Kirby Air Riders bursts onto the track with a kaleidoscope of colour, chaos, and charm, inviting players to soar through Dreamland’s skies in a whirlwind of speed and strategy. From the moment you take flight, the game’s blend of high-octane racing and Kirby’s signature whimsy creates an atmosphere that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly new. This in-depth exploration of Kirby Air Riders captures the thrill of its airborne battles, the joy of its multiplayer mayhem, and the irresistible pull of its pink puffball protagonist.

Kirby Air Riders Review Pros

• Fantastic graphics. 
• 22.2GB download size. 
• Own in-game achievements that are from the Milestones and challenges menu. They do pop up in-game when you earn them. 
• Amiibo support. 
• HUD settings – text size (large/normal), HUD size, HUD opacity, and outlines of characters. 
• Game settings – map, map direction, distance from rival, lap time, order, laps/distance, checklist notification, replay list, HP, unit of speed (kmh/mph), speedometer, attack hit notification, legendary parts, opponent markers, direction, stadium score, item marker, power up name, event guide, and stray machine guide. 
• Camera settings – field of view slider, camera distance slider, rider tracking, sensitivity, rotation speed, shake, and tilt on corners. 
• Visual effects options – grid, reticule, and speed effects (intense/soft/off). 
• When changing elements of the game options, it will boot up a race so you can see the settings in real time. 
• Colourblind support. 
• Split screen can be set to horizontal or vertical. 
• Controller accessibility options – boost charge (hold to charge/release), motion controls, shake controls, stick swap, change stick behaviour, rumble, racing, menu, and button mapping with a test button section. 
• Volume sliders for – narrator, announcer, voice, background, machine, sound effects, and music. You can set the languages for the narrator and announcer. 
• Full gameplay stats. 
• A music player that shows play time and skip buttons. 
• My music is where you can set the probability of each song showing up. 
• Online settings for online or nearby opponents, class display, global win power display, rival machine customisations, and my own machine customisations. 
• You can see the strength and speed of your Internet connection. 
• The license is your player card that players see. You unlock new items for it, and you can customise – icons, street names, themes, frames, and stickers. 
• Name settings and configurations for individual players. 
• You can rewatch cutscenes. 
• Personal best is where you can view your scores and times for the events. 
• Earn miles and spend them in the shop on +machines, parts, sounds, headwear, and license cards. 
• Character racing gameplay. 
• Lessons and tutorial pop-ups. There are a lot of tutorials, and they are split into categories – basics, city trial, copy abilities, machines, and advanced. 
• The menu layout is bright and colourful and reminiscent of Smash Bros. 
• Five game modes – Air ride, top ride, city trial, road trip, and events. 
• You can buy and sell your machines and their designs. 
• Four online game modes – paddock (create a room), local play, spectate, and online match. 
• Full friend’s list integration. 
• Very fast loading screens. 
• The full 3D game world and the tracks look awesome. 
• I love the presentation, it’s just so bright and happy. 
• Boost is a real game-changer, but it takes some mastery. Using it on straights, I’ll slow you down until you stop and charge boost, whereas pressing and holding it on a corner has you drifting, and then you boost out. 
• Fly off ramps, and you can control your height and direction, meaning you can fly up, amd go down fast to get back on the ground. Lining it up so you land smoothly will reward you with a speed boost. 
• You can inhale the Ai enemy and then spit them out as an attack, or inhale again and copy their ability. 
• Quick spins let you hit enemies and break boxes. etc, on the track. Breaking boxes will give power-ups, and the colour of the box tells you what is in it. 
• Hit and inhale enemies to fill your special bar and do crazy over-the-top attacks for a short time. 
• You can grind rails and jump between them amd do spins. 
• In-game, you are always going forward, and you just control aiming, inhaling, drifting, etc. 
• Speed boost on race start is a well-timed boost, press and release. 
• Anytime you earn rewards, you get a huge full-screen pop-up. 
• After buying items in the store, you can choose to equip them straight away. 
• Legendary parts can be found, and when you get all three in an event, you get a super power-up with better flying and attacks. 
• It’s possible to jump off your ride and run around, and find other ships to jump on and use. You can also jump from ship to ship, timed correctly. 
• Weaken an opponent, and then you can steal their machine! Oh, and it looks awesome. 
• Machines can be transformed instantly to star mode by spinning. The reason for this is that each type does things better, like Star Mode is better at flying, for example. 
• The whole being able to stop and aim your boost adds a layer of strategy to races and can stop you from going off the course or avoiding walls. 
• Star trails will come out the back of every racer, and going into this will speed you up and is the Kirby version of the slipstream. 
• The tracks are incredible and a huge smile-inducing experience from the transitions to the colours and general layout. 
• You can drop abilities you have, and some cause explosions. 
• Many different ability types, like you can drill underground to avoid attacks and pop up into an enemy, get bullet bill-like speed boosts, fire electricity and fireballs, and so much more. Some require pressing an attack, whilst some are auto attacks. 
• Daily air ride events. 
• Each race type, like air ride, road trips, etc, follows the same formula for racing, but they will have unique ideas and variations to things like jumping and drifting. 
• Road trip is your single-player game mode, and it has 3 difficulties: casual, normal, and hard. It’s a unique experience where you go down a road and choose your events by driving towards them. It has cutscenes and a story. You are making your way to a destination and have rest stops to heal, upgrade stats, and boss fights. 
• Save when you want in the Road Trip game mode. 
• What I like about the  Road Trip mode is how many different events and variations of events you play; it keeps it fresh, but also engaging and fun. 

Kirby Air Riders Review Cons

• It is oh so daunting booting the game up, as there are so many game modes, and even the tutorials are a massive ask. 
• The game is a lot, and the handling is good, but only after you find the right setup and get used to how the drift works.
• A lot is going on during play, so be aware of a lot of flashing and colourful explosions everywhere.
• Solo play is good, but it can also feel painfully repetitive and wear out its welcome.
• I found I lost track of the story and never really noticed until it was over.
• There are a lot of tutorials and a lot of doing this task three times; I get that they want to teach you, but it could have been condensed.

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Kirby Air Riders

Official Website: 

Developer: HAL Laboratory

Publisher: Nintendo

Store Link:

Nintendo