Kirby Air Riders Switch 2 Review — A Smashing Long Awaited Sequel

Well folks, it finally happened! After 22 long years since the release of Kirby Air Ride on Nintendo GameCube, we’ve been blessed with a sequel from none other than series creator Masahiro Sakurai.

2025 has been nothing short of a breath-taking year for video games, but especially kart racers. We’ve seen the likes of the first new mainline Mario Kart in 11 years, a new Sonic Racing game which rivals the plumber’s output and now Kirby Air Riders? We’re eating well, that’s for sure.

It’s incredibly clear to see, right from booting up, the level of passion and talent on display here is simply unmatched. Sakurai and Sora Ltd., with some help from Bandai Namco, have delivered an incredible sequel which surpasses the original in every way, from visual flair, to music, gameplay additions – you name it, this game nails it. With a little something for everyone, let’s take a look at some of the many reasons Kirby Air Riders is one of the best kart racers that money can buy.

You Can Take The Man Out Of Smash Bros. But You Can’t Take Smash Bros. Out Of The Man

We might as well address the suspiciously Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shaped elephant in the room right away, as that game’s DNA is baked into the very core of what makes Kirby Air Riders so immediately engaging from the moment you first open it. From the beautiful vocals and cinematics of the opening cutscene, the flashy minimalism of the title screen launching you into a gorgeous and undeniably Sakurai feeling main menu and the sheer amount of content packed into the game oozes Smash Ultimate vibes.

It’s strange to think that the wave of nostalgia I felt when I started playing, wasn’t for the original, but rather a modern entry in a completely different series, but hey, that’s just how it went! Once you can get to grips with the simple but hard to master controls, and particularly if playing City Trial mode, this game basically boils down to being Smash on wheels, as others have undoubtedly said already, which is far from a bad thing.

Every time I defeated an enemy racer and that beautiful zoom in effect screeched onto my screen, I had a huge smile on my face, and the impact of every item use, collision, drift, it all feels so impactful and leads to a brilliant overall game feel. That’s not even to mention the outstanding quality of the visuals and music, which is a given for anything Sakurai has ever had a hand in creating.

But by far, the most important quality that Kirby Air Riders displays is its…

Content, Content, And Even More Content!

Where do I even begin to describe the sheer amount of stuff there is to do in this game? Well, for starters there’s the namesake attraction Air Ride mode, followed by the fan favourite City Trial and the return of Top Ride as well. There’s an entire single player campaign mode akin to World of Light (I’ll try to stop with the Smash comparisons, I promise), online matchmaking for the prior three modes I’ve mentioned, and all of that is before even getting to the side content and customisation (trust me, we’ll get to that later)!

All of this content is anchored by my personal favourite feature of Kirby Air Riders, and yet another Sakurai staple – the checklist. Each and every mode features a list of 250 missions to complete, alongside an additional 250 missions for online matchmaking, giving you a whopping 1,250 objectives to complete during your time with the game. For any Switch 2 owners disappointed with the lack of content offered by Mario Kart World, this game is your solution for sure.

Air Ride provides straight-to-the-point racing fun, with its blistering pace, excellent course design and pairs beautifully with the game’s simple to learn but hard to master control scheme. Drifting slows you nearly to a halt, which allows for some super tight corners and difficult manoeuvres to be baked into the course design, alongside bringing back the GameCube releases tracks as well, only adding to the fun.

Top Ride doesn’t have an awful lot going for it, but is a decent enough bit sized game mode to sink some time into, and hey, those checklist missions are always an incentive to play more, right? But let’s be honest, the real attraction is…

City Trial – Back And Better Than Ever Before!

For many people, when asked what pops into their head first at the mention of Kirby Air Ride, their answer is unanimous – City Trial. With good reason, too! A frantic, larger than life, 16 player brawl across the city for a 5-minute match, before concluding with a Stadium minigame to determine the winners. No, that’s not a typo, multiple people can win in a City Trial due to the voting system for the final match. You could even win by default if no one else picked the final minigame you did!

Anyway, back to the meat of the mode; all players begin on a Compact Star, and rush to grab a better machine and, crucially, better stats. You’ll spend your time smashing boxes, other racers and basically anything in your path to level up your machine before the time limit is up. I won’t go into too much detail as to some of the events that can occur over the course of a City Trial match, but I’ve had moments where my health bar has disappeared off the screen it got so large, moments where I could barely see what was happening as I may as well have broken the game’s speedometer – and I loved every second.

This is absolutely the star attraction of Kirby Air Riders, and while it may take some getting used to, the level of strategy that goes into every split second of a match, between vehicle choice, aiming to maximise certain stats, or just cruising around and hoping for the best, you’ll have a blast no matter what.

Creativity Let Loose

The last, and arguably coolest, thing to mention is the sheer volume of customisation offered by Kirby Air Riders. From putting a little wizard hat on Waddle Dee, to setting a 99 lap race around Checker Knights, to putting Kyogre from Pokemon in the game (you read that right), this game does so much for player expression and creativity.

The obvious highlight is the Machine Market, where people have been creating and sharing some incredible designs, ranging from turning the Wagon Star into a GameCube, the Warp Star into Patrick from SpongeBob, the aforementioned plethora of Pokemon designs, and so much more. All of this expression is shared for all to enjoy over the online market, and with popular machine designs appearing in online City Trial matches.

This expressionism is carried over into Paddocks, the online lobbies for Air Riders, where each participant can show off their headgear, character colour choice etc. and this makes for a really fun little place to wait for races to start; one gripe while we’re here though, why can I not participate in Ranked Matches online with my friends Nintendo? It’s the big 2025, we can do better online by now, surely.

Conclusion

With all that I’ve mentioned, my only real gripe with Kirby Air Riders was that tiny nitpick just there about online, I truly believe it to be a flawless game beyond that. There is such a wealth of content to engage with and the quality is through the roof, Sakurai has absolutely crushed his return to the Kirby franchise. There is, without exaggeration, something for anyone to enjoy with this game.

Air Riders has left me hungry for more racing action, in fact, I think I’ll go play some more right now, and anyone who owns a Switch 2 should do exactly that as well.

What do you think of Kirby Air Riders? What’s your favorite rider and machine combo? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments!