Greater than two a long time after Kirby Air Journey launched on GameCube, Kirby Air Riders is coming to Nintendo Swap 2 on November 20. Director Masahiro Sakurai introduced the information in a Nintendo Direct that aired right this moment, alongside an in depth take a look at the upcoming racing sport. “It principally is like Mario Kart,” Sakurai says.
The sequel can also be the primary Kirby title to be directed by fan favourite Sakurai because the unique.
“Oh expensive,” Sakurai stated in the course of the Direct. “Why is making a sport so laborious?”
Air Riders expands on the unique, which got here out in 2003, with extra characters, modes, and new controls past the one button gamers used to spice up. “This time we’ve added a second button,” Sakurai stated. “Sadly.” Whereas the unique sport featured completely different variations of Kirby to play, Air Riders provides King Dedede, Meta Knight, and even lesser recognized characters like Starman, all of which might use copy skills like Kirby. Every character has a particular transfer that may enhance their velocity, assault different racers, or activate skills like turning into an enormous snowball. The sport permits as much as eight human gamers regionally or 16 on-line.
Along with conventional races, Air Riders options Metropolis Trial mode, the place gamers might want to improve their rides as rapidly as potential by gathering power-ups, stealing new machines, and attacking opponents. Random discipline occasions will give gamers the prospect to affix and play brief races and battles; gamers have solely 5 minutes to improve their machines as a lot as potential earlier than coming into Stadiums, the place the primary competitions happen.
The sport is being developed with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora LTD—groups that labored on Tremendous Smash Bros. Final—as an alternative of longtime Kirby developer HAL Laboratory.
Sakurai, creator of each Kirby and the Tremendous Smash Bros. collection, has had his hand in just a few initiatives over the previous few years. Along with wrapping up work on Tremendous Smash Bros. Final, he additionally loved a run as a YouTuber. For greater than two years, he printed over 250 movies on his channel, Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Video games, about sport improvement. In his finale episode, he revealed that he’d been engaged on a brand new sport. Immediately, he confirmed that undertaking is Kirby Air Riders.
Kirby Air Riders joins a reasonably gentle first-party launch lineup for Swap 2 and is the second main racing sport to launch this yr for the console, following Mario Kart World. Sakurai says even he identified the 2 video games’ similarity when requested to work on it, however added that “the enchantment of the sport will not be really the races.” Air Riders is greater on its modes that provide greater than only a sprint to the end.
Nintendo is predicted to announce extra particulars, together with the sport’s worth, later this yr. A hands-on demo shall be playable at PAX West in Seattle August 29–September 1.
