Kirby Air Riders

Genuinely one of the most fun games I have ever played. This game is not for everybody, but if you get into it, you’re REALLY going to get into it. At times it won’t make sense to you, at times you’ll think “What is going on?!”, but that’s all part of the experience. I’d seriously recommend this game to anyone if you’re willing to try a something completely new.

Grundsätzlich ist das Spiel gelungen und kann viel Spaß machen. Allerdings lässt die Motivation bei einem zweiten Rennspiel dieser Art relativ schnell nach. Wer gerne online spielt, trifft zudem häufig auf leere Lobbys.Offline hingegen überzeugt das Spiel durchaus: Es gibt schöne Spielmodi, und Spaß kommt definitiv auf. Der „Story“-Modus ist meiner Meinung nach allerdings eine Enttäuschung und bleibt deutlich hinter den Erwartungen zurück. Außerdem frage ich mich, warum Nintendo innerhalb eines Jahres – genauer gesagt innerhalb von etwa sechs Monaten – gleich zwei Rennspiele veröffentlicht hat.

Kirby is back! Not as a platformer, but as a racing game and a direct sequel to Kirby Air Ride. Fans have waited 22 long years for this moment. Releasing during the strong racing game era of late 2025, it faced stiff competition from Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. The big question is: does it keep up with the competition, or does it fall flat?PACKED WITH CONTENTThis game promised more than just standard racing, and it absolutely delivers almost to a fault. There’s so much content here that it can feel overwhelming. Alongside traditional races, there are three additional modes. Top Ride is a simplified, top down racing mode with small tracks designed for quick matches. City Trial is a two phase mode where players explore a large city, collecting stat boosting power-ups before competing in a randomized stadium challenge using their vehicle. Lastly, Road Trip is a story driven campaign where Kirby travels across branching paths, completing challenges, collecting new machines, and uncovering a mystery behind the strange behavior of the Air Ride vehicles. On top of all that, each mode has its own set of challenges that reward hardcore completionists with customization options and online bragging rights. There’s truly something here for everyone.SIMPLICITY ISN’T ALWAYS BETTERAir Riders features some of the simplest controls I’ve ever seen in a racing game only four buttons. On paper, that sounds incredibly accessible, but in practice, the learning curve is surprisingly steep. It took me a while to feel comfortable playing well, though the game’s excellent tutorials do a great job easing you in. At first, I thought this might just be a personal issue, but after inviting friends over for a game night, the same struggles popped up. This isn’t as pick up and play friendly as other racers, which is disappointing since I usually buy racing games for casual group fun. That said, if you enjoy mastering systems and overcoming a challenge, this game is right up your **** FAST TO HANDLEOne thing I have to praise Air Riders for is its presentation. The visuals are gorgeous, with each stage feeling distinct and carefully crafted. Every track has its own standout music, and dynamic environmental events making the worlds feel alive as you race through them. Unfortunately, this is also where my biggest issue lies. The game moves extremely fast so fast that it’s hard to appreciate any of that detail. With blistering speeds, constant collisions, and chaotic player movement, everything can feel overwhelming. I often found myself unable to fully enjoy the environments, which dampened my overall experience and made it harder for me to come back to the game.ALMOST A POP STARKirby Air Riders is undeniably fun and offers a ton of content for a wide range of players. However, the issues mentioned above significantly affected my enjoyment. I found myself playing it less frequently than other racing games on my Switch. While I still recommend it, this isn’t a game for everyone. It’s likely to develop a dedicated cult following, especially among players who love high-speed chaos and a challenge to master.7/10

The gameplay is super simple, just one button, which makes it very boring to play, it only has 4 modes, of which 2 are races (one normal and one from above), 1 is the "story mode" which is not bad at all, but it is still repeating the same thing over and over again, and the last mode is the only one that can be saved, city trials, but that mode also becomes boring after a short time, since they are 5-minute games, so after 2 hours at the latest you will have seen everything and already bored.

The gameplay is super simple, just one button, which makes it very boring to play, it only has 4 modes, of which 2 are races (one normal and one from above), 1 is the "story mode" which is not bad at all, but it is still repeating the same thing over and over again, and the last mode is the only one that can be saved, city trials, but that mode also becomes boring after a short time, since they are 5-minute games, so after 2 hours at the latest you will have seen everything and already bored.