When even the famed game Director Masahiro Sakurai makes a joke about the fact that his game is somewhat similar (at least in general theme) to Mario Kart World, you’d be forgiven for wondering why Nintendo is dropping another character-focused, item-wielding racer to their Switch 2 library so early in its lifespan. That being said, and while there are some obvious similarities, our first 45-minute look at Kirby Air Riders showed off that its DNA is probably a lot closer to Mr Sakurai’s big-name series Super Smash Bros. than MKW.

A big roster of riders (don’t call them racers), machines (don’t call them karts) and capabilities (copy and paste) means that Air Rides are only really differentiated by a somewhat unique 2-button system and 6 riders per race. However, head over to the City Trails on the floating island of Skyah and here’s where the battle-spirit of games gone by, shines; featuring 5 minutes of searching for unique powerups, creating machines with unique builds, and then an ultimate showdown minigame-style bouts of 16-player vehicular mayhem and this looks like a game for fans of the genre and fans of races with a puncy twist.

Kirby Air Riders launches on the Nintendo Switch 2 on the 20th of November 2025. Until then, hop on to the Nintendo Music app for selected music tracks from the game.

Or check out the full Direct below: