Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct Recap: Everything Announced

Starting things off, in case you have been wondering why Masahiro Sakurai is making Kirby Air Riders while Super Mario Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC is in development, it's because Nintendo made him. Many have wondered about why he'd make such a move, but it's been revealed that Nintendo and HAL Laboratory, in unison, asked him to make the game twenty years on from the original Kirby Air Ride that came out on the GameCube.

Surprisingly enough, the developers for the game are not even HAL Laboratory; they are Bandai Namco. After months of no major news coming out about the much-hyped Kirby Air Riders, today's Direct gave us a slew of information that, for fans of Kirby, should be a goldmine. We got a look at Masahiro Sakurai himself breaking down gameplay and features that are being introduced to Kirby Air Riders, and a release date of November 20, 2025, was also announced.

There are game modes that are returning alongside characters and Air Ride machines that are also making a comeback. With that said, we'll take a deep dive into today's Kirby Air Riders Direct to keep you up to date on everything that has been announced. 

Also, special mention for fans of Metroid, as news for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was expected, but Nintendo left that in the dust, hence making Metroid fans disillusioned. So before starting to discuss the Direct, we'll take a moment to empathize with fans of the franchise. 

New Riders

In the original game, Kirby Air Ride, we were only given the option to select a few different variations of Kirby, but Kirby Air Riders is going to turn a new leaf for the franchise by introducing Riders apart from Kirby, too.

In a star-studded roster announced by Nintendo, we'll get to pick between Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Chef Kawasaki, and Bandana Waddle Dee, all beloved characters in the Kirby-verse, who are now playable Riders. 

Each Rider has special skill sets, and that adds to the importance of selecting the best possible Rider that matches your skill set. The Riders' unique abilities impact not only your performance but also their machine's performance, which also includes weight, durability, and Specials, amongst others. 

Boost Charge

Kirby Air Ride gave you only one button to press, but Kirby Air Riders will have an additional button: the B button, which will make your machine hit the ground, allowing you to Boost Charge.

A Boost Dash is activated; on the other hand, if you release the button. In the words of Sakurai, this is more than just an acceleration gimmick and allows you to gain advantages by drifting if you tilt the left stick and hold the button when going through sharp turns.

How to Ride

Each Air Ride machine will contain different abilities. They move on their own while hovering over the ground and don't require you to press any buttons.

You will use the left stick to shift directions from left to right.

Air Ride Machines

Air Ride machines change the way the game works; they have more to them than just raw speed. Each machine has different damage ratios.

If you jump from a ramp, your machine can be controlled by moving the left stick up or down. Most machines hover in the air, as previously mentioned. 

A perfect landing will land you a speed boost. Drifts, too, can be done using your machines, amongst other mechanics that you will discover for yourself come November. 

Specials

Want to leave your competition behind? How do you do that? Specials!

The Y button will be for Specials. Every character has a "special" move, which activates when you press the Y button. You can attack enemies to max your Special Gauge, and when it is maxed, you can finally activate the Special. 

Characters other than Kirby are limited to one Special, whereas Kirby has four, one for each Kirby color that is playable. You can even combine these Specials for even more of an upper hand.

City Trial Mode

Skyah is where you'll be headed for the City Trial Mode that is playable online. A maximum of 16 players can join in on the ultimate racing bonanza at once. As for Skyah, the city itself is situated on a floating island.

You can drive to your heart's content and collect boosts while attacking rivals to steal their Air Ride machines or even pick up power-ups, which you can get them to drop via attacks. You will upgrade your vehicle by attacking opponents, stealing power-ups, and more to rise to the top.

You can also participate in random Field Events. Get to the location and be a part of the racing mayhem. There will be challenges like Short Race that will reward you with power-ups depending on your finish. Another mode called Dustup Derby lets you attack enemies and steal their power-ups—as many as you can. 

You may also come across bosses like Kracko and Dyna Blade when participating in these events. According to Nintendo, this is just Phase One for City Trial, so needless to say, we can't even begin to imagine what comes ahead in Phase Two. 

Air Ride Mode

In this game mode, as many as six Riders compete to get to the finish line. You can earn stars that you can use by attacking and hitting enemies. 

You will earn Speed Boosts by attacking opponents. There is also a Star Slide you can follow, which will let you get stars and speed up as you follow your competitors. These speed boosts will allow you to get to the finish line first. 

Copy Abilities 

Sakurai revealed Kirby won't be the only character that can copy abilities anymore, as during development, they realized that it wouldn't be fair to the other characters, so you can use the Copy Ability feature for the other characters we know and love as well. 

You can copy abilities and also change appearances, which levels the playing field for Kirby Air Riders. This feature allows you to increase speed or lets you attack your opponents in more ways than one. 

Stadiums

Upgrade your machine. Go to a Stadium. Fight to the death (not literally). Win! Sounds simple enough.

Each Stadium will have different challenges awaiting you, which you get to select depending on what power-ups you get hold of. You will get Stadiums recommended to you based on the capabilities of your machine. 

A co-op element to Kirby Air Riders is that you can battle friends using local wireless, which allows up to eight players or up to 16 if playing online. Play with friends and win to get the ultimate bragging rights. 

Lessons

It will take some time to get the hang of Kirby Air Riders, given the multitude of game modes and Riders, but it should not be too difficult to pick the basics up, as, in the words of Sakurai, Kirby Air Riders "basically is like Super Mario Kart," which we are all familiar with. 

Nonetheless, the Lessons Mode will ease you into the game's complexities as you navigate the basics and learn by practicing.

Main Theme 

Despite everything there was to discuss in the 45-minute-long stream, Sakurai did not forget to show some love to the game's music. A snippet of the main theme was revealed, which they call "Starlit Journey."

Apart from this, if you are someone with a Nintendo Switch Online membership, then you can get seven of the new tracks from the Kirby Air Riders soundtrack, which is set to come to the Nintendo Music app tonight.

That was all from the Kirby Air Riders Direct. Despite annoyance from certain branches of the Nintendo community, this is a big win for all of us, and Kirby Air Riders left no stone unturned to incite excitement among fans of the franchise, but also for the Nintendo community as a whole.