Topic: Kirby Air Riders

@FishyS Yep! Hehe. I should put a note in my signature about user name on Switch.
Yep same. I get there is a lot more content in the full thing, but not one for me. I am glad there was a demo though!

After a couple of hours, I'm pretty sure this is going to be my favourite game of this year. Been having a blast playing City Trial online even though it's just a demo and unlike Mario Kart World, I haven't really noticed any issues with lag so far which is promising.

16 player matches are pretty hectic but having four stadium events to pick from certainly makes winning a lot easier. You can go really hard at specialising in particular stats as there's a decent chance that a stadium that's good for your build might show up. Think I've been winning around half my matches so far even though I'm not that great at it yet. Also the magnet item might be my new favourite thing.

Yeah, basically the same as the original... and I didn't like the original much to begin with. The racing feels good with Waddle Doo and Dark Star, I like the graphics, music, lore, the series and Kirby but I feel like I'd get bored of this quick like I did he original. The racing is fine but I feel like something is missing. City Trail is too random, hectic and all that to a quick mini game that's over quick. I do feel like I'll like the new Road Trip mode but I don't think it would be worth it for just that. I may get it eventually... or see how people like it or what's in it but... not in a hurry to buy it atm. Gonna take a rest and play again see how I feel.

I feel like it'll be very satisfying to master but yeah it does get very hectic while also sort of feeling like I'm not impacting any of it.
That's my only criticism really and that's something that can ironed out by playing a bit more I think.

I definitely see why it wouldn't click with some people though.

I've gotten to the point that I've been winning almost every stadium event but that's just how it goes when there's no rating system in the demo I guess. Probably just beating up on children.

Racing is as fun and fluid as the videos suggested. I liked the stages a lot. Will definitely get the full version. Thanks for the demo!

The racing is really fun, so I will wait for the review about the story and roguelike mode. Those seem to be the most enjoyable part for me (while the city trial is a bit too chaotic)

I like it. It's another polished, quality game from Sakurai and company. I'll have to take notes from the lessons, but I got used to the mechanics quicker than I thought I would.

City Trial is pure chaos as expected, but once I get used to slowing down or stopping with Boost Charges, changing machines, and ramming into damaged machines to knock them out, I'll get better. What's really going to take time and discernment is getting used to all the different machines and finding the right combinations. I feel like heavy machines are good for City Trial, but lighter ones might be good for racing.

I thought I could wear custom hats if I pre-ordered the game. Are those unlocked next weekend after the game's been paid?

I really want to try this as Kirby Air Riders was the main reason for me buying a Switch 2 but at the same time I think I would rather wait for the full release so I can be surprised. Good to see people enjoying it though. In the meantime I'll just play the original Kirby Air Ride on my Gamecube while I patiently wait for this.

Sounds like a blast! I'd love to try it, but I'm for sure gonna get this game anyways so I'll just wait for the whole game to come out!

I started downloading the online demo! I'm excited to try it out. It's been ages since I last played the GameCube original.

I hardly ever played the original, but playing this with the GCN NC controller is unsurprisingly perfect.

I like what I played of Air Ride mode, I do wish you could adjust the CPU level though I understand that feature is in the full game. City Trial I need more time with but the really chaotic nature of the mode is resulting in me needing to adjust visual settings.

@OmnitronVariant question, would you be able to elaborate on why it feels bad to you? quick spin aside, there's nothing particularly obtuse or strange about the racing controls. only thing i had to get used to was starting a brake drift before a turn to take it as sharp as possible, otherwise the only thing i could see throwing people off is the auto-drive.

for the record, machines in this game play vastly different from each other. some are intentionally stupid slippery.

@Grumblevolcano strange to me this playtest excludes a lot of the cool accessibility settings. nice to have the presets for those who need those settings, but why can't we customize specific ones and test them like in the full game? i feel like we've already seen in this forum that this is a game that can easily activate peoples' motion sickness, it kinda needs that granular control for first impressions.

I liked that mode, but not having multiplayer for the trial and forcing us to go against the easiest NPC setting made it a little hard to feel how it will work in practice.

@squiddu-real I don't get motion sickness or anything but I still would have preferred to be able to adjust the FOV setting without changing the rest.

I think that may be for balance reason but I will agree it ain't the best feeling control scheme. Also City Trial goes on for too long. I'm like just waiting for it to end like the last 1-2 mins. Sometimes at a point I don't want to pick up anymore power ups or not wanting to let my ride die. I think one of the matches I was grinding on the rails cause my ride was about to blow up so I stayed on there hoping I wouldn't get hit for 30 seconds but got hit last second with a fire cracker (luckily still kept the machine). You think online by default you can put less time and still find people?

Also I feel there's not enough City Trail evens (maybe a demo thing) but keep seeing the same ones show up. Mostly the spinning one.

i havent managed to play any actual races yet but just going by the tutorial i can already tell im going to have a blast with this, it just feels so hectic and zippy and the way the boost slingshots you across the course feels so satisfying (this is coming from someone who didnt get to play the original so this is new to me)

@Mgalens Unfortunately the normal races aren't really part of the demo.