Kirby Air Riders Final Preview: Quite possibly the most polarising game of the year

There aren't many occasions where I am truly bewildered by what a video game presents but after experiencing my first round of Kirby Air Riders, I was frankly lost for words. On the latest trip to Nintendo's headquarters in Windsor, what began as a fairly typical wander through the town's bustling high-street with the famous castle looming overhead and housing the British monarchs, soon spiralled out into utter chaos as I was thrown into activities in what Nintendo was very clearly trying to explain is Masahiro Sakurai's attempt to combine kart racing and Super Smash Bros. "Smash on wheels" is what we were told before being let-loose into a game that several other attendees were quick to describe as "marmite", an experience that you will either fall head over heels for or find quite challenging to adore.

Within moments it's clear that this isn't just another kart racer, it's not competing with Mario Kart World or Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in any sense of the word. It's a vehicular-based brawling, racing, party game, a title that wears so many hats that it's elevator pitch must have been as long as a TED talk. The point is, there is no quick and easy way to explain what this game is and the only way to really understand Kirby Air Riders is to play it yourself.

But what is immediately noticeable is the Sakurai-styling and the Smash essence that permeates every crack. The menus and the UI, it all looks like it has been taken from the famous fighting series, as does how the characters are arranged and offered and how the vehicle selection is presented too. There's no denying who made this game and whose creative vision it reflects. Still, as much as we all adore Sakurai and it's hard to say the Japanese icon shouldn't be given all the resources he needs to make his ideas a reality, the more time I spent in Kirby Air Riders, the more I began to wonder if they ever told him 'no' once during the development process. And I say this because this game is eccentric madness in every form, it's hectic, wild, difficult to understand, fast-paced, colourful, and loud. Again, you will either love it or hate it.

During this brief preview period, I had the luxury to hone my skills in the practice areas, where various tutorials defined the mechanics of the gameplay. For the most part, it's quite straightforward and clear, except with the caveat that there's no forward input as the karts naturally drive ahead without needing player involvement. This is seemingly to free you up and allow you to spend more time battling, be it spinning to discombobulate rivals or to suck up NPCs around each track to gain the benefit of their abilities. Likewise, there's no traditional 'drifting' mechanic as instead you effectively pull the handbrake and charge up a boost to launch around corners in a very unique kart racing manner. So far there's not a whole lot to surprise players and that's how I felt too, as while some of the mechanics required adjustments to master, it was quite familiar. But then we get into actual racing and battling gameplay...

This is where things steadily became crazier and crazier. First came Air Ride, where for around 20 minutes I got to zip around and race NPC rivals across three unique tracks filled with their own hazards and secrets. Here I started to notice that Kirby Air Riders is an unusual game to say the least and that it has design caveats and choices that will make it more inaccessible and less entertaining to wider demographics unlike how Mario Kart can touch all ages and audiences. But it was still the same idea of using the quirky mechanics to reach the finish line as fast as possible and ideally in first place.

Then came City Trial... This is where things went off the rails frankly, both in a good and bad way. This is the arena-based battling and party-like mode, which is split into two parts. The first is a five-minute period where you zoom around an open level and collect different symbols that represent attribute points and even switch karts to gain their signature benefits. The reason being is that the attributes you gather and the kart you select will be used in the party activity that follows, so if you collect a ton of the symbols that represent speed and only a few that reflect handling, your kart will be fast but a nightmare to control. It might sound like there's a degree of strategy involved here but in truth it's a chaotic period of madness where you zoom around and hoover up anything you can before another player beats you to it. It's five-minutes of mania where you fly around without any plan whatsoever and even engage in world events (such as mini arena battles) that can reward big bonuses. This period is then followed by an activity selection mechanic where you choose the game mode to play, in which I had the opportunity to experience a combat battle, a darts-like mode, and even an evasive race. Again, it was pure madness where thoughtful preparation comes second to raw reactive responses, with the winner being the person who can either cause the most havoc or navigate hazards the fastest.

For what it's worth, I actually enjoyed my time with Kirby Air Riders but it did leave an impression where I felt a tad shell-shocked by the experience. It was an attack on the senses at times, and despite winning all three City Trial games I played, despite the questioning from the other journalists, I couldn't actually tell them how I did it. There was no strategy, there was no planning, it was just me embracing the madness and putting together whatever pieces remain, and that's why this game will be a very polarising addition to the Switch 2 portfolio.

Some folk will appreciate the mania and what Sakurai has delivered whereas many others will find themselves bewildered and overwhelmed, unsure about the end product. It's a game that is trying to be so many different things at once and while there is entertainment to be divulged from that, it's also a hard game to recommend as it doesn't have that signature approachability and simplicity of Kirby, nor a kart racer, nor even a brawling fighter. There were plenty of other modes I didn't get to experience during this hands-on session, so stay tuned for our full review ahead of launch as the single-player Road Trip and the famous Top Ride might just make or break this game.