Kirby Air Riders announced 22 years after the original
After 22 years, a new Kirby Air Riders game will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2025. This was the secret project Sakurai was working on.
Today, we finally learned what Super Smash Bros. creator, Masahiro Sakurai, has been working on for the last few years. The famed game director recently revealed that the YouTube videos he has been releasing over the last few years were all actually recorded at the same time, years ago. In the meantime, he has been working on a secret project. These YouTube videos were a perfect way to throw everyone off the scent for years. Leading up to today’s presentation, everyone speculated about another Super Smash Bros. project, even into the early moments of this new trailer for Kirby Air Riders.
Kirby Air Riders announced twenty-two years after the original game, with Sakurai directing
The trailer begins with darkness, then Kirby desperately tries to get a warp star to start working as he falls through the air. Visually, this was very reminiscent of some of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate trailers, particularly where Kirby is the only surviving character and has to fight to save the rest of the roster. After a few moments though, Kirby lands safely, and is greeted by other characters riding on various vehicles, revealing the true nature of the announcement.
The original Kirby Air Ride was released in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube, which is a great coincidence given Nintendo’s other announcements today. So, this sequel has been twenty-two years in the making. Sakurai might be famous for creating the sensation that is Super Smash Bros., but before that he was the one who created the character of Kirby. This is a return to form for Sakurai, and a big day for Kirby, as 2022’s Kirby and the Forgotten Land also announced DLC that will be exclusive to the Switch 2.
In recent years, the original Kirby Air Ride has found a small but passionate following of players who praise its multiplayer mode. Players would dash around a cityscape, picking up power ups and swapping vehicles all while trying to eliminate their opponents. I personally have fond memories of playing this game when I was growing up, so it is exciting to see the concept revisited so many years later. Currently, there is no specific release date for Kirby Air Riders, but the trailer did tease a 2025 release date.
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Author: Matt Buckley
Matt has been writing for Gamepressure since 2020, and currently lives in San Diego, CA. Like any good gamer, he has a Steam wishlist of over three hundred games and a growing backlog that he swears he’ll get through someday. Aside from daily news stories, Matt also interviews developers and writes game reviews. Some of Matt’s recent favorites include Arco, Neva, Cocoon, Animal Well, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Tears of the Kingdom. Generally, Matt likes games that let you explore a world, tell a compelling story, and challenge you to think in different ways.
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