The two decade wait is over. Kirby Air Riders dropped last weekend. My wife got it for me for my birthday. I am enjoying it so far. Though I am hoping my wife and I can sneak in some multiplayer rounds soon. This post, however, is not about Air Riders. It is about the original, airing on the Gamecube way back in 2003, this n64 fever dream project found life on the lunch box and, in my opinion, was so ahead of its time for the genre. My brother and I used to do, not exactly tutorials or LPs but videos of us playing this game back in like 2008 or something, long before that style of video was popular. So of course, I have an innate bias towards Kirby saddling the warp star and going to battle in various modes. Let’s take a look at Kirby Air Ride two decades later.

I am not a huge fan racing games. I am not playing the genre too often outside of Mario Kart and Kirby Air Ride. On one hand, maybe that makes me unqualified to talk about subjects like this. On the other hand, maybe I am uniquely qualified to talk about off beat racers. I think it’s easy to forget all the racing modes given how prevalent City Trial is. I don’t know about you guys, but it was the main thing I was playing back in the day. That’s kinda what I wanted to mention first. I love racers with alternative modes. Mario Kart has had the Balloon battle feature in their games for decades now, so I’m not acting like Kirby Air Ride invented that. I’m sure there’s more racing games than just that too. Twisted Metal and a bunch of other car combat games exist too.

But City Trial was just different. My brother and I played this mode to death. We probably knew all the secrets, all the events, the bonus special rides, how to get to anywhere on the map. Really, even though it was more sandbox than say an open world game like Grand Theft Auto, the city felt like a character itself. It had distinct areas like the underground, the shorelines, the forest, the volcano, the interior city zone. It’s crazy how many unique regions they fit into a relatively small map. That’s the thing, the map was kinda small, but it was fleshed out. It was really alive. I will say, I love how theyve added Kirby enemies in the city. I think it would have been cool to have random waddle dees in the underground going to work or getting lunch or something, but that’s beside the point.

And then there’s the matter of events, power ups, and stadiums. There were so many different stadiums like target practice, Destruction Derby, and fighting King Dedede for example. Each required you to have different power ups or air rides to fare better than your rivals. And the new game has added even more stadiums. Events kept things fresh playing over the same map time and time again. The events kept you on your toes and offered a wide arrange of randomness to each playthrough. Some were detrimental like getting a fog over the city or the rails catching fire. Some made things challenging like fake items or bouncy items. Some were scary like Dyna Blade attacking or meteors showering down. It doesn’t sound like much but it was plenty back in the day. Really, with all the random power ups, the multitude of unique riders, skin and character unlockables, different events and stadiums, we never got bored.

Speaking of boards, this game featured the check list. This thing was legendary back in the day. Considering this came out on the Gamecube and achievements didn’t appear on Xbox for a few more years, this really did feel ahead of its time. Again, not saying it was the first game with unlockables, alternative skins, and other forms of achievements, this was just the first time it had been presented to me in such a fun way. Just looking at Super Smash Bros Melee, another Sakurai game, it had plenty of unlockables and was plenty of fun to play. It came out two years before Air Ride. I feel like Sakurai took all the things great about unlocking stuff in Melee and just made the presentation really nice. I know that may sound superficial or maybe even like a weird compliment, but I just thought it was so fun to replay old levels or city trials and try out new combinations of things or different playstyles and get rewarded for it. You were already going to test out getting more charge power ups than glide power ups this round or you were going to test out the Wing Air Ride over the Jet Star. Or you were going to explore every inch of the volcano or the forest and you unlocked achievements for getting creative or playing differently than you already did. Again, I’m not saying Sakurai invented any of these concepts, but it certainly felt like he was perfecting them. This really made Kirby Air Ride feel rogue like in a time just before the rogue like resurgence of the 2010s, despite sharing next to no other elements of the genre.

I know I’ve spent most of this video talking about City Trial because to me it was the most fun and what made it stand out against the other kart racers, racing simulators and car combat games. Air Ride was a lot of fun and I’m glad it was in the game. I mean, heck it’s the namesake of the game but I think that’s only because Kirby City Trial doesn’t have the same ring as Kirby Air Ride. Still, it’s a great mode with awesome tracks and gorgeous and creative visuals. The power ups come from Kirby’s copy ability allowing him to suck up enemies and gain their powers. Admittedly, if memory serves, I didn’t play a lot of Air Ride because I liked getting the races as stadiums in City Trial. My memory is a little fuzzy but if I remember right you would play through City Trial and get your rider and all your power ups and then race through a single lap. I could be misremembering that, but that’s how I recall it.

I’ll be honest, we played Top Ride back in the day, but very sparingly. I’m not sure if we liked it compared to City Trial. It was just different, even from traditional racing. Oddly enough, I avoided this mode as a kid. The more I’ve played over the years, the more I’ve gone back to it. I wouldn’t say I have fully embraced it yet. It’s still hard to get excited for it when I have the two other modes, but I think it’s a mode I’ll continue to explore on the Gamecube and Switch 2 versions as time goes on.

Working on this post highlighted to me just how much more I played City Trial than the other modes. Most of my memories come from the City Trial mode. Again, I still respect and appreciate the other modes because even though I’ve been playing these games for almost two decades, there is still a lot to explore. The next time I fire up the original, I may go explore Top Ride and see what all I’ve missed out on. Its also great to have the race modes for my solo gamers. City Trial is still fun even when playing solo, but its better with friends. You can attack each other, compete for power ups, or even do random challenges like see who can glide the highest or furthest. 

Hopefully all that yapping made sense. Its not so much that Sakurai and company were reinventing any wheels. It was all in its presentation. It was a joy to play, explore and experiment. 3 game modes, plenty of tracks, achievements, unlockable skins and characters. There was so much content and so many things to do. I often say the 6th generation of gaming was gaming perfection. Perfection is obviously a strong word because every generation has its strengths and weaknesses, but there’s just something about the games of this era. I think Kirby Air Ride was one of those games that captured the magic of this era.

So let me know how you guys are liking the new Kirby Air Riders and tell me your fondest memories of the original Kirby Air Ride. Thank you guys for reading this. I know I was kinda blabbering, but I’m really nostalgic for this game.