Topic: Kirby Air Riders

Played the Demo / Playtest, felt a bit underwhelmed. I played the Gamecube version a lot back then (100%'d, and still kept playing City Trial), it's an amazing couch co-op game, but it doesn't hit the same when playing online. I believe this game can be loads of fun with GameChat (or any other voice-chat client), or with your buddies locally.

I am aware this is a limited Demo and not everything is there, but I feel like there's not much difference compared to the Gamecube version. If you never played the original, I believe you'll have a lot of fun with this game, but for those who already played it, I'm not sure if this is really a necessary pick.

Had a lot of fun with the demo! First of all, this game might be the Luigi’s Mansion 3 of showing what the system can do graphically even on technically underpowered hardware. Everything is so snappy and flows very nicely. The gameplay is also a lot of fun, I didn’t go too far deep into it but I appreciate that the skill floor is low and the ceiling is high. Really enjoyed City Trial but I definitely need to explore the world a little more to get the hang of it, it was very hectic. The regular racing mode was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, I think the copy abilities add just enough skill to the equation and also serve as good comeback mechanics. Excited to pick this game up somewhere around Christmastime and see what the story mode is all about.
It’s been a great year for racing games.

@Zeugziumy i would say there's enough differences here to justify a new game. it just immediately feels similar, but that's sort of the point, it's a sequel.

if you care for online and like air ride, it's kind of a no-brainer.

@squiddu-real The Demo / Network test was probably not the best Demonstration of it (it was a Network Test after all), and perhaps a more complete Demo would be more appropriate, I feel like it. Perhaps after release like they did with Bananza.

I can't comment on the game itself since I don't have it(or a SW2), but this feels like a weird argument to make against it. "If you already played the original, then you don't need to play this more refined and expanded upon sequel!" Just seems disingenuous is all I'm saying. It's like saying you don't need to play Mario 3 because Mario 1 is another platformer that already exists.

@N00BiSH Yeah, being a fan of the original is why I was so excited about finally getting a new one and after several hours of the demo, this game feels like everything I could have asked for in a Kirby Air Ride sequel. Familiar gameplay but bigger and better and online multiplayer that actually works really well.

My opinion is that "its just like the original" would be a more worthwhile complaint if there had been a 2nd game before now or if other games made up for the long gap between games, (this is also why Prime 4 being another Metroid Prime is obviously fine, because no one else was willing to make a Metroid Prime in the last 18 years).

I do in fact really want more of the same game. That is a good thing, I don't want another game. Also I don't buy it as too similar, enough of this game just looks either clearly more polished/more chaotic in ways that make it stand out more than my Metroid Prime 4 example. Like I keep seeing Twitter posts that make it look like the most insane game Nintendo's ever published (barring maybe Platinum Games or experts mastering TOTK mechanics)

But I will also acknowledge that parts of it are also so unique to it that it is a bit weird seeing the same music and modes from 2003 at all. I just don't think that's a bad thing, its not like when Mario spent most of the 3DS/Wii U era being like "REMEMBER MARIO 3 AND MARIO WORLD?!" I would also say that I would be disappointed if Air Ride mode is too similar, because...while I grew to like it a lot, it definitely left room for improvement in 2003.

I went and played the original after not playing it since the Gamecube era and everything in Riders feels a lot better. Everything's smoother, faster... maybe I was right to not like the original much but everything's just more fun in this one and I am getting hyped that I can feel this way over Kirby Airride as I feel like I missed out despite having played it.

@N00BiSH Don't worry, it's actually really hard to purchase games in Brazil due to their insanely high prices (Kirby Air Riders is R$ 439,90, and our average salary is not compatible to do purchases willy-and-nilly), so I'm naturally biased to small critiques here and there.

With that said, considering I already own the Gamecube game, I am skipping this one, but if I lived somewhere else in the world or if the prices weren't absolutely high in Brazil, I would maybe get it.

Wish things weren't like that, however. I apologize for being disingenuous, it's just really hard to justify purchasing games in Brazil due to their insanely high prices. I mostly play Indie games on Steam (and some from the eShop) and I literally only own two Switch games (Mario Kart World and Super Mario Odyssey). I skipped Switch 1 and was waiting for Switch 2 to be backwards compatible, which thankfully it is.

Played this for maybe half an hour the other day.

There's nothing new here. And as someone who never got why people loved the barebones, boring as hell original I question why people act like this game is "the Mario kart killer" or even a...big release for Nintendo. I know it's just a heavily stripped down demonstration of what the game does but it doesn't feel like something that is going to be salvaged by a dozen or two different courses. And city trial is just lame AF, period.

Hard pass from me, but I also wasn't ever really interested in it in the first place.

Even after some of the crazier reveals on Switch, it is almost surreal that various people, including notable Youtubers I know of, are playing and enjoying a new Kirby Air Ride. It is the talk of the town going into the holiday season, and no matter what the sales end up being, and regardless of all the questionable pricing nonsense this year, could not be happier about this.

I'm hyped that I am joining the hype for once with Air Ride. It's almost like healing a wound I had with the original game and the disappointment I had that it wasn't a platformer.

I got the game preloaded today and I checked how much space it takes up to see how it compares to the estimated required space of 25 GB listed on the eshop and it's quite a bit smaller, 21.6 GB

@Sylamp So I'm basically breaking even on space if I uninstall Mario Kart World. Maybe a little larger after the day one patch though.

@BenAV this includes the "day one" update, which is 2 GB in size
it's only a day one update for the physical release

@Sylamp Ah okay, makes sense.

I’m glad I played the test release. Now I know I won’t be buying it. I was excited for this game but even with the limited game play of the test release, I already know it’s not for me. Sadly. I did the race tutorials and it feels odd to race in such a manner, having to slow down to boost feels silly, I would have preferred a ZL or ZR button for the spin attack as opposed to quick left right on the stick. I played the city battle thing that felt like battle tanks or something, didn’t have a clue what was going on. I’m sure for those who played the original this is going to be great, but for me it’s just not my kind of game. Looked awesome in the Direct and looks awesome when playing, but for me personally I’m just not feeling the game. I had it in my basket ready to buy on 20th, but after playing the test I’m not getting it now. So good game but too manic and weird feeling for me. It’s like Mario Kart meets Smash Brothers meets F-Zero meets Battle Tanks, which sounds like a blast but I didn’t like it. I really wanted to like it

@maxrpg Mostly Same. It feels like City Battle is the main mode and City Battle is ... not for me. I didn't get Mario Kart World so I was hoping this game would really click for me but it didn't. Ironically I've been playing Kirby's Dream Buffet again since the Riders playtest; I had forgotten how fun that game is. I'll wait for reviews for Air Riders, but based on the playtest it seems unlikely to be a game I would pay a premium price for.

It does run well and look pretty so I hope the people who get it enjoy and the online multiplayer survives.

"having to slow down to boost feels silly"
Well first of all you're not slowing down to boost, you're slowing down to drift... which already saves time around corners which is what you should be using it for. It's not a free boost. This is why Sakurai says the mechanic is fun because of the risk vs reward. The charged boost is your reward for staying committed to the charge. Sometimes you don't have time or space to charge it completely and must tap A which cancels the boost but helps you make a sharper turn.

Second there's way more to the game loop besides City Trial. Also City Trail can be very chaotic, even more so if you don't know what you're doing. The game took me a couple times to click and changing my mindset of having fun with the City Trail itself over seeing the mini game at the end as being the "goal or point of it all". Also all the machines play very differently and have different levels of charge and turn in different ways.

@KaiserGX Sakurai can tell me it’s fun all he wants but it wasn’t. His enthusiasm is infectious so I really wanted to enjoy this game, but none of the modes were fun to me. I personally think Sakurai might be blinded to why the original game remains a barely known niche one. I will be surprised if this sells much at all, though maybe it being a rare S2 exclusive can help.