The History of Kirby Air Ride

All eyes are on Nintendo’s second half of 2025, which includes the upcoming releases of Pokémon and Metroid titles. Also included from the first-party slate is a little game called Kirby Air Riders. The title, which holds significance for GameCube fans but little for those who followed, is a follow-up to a 2003 game that, despite failing to impress fans, has since gained a cult following. To better contextualize the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 game, let’s dive into the history of Kirby Air Ride and learn more about how this game came to be.

The origins of Kirby Air Ride begin before the Nintendo GameCube. In the Nintendo 64 era, Masahiro Sakurai spearheaded a project known as Kirby Bowl 64 or Kirby Ball 64. The demo for the game even appeared in 1995 alongside Super Mario 64 at a conference, featuring two game modes. In the first, you would control Kirby in a ball through an obstacle course while trying to knock opponents off the map. The other mode included a snowboarding minigame, which made up the fabric of what we would come to know as Kirby Air Ride.

A few tweaks and changes, including a focus on the development of 1080 Snowboarding, delayed the development of Kirby Air Ride. In 2003, the game would make an appearance once again via trailer at DICE. Initially criticized for looking slow and featuring poor visuals, a demo released for E3 that year would allow players to try five tracks themselves, which earned a better reception. The game would release in July 2003 in Japan, arriving later to North America on October 13. The game was far from a hit, but it did finally arrive on shelves.

A strange decision that left many conflicted was how simple it was to play. You don’t need to press a button on your controller to accelerate. You simply move forward automatically and control your direction with the stick. The A button also allows you to break, boost, and absorb enemies around you. Kirby games are far from difficult, the Switch title Kirby and the Forgotten Land aside, but this was another level of simple. It was clear that this would either work for gamers or not work, and by the sales numbers, we can see that some were fine to play something simpler, and others were less convinced.

Selling under 500,000 copies in Japan and right around 750,000 copies in the U.S., most critics thought the presentation of the game was good, but the gameplay was too simple. At the time, GameCube offered not only Mario Kart: Double Dash, but also F-Zero GX. Another racing game with less frantic and fun gameplay simply didn’t catch the eyes of the public or critics. With the release of Mario Kart World on the Switch 2 receiving positive yet far-from-ground-breaking responses, is there a chance Kirby Air Riders will release more effectively?

Kirby Air Riders is planned to arrive on the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2025, but its predecessor laid the groundwork for what to expect. With more details to come about the sequel, Kirby Air Rider exists as one of those titles many have nostalgia for but certainly did not secure a space in the pantheon of top Nintendo titles. If you have nostalgia or thoughts on Kirby Air Rider, let us know in the comments!