We Might Be Getting An Update About Sakurai's New Kirby Game Soon

Sakurai is such a genuine genius and humble human being. Love and adore the man, ever so much. Can’t wait to see what he’s working on!

I rented the original back in the day and didn't care for it so not super interested myself but hope it delivers for people who have been looking forward to it.

Never played the game, but I know the people who are into the game are REALLY into the game. So, I'm really happy for them and of course for Sakurai for continuing to do what he loves.

Sakurai is probably one of the few people who can get away with showing a cinematic trailer with no gameplay.

I hope Kirby Air Riders has free roam similar to Mario Kart World.

This game still looks really awesome, I absolutely love Sakurai's games. If I get a Switch 2 this will probably end up being one of my first games for the system.

Does this mean there might be a Nintendo direct? Or will it just be a trailer that pops up on YouTube?

We're so obsessed with Nintendo that we literally get excited by a mention of a gameplay tease lol

@KayFiOS I'm a big fan of Air Ride, but I think they might have released that teaser more to announce Sakurai's return rather than the game itself.

I'm surprised the original Air Ride is apparently such a well loved title, as reviews at the time were generally quite poor. Never played that one, but if this one has some creative new ideas and turns out good I'd get it.

If done right, I might play this more than Mario Kart World. Which is kind of crazy for me to think about, given how much time I've sunk into every Mario Kart game before World. I trust Sakurai to make this game the best it can be!

september direct is soon

Oh right, Air Ride was GCN. I should go get that.

@Sambuc ever head of City Trial

@Itsashame For me, it's more excited for sixth gen. Games are better than ever, but the publishers make things depressing.

@LikelySatan
This is a good idea.

@LikelySatan I'm enjoying Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza a lot. However, I feel a lot of AAA games have been doing more or less the same things for generations, just with nicer graphics. The big studios are all complaining about how expensive game development is because of the complexity and then there are relatively small Indie developers who blow them out of the water in terms of creativity and gameplay.

@Itsashame I get a new AAA game like once or twice a year, and the rest are indies and a whole lot of sixth gen and prior. I always say "I didn't ask for path tracing" you know? I get so much more excited for a classic fps or when I remember something I always wanted to try in my backlog. That's definitely part of getting old though, I'm sure.

@Itsashame It's interesting isn't it, I was on a lot of the big gaming forums back in the day and Kirby Air Ride was ripped to pieces as the poster child for "Nintendo is for babies" because it used only one button to control. I remember all the memes of the GameCube controller with one giant A button on it.

Funnily enough Mario Kart Double Dash was the most hated Mario Kart too for very similar reasons to Mario Kart World. "Big wide boring tracks" "too much of a random party game" "too gimmicky and not enough options" A lot of people REALLY didn't like that there was no four player driving Grand Prix and two people were forced to play as the "boring" role of throwing the items. The concensus was that Mario Kart DS was a return to form for the series.

Funny how time changes things and now these games are appreciated for their unique features!

Edit: I found the old Kirby Air Ride GameCube controller meme!

@Suketoudara Eh, I think that is just different circles in the case of Mario Kart. Everyone I knew loved Double Dash and thought DS was too safe.

@Suketoudara that controller meme is quite good 😂 No idea that Mario Kart Double Dash was not that well liked, always had a lot of fun with that one.

I understood from the websites that Kirby Air Riders was a big wish to make from Sakurai so I hope it turns out fun, but I'd rather have had a new Kid Icarus. And for racing games I would have thought that F-Zero would be more deserving of a new game. Oh well, maybe someday.

@LikelySatan Oh really? Critics said the same. Mario Kart Double Dash remains the lowest rated Mario Kart title at launch. For instance GameSpot and IGN both gave it 7.9 while Mario Kart DS got 9.1/9.5.

Edge Magazine (one of the most respected gaming souces at the time) gave Double Dash 5/10 and said:

“There are 16 courses on offer, and one of them is a ten-second dodgem track… even if you are the best karter in the country, you still cannot guarantee anything. It is often an acceptable game, an average one.

The co-operative mode, in which one player drives and the other throws stuff, is neat, though mostly redundant given that most pairs will prefer to drive a kart each. Mario Kart isn’t a racing game any more. It is a party game, and anyone buying it for anything more than frantic, foolish, social fun will grow tired of being cheated very quickly indeed

@Itsashame See post above for how harsh some were about it. Yeah I never agreed with most of the criticism either, definitely one of my favourites in the series and it had so much cartoony character and charm which I feel like World has brought back after the slightly more serious feeling 7/8. They both have that Wacky Racers type vibe. Be interesting to see how World is spoken about in 20 years time!

@NintonicGamer You misspelled Sakurai.

i know praising sakurais track record of games is the easiest thing to do, but darn it this guy made me love kid icarus. i have no history or attachment to air raiders, but just having his named attached to this project is enough for me to keep my eyes on it

Really looking forward to seeing more of this game! I loved the old one on GameCube and hope it will make a return on NSO as well. Sakurai is a national treasure!

@Suketoudara DD was a disappointment and was far from a classic GC at the time, and is not considered so now. Considering how much people loved MK64 that enthusiasm was just not there for the GC title.

I love the pink blob can't wait for this I didn't play the original one hope ninty put the GameCube one on GameCube service before the launch of the new one as for Maria kart I love Maria kart double dash it's my second favourite mk happy everyone from Sydney Australia 🎮💙💙💙🎮🦖🐄

@boxyguy Have you played Kirby Super Star? For me, that's his magnum opus.

I’m getting sick and tired of playing the waiting game with Nintendo….Were are the Switch 2 games??

Still looking forward to the old one with dlc and enhanced for Switch 2.

just give it to us sakurai…. 😡

I have no interest in Kirby racing games, however considering Sakurai is behind it, I'm excepting an extremely content-packed experience with fun gameplay, so why not

Never played the original despite being a massive Nintendo gamer in those days.

Hope I like the look of this but for whatever reason can’t be excited about this right now.

Hope the gameplay changes my mind!

Welp, there's something new to add to my collection of "great things the internet kinda ruined and I'm glad I was not on it when I experienced them"
This list includes Wind Waker, the Star Wars prequels, and now, MK Double Dash.

Double Dash is 100% pure fun. Plain and simple. This is what this series should aim to be imo, and MK World kinda approached it, but not fully, same for MK Wii. MK DS and MK 7 were snore fest. MK 8 was a mix bag for me, it's content rich, but something holds it from being a really fun game.

This is going to be the best Switch 2 game, I have a good feeling about this one!

I'm guessing the first "news" he shares is the game not releasing in 2025. 😝

I'm still not sure what the appeal of another racer is w/ MKW out there and Sonic releasing soon but a release date would be nice anyway. Same for MP4 which I probably won't play but it's different enough and I appreciate how many people have been waiting for it for a very long time. MP4 also feels like a very big dual release game so maybe we can finally see what Switch 2 can really do compared to Switch. Nintendo said the original Switch can't handle MKW or DKB so if Switch can handle MP4 I'm curious to see it compared to Switch 2.

And then maybe we can finally see some more new games b/c people spent over $400 on a new console and while we know about a bunch of games now it's very quiet after that. Way too quiet.

@Suketoudara
"The co-operative mode, in which one player drives and the other throws stuff, is neat, though mostly redundant given that most pairs will prefer to drive a kart each."
That really depends on who you're playing with. I know me and my friends didn't mind playing co-op to tackle each other using the side attacks available in only in co-op.
A few years I played with my nephew who isn't a good driver so he was fine attacking.

"It is a party game, and anyone buying it for anything more than frantic, foolish, social fun will grow tired of being cheated very quickly indeed."
When has Mario Kart been considered a serious racer to the point of getting its own "Fox only, No Items, Final Destination"?
Yes, I know there are communities in MK8D where Waluigi with that Wiggler ATV and small tires are almost a must, but they still use items and run on tracks with gimmicks.

Sometimes I wonder if reviewers try to review games from another perspective.

Here’s hoping they release the original on GC NSO as a way to drum interest for the new one 🤞

I suspect a September direct. That’s a fairly safe bet. Not guaranteed of course, this is Nintendo were talking about

@RemyMartin It's only been 2 and a half months. Chill out lol the games will come.

I'd be more surprised if you said he wasn't aware "oh literally I meant to show you gameplay last month ah hell. Please understand."

I just want a bigger City Trial and I'm good. lol