Nintendo

Kirby Air Riders: the 9 things we learned from the second Nintendo Direct

Masahiro Sakurai’s latest presentation unveils even more stuff coming to Kirby’s next big racing adventure.

Update: Oct 23rd, 2025 16:04 CEST

Not even game director Masahiro Sakurai believed that the presentation would last an hour. And apparently, Kirby Air Riders still had a lot of extra material to show. After an hour-long presentation, these are the most important details that were revealed in the second Nintendo Direct for Kirby Air Riders.

Top Ride is back

Like Kirby Air Ride, Top Ride is a mode in which we can watch the races from a bird’s-eye view. In this mode, players can choose the other CPUs in the race at random or select each one individually. These races are much shorter, lasting less than 1 minute. These tracks are inspired by the main Air Ride mode. This mode can be played online with up to 8 players at the same time.

Road Trip

A mode that combines Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial modes. In this mode, players will advance by choosing different challenges and obtaining power-ups to help them along the way. Several classic characters from the series will be present as Kirby advances in this mode. Before starting this mode, we will have our license, with which other online players will be able to recognize us. This will show our class, which categorizes how good we are in the different game modes. There will also be a ranking similar to Super Smash Bros. We can play this mode with other friends, with a paddock serving as our lobby. The opening movie was also presented, which is the game’s story mode.

Courses from the previous game

Players will have the opportunity to not only listen again but also race on some of the tracks from the first title in completely remastered versions.

More about City Trial

More items were presented, and along with them, other legendary vehicles will be present. We will just have to find each of their parts. The mode will also have a team mode where players will be divided into teams of 8 each.

Time Attack

It wouldn’t be a racing game without a Time Attack mode, where we can race freely to set our own record. Once we return, we can see a small trail representing our best time to beat. Since there is no mode where we can compare ourselves to other players, Sakurai sees it as a way to challenge ourselves.

Boss Fights

The Boss Battles from Kitby Air Riders are also back. This time, we’ll face Robo Dedede, who will have two modes: robot form and vehicle form. Up to 8 players can play together to take him on.

Decorate your vehicle and your racer

Another detail revealed in the presentation is that players will be able to decorate their own vehicles in My Machines in multiple ways. Whether with decals, accessories, patterns, or effects, players will be able to create a vehicle that is truly unique to each player. There is also a section called Market, where players can purchase decorations that other players have already created. Riders can also be decorated with accessories and items ranging from caps, flowers, bows, to... onigiri, samurai helmets, and rabbit ears.

Miles

These items can be obtained with Miles, the in-game currency that you earn by completing each race. This will not only help us unlock items to decorate our vehicles and racers, but also our license or unlock other aspects, such as music.

Amiibo

Three new amiibo join the previously announced ones. King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Chaf Kawasaki arrive with their own vehicles, which will be interchangeable between the five amiibo.