• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Kirby Air Riders - Review Thread

LordOcidax said:
Vl6s5oIFr53HXis0.jpeg
Click to expand...
thank you
 
LordOcidax said:
but i think the game is going to surpass 4M in the future and thats not a "struggle" by any metric.
Click to expand...

Its not gonna have those kind of legs. Its not gonna get DLC or significant post launch support.

It will sell most of its units on the next 5 weeks and It will dissappear from EU and US charts.

ShadyAcshuns said:
I remember when people said Animal Crossing New Horizons wouldn't sell, and that it "only appeals to girls" nonsense. Not saying I think it'll sell amazingly, but there are a lot of Sakurai fans out there (I'm not one of them btw).
Click to expand...

Animal crossing is a proven series with a a great track record when It comes to sales. It does appeal to girls the most but thats not a weak point.

Kirby Air Riders is the sequel to a single obscure gamecube title famously developed in 4 months that had a lukewarm reception. On top of that It may appear like an approachable family Racer buts its and extremely quirky variety game with a weird control scheme that is not particularly focused on racing and that is not only hard to figure about mechanic wise but also surprisingly complex.

So It does not appeal to people that likes Racing games. It is tooweird and hard to understand to be a family Game or casual party game.

Sakurai surely has a fanbase but he's a japanese videogame creator that makes games exclusively for 1 brand. Outside of ethusiast forums, he's nobody. Hes not an american pop star or an european soccer player. His fanbase won't make anyone money by themselves.

He made a Racing Game that won't appeal to the Racing crowd
He made a family Game thats unfathomable to understand in short sessions
He made a party Game that has de deph closer to a moba

This Game has a very very limited appeal buds
 
Hyet said:
Its not gonna have those kind of legs. Its not gonna get DLC or significant post launch support.

It will sell most of its units on the next 5 weeks and It will dissappear from EU and US charts.
Click to expand...
Looks you have an obsession with the charts… Luigis Mansion 3 was outside of the charts after the first month and managed to sold 14 million copies, to give you an example. Kirby is going to continue selling for the whole Switch 2 lifetime.
 
Last edited:
LordOcidax said:
Luigis Mansion 3 was outside of the charts after the first month and managed to sold 14 million copies
Click to expand...

If you show anyone 30 seconds of Luigis Mansion 3 Gameplay they will know what kind of Game It is and if It may appeal to them.

If you show anyone 30 seconds of Kirby Air Riders nobody will know WTF they are looking at or what to think about it.

That's why they had to do two hours of Nintendo Direct.

Because is a Racing Game

But they dont go in cars

But its not a Racing Game actually, you can do many things

One of It is Racing, well maybe you may end up Racing a lot

But its not a Racing Game because the main Game is you want to play is you on an island

And you collect flat icons that mean stuff (you'll know when you play this for 70 hours It gets good by them trust me)

And then many things can happen in the island and then you may do a race or a Battle or other things

And at the end you do a thing and if you had the better icons you win

Is very easy to play: if you touch any button your thing that is not a car will BRAKE TO A FULL STOP

You can use that in races that are from behind or top down. Or in the island mode wheres everything will kill you and force you to look for a new car (they're not cars, tho)

But its not a Racing Game!! Don't compare this to Mario Kart!!! You gotta play the island thing.

Are you sold yet? THIS HAS VERY WIDE APPEAL BECAUSE SAKURAI IS A WORLD WIDE ICON!!!
 
Last edited:
Hyet said:
If you show anyone 30 seconds of Luigis Mansion 3 Gameplay to anyone they will know what kind of Game It is and if It may appeals to them.

If you show anyone 30 seconds of Kirby Air Riders nobody will know WTF they are looking at or what to think about it.

That's why they had to do two hours of Nintendo Direct.

Because is a Racing Game

But they dont go in cars

But its not a Racing Game actually, you can do many things

One of It is Racing, well maybe you may end up Racing a lot

But its not a Racing Game because the main Game is you want to play is you on an island

And you collect flat icons that mean stuff (you'll know when you play this for 70 hours It gets good by them trust me)

And then many things can happen in the island and then you may do a race or a Battle or other things

And at the end you do a thing and if you had the better icons you win

Is very easy to play: if you touch any button your thing that is not a car will BRAKE TO A FULL STOP

You can use that in races that are from behind or top down. Or in the island mode wheres everything will kill you and force you to look for a new car (they're not cars, tho)

But its not a Racing Game!! Don't compare this to Mario Kart!!! You gotta play the island thing.

Are you sold yet? THIS HAS VERY WIDE APPEAL BECAUSE SAKURAI IS A WORLD WIDE ICON!!!
Click to expand...
Thats why Sakurai did 2 one hour directs not a 30 second clip…
 
Hyet said:
If you show anyone 30 seconds of Luigis Mansion 3 Gameplay they will know what kind of Game It is and if It may appeal to them.

If you show anyone 30 seconds of Kirby Air Riders nobody will know WTF they are looking at or what to think about it.

That's why they had to do two hours of Nintendo Direct.

Because is a Racing Game

But they dont go in cars

But its not a Racing Game actually, you can do many things

One of It is Racing, well maybe you may end up Racing a lot

But its not a Racing Game because the main Game is you want to play is you on an island

And you collect flat icons that mean stuff (you'll know when you play this for 70 hours It gets good by them trust me)

And then many things can happen in the island and then you may do a race or a Battle or other things

And at the end you do a thing and if you had the better icons you win

Is very easy to play: if you touch any button your thing that is not a car will BRAKE TO A FULL STOP

You can use that in races that are from behind or top down. Or in the island mode wheres everything will kill you and force you to look for a new car (they're not cars, tho)

But its not a Racing Game!! Don't compare this to Mario Kart!!! You gotta play the island thing.

Are you sold yet? THIS HAS VERY WIDE APPEAL BECAUSE SAKURAI IS A WORLD WIDE ICON!!!
Click to expand...
a0c.gif
 
LordOcidax said:
Thats why Sakurai did 2 one hour directs not a 30 second clip…
Click to expand...

My point exactly. Nobody in the general public is going to let you waste 2 hours of their time trying to sell them a videogame

Given that this is what this gane needs too explain itself...most of It sales Will come from the people that watched those 2 hours and preordered the Game.

Then sales die off

Not saying the gane is bad, but its for Nintendo autists and Nintendo autists only
 
Last edited:
Hyet said:
My point exactly. Nobody in the general oublic is going to left you waste 2 hours of their time trying to sell them a videogame

Given that this is what this gane needs too explain itself...most of It sales Will come from the people that watched those 2 hours and preordered the Game.

Then sales die off

Not saying the gane is bad, but its for Nintendo autists and Nintendo autists only
Click to expand...
Maybe these games are more your speed the speed of the people you are referring to in your totally not referential post:

Got My Eye On You GIF by Fortnite

Lionel Messi Celebration GIF by Biblioteksgatan 8
 
Last edited:
Hyet said:
My point exactly. Nobody in the general oublic is going to left you waste 2 hours of their time trying to sell them a videogame

Given that this is what this gane needs too explain itself...most of It sales Will come from the people that watched those 2 hours and preordered the Game.

Then sales die off

Not saying the gane is bad, but its for Nintendo autists and Nintendo autists only
Click to expand...
2.3 Million just in the US YT channel… But is just matter of time to see who is right.
0aeFDiU1VEOO8euk.jpeg
 
Those scores are expected, the game is particular and does not fit into the standard mold of similar games.

You can't expect modern reviewers, the majority of whom have no gaming literacy, to appreciate a game with this kind of design and that plays differently from what they are used to.

Nothing new under the sun anyway.
 
LordOcidax said:
2.3 Million just in the US YT channel… But is just matter of time to see who is right.
0aeFDiU1VEOO8euk.jpeg
Click to expand...

Your prediction is that the Game will sell 4 millions

My prediction is that most of the sales will come from people who watched the direct

The Direct view count is 2.3 millions

Maybe you haven't noticed but out 4, 2.3 is the most part.

You set yourself up to fail at game you're playing by yourself.
 
Hyet said:
Your prediction is that the Game will sell 4 millions

My prediction is that most of the sales will come from people who watched the direct

The Direct view count is 2.3 millions

Maybe you haven't noticed but out 4, 2.3 is the most part.

You set yourself up to fail at game you're playing by yourself.
Click to expand...
I already told you… The time will said who is right.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
Game seems a bit hardcore for journalists and players alike. I also fail to understand appeal of such titles a lot of times.

Though Nintendo did tried hard to explain its appeal in a couple of hours worth of directs.

If they couldn't do it in that amount of time, not sure if its worth it.
Click to expand...
We need more of these kinds of games, not less. Fuck journalists. If you want generic slop go play the latest God of War or whatever third person story shit being pumped out.
 
This game still has auto-acceleration, right? If so, pass. It's a shame, I'd love for a better racing game than we got in Mario Kart World, but I'll probably just go back to MK8D instead.
 
LavitzSlambert said:
This game still has auto-acceleration, right? If so, pass. It's a shame, I'd love for a better racing game than we got in Mario Kart World, but I'll probably just go back to MK8D instead.
Click to expand...
I'll be honest, Sonic Racing Crossworlds completely blows away Mario Kart World and imo it's better than MK8D as well (which I always found to be bland anyway).
 
The original was dogshit. Everybody knew this back in the GameCube days. 12 year old me knew this.

But of course, the internet being the internet had to do its revisionist "why Kirby Air Ride was secretly genius!" bullshit.

Sadly Nintendo took the the bait and resurrected what should have stayed dead.

Total waste of time.
 
I'm glad games like this exist, not everything needs to me made for everyone. I'm saying this as a light Sonic fan, we all know those games get destroyed in the ratings for being different.

I do wish, however, that Sakurai would make a more general third person action game one day with no weird gimmicks or control schemes.
 
Hyet said:
If you show anyone 30 seconds of Luigis Mansion 3 Gameplay they will know what kind of Game It is and if It may appeal to them.

If you show anyone 30 seconds of Kirby Air Riders nobody will know WTF they are looking at or what to think about it.

That's why they had to do two hours of Nintendo Direct.

Because is a Racing Game

But they dont go in cars

But its not a Racing Game actually, you can do many things

One of It is Racing, well maybe you may end up Racing a lot

But its not a Racing Game because the main Game is you want to play is you on an island

And you collect flat icons that mean stuff (you'll know when you play this for 70 hours It gets good by them trust me)

And then many things can happen in the island and then you may do a race or a Battle or other things

And at the end you do a thing and if you had the better icons you win

Is very easy to play: if you touch any button your thing that is not a car will BRAKE TO A FULL STOP

You can use that in races that are from behind or top down. Or in the island mode wheres everything will kill you and force you to look for a new car (they're not cars, tho)

But its not a Racing Game!! Don't compare this to Mario Kart!!! You gotta play the island thing.

Are you sold yet? THIS HAS VERY WIDE APPEAL BECAUSE SAKURAI IS A WORLD WIDE ICON!!!
Click to expand...
It's complex and experimental.
 
This seems like it's to racing games as Smash is to fighting games.

Really don't know if I want to get it or not. Played the network test and didn't really care for City Trial. Spending five minutes collecting powerups just to do a quick mini-game was kind of boring and felt like a waste of time. The races were OK, nothing special but they were also vs CPU which is boring.

On the other hand, the online system actually looks proper and I can see myself racing online a good amount as long as it's fun enough. I wish the network test focused more on racing and less on City Trial.

I think I'd rather wait a couple of weeks for Sonic Racing Crossworlds on Switch 2, since I skipped it on PC, even though they're somewhat different games.
 
Reviews are pretty much what I expected. I expect some more polarizing reviews to come in too, some more 9s and 6s. From what I've played of this game (and the first one) it's a you either get it or don't kind of game. I don't get it. Not a terrible game, just not for me, I guess.

nikos said:
Really don't know if I want to get it or not. Played the network test and didn't really care for City Trial. Spending five minutes collecting powerups just to do a quick mini-game was kind of boring and felt like a waste of time. The races were OK, nothing special but they were also vs CPU which is boring.
Click to expand...
Completely baffling. First time I did City Trial in the demo I thought maybe I got the one mini game that's super quick and the other ones are more involved. Nope. It would make more sense if you would do 4 or more different mini games.
 
I collect VHS tapes said:
Click to expand...

Yah, this is what I hate the most in Sakurai's games. The UI is a hot, unfixable mess.
The menus in Smash should be a textbook example on how to NOT design menus. They make no sense.
I guess that there's studies showing that once you've learned the ropes, this kind of design actually makes decision-making quicker and more effective. But you shouldn't have this kind of design in a Kirby game, of all things.
 
Bamco just confirmed on Twitter that they handled the dev of the title using their in-house engine, "SOL-AVES".

Notice of Addition to Development Titles

Nintendo Switch 2 software "Kirby's Air Riders" 🌟 released on November 20, 2025, from Nintendo Co., Ltd.

#BandaiNamcoStudio undertook the full development of the product.
The in-house game engine "SOL-AVES" was adopted for the development.
Click to expand...

 
Last edited:
I like the prevailing thing about Air Riders in this thread is that it's too different from regular racers kart racers and it's confusing. God forbid we have games that don't follow the same formula as everything else. Also, sales numbers are apparently the most important thing VS the game being fun.
 
Last edited:
LordOcidax said:
Making this game was a Sakurai idea… Also…
jmzbl25rX8R6nRRM.jpeg
Click to expand...
how switch 2 pro controller is #2 amazes me, there is so many better and cheaper option on the market that i cant understand how ppl buys this overpriced piece of shit.

Kirb doing great numbers, ll take a look when i got my SW2
 
Last edited:
Lokaum D+ said:
how switch 2 pro controller is #2 amazes me, there is so many better and cheaper option on the market that i can understand how ppl buys this overpriced piece of shit.

Kirb doing great numbers, ll take a look and i got my SW2
Click to expand...
The Switch 2 pro controller is probably the best first party controller around.
 
Kacho said:
I can vouch for the dpad being absolute trash. Did you use it for the MK Legacy Kollection too? God fucking awful. The worst dpad I've used in years.
Click to expand...
Yes fuck it so much pressing left and getting right at times. The worst 🤣🫶
 
Anyone making an OT?

Game is great, never played the first one but the racing is good, clicks pretty quickly. Played 9 online races, won all 9, no big deal :messenger_sunglasses:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Kirby Air Riders Online Demo Event Starts Tomorrow
2
80
1K
schaft0620 replied
Kirby Air Riders Launches November 20 On Switch 2
News 
45
1K
Robb replied
Saros | Review Thread
Review  8 9 10 11 12
584
893
Majima Everywhere System replied
REPLACED | Review thread
Review 
23
606
AJBungah replied
Kirby Air Riders - sometime in 2025
2
80
4K
TheSHEEEP replied
Top Bottom