Mere hours after Nintendo's Kirby Air Riders direct, I was holding a Switch 2 Pro Controller and playing the game at a special preview event in New York City.
I watched back Mr. Sakurai's presentation while I rode the train into Manhattan, so I had an idea of what to expect after not playing the original title over 20 years ago. After actually playing this new game, though, I can say it's probably deeper than you may think, while also easy being accessible enough for any level of gamer to pick up and play quick matches.
A small handful of media members, including myself, were some of the first to get hands-on time with Kirby Air Riders yesterday, which Nintendo staff on-hand described as a "vehicle action game." This is not Mario Kart, although there are races in it. It's something a bit more unique than that, and it's way more fast-paced than you may be thinking.
Sakurai's Direct did a great job of describing everything involved in the upcoming title. It's simple enough on the surface, but can easily be min-maxed to great success, especially in the City Trial mode which is the bulk of the Kirby Air Riders experience.
You can learn the ropes in the racing mode, including how to drift, attack, glide, and dive. The races are quick and torrid with some fun mechanics, like drifting behind those in front of you to gather stars that give you speed and keep you in the race.
But from what I played, the real fun is had in City Trial. In this versus mode, up to 16 players drive and glide around like mad on a floating island, picking up power-ups to increase stats like their top speed, turning capabilities, weight, gliding distance, and more.
There are power-ups scattered on the map that you drive over to pick them up, but others are found in boxes you must break by wiggling the left joystick quickly (you also use the stick to steer left and right, or glide up and down, but that's it). The only other buttons involved in this game are B to boost and powerslide, and Y to use a Special ability or swap vehicles, the latter of which is supremely important in City Trial. You start with a basic vehicle but can find up to 12 other kinds on the map, and each of them plays and drives very differently from one another.
I found myself gravitating to the Warp Star in my 45 minutes or so of game time, as it offers a good balance of driving and gliding capability, and some of the other vehicles I found leaned far too heavy in one direction for my liking. Other options offer higher health, attack power, or flying capabilities, so it's all about finding which vehicle suits you and your playstyle best.
This is where I think some players will find a deeper meta game in Kirby Air Riders. Selecting the right power-ups to pick up within the mayhem, along with the right vehicle, and even the right character (all of the Kirby heroes and villains have their own individual attributes and abilities, too) has the potential to be pretty fun.
At the end of five minutes of gathering power-ups and trolling foes, a Stadium (mini-game mode) is selected and you use your accumulated buffs to help guide you to victory. I won one of my games and lost the other, but managed to somehow grab a whopping 103 power-ups in one level thanks to a special event where pillars would spawn on the map. The players in the lobby are then able to swarm the pillar and attack it, and once defeated, a massive amount of power-ups drop to the ground. Other special events that spawn in at random include quick races, spiked balls or meteors falling from the sky, and everyone shrinking down to mini size.
Stadium game modes vary, but my favorite was Dust-Up Derby, which is like a destruction derby where you use your driving, flying, attacking, and Specials to attack other players. The player with the most KOs at the end of the game wins the whole thing, and then you can queue up for another match instantly to start all over again.
The gameplay in all of Kirby Air Riders' modes is super fast-paced, and pretty overwhelming at first. It's definitely a game to stick with, learn the ropes for, and master if you're looking for the allure of quick multiplayer matches or a raucous fun time with friends, but there's an option to slow things down a bit if it gets a bit too frantic, which is likely for some.
Gamers will be able to judge for themselves when Kirby Air Riders launches on the Nintendo Switch 2 on Nov. 20 this year.
The post Kirby Air Riders hands-on: Frenetically fast, deceptively deep appeared first on Destructoid.
