario Kart World is right there, and there’s one simple answer: Kirby Air Riders is much better. Races are always chaotic, City Trial matches are always a frenetic rush and the game is always a joy to play. It can be overstimulating at times, with most of my play sessions not going over an hour, but with nothing in the game taking longer than five minutes at most, it’s easy to jump in for a couple of races or a trial before switching to something else. Mario Kart 8 was rarely far from my Wii U, and Kirby Air Riders is set to be a perennial title for solo or multiplayer play for me. If you’re on the fence about getting a Switch 2 or are looking for a new title to pick up, this is the best the system has to offer so far.

Never before has a Kirby game made me feel so inadequate as a gamer while also making me want to become better. Enjoyable in short bursts, those who dive into its systems and challenges will find their efforts rewarded.

Kirby Air Riders isn't a traditional racer in the vein of Mario Kart, but something closer to Super Smash Bros. wearing a racing helmet. Its core Air Ride handling is solid and surprisingly deep, while the chaotic City Trial mode and the single-player Road Trip campaign each cater well to either party-focused play or solo enjoyment.

Kirby Air Riders is a uniquely bold combat racer that hides surprising depth behind its cute exterior. Its tight, demanding mechanics and massive variety of machines, modes, and unlocks create a fast, addictive experience that rewards skill and experimentation. The steep learning curve and slow matchmaking won’t suit everyone, but players who stick with it will find one of the most distinctive and satisfying racers on the Switch 2.

If you’re tired of the usual mascot kart racers and want something a bit different, Kirby Air Riders offers a fresh take - a racing game unlike anything else out there, aside from its decades-old predecessor. Its fast, chaotic races are a lot of fun, but the unusual control scheme might take some getting used to and could be a sticking point for some players.

Full of content, polished and well-made adventure game. A video game that won't make it to the top of the charts, but will remain in our memories.

Chaotic, fast, and furious are three words that perfectly describe Kirby Air Riders. What we have here is a racing game that’s anything but standard—one that breaks many of the conventions we’ve come to know and love about this long-standing genre. Fortunately, for the vast majority of the time, this game’s differences compared to its competitors in the genre manage to spark genuine interest and plenty of enjoyment. Make no mistake—this is still quite a niche title that definitely won’t appeal to everyone, but for those who choose to dive into its madness and chaos, a uniquely engaging and deeply satisfying experience awaits.

Thrilling, inventive, accessible, and supremely fun, Kirby Air Riders is a packed family game that works for everyone.

More party game than a pure racing title, Kirby Air Riders takes everything that made the original Kirby Air Ride so beloved and builds upon it with more characters, vehicles, courses, and unlockable items.

Kirby Air Riders packs a myriad experiences that feature absolute chaos and bedlam, an endless amount of collectible items and achievements, charming and delightfully colourful tracks and scenarios, many, many unlockable pilots, machines and extras, and plenty of excuses to play a little bit more. Thanks to the way the game is structured, it is nearly impossible to ever feel bored, and with a million things to find, unlock and collect while winning races and minigames, Kirby Air Riders is an unmistakable bag of surprises, whether played at home or on the go.

Whether it’s your style or not, there’s no doubt that Kirby Air Riders is both bold and innovative, making it a unique experience that already feels like a cult classic in 2025. It perfectly blends casual, welcoming gameplay for those who just want to have fun with a surprising amount of depth and challenge for players looking to master all of its mechanics and objectives.

By embracing it's stranger side, Kirby Air Riders delivers a refreshing racer that mixes in party game antics to create an encompassing and engaging collection of modes.

Kirby Air Riders is a quirky and unique racing game packed with odd but genuinely fun ideas. It offers plenty of content and several enjoyable modes, though some don’t fully reach their potential. Each race feels different, full of memorable moments, making it an ideal pick to play with friends.

Despite its design flaws and City Trial misses, Kirby Air Riders offers enough substance and charm to make it a game you’ll keep coming back to—whether for quick bursts of fun or to teach your friends something new when they come over.

Air Riders is plenty sophisticated. It’s just so fast that, until you’ve had some practice, its small nuances blow by without you even noticing. Hell, it may even be fast enough to give the last remaining F-Zero holdouts a rush.

Kirby Air Riders is surprisingly catchy racing title with different modes, vast gameplay and nice selection of tracks & riders. Several main modes are bringing lot of quality content a different way of playing. But the fun is always here, content amount is very solid and Kirby with his crew are welcome especially in the multiplayer selection.

Playing Kirby Air Riders is like learning a new language – it takes a lot of compromise, and it’s not for everyone. It’s those who master the basics who will soon find many new ways to approach each game mode, providing depth and replayability. If you meet Kirby Air Riders on its own terms, you will be rewarded with a gauntlet that’s bursting with thrills, depth, and charm.

The sequel to a cult GameCube title released in the slipstream of a karting phenom, Kirby Air Riders poses a weird proposition.You’ll take a little while to get your head around the simple two-button control set-up, the eye-watering speed and a host of rampaging rivals, but the pink puffball’s long-awaited return strikes a perfect balance between unruly arcade hijinks and strategic smarts.

While racing is at its core, Kirby Air Riders channels the chaotic energy of Smash Bros. to deliver a deceptively deep one-button gameplay experience - and tops it with absolutely oodles of things to do, see, and unlock.

You’ve got to give it to Masahiro Sakurai for taking a deceptively simple concept and turning it into something so engaging. Between the different game modes and the variety of challenges within each, there’s almost always something to figure out or experiment with. The gameplay can get hectic quickly, but that’s part of its appeal. With the new Road Trip mode adding a sense of progression, even if the story itself doesn’t quite grab you, Kirby Air Riders is a game where even a single race can leave you grinning and thinking about the next one.

Released on the tail of Mario Kart, this combat racer firmly stands its ground with a wide variety of races, battles, party-games and more. Its simple controls unlock unexpected complex strategies not seen in its moustache-man led competition.

A game that can be very unusual and chaotic at times, but is still enjoyable once you get into it.

Kirby Air Riders is absolutely not going to be a game for everyone, and it doesn’t want to be. And it won’t be a constant in your life either. But like that weird uncle and his larger-than-life stories, it’s probably an experience you’ll remember fondly now and again. And in a world where video games are obsessed with occupying your time and stringing you along for weeks, months, even years — that’s undeniably refreshing.

Kirby Air Riders is exactly what it needed to be: a refined, expanded take on the 2003 classic that channels a style of game design focused purely on player fun rather than strict genre labels. That freedom can feel like a double-edged sword, broadly appealing, yet not perfectly satisfying for any one crowd. Still, for anyone with a Nintendo Switch 2, it remains a must-try experience, one that’s dangerously easy to get hooked on.

Kirby Air Riders is a game that is simple to control but offers a good level of depth in its gameplay. With four game modes that interpret the design in very different ways, it is an explosive game that grabs your attention as quickly as the speed of the races.

I’m not sure what’s crazier: the fact that Kirby Air Riders exists, or the fact that it’s this great. It’s a blast in local or online multiplayer during its traditional races and unique battle mode, and its frankly absurd amount of fun achievements to chase, meaningful unlockables, and deep customization makes it great for solo players, too. The biggest hurdle to enjoying its dizzying amount of content is how it all controls, as its frantic pace and slippery one-button control scheme is endearingly novel, but occasionally too simple for its own good. Air Riders just can’t help itself in sticking a little too closely to its original blueprint at times, making it not as approachable to pick up and play as Mario Kart, and not as technically rewarding or competitively viable as a fighting game like Super Smash Bros. But if you’re willing to go along for the ride, you’re in for a chaotic action racing game that’s a great time with friends and offers a ton to do on your own.

When I sit down solo with my Switch 2 over the next few weeks, this is probably not a game I'm going to boot up. But when I'm dossing about with friends and looking to just kick back for some ridiculous, rip-roaring multiplayer fun, Kirby Air Riders is going to be very high on my list.

Kirby Air Riders is a very special and unique game that only Sakurai-san could achieve.

Now, this game isn't for everyone, and it's not perfect. As I mentioned before, even after exploring it thoroughly, I'm still not entirely sure what this game is. But isn't that great? It might not be as massive a "hit" as the titles I've been mentioning, but Kirby Air Riders is a unique and personal offering, an absolute creative indulgence that will make you appreciate those quirky games we see less and less of in this industry.

Kirby Air Riders is like a strawberry sorbet: sweet, refreshing, but not exactly essential. Yet, in the quieter stretch of the year, it might just catch you off guard. It’s a simple game, but one that offers a surprising amount of depth, both in its content and gameplay. And it does justice to the Nintendo Switch 2, delivering smooth performance and solid graphics that make it a worthy addition to the system.

Kirby Air Riders is an impressive package that makes the most of its deceivingly simple mechanics. Air Ride delivers a solid kart racing experience; Top Ride is a fun--albeit a bit straightforward--distraction; City Trial is chaotic in the best way possible; and Road Trip ties it all together with its creative encounters and satisfying progression. In the second Kirby Air Riders Direct, Masahiro Sakurai said he had no plans to continue the franchise or add any DLC. When I first heard this, I was a little disappointed, but now that I've spent countless hours exploring each mode, there's not really anything else I could want. This feels like that initial concept from 2003 taken as far as it could possibly go, and I couldn't be happier with the result.

Kirby Air Riders isn't just a solid, yet atypical, arcade racing game; it's also a Kirby-themed playground with a variety of modes to choose from, which are very different from one another. The game has an incredible amount of content, and in an era where releases are often incomplete, this is something to be underlined. But all that content would be pointless if the game wasn't fun, and Kirby Air Riders knows this all too well: whether it's for a quick race in Air Ride, a lap of the track in Top Ride, or a five-minute City Trial, it's impossible not to be swept away by the charm, the colorful atmosphere, and the playfulness of Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and all their friends.

Kirby Air Riders is perhaps an ideal video game in that it's easy to overlook its flaws because it's just fun enough to play over and over again. Despite the fact that, taken on their own, each section of the game largely leaves me cold or indifferent, the entire package together is shockingly solid with plenty of charm.

Kirby Air Riders is a beefy Switch 2 racer that’s constantly shifting gears, and it’s a damn good time behind the wheel.

Kirby Air Riders feels like a combination of Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. at their most chaotic. You’ll have to carefully balance battering rival riders while also out-speeding them, all while mastering seemingly simple controls – controls that actually require significant skill to master. The game is vibrant and visually stimulating, and also offers a great line-up of characters and customization tools. But it’s not quite perfect.

A kart game that challenges Mario Kart or Smash Bros. on floating vehicles? Kirby Air Riders has speed in its DNA and rewards the most skilled and patient players with tons of unlockable items. At the same time, however, the many facets of its playful soul risk being too much and confusing the “core” experience. Between dozens of mini-games, lightning-fast races, and boss battles with weapons, the game loses some of its focus but still remains a fun experience... especially in multiplayer.

Kirby Air Riders is one of the hardest games I’ve ever had to review. Not because it’s particularly challenging, but because it was clear from the moment I started playing that it’s going to be incredibly hit or miss. If you’re expecting Mario Kart World or Crash Team Racing but with Kirby, you’ll be sorely disappointed. But anyone who’s up for a racer that feels truly fresh, has a lot of hidden depth, and revs to the beat of its own incredibly loud engine is going to find something special here.

Kirby Air Riders really didn't need a combined 107 minutes of Nintendo Direct presentations to sell players on its merits, because it only takes a few races to see how fun it can be. Road Trip mode's imbalanced win conditions will divide players, but the brilliantly diverse Road Trip (which is built with multiple playthroughs in mind) and the hefty 750-mission Checklist ensure solo players have plenty to do.

Kirby Air Riders is a fascinating game that walks the line between being a chaotic, unfocused mess and one of the most enjoyable party games and single-player campaigns on the Switch 2. For better and for worse, it’s a true successor to the GameCube’s Air Ride, taking everything people loved – and hated – about that game and ramping it all up to 11.

Kirby Air Riders is a surprisingly deep and uniquely structured game, born from the obsessions of Masahiro Sakurai already seen in his previous works. Almost as if it were an auteur game, this new entry in the saga is clear proof of the finesse with which the Japanese creator operates, resulting in a remarkable title that blends the boundaries of several genres at once.

I have hopes that perhaps we, the gamers, are more open-minded than 20 years ago, and we are more eager to accept different proposals, that defy our genre expectations, that feel unique. Will that still be enough to convince my non-Nintendo-hardcore friends to try this game for game nights instead of the classic Mario Kart (or even Smash Bros.)? I doubt it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't bother trying.

Kirby Air Riders is a cracking sequel that gives solo players much more to dig into with its story campaign, whilst also bringing all-new levels of shiny graphics, bells and whistles to its returning City Trial, Air Ride, and Top Down Racing modes. This is a chaotic and frenzied racer, there's no doubt, but it's got depth for those who wish to learn and plenty of competition to be had both online and at harder difficulties for diehards…With lots of excellent tracks, riders and machines to unlock, sat alongside some surprisingly deep machine customisation, Kirby's latest air riding adventure is off to a strong start. Oh, and that soundtrack!

While its departure from traditional racing mechanics may be polarizing, the game successfully crafts an original experience by combining Kirby’s signature Copy Abilities with a Smash Bros.-esque style. For gamers seeking fresh stimulation over familiarity, this unique title is a compelling choice.

It’s a lot more Smash Bros than Mario Kart. If you plop someone down like me in front of those games, I’ll gravitate to the latter, and feel like the former is just mashing buttons – even if I know there’s depth that I’m just not getting. I feel the same way about Kirby Air Rider: anyone can pick it up and play, but if you really want to get the most out of it, you’ll need to be much more attentive, not to mention willing to play with other people. So if you have a Smash Bros. hole in your life and can’t wait for SSB Ultimate’s official successor, you should definitely give Kirby Air Riders. You may just love what you discover.

Kirby's Air Riders veers off course and never rises above the status of ‘good game’, even though it has enormous potential. Its gameplay, which is easy to play but difficult to master, is really well done, as is the track design, which lends itself to unlikely turnarounds. But despite the ton of things to unlock, you quickly get through everything it has to offer, especially since its additional modes aren't entirely convincing.

Kirby Air Riders serves up a varied platter of quirky modes and features, but Sakurai’s buffet may not satisfy long-term unless you’re up for chasing down every last crumb. That said, while a bit lightweight, Kirby Air Riders' unconventional and surprisingly intense approach to racing certainly sticks out, even in a year with a lot of karting competition, which may be enough to blow folks looking for something different off their feet.

Kirby Air Riders is an anomaly. It looks like a racing game, but has the rhythm and elements of a fighting game: its own genre. It is simple, complex, and (too) chaotic at the same time. In terms of visuals and performance, this is one of the most colorful and flashy games the Switch 2 has to offer to date. Highly recommended for those who are tired of Mario Kart.

Kirby Air Riders is a fast, fun addition to the Nintendo Switch 2's growing library, but, it might have been a better experience had it stuck some more traditional racing mechanics.

Here we are, the Switch 2 has its own racing game. The Mario Kart alternative is quite different, more substantial, but still lacks content despite a mountain of unlockables. We appreciate the user-friendliness ethos and the visual vibrancy, but it will always feel a bit thin beyond that initial layer - it's best suited to short multiplayer sessions, without the sustained appeal of a game like Smash Bros.

Kirby Air Riders is a visually stunning whirlwind of a game, filled with tons to do - if you like meticulously crafting vehicle builds and racing at breakneck speeds. It’s confusing for newcomers and difficult to look at, at times, but it’s sure to bring some people a ton of joy.

Kirby Air Riders immediately earns the merit of standing on its own, putting to rest the fears of those who thought it might try to compete with Mario Kart World. It’s not a technical triumph, but rather a creative manifesto from a designer who continues to challenge conventions within a company known for playing it safe. Not everyone will have the patience for its disorder, but those who let themselves be carried away will find a genuinely free-spirited game, more interested in provoking smiles than in ensuring stability.

Don’t think too deeply about Kirby Air Riders, and you’ll be swept away, quirks and all.

While the game is polished and slick, as well as varied and unique, it can also lose its luster quickly if you’re not absolutely hooked on its main mode, City Trial. With DLC and updates confirmed not to be forthcoming, what you see is what you get with this package.

Still, while Kirby Air Riders won’t be remembered in the countdowns of Nintendo’s greatest games, and certainly won’t have the longevity that Sakurai brought to Smash Bros., it’s a fun distraction and the kind of thing that you’ll pick up every six months or so for a quick blast and laugh. And sometimes that’s all a game needs to be.

Kirby Air Riders is a charming addition to the racing genre. Its unique outlook might not appeal to everyone, but it's still liable to find it a raft of fans, just like its GameCube predecessor.

Without dethroning Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders is a serious contender on a very specific path: that of immediate, multiplayer-focused fun, driven by ultra-accessible gameplay. With Masahiro Sakurai's distinctive style, the game offers exhilarating speed, a modernized City Trial mode that transforms each race into a mini-strategy, and a fairly clear art direction despite some excessive on-screen effects. Meanwhile, Mario Kart maintains its long-term advantage thanks to more substantial single-player content, longer races, a coherent open world, and an overall structure better suited for pure, unadulterated racing fun. Kirby Air Riders, therefore, appears less as a direct competitor and more as a clever complement: a blend of party game, arcade, and racing designed for couch co-op during evenings with friends.

A chaotic, vibrant combat racer with excellent visuals and multiplayer potential, shining strongest in Air Ride and City Trial, but stumbling slightly with uneven pacing and weaker modes. Fun, frantic, but occasionally overwhelming.

Kirby Air Riders suffers from the difficult task of outwardly conveying its true nature. Those hoping for a fun-racer in the vein of Mario Kart World might be quite disappointed. While the comparison is obvious and superficially accurate, Air Riders relies heavily on a unique gameplay experience. It rewards players who overcome the challenging initial hurdle and have the enthusiasm to delve into the mostly simple, yet complex, systems and mechanics. There's no doubt that casual gamers can enjoy the title. However, if you want to take a few relaxed spins, you'd be better off with the plumber's latest racing adventure.

Kirby Air Riders is a playful, chaotic mix of races and minigames. The game is charming and energetic, but can sometimes be a bit too much.

Kirby Air Riders is fun, colorful and full of modes, but ultimately too shallow to leave a lasting impression. The game runs smoothly at 60 fps on Switch 2, and its cheerful art style fits the Kirby series, though it never showcases the hardware’s true potential. The soundtrack and the full Portuguese localization, including narrator voices and cutscenes, are definite highlights. With traditional races, top down stages, open arena chaos and a small story mode, the variety is impressive, but none of the modes go deep enough to keep players engaged for long. The controls mix too many actions on a single button, creating confusion, and the visual clutter in the larger arenas hurts readability. Kirby Air Riders succeeds as a casual party experience and works well for quick sessions or for playing with kids, but it lacks the depth and competitive appeal needed to stand beside Nintendo’s stronger racing titles.

Kirby Air Riders delivers a unique racing concept with counterintuitive controls and innovative mechanics. The learning curve is steep, which contrasts with the character’s friendly appearance. The city challenge mode adds strategic depth but may confuse casual players. Despite being technical and fun, the game feels out of place compared to more accessible options in the genre.

With its many customization options and the simply fun nature of its gameplay, Kirby Air Riders makes a strong impression from the very first sessions. Beneath a deceptive feeling of simplicity lies a surprising amount of depth, one that takes hours and hours to fully master. Still, the experience may start to feel a bit repetitive after a while: unfortunately, the generous shots of dopamine the game delivers struggle to keep the player engaged past the ten-hour mark. There’s no doubt, however, that competitive players in search of yet another frantic, fluorescent, borderline-epileptic thrill ride will find exactly what they’re looking for.

Just like in Air Ride, the simplicity of Kirby Air Riders is deceptive. There’s more depth and challenge in this one-button racer than you’d expect. At the same time, those simple systems also hold the game back. Controlling a vehicle with a single button is a funny idea, but it feels like a limitation for the sake of limiting.

The best Nintendo games are famous for being both immediate and deep at the same time. Kirby Air Riders is too chaotic to be immediate, and too superficial to be deep. Everything else, however, is excellently executed.

While Air Riders might not be my personal cup of tea, it feels like a faithful and loving reward for all the folks who loved the original Kirby Air Ride. Without the benefit of nostalgia, though, you may find it harder to get up to speed.

Kirby Air Riders had a lot of potential as a fun racer, but it squanders much of that potential through an excessive reliance on randomness and questionable controls. Is it a totally bad game? No, it isn't. But it's not a truly great one either, and so far, it's the weakest exclusive title for the Switch 2.

What Air Riders lacks in modes, it makes up for in charm. There are a heap of customisation options, allowing you to pimp your ride with unlockable stickers and alternative colour schemes – you can even hang a plushie from your machine like a Kirby-branded Labubu...This is a tightly focused game that reminds me of Nintendo’s fun-first NES-era game design – for better and for worse. It has a sprinkling of Sakurai magic and oodles of visual panache, but at full price it is – like Kirby – a little puffed-up.

Although Kirby Air Riders will hardly be remembered as a true classic in years to come, it does offer a lot of fun, especially in good company.

Even though more than two decades have passed, it seems that nothing has changed for the mind behind the pink puffball, Masahiro Sakurai. Kirby Air Riders is, for the most part, the original game made again, with more flavor and style that only the Nintendo Switch 2 can deliver. But to me, it feels like this mix is missing a bit of substance.

Even with a ton of collectibles to unlock and challenges to take on, I can’t see myself returning to Kirby Air Riders much in the future. This is a racer that tries to buck many of the genre’s most traditional conventions, which, at the very least, makes it quite memorable. Ultimately, though, the content on hand in Air Riders wears thin in no time, which leads to it being a game that you’ll put down sooner than you might anticipate.

To put it in gastronomic terms surely familiar to Air Riders' star, we're left with the feeling of having visited an all-you-can-eat buffet. There's an array of options available, but tucking in to any one of them is unlikely to satisfy, because at the game's core is a soggy souffle that collapses almost before we can get the fork in. After two decades in the kitchen, was it too much to hope that this otherwise talented chef might have come up with something a little less...lightweight? [Issue#419, p.110]