The second Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct has revealed more features for the racer.
Nintendo streamed a new Direct presentation this week, focusing solely on the upcoming arcade racing game Kirby Air Riders. Game director Masahiro Sakurai hosted the one hour-long presentation, which dived into the game’s various modes, playable roster, and customisation features.
You can watch the Kirby Air Riders direct below:
Top Ride returns from Kirby Air Ride, while Road Trip offers a new story campaign
First off, Kirby Air Ride features the return of Top Ride, a top-down game mode first introduced in Kirby Air Ride. Sakurai jestingly said that the mode would be difficult to implement, and the development team was sure that players would forgive them for its omission–but they put it in anyway.
In this mode, players can use riders and machines, along with unique abilities specific to Top Ride to gain an edge over their opponents in a race. The race will be played from a top-down perspective with shorter match lengths. Top Ride is available in solo or online multiplayer modes.
Sakurai also confirmed the addition of an all-new story campaign called Road Trip. In this mode, players will complete challenges while collecting machines and items. All the while, they will progress through a story that involves Kirby, King Dedede, Starman, and the other riders, who all embark on a journey together.
More Kirby Air Riders game modes and multiplayer features
Kirby Air Riders has two more game modes, in addition to the two above. In Paddock, players can gather in a social hub and choose a mode they’d like to play together. In Swap Relay, players can select different machines for individual laps, swapping between them or relaying with other players in between each lap.
As for the game’s new features, players can also try out the new racing machine Transform Star. This is a star-type flying machine and bike-type driving machine all-in-one, and players can rapidly swap between both types by moving the left stick. The game has plenty of new machines to try, some of which the player will need to work a little harder to collect. The Checklist, on the other hand, is a box that gets flipped over when players clear specific objectives.
New amiibo figures are also coming based on characters from Kirby Air Riders, and interestingly, they can also swap amiibo machines and riders around as they wish. All of the original nine courses from Kirby Air Ride are also returning, rounding the game’s map roster up to 18.
In multiplayer game modes, players can compete using a Class system and a metric called Global Win Power. Your Class will decide who you’re matched up with in online game modes, and will also shape changes in City Trial. Each multiplayer game mode will also have separate Global Win Power rankings based on the player’s number of wins. You can find your Global Win Power on your License, which is essentially a player profile in the shape of a card.
The game’s playable roster was also expanded on, with the reveal of new characters like the spider Taranza and twins Lololo & Lalala. Each racer comes with unique abilities, so you’ll want to find someone who matches your playstyle. You can also customise your machines, Licences, and more using Miles–a type of currency players earn by playing.
Finally, Nintendo Switch Online members will also be able to try Kirby Air Riders ahead of its launch date by jumping into the Global Test Ride event. This beta period will run from 8–9 November and 15–16 November on Nintendo Switch 2.
Kirby Air Riders launches on 20 November, 2025.
