Kirby Air Riders

• Genre: Racing
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 20 hours
• Too Short/Long: I felt it a little unnecessary to redo an entire run through Road Trip, but it wasn't too bad. I think I would have preferred if I could have just selected areas I didn't visit my first path, rather than fully restart, it also would have given more inventive to try harder difficulties, which could offer higher rewards - to better match the ever increasing stats.
• Soundtrack: Soundtrack is good, all the Kirby hits and more.
• Why I played: I really liked Kirby Air Ride back in the day, and it's hard to believe that was over twenty years ago, but I had made friends play that with me a few times here and there but I am pretty sure I was far more enthusiastic about it than anyone else I knew at the time.
• Did I cry: Nah, but it did have a surprising couple of moments where I reflexively winced.
• Jank: Kirby Air Ride was pretty janky even for it's time. Air Riders is much more polished, but I'd argue has it's... peculiarities. It's not poorly made by any means, it just kind of inherently janky to some degree.
• Difficulty: Pretty standard difficulty, I would say it definitely offers more challenge than most "real" Kirby games, even at it's easiest, and at it's hardest it's not unfair - just extremely challenging. Often, there is a gimmick to something that may make it seem harder without knowing what you have to do. It's a game that while it only uses two buttons and a stick for the majority of it's controls, is actually incredible complex and buried in it's own mechanics.
• Recommend to others: It's a tougher one to recommend because of it being a very non-standard racing game. It has a lot more to it than that, and doesn't even always feel explicitly like a racing game, but it's also not the same genre as a normal Kirby game. It definitely feels like a Kirby game, but it's entirely it's own thing. I really like it, and even Alice, who doesn't usually enjoy racing game, has had some fun playing it with me, but it's something you really gotta sit with to know.

Kirby Air Riders is the best racing game I've played this year. A year where both Mario Kart and Sonic game our with some kind of racing game that take place in a World, or... multiple. I've had Air Riders less than a week and already put more time in the both of them combined. I've played a couple other racing games this year, but not ones that came out this year. Some top-down racing games, the 2nd Hotwheels Unleashed, some misc other games, I'm sure.

This is easily the best, in my opinion. I always complain about how The Game Awards is too soon and always missing some great end of year releases. This year I mostly complained about it because of Metroid Prime 4 coming out soon, but I also mentioned Air Riders, more jokingly. While it's certainly no Game of the Year, looking at it's obvious potential nomination spot: Best Sports/Racing, the contenders being the aforementioned Mario and Sonic along with some misc. annual real sports sim games, I now actually DO think Kirby Air Riders is the Sports/Racing game of the year and it's unfortunately it won't even get nominated due to it's late release. That said, the awards are mostly a popularity contest and there is no way it's beating Mario Kart, even if it was objectively better, and I'm not saying it is, but I certainly enjoyed it (far) more, and am sure I'm not the only one.

Kirby Air Riders has four main modes which are basically: Normal Racing, Top Down ala Super Off Road, Mini Game Mode, and Story. The main appeal being the different ways to explore the game's unique mechanics. You auto-accelerator, and your main button mainly just breaks/boosts and most vehicles each have their own gimmick for how to be utilized correctly. On paper, it sounds more simple than it is, but Kirby Air Riders, with it's one one, or rather two buttons, is far more engaging than most racing games.

The story is mostly the mini-game mode with extra steps - a lot of extra steps. A lot of short challenges, choosing alternate paths, collecting stats and rides in order to race/fight stronger/faster opponents. While many of the challenges are racing in different ways, there is a pretty decent variety of other challenges, including various ways to battle, collect-a-thons, map-control etc. The way the story combines all these different modes and challenges make it feel like it's much more than a racing game. I felt like I was playing an actual campaign of sorts and it's fun and invigorating and escalates it into new heights beyond just another race, it does things very few other racing games do that actually make it feel engaging. It's almost a disservice to call it just a racing game. It's a celebration of all things Kirby, an action adventure party, that just so happens to utilize a unique racing game's mechanics for all of the gameplay.