The Kirby Air Riders release date approaches soon, bringing a familiar gameplay experience from the original title with some big upgrades. Over 22 years since the launch of the original game in North America, Air Riders adds another exciting racing game to the Nintendo Switch 2’s library. Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Kirby Air Riders Release Date – November 20th, 2025
The Kirby Air Riders Release Date is Thursday, November 20th, 2025. The game will release exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 and costs $69.99 (USD) at launch.
Kirby Air Riders is a sequel to the 2003 racing video game Kirby Air Ride (Gamecube). Like the original, Air Riders is directed by Kirby creator and well-known game designer Masahiro Sakurai, who is also known for his work on the Super Smash Bros. series.
Kirby Air Riders Gameplay
At its core, Kirby Air Riders brings a familiar gameplay experience for those who played the first. It is a racing video game that features different modes for both solo and online play. But before we get into that, let’s discuss the gameplay.
Before taking to the tracks, Kirby Air Riders offers the chance over 20 characters to play as, including multiple color variants of Kirby. The original game just offered Kirby, his color variants, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. Now, you can play as other characters like:
- Waddle Doo
- Bandana Waddle Dee
- Starman
- Cappy
- Ricky
- Magolor
- & more
Check out the full list of confirmed playable characters so far. Each character comes with a special ability that they can use during the race. Daroach, from Kirby Squeak Squad, can take other players’ copy abilities.
Speaking of copy abilities, they make a return as well. For those who don’t know, copy abilities are limited-time power ups that also benefit the player during a race. While you can attack enemies with quick spins, you can pick up abilities during a race, such as:
- Cutter – Throw a blade at opponents that returns after a brief period
- Drill – Lets the player drill underground while boost charging to avoid attacks. Letting go of the boost charge lets you perform a jumping attack
- Needle – Extend spikes to prevent damage from enemy attacks
There’s a ton of copy abilities to use in Kirby Air Riders, which makes the gameplay experience more fun and unpredictable. Regardless of which machine you use, these abilities will come in handy.
Before going out to race, you also need to select a vehicle, too. These machines, known as Air Ride machines, all vary in their function. While the Warp Star serves as a balanced, all-around vehicle, players may be tempted to try others out, like:
- Shadow Star – Deals massive damage when attacking and can even one-hit-KO some enemies
- Turbo Star – Increased speed at the cost of slow steering
- Paper Star – Good at gliding
While your Air Ride machine hovers over the ground, there are sometimes sections where you can glide around. Therefore, some vehicles may work better on certain tracks depending on their capabilities.
Fortunately, regardless of what vehicle you use, you do not need to move the left stick in order to move forward. Unlike the original Air Rider, your vehicle automatically moves forward. So you only need to focus on left/right steering, up/down maneuvering during glides, and quick spins.
Furthermore, the game’s simplistic control scheme that only uses Y and B makes the gameplay easy to familiarize yourself with. But it’s not too simple. There are various courses in the game based on the series, all with their own unique layouts and designs. You’ll really need to get comfortable with the layouts in order to win the most difficult races.
So, what can you do with all these riders, machines, maps, and abilities?
Overall, Kirby Air Riders offers the following modes:
Firstly, Air Ride returns, now supporting up to six players instead of four. Overall, it’s a basic racing mode where you play against the AI or friends on any of the game’s various courses. But there’s a lot of ways to play Air Ride.
You can do a standard race if you like, but you can also do customize certain rules, or play a free run/time attack version of the mode. It serves as the best way to really get comfortable with the game, after exploring the Lessons mode.
Top Ride also returns, bringing a top-down racing experience. While it seemed like the smallest mode in the original game, the developers still decided to bring it back. Top Rides are much shorter, offering a bite-sized racing experience.
Last but definitely not least comes City Trial. This beast of a mode mixes several modes together all at once for one crazy event.
During City Trial, you’ll spawn on a map full of vehicles, upgrades, boxes, and more. During a match, you need to either find a new vehicle or upgrade your current one as best as possible. To do so, you need to break boxes, fight other players, and participate in some of the wild events during a match.
Once the timer during a City Trial match ends, you compete in different events selected by the players. Unlike the original, you actually choose which event you want to partake in.
This is where those upgrades/vehicle selection matter. Depending on the event you play in, you may need to find a certain ride or upgrade certain stats in order to have an advantage. It won’t always secure victory, but it can greatly help your chances.
Furthermore, Air Riders supports online play with up to 16 players if you do City Trial. Before matches, you can walk around a lobby, show your friends your garage, and much more. There’s a ton of social features available in Air Riders’ gameplay.
Kirby Air Riders Story
As of right now, there is no confirmed Story Mode for Kirby Air Riders. This makes sense, considering both the original, as well as many other racing games, don’t feature narrative-driven mode. That said, the game is more focused on creating an addicting gameplay experience similar to that of the original game, as well as the Smash Bros. series.
Overall, that includes everything we know so far about the Kirby Air Riders release date, its gameplay, and more. But feel free to watch through the two Directs from Nintendo, which go into even more detail about the game.
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