Despite his prevalence, there was a time in the
2000s when Kirby wasn’t making many appearances on consoles. On handhelds, he was doing great,
following a string of Game Boy titles with Amazing Mirror on GBA and Squeak Squad on
the DS. It wasn’t until Epic Yarn in 2010 that the pink puffball had another console
platformer, and even then, his true return to form wouldn’t be until the following year’s
Return to Dream Land. So between 2000 and 2011, there was a big gap between Kirby console titles.
As for why it took so long, Return to Dream Land was actually the result of a prolonged
development cycle that started with an attempt to design a mainline Kirby game for
the Nintendo GameCube. In its first iteration, it was meant to be a 2.5D game with support for up
to four players, and it was aimed for a late 2005 release. It wasn’t meant to be, unfortunately, and
the project restarted development multiple times before eventually turning into the 2011 Wii game
that many heralded as a comeback for the series.
But the GameCube wasn’t completely void of our
favorite little pink sphere. In addition to his appearance as a fighter in Super Smash Bros.
Melee, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory released a racing spin-off in 2003. Directed by Masahiro
Sakurai, this title also underwent a convoluted development cycle. It originated back in the early
days of the Nintendo 64 as Kirby Bowl 64, in which Kirby became a ball and rolled down an obstacle
course — not unlike the 2022 game Dream Buffet. Eventually, the game became known as Kirby’s
Air Ride and instead of rolling down hills, Kirby now rode a Warp Star, resembling a more
traditional downhill racer. Development halted for a bit and then resurfaced for the Nintendo
GameCube, and in July 2003, we’d be treated to the final release now known as Kirby Air Ride.
I’ve been playing this game since it launched, and like many other players, I enjoyed its
easy-to-understand mechanics and its emphasis on fun rather than complexity. Yet others, including
several critics at the time, have chided this game for being far too simplistic and uneven
in its game modes. I was curious to see if I could still get into the game 20 years later, and
whether the fans or the detractors have the right idea. So get your boosts ready, because we’re
about to head on a trip through Kirby Air Ride.
Before we dive into the game modes, let’s cover
the basics. Kirby Air Ride is known for a couple of things, one of which being how dead simple it
is to play. Your Air Ride machine automatically moves forward; all you need to do is steer with
the Control Stick. The only other inputs are boosting, swallowing enemies, and spinning. The
first two use the A button, and the third comes by wiggling the Control Stick back and forth.
That’s all you do throughout the whole game; it is quite literally a one-button racer. Not
that you’d expect a Kirby racer would be complex, but this cranks the simplicity up to 11. Or I
guess, down to 1 might be more appropriate?
But just because the controls have no depth
doesn’t mean the game is mechanically dull. For the most part, the physics hold up well,
adding tactile weight to make up for the controls being so bare bones. You can get a lot
of air off of ramps and cliffs, and learning how to control your machine while off the ground is
critical. Landing straight grants a bit of speed, and in a game like this, every bit of acceleration
counts. Because many of the actual mechanics come from your machine, it must have been tricky to
design gameplay that feels natural for every vehicle, but they pulled it off pretty well.
It’s not the fastest racing game out there, especially compared to contemporary games like
Need for Speed and F-Zero GX, but there is a sense of thrill here that you need for this genre.
I suppose Kirby Air Ride is a combat racer, although destruction isn’t the focus. Your
spin attack can disrupt racers, and of course, you can inhale enemies to gain their Ability. Many
staple Kirby powers reappear, although modified to fit a racing game. Fire, for instance, creates a
burning field that damages enemies and opponents, and Plasma shots home in on targets. They can
boost you but are no substitute for actual skill and learning the tracks. Because the controls
are easy to pick up, it’s more about adapting to random enemy and Copy Ability placement. Adapting
to the situation on the fly is a vital skill for any racing game, and Kirby is no exception.
Equally as important, however, is the vehicle you ride on. There’s plenty of vehicles to
unlock, each with their own gimmicks and stats. Even though they use the same control scheme, I
like the variety here. It’s not just a matter of some having better acceleration or weight or
handling; some have unique gimmicks that give you a different playstyle. Like the Formula Star,
which constantly gains speed so long as you don’t boost or crash, and the Shadow Star which can dish
out a beating. Some are more useful than others, but we’ll talk about the balancing
when we start talking about the modes.
Before we do, though, there’s one more important
thing to cover; the checklists. Each mode has a set of 120 objectives to complete, and beating
certain ones unlock new machines, colors for your Kirby, courses, and extras and bonuses. It’s a way
to get replayability out of the game, especially if you’re playing by yourself. Now, despite what
some of you out there think, I don’t have an infinite amount of free time, and so I wouldn’t
be able to go for every single checkmark box in the game. Some of these are ridiculous to try and
get when you’re just recording some footage for a video. Back in the day, I would try to grind for
some of these objectives, but I don't have that time anymore. A lot of these objectives are only
attainable by random chance or by setting up the game just right, which is more trouble than it’s
worth. That said, I did try and get 100 checkboxes done for each game mode, which I thought would be
a fair challenge given my timeframe, but we’ll see if that holds true. Anyway, on to the game modes!
First up is Air Ride, the most straightforward game mode; you race
against three opponents, CPU or otherwise, for the specified number of laps. Alternatively, you can
try to get the farthest distance in a specified amount of time, although I don’t find this as
fun. This is the most traditional mode, as the other two modes are more frantic and strategic,
respectively. It’s the sense of speed you can achieve with the right manuevers that makes it a
thrilling racer. And while the balance isn’t 100% right for many machines, there’s enough course
variety and hazards to keep you on your toes.
Aside from the standard racing mode, there’s a
couple of other ways to play. Time Attack and Free Run are your time trial modes; Time Attack
for three laps and Free Run for single laps. Free Run gives you a lot more, er, freedom since you
can keep trying to get your lap time down, whereas in Time Attack, you have to do your best run of
three in one go. Because many tracks were designed for two-lap races, Time Attack can get pretty
dull, especially on the later courses. Free Run also lets you instantly compare your current lap
to your best record with this ball of light, which is a great motivator for knocking your time down.
As the main mode of the game, it feels the most balanced and well-rounded out of the three. It
doesn’t have a unique gimmick; it’s just a simple racing game, albeit with some light combat
capability. Damage is disabled by default, so other than the speed boost you get from
killing enemies which isn’t that huge, it’s barely worth it to use Copy Abilities. I
thought turning on damage would liven things up, but if you lose all your health, you don’t
respawn. So while it does make things more hectic, it also means downed players have to wait, which
kinda sucks. Without damage, the chaos is there but it doesn’t have as much impact; with it, the
chaos creates too much frustration. So damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
The tracks are fairly narrow, sometimes giving you the barest amount of room
necessary to traverse. There’s plenty of twists and turns on these courses, with a few hazards
and alternate routes in for good measure. There are some shortcuts and high-speed rails to help
you gain the edge, but depending on the situation, I sometimes find that these don’t help that
much. You only have eight raceways to start, although the themes are pretty diverse. Most are
fun to race on, but you can get tired of even the best ones in short time. I really like Celestial
Valley for its complex layout and verticality, especially in the final sprint with the waterfall.
Sky Sands is also a lot of fun; the curves aren’t as sharp, but it’s delightfully tricky with its
hazards and moving pieces. Other tracks like Machine Passage and Checker Knights incorporate
tight turns that make for a good challenge.
Frozen Hillside is more annoying with its sharper
corners and the long stretch in the middle that's pretty automated. But it does have a giant space
whale, which means it gets an automatic A+. The unlockable course Nebula Belt is nothing to write
home about; aside from a bend in the middle, it’s just a long straightaway. The worst one for me is
Beanstalk Park. It’s almost impossible if you have the wrong machine, and even if you have one suited
for it, it’s just not that enjoyable. It also has some of the worst level physics, especially these
hills that send you in whatever direction it wants to take you — which is never the right direction.
Now let’s talk about the actual machines — or at least, how they fare in the Air Ride mode. The
stock Warp Star is pretty decent all-around, with no standout qualities but solid stats to make
it competent even among the rest of the lineup. The Winged Star is one of my favorites; it’s
slow on the ground but has higher air speed and near-perfect handling and lift while in the air.
Another favorite is the Swerve Star; it's somewhat situational, but its near-constant high speed is
a huge plus. Sure, constantly stopping to reorient yourself can be a nightmare, but if you know the
track well enough, it’s not an issue at all. The Wagon Star can’t boost, but makes up for it with
solid handling and good top speed. You have to be far more judicious with your boosts, but if
you learn how to use it, it's a viable machine. And then there’s the Wheelie Scooter, which
every Air Ride veteran knows is super broken. It can get massive jumps and its turn radius
while boosting is ridiculous; there’s a reason why it’s the machine of choice for speedruns.
Other machines can be useful but are dependent on your skill, the course, and a bit of luck. The
Wheelie Bike gets incredible speed and air time, but with how constricted these levels are, you
won’t always be able to take advantage of it. The Slick Star can be decent but it has terrible
handling, Unless you boost to correct yourself, this thing has no turning power whatsoever,
which makes sections like this half-pipe almost impossible to navigate. The Formula Star can
reach incredible speeds, but it is not built for most of these tracks. It can be a powerhouse
for sure, but it can also be a major hindrance.
As for the rest of the vehicles, they might be
useful to somebody but I actively try to avoid them. The Shadow Star, for example, is basically
the Winged Star but not as good. I read that it’s the only machine in the game that can draft
behind others, but I was definitely drafting multiple times while not using the Shadow Star.
Maybe it’s more noticeable on the Shadow Star, but it doesn’t make up for this star’s shortcomings.
I don’t tend to use Meta Knight or King Dedede once I unlock them, either. Meta Knight is solid
but nothing you can’t get with the Winged Star, and King Dedede’s abysmal turning doesn’t work
for me. Same with the Rex Wheelie, which looks badass but can’t turn worth a damn. And as for
the Turbo Star, Rocket Star and Bulk Star? No way; all too unwieldy for me to want to learn. Here’s
the thing about Air Ride; given the right player, I can see almost every machine being
viable. Certainly not on every track, and some are far easier to learn than others,
but if you took the time to practice them, even the weaker ones have their points. Some
are far too gimmicky for me, but who knows; maybe those gimmicks appeal to you.
Anyway, Air Ride is a very fun mode, no doubt about that. It’s enjoyable enough in
single-player mode, even if you have to turn the CPU difficulty up to feel any kind of threat
from the AI. Obviously, multiplayer makes it even better, and with the right group of people, this
can be a great time. There’s enough skill involved that it doesn’t feel too easy or too hard,
with plenty of opportunities to rub it in your opponent’s face — or have it rubbed into yours. I
might be biased because this is one of the games my brother and I play the most together as kids.
It even rivaled Super Smash Bros. Melee for us, if you can believe it. And while Smash is
the far superior multiplayer GameCube game, Kirby Air Ride is a nostalgic favorite of mine.
Whether you play by yourself or with friends, though, there are going to be things that
aggravate you. The invisible walls can be a pain; I never remembered these being as troublesome
as I found them while playing it today. While they’re placed in a manner that makes sense,
you’ll be hitting them quite often thanks to the fast speeds and tight corridors, and
when you hit one at an odd angle, it can really mess you up. Usually, you’ll fly off in an
unexpected direction or crash and fall back a bit, losing all your momentum. Collision detection
in general can be wonky sometimes, which can be costly on some of these courses. Not enough to
be a huge issue, but it can bite you on the ass.
I also wish you had a way to discard your current
Copy Ability; you can do that in City Trial, and I would’ve loved to see here. Some Abilities
aren’t very helpful, and sometimes, they can be detrimental. Considering that inhaling enemies
is tied to the boost button, it's sometimes unavoidable if you want to be competitive. This is
really the only issue I have with the one-button control scheme; if boosting and inhaling were
separated, this would be a non-issue. And yeah, you can turn enemies off, but that doesn’t
alleviate the issue with the control scheme.
And finally, there’s grinding for the checklist
items. As I said, I wasn’t trying to complete the checklist, but some that I went for gave me their
fair share of grief. While getting a 1 minute 2 second lap on Magma Flows with the Turbo Star is
doable, making one little mistake will kill the attempt because of the machine’s awful turning
controls. Once I unlocked the Wheelie Scooter, I figured getting a 1 minute 20 second lap
in Checker Knights would be a piece of cake. But while it wasn’t brutal or anything, it
was still quite a challenge. Then there’s getting under 2 minutes 40 seconds in two
laps. I barely got that one with the Swerve Star after some admittedly bad gameplay at the
end. And for some more Checker Knights goodness, I got three laps in under 4 minutes by a fraction
of a second; that was incredibly tight. Getting a 1 minute 5 second lap on Sky Sands with the Bulk
Star might have been the worst. This machine is already hard enough to use and all the banks and
slopes make it a decent challenge to keep the momentum going. All that to unlock Brown Kirby,
which… eh, not my favorite color scheme. I did manage to get 100 tasks done in just over eight
hours and unlock the game’s credit sequence, which I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen before.
Not because I don’t enjoy Air Ride because I do; quite a bit, actually. The courses are generally
well-designed, the racing is fast-paced, and while it doesn’t fully rise above the simplicity, it is
nonetheless enjoyable. If this was all the content available in Kirby Air Ride, then you would bemoan
the sheer lack of content available. You’ll play through all the tracks within an hour, and while
the sub-modes shake things up, the core content will wear out its welcome before long. I started
to get bored while going for these challenges, even if I found the gameplay satisfying.
That’s one of two reasons why I’ve never seen the credits for this mode. I enjoy Air Ride but not
necessarily the grind, and the prospect of going for 100% never appealed to me as a kid — and it
certainly doesn’t now. The second reason is that my time in this game is usually spent elsewhere,
but we’ll get to that later. For now, we have another game mode to tackle, and that requires us
to look at things from a different perspective.
Next we have Top Ride, inspired by classic
racing games focusing on quick, action-packed competition. You know how Kirby titles include
sub-games which are simple little distractions? Top Ride is like that, but fleshed out a bit to be
its own thing. This mode is generally considered the weakest, and Top Ride tends to be forgotten
in favor of Air Ride and especially City Trial. It has the least depth, the simplest controls, and
the shortest courses by a country mile. Although my brother and I played a ton of the other two
modes as kids, we almost never touched Top Ride.
Which is not to say that it isn’t enjoyable,
because upon playing it for this video, I grew to like this mode a little more. Certainly
not to the degree of the other modes, and I’m not going to call it spectacular, but there’s some
merit to be had here. It is undoubtedly the most basic of the modes, though, especially in the
ridable vehicles. This time, you’ve only got two machines to choose from; the Free Star and Steer
Star, both of which perform identically. The only difference is the controls; the Free Star moves in
the direction you tilt the Control Stick and the Steer Star rotates left and right based on your
inputs. Honestly, neither option felt particularly better over the other to me; it comes down to
personal preference. Same with the fixed vs. following camera; I generally preferred it fixed
as the smaller courses makes it easier to fit everything. Considering the condensed design, I
imagine adding more machines would’ve made things too confusing. Most stars couldn’t take advantage
of their signature features on these tight levels, especially with how cramped they are.
Speaking of which, there’s seven courses to play on this time, which is quite a paltry number.
Especially considering you can beat all of them in under a minute on recommended laps. Grass is a
simple course with only a basic track layout but is overall solid, Sand gets pretty technical with
its hazards and destructible terrain, and Light is pretty fun with the random light trails opening up
shortcuts. Fire aggravated me thanks to the lava spills covering too much of the track around
them, making it sometimes impossible to drive through without getting hurt. Metal is the hardest
by far; there’s lots of sharp turns and objects which make it very annoying. And as for Sky
and Water, they’re fine but kind of boring. Sky doesn’t wow me with its design, and Water feels
pretty slow to race on. Oh, and hi there, Kabu.
There’s no enemies on the course and no Copy
Abilities, instead having items spawn in during the race. Some boost or detract your speed and
some cause your enemies to spin out. With how fast-paced the game is, the item distribution is
a bit too frequent. Top Ride is already chaotic enough with the tight corners and high speed,
and throwing a ton of items into the mix makes it a bit too messy. I’m normally a proponent
of items in kart racers, but in this case, turning the item distribution down is best.
The competitive nature of Top Ride is pretty apparent, and something it excels at — possibly
even more than Air Ride. With this perspective, it’s easier to see where the other racers
are, so you know exactly how much of a lead you or one of your opponents have. This mode
has the same time trial options as Air Ride, and thanks to the far shorter courses, you have to
be on your A-game. Honestly, this may be better in single-player because when it’s purely about
fast laps, Top Ride really starts to shine.
That’s where I found the most fun in grinding
the checklist items, and on that front, there was nowhere near as much struggle to get even the
tougher tasks done. Like beating the Level 5 CPUs, for instance. On some tracks, it's a breeze, but
on Metal and Fire, it was pretty damn tough. Not so much because the AI is so skilled, but
because these tracks have an element of randomness and one slip-up can cause you to lose
outright. By contrast, setting them Level 1 makes them braindead. I ran several races with them to
grind out some checklist items that could only be done in the main mode, like finishing 1st without
collecting items or doing 100 laps on each track, and it’s clear that their skill level is garbage.
But I did get a kick out of time trials, especially grinding down lap times. The windy
nature and short length of these tracks makes getting your time down far more challenging. It’s
not like Air Ride where you have plenty of leeway to improve your times; you need to more or less do
a perfect run, and that's a good challenge. Like, I thought getting a 4.20 lap time (heh) on both
Grass and Sand was impressive, but compared to the speedrunning leaderboards for Top Ride?
Incredibly slow. Also, I’d like to dispel some false information on the Kirby wiki, which says
to get a 6.50 lap time on Fire, using the venting steam is required. As you can see, I managed
to just get under that without using the steam; it’s super tight and you need to be precise,
but it's possible if you execute it flawlessly.
The Level 5 CPUs are solid opponents, and
of course, other human players make it more competitive by nature of wanting to beat the
person next to you. But Top Ride doesn’t sustain my interest for too long, so it’s a good thing
that it takes very little time to complete. I figured it’d take less time to get 100 checklist
items done considering the much shorter races, but it shocked me how quickly it actually took.
In Air Ride, it took me over eight hours, but Top Ride? Only two-and-a-half. Now, these credits
I’ve definitely never seen before, and they’re not that impressive to watch. I do like how some
of the credits bump into the walls, though. Menu Design Chief Michiko Takahashi is coming in hot!
Man, Top Ride surprised me on this revisit with how solid it is. I knew this mode was mechanically
sound, but spending so little time playing it as a kid made me think it was worse than it actually
was. For what is an extremely simple racing game, it’s still a solid amount of fun. Go into this one
with the right mindset and you might get a lot out of it. It is still the worst of the three game
modes, but if you’re in the mood for something simple, Top Ride is a decent option. But it’s time
to move on to what many consider the main event, a game mode that rose above the other two
to become a powerhouse all on its own. Pack your bags; we’re heading to the city.
Alright, I know some of you clicked on this video just to hear me talk about City Trial,
which is undoubtedly the most popular mode in the game. This mode involves building a strategy
and executing it in the finale rather than straightforward racing. It is the most layered of
the game modes, with a wide open map to explore, a focus on stats, and a much higher degree of
randomness involved. Let’s outline how this mode handles first, as it happens in stages. You're
dropped into a large city on the Compact Star to start, and you have five minutes to find as many
stat-boosting patches as you can before time runs out. Then, you play a short Stadium Game, and
the winner of that game is the winner of the whole thing. You won’t know what game it is until
the city tour ends, but the machine you’re on and the items you collect carry over to the Stadium
Game. So it’s five minutes of preparation for a quick little game that might screw you over
because you’re not ready for it. Yes, it’s the Kirby racing rogue-lite we’ve all wanted.
While the emphasis on luck and guessing may turn some people away, exploring the city and
boosting your machine to ridiculous levels is very enjoyable. Since the Air Ride machines and
items are completely random, there’s room for different playstyles to develop. Sometimes you get
a prediction on what the Stadium event will be, so you’ll prioritize items that suit that
event. Or you’ll find one of your favorite machines and min-max it by boosting its better
stats. Or you’ll just grab everything you can find in the hopes that luck will favor you in
the end. If you play Air Ride before this mode, you’ll be acquainted with these machines and their
strengths and weaknesses, and taking advantage of them is crucial to win in City Trial.
This city has lots of amenities that any city-dweller is familiar with. High-rise
buildings, a forest, a river and waterwheel by a golf course, a high-speed rail system,
destructible barracks, a castle, underground caverns, a volcano, and a floating golden
platform. It’s a very open map, but small enough that it doesn’t take long at all to get around.
Many districts connect via the rail system, and once you find the right upgrades, you can take
to the open skies and fly all around this place. Or just stick to one corner of the map and dick
around for a bit; the possibilities are endless.
I remember my brother and I getting on the rails
in opposite directions and dueling each other every time we crossed paths, and if you’ve
boosted your offense, you can annihilate any machine in a few good strikes. Goofy shenanigans
like that can happen all the time, like this Rex Wheelie that spawned in and barreled towards
the ravine as the round began. You good, Rexy?
Beyond those silly things, there’s plenty of other
things that can occur at random. Every so often, an event will happen that spices things up,
ranging from helpful stuff for restoring health or getting a bunch of items to dangerous stuff
like the rail stations spontaneously combusting or meteors bombarding the city. Seeing
Dyna Blade swoop in is pretty awesome, even if she just stands around and doesn’t do
much. You’ll probably find this odd, but that event where Air Ride machines fly above the city
freaked me out as a kid. I don’t know why, but it felt… sinister in some way? Even though it’s only
a way to get some additional machines. I dunno, guess it was my inherent wussiness as a child.
But the best random elements are the two legendary machines, which you can assemble by finding their
parts. The Dragoon is the best flying machine in the game, getting incredible speed and tight turns
in the air. Even on the ground, it’s no slouch, and it looks beautiful. Then there’s the
Hyrda, an absolute beast of a machine. I mean, look at how huge my health bar is! And this thing
is powerful, even if you haven’t upgraded your offense. You need to charge up to move,
but once you do, you can obliterate your opponent and then steal all the stat boosts
they drop and then rub it in by running them over again. You know, if you feel like it.
All these factors combine to make City Trial the most beloved mode in the game hands down.
Throughout the years, it’s been the part of Air Ride that has endured the most among fans.
I can recall several message boards back in the day where fans were clamoring for a new Air Ride
game, and quite a few of them would’ve been happy if they just made a standalone sequel to City
Trial. In fact, if you’re not familiar with Kirby Air Ride but you have played Super Smash Bros. for
Nintendo 3DS, you might think this mode sounds an awful lot like Smash Run, and yeah; they took
the City Trial formula and translated it into Smash. That’s about the only real follow-up we’ve
gotten, though, and I would be very surprised if Nintendo actually dared to make another
City Trial game, which is a damn shame.
Not just because this mode is a nostalgic favorite
of mine, although yeah, it definitely is. But also because as I replayed this in 2023, the areas in
which City Trial is dated are all the more clear. Make no mistake, this mode is still enjoyable
and the core design is fantastic. But there are little things that would have made this mode
stand the test of time even more. For instance, why aren’t there more maps? I love this game mode,
but I get bored of the city itself quicker than I do the maps in the other sections. The city that
we get is cool and all, but I wish there were one or two variants; that would boost replay value
significantly. Or if additional maps are too much, then maybe make the map a little more random.
Like, have different parts of the city randomly connected together every time? The map
we have is fun, make no mistake, but when thinking about how City Trial holds up, it is
unfortunate that this is all we get. Although I appreciate that there’s another music track
you can unlock to keep from getting bored.
Oh, actually, lemme side-track myself a bit to
talk about the music, which is pretty good stuff on the whole. There’s an orchestral focus this
time, especially as this was the first Kirby game that used live instruments. It’s not prevalent
on every track, but it does make the soundtrack more majestic, which is an interesting
direction for a racing game soundtrack.
That’s when the game isn’t recycling music
from Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, though. Or I guess it’s recycling from Kirby of the Stars as
songs from the Japanese anime soundtrack appear but not from the localized 4Kidz version.
City Trial is where that’s most prevalent, particularly in the event songs, but one of my
favorite musical tracks Checker Knights comes from the anime too. Considering this game and
the anime came out in America at the same time, it’s no surprise that they’d tie the two in
somehow. 4Kidz even aired some episodes early because they featured Air Ride machines as a way
to say “hey, kids, now you can ride these machines yourself in stunning 3D graphics!” Well, those
graphics do hold up well enough for a GameCube title. Some maps are simpler than others; I mean,
the City Trial map is much less detailed than any of the Air Ride stages, which all look very nice.
There’s a good mix of color palettes and shading, and the courses flesh out their visual and tonal
identity rather well. Good stuff all around, even if it isn’t super impressive in any sense.
Anyway, the weakest part of City Trial, for me, are the Stadium games, which are not a strong
way to end a session. I appreciate the variety since it makes the city run more involved. If you
had the same final task every time, whether it be a race or fighting your opponents, the gameplay
loop wouldn’t be as satisfying. But in most cases, it’s way too easy to slaughter these games
with the right build, and if you don’t, you’re screwed. Some machines are completely
unsuitable for these games, and depending on your setup, one player can absolutely curb-stomp
the other. Like this round of High Jump where my brother got only 29 feet and I got 2124 feet,
completely surpassing the damn map. But I mean, it’s not that impressive; my score was only over
7000% higher; not that big of a deal. Or try doing a Drag Race against a Top Speed-boosted Swerve
Star when you’re on a mediocre Shadow Star. Good thing this unlocked a Checklist box, or I'd be
more upset at this flagrant unfair advantage.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about the Checklist,
which is probably the hardest to fill out. In addition to all the random elements that have
to align right, City Trial runs are overall longer than Air Ride runs and much, much, MUCH
longer than Top Ride runs. A sizeable amount of objectives are beating records in the Stadium
Games, and you can play those individually. But going for some of these without in-game upgrades
is bonkers, if it’s even possible. And the in-city stuff isn’t much better. I would’ve said that I
couldn’t fathom how anyone could get the checkbox for getting trampled by Dyna Blade intentionally
since you don’t know where she’ll spawn in. But while playing some multiplayer, my brother ended
up in the right spot for a nice trampling, and it didn’t even take that long to get it. So thanks,
Matt, and sorry for destroying your Wheelie Scooter in the final second that one time.
One Checklist item that I’m proud of is getting the perfect 200 points on Target Glider.
Not that it’s hard, but on this playthrough, I was incredibly close to missing the second
launch; I hit that 100-point marker by a hair to get it on my first try. If you are going
for 100 checklist items, it pays to have at least one other player helping you out. My brother and
I coordinated several objectives that I otherwise would’ve had to grind for, which would’ve taken
a considerable amount of time. As it is, if you don’t count leaving the console on for two hours
in Free Run for three easy objectives, we got through 100 checklist boxes in about seven hours.
And it was a fun time for sure; I might be a little cooler on City Trial now, but it is
still very enjoyable. Considering there was no mainline Kirby game on the GameCube, this is
the closest you get to a Kirby adventure on the system. And even in this unique perspective, it’s
engaging thanks to the strategic and randomized gameplay. It’s not airtight in its execution,
but the foundation is solid and the concept and game flow work super well even today. I’d love to
see an updated version of this formula as there’s plenty of untapped potential, but as it is,
City Trial still holds a bright, bright candle.
So those are the three game modes in Kirby Air
Ride, which comprises most everything you can do in the game. There’s a few parts like City Trial’s
Free Run or the LAN multiplayer, but honestly, I am ready to put this game down now. When you
play any game for 18 hours, it will start to wear on you in some way. And considering the game’s
mechanics are as deep as a puddle, some level of boredom does set in with Kirby Air Ride. But
I don’t want to sound like I don’t like the game, because I do — quite a lot, actually. It’s a
huge part of my childhood and a game I feel is pretty misunderstood, and I know this because I
misunderstood it myself. Maybe three-quarters of my playtime in this game before making this video
was in City Trial, but in hindsight, I severely misjudged the quality of the other game modes.
Does it suffer from oversimplification? I guess so, but it’s not a damning flaw. People deride
this game for being simple, and hey, if you can’t get into it because of that, then that’s totally
understandable. I just enjoy this game too much to share that sentiment. This game may not be as
consistent as some other GameCube multiplayer classics, but I know that if I was hanging out
with friends and they asked if I wanted to play Kirby Air Ride, well, I wouldn’t say no. For now,
though, it's time to give this machine a rest.
Thanks so much for watching this video.
If you missed my big announcement, I’ve split my channel into three; this channel
that you’re on right now will only be for gaming videos and retrospectives going forward.
If you wanna see me livestreaming, you can check out my livestream channel, and if you’re
wondering where my new Lupin III videos are at, that’s on a dedicated channel now as well. You can
find links to those channels in the description and the pinned comment below. So check those out
if you want, and while you’re at it, why not drop a like and a comment down below as well? Thanks
again for watching, and I’ll see you next time!
