Racing or survival? Sakurai’s chaos reaches the new generation. If you go to Kirby Air Riders waiting for a nice clone Mario Kart With pink skins, you’re going to crash into the first curve. After spending hours playing in the Nintendo Switch 2 Since its launch this November 20, the conclusion is clear “Masahiro Sakurai has not created a driving game, has designed a game of frantic action Where, casually, the characters move very fast forward. But does this “rare” proposal manage to justify the jump to the new console? The answer is a resounding and chaotic yes.
The “Single Button” Deception: Depth disguised as simplicity
The first thing that is obvious when taking control is a design choice that, at first impression, is strange, but ends up being extremely successful, all the experience is articulated around the B button. There is no manual acceleration here; The ship advances on its own and your role is to keep chaos under control.
During my first games in the mode Air Ride, I felt that initial confusion typical of games of Sakurai. Pulsar B is used to brake, skid, absorb enemies and charge the turbo. At first, it seems that the game is played on its own, but after a couple of hours, you understand the strategy layer of deciding in milliseconds if you use the button to take a sharp curve or to swallow a Waddle Dee and get the sword skill. It is a system of Constant risk-reward. You are not driving, you are managing resources at 200 km/h, and when you manage to chain a skid with a loaded attack, the satisfaction is purely Arcade.
The Battle Royale that Nintendo needed
While racing is fun, the real gem of Kirby Air Riders that has kept me glued to the command is the mode urban tests. This is where the game shows its true face. Imagine dropping 16 players in an open city for 5 minutes, not to run, but to loot.
The feeling it transmits is very similar to the constant pressure of a Battle Royale. You start each game under the command of a clearly inferior ship and from there, everything consists of improvising to survive: break boxes for improvements, snatch vehicles from other players and adapt you to random events that can change everything in seconds.
The really smart thing about design is that you never have certainty about what the ultimate challenge will be. On more than one occasion I have invested an entire game in optimizing speed, only so that the final challenge becomes a brutal derby-type combat, where that attribute is completely useless. This unpredictability gives rise to a very powerful emerging narrative, capable of generating unique anecdotes of the style: “I spent minutes preparing for a career and ended up fighting like a gladiator.” The result is an absorbing experience, sometimes cruel and unbalanced, but so unpredictable that it is practically impossible to leave it.
Smash Bros’ inheritance
Visually, the game takes advantage of the power of the switch 2 To fill the screen with particles and keep the 60 fps (except at specific times of extreme chaos on split screen). But what really shouts “Sakurai” is the content structure.
The menu is a direct tribute to Kid Icarus: Uprising and Smash Bros. You don’t play just to win, you play to complete one huge list of challenges. The rewards system is overwhelmingly generous: new pilots, ships with unique mechanics (like the one that can’t load turbo), music and accessories. Even campaign mode, Escape, with its structure Roguelite, invites you to “one more run”. Although I must admit that the Spanish dubbing system feels a bit flat compared to the epicity of the soundtrack, it is a minor detail in a package that brims with content on all four sides.
Verdict: essential for chaos
Kirby Air Riders It is a brave title. Give up driving technical precision to embrace pure fun and chaos of objects. It is a game that understands that it does not need to be Mario Kart to shine. If you have a Switch 2 and friends (either locally or in the robust online mode), this is the party game Definite this Christmas.
