Kirby Air Riders comes from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate creator Masahiro Sakurai.
Nintendo hosted a 45-minute Nintendo Direct this week exclusively to show off details for its upcoming racer: Kirby Air Riders. The game acts as a sequel to Kirby Air Rider, a GameCube game that launched all the way back in 2003. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game director Masahiro Sakurai is directing the racer, which launches on 20 November, 2025.
Watch the Nintendo Direct below:
Kirby Air Riders shows off more gameplay in new Nintendo Direct
Nintendo’s latest Nintendo Direct focuses on its next big Nintendo Switch 2 game: Kirby Air Riders, a racing game that stars Kirby and friends. Much like the original Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game reveal, game director Masahiro Sakurai took to the online presentation to show off his latest game in painstaking detail.
Sakurai began the Nintendo Direct by quipping “Why is making a game so hard?” before diving into the development history of Kirby Air Riders. The game began development while Sakurai was working on DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and acts as a sequel to the over 20-year-old Kirby Air Ride. Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco Studios are co-developing the game.
In this game, players ride on a colourful variety of courses using vehicles including, but not limited to, stars. They can use special techniques to gain speed boosts during a race, suck up enemies to access special abilities, and more. Racers from Kirby Air Ride return, plus all-new playable characters like Starman, and other familiar characters from the Kirby franchise.
The game’s main racing mode is called Air Ride, and features six players competing to win in races by collecting stars to boost their speed. In the battle royale mode City Trial, up to 16 players can compete online by exploring an open world map for resources. After that, they enter stadiums and compete against one another in a series of minigames.
Kirby Air Riders launches on 20 November, 2025, on the Nintendo Switch 2.
