You just have to love Masahiro Sakurai. Whatever he does or says, I think it’s interesting. Not only is he one of the greatest geniuses in Nintendo’s history (although that recognition is often overshadowed by other great figures), but he is also a perfectionist, brilliant, delicate and almost obsessed with details, which, combined with his personality, makes him a character to admire. All this, what he is and how he is, always appears in his creations. And Kirby Air Riders, although it will shock as one of his rarest products, is the perfect example of this Auteur reflection.
One thing at a time. You may have noticed it now, but you should not expect a Mario map World rival here. Not even a racing game. This is a very distinctive match game. Yes, Kirby and his friends/enemies drive on ships hovering over the track, but there are so far the similarities to F-Zero. Some of you may remember the original Kirby Air Ride on Gamecube, which is now 22 years old, and this game is a direct sequel to that concept, point by point.
There are two much better references to explain what to do here, without leaving the Sakura universe. On the one hand, the fabulous Kid Icarus: Uprising, probably the best or second best Nintendo 3DS game. On the other side the most modern Super Smash Bros. The releases, especially ultimate with their modifiers.
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Why that? Because Kirby Air Riders is not mainly about fighting, cutting or skills with the controls, which partly does. Kirby Air Riders is about pure statistics. It’s about gathering as many amplifiers, power-ups or statistical amplifiers as possible to adapt your character to the next challenge to come. And this is where Sakurai’s madness comes in, with dozens of tactically adjustable parameters to go out victorious.
Bottom line, don’t expect accessibility or even the obvious sweetness of the recent Kirby and the Forgotten Land, because there is no platform game here either, and your best guide to Kirby Air Riders will be an Excel table or a conscientious consultation with Chatgpt, instead of knowing where the treasures are hidden.
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At the Nintendo stand behind closed doors in the private area at Gamescom, I played several games by Kirby Air Riders. The first, alone to teach me the controls (to say the least exciting) and to train a little towards the CPU. The last two, in local multi-player rooms connected in a LAN party to mimic the online environment, there up to 16 people Can be met in what appears to be the most exciting game setup.
When you have only played a few parties of such a different game, you go a little over. Although I managed to win the other by coming first, as you can see in the video, I did not really use all the recommended strategy. Since you are struggling a bit with the control form between Mario Karts Autopilot, Excitebike’s landing and Smash Bros. Analog lever, you focus, or at least I, on chasing enemies to knock them up, instead, once again, to find and get hold of the best power-ups to improve specific parameters. But that’s exactly the latter you have to be good at standing out.
Some unexpected events change it (honestly quite dull) the dynamics of running around in Urban Trials For five minutes to refill with statistics, switch your ship to a better, absorb wandering enemies or throw a special in the next liquid opponent. And when it’s time for the real match, the competition game Stadiumsit is time to make a difference with the absolutely fantastic OP building.
Nintendo has done a good job with his own Kirby Air Riders Direct video, with a charming sakurai-san in the lead role, to explain the point of point what this is about. Since it is such a unique genre hybridI also recommend that you see it. For now, while all the controls work very well, and I understand the addictive potential of the statistics -gathering game loop, I also see it as a tougher game to crack, as if it is dedicated to fans of the Japanese developer’s “dark side of the moon”. For in addition to statistics and modifiers, Kid Icarus gave me cool one-liners and epic matches, while Smash Bros. delivers their trademark matches. Kirby Air Riders may not be for me, but there is something I want to evaluate with the final version in November, while also applauding the company and designer for marketing something so insanely original and insanely calculated.
