In an industry filled with many great minds, Masahiro Sakurai has long proven that he stands near the top of the mountain when it comes to his creativity and dedication when developing video games. We’ve seen it countless times over the years, mostly focused on all of the work he’s put into the Super Smash Bros. games. Now that Kirby Air Riders is approaching, I can’t help but feel this is the kind of different arcade racing game we need in the AAA space these days. Its simplicity and ability to be unique are things that we don’t see enough in video games.
Kirby Air Riders is Simplicity at Its Finest
When you consider Nintendo releasing another racing game just a few months following Mario Kart World, many likely had a thought that Kirby Air Riders was going to be released in obscurity. While it’s highly unlikely the game will come anywhere close to the number of players that Mario Kart has, I think there is a lot more room for this game to gather a loyal community over past attempts at multiplayer for the pink puffball like Kirby’s Dream Buffet. That starts with the simple controls.
In Kirby Air Riders, all you have to worry about is steering and pressing two buttons to control your boosts and combat. It’s a racing experience that is trimmed, but still keeps the chaotic fun to ensure you’re not getting bored while playing. I also think having a more streamlined racer to sit alongside the open world in Mario Kart World could be a nice tandem.
Then you throw in the City Trial mode, which, with the benefit of online play and an expansion of players, could be what keeps people coming back years down the road. While I personally never had the chance to play the original City Trial, I did play a version of the mode as it was brought to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS called Smash Run, and it was something I highly enjoyed and wished had been put into Ultimate. Running around an open area covered in various hazards while collecting power-ups for a battle later down the line is just a really fun and unique idea you don’t see anywhere else.
A Unique Racer Returns
For a million reasons over the last handful of years, video game companies are scared to do anything different. Developers under the constant fear of layoffs and firings is not a great situation for an art form that is at its best when it takes chances. In today’s gaming landscape, doing something different is risky, which means even a game that turns out to be a small success can lead to you losing your job. That leads to situations where so many games coming out try to be battle royales, extraction shooters, or roguelites. Kirby Air Riders knows what it is and doesn’t try to be “just Mario Kart with Kirby.”
While many thought that bringing back Kirby Air Riders was Sakurai’s idea, it actually came from Nintendo, which, as a whole, isn’t afraid to be a little different, as we all know. You get Kirby’s creator to come back and make a sequel to the last Kirby game he worked on over 20 years ago, and that drums up excitement. Sakurai’s past is filled with stories of him being one of the hardest workers you will come across, often putting his own health at risk because of it. While he’s definitely dealt with Kirby plenty in Smash, there is definitely a great deal of irony in this being the game that brought him back to the series.
Kirby Air Riders might not jump at you on first look, especially if you didn’t play the original. With that said, even releasing six months after another racer like Mario Kart World isn’t dampening excitement for anyone. If you believe that there isn’t enough innovation or experimentation when it comes to AAA games, you owe it to yourself to at least give Kirby Air Riders a try and see if a new arcade racing style can hook you.
