Director Masahiro Sakurai delivers new information directly from 'Kirby Air Riders Direct 2,' a summary of the classic game's first new release in 22 years, 'Kirby Air Riders.'

Kirby Air Riders Direct 2 was broadcast on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 10 PM, providing information about the game Kirby Air Riders , which is scheduled to be released on November 20, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch 2. The broadcast lasted approximately 60 minutes.

Kirby Air Rider Direct 2 2025.10.23 | Nintendo
https://www.nintendo.com/jp/nintendo-direct/20251023/index.html

Kirby Air Rider Direct 2 2025.10.23 - YouTube


You can watch the previous Kirby Air Rider Direct below. During the previous stream, it was revealed that Kirby Air Rider will follow the legacy of its predecessor, Kirby Air Ride, released in 2003, while also introducing new systems. Various characters, courses, and vehicles were announced, along with the addition of a City Trial mode that allows up to 16 players to compete, and a Gourmet Race.

Kirby Air Rider Direct 2025.8.19 - YouTube


Director Masahiro Sakurai commented that the 60-minute broadcast time was 'long, isn't it?'

In addition to the content announced in the previous 'Kirby Air Rider Direct,' a new feature that was also announced this time was 'Weride,' a racing game played with a top-down view.

Weride shares the same system as Air Ride and City Trial, allowing you to choose your own rider and machine.

Sakurai is excitedly playing Weride against the CPU on the highest difficulty level.

An easy victory.

There are two operation methods: free operation and handle operation, and you can choose the one that is easier for you.

The courses in Air Ride are based on the courses available in this game's Air Ride.

Each Weride can display its own dedicated screen, and the camera that shows the course can be adjusted to move closer or further away.

Up to eight people can play online at the same time, but according to Sakurai, four players are recommended. Air Ride City Trial also supports split-screen offline play, just like the previous game.

The screen can also be processed to look like a miniature.

Weride is characterized by its ease of multiplayer battles on the same screen. Offline play is also possible, and up to four people plus four CPUs can play on one screen.

Air Ride City Trial allows offline battles using split screen. You can choose between vertical and horizontal split screen, and Sakurai says, 'This is important.'

Not only can you use controllers from the Nintendo Switch 2, but you can also use controllers from the original Nintendo Switch, such as Joy-Con and Pro Controllers.

You can also use the Nintendo GameCube controller for Nintendo Switch 2, which is available exclusively to Nintendo Switch Online members.

'Road Trip'

In this mode, you select a rider and machine and progress through the game while clearing the challenges that stand in your way.

A variety of topics await you.

And then, suddenly, a mysterious encounter occurs.

The movie also features bosses that appeared in previous games.

Next, let's talk about online features.

You can create 'licenses,' which are equivalent to player cards.

The license allows you to freely customize materials, names, titles, stickers, etc.

The 'paddock' where players gather for online sessions looks like this. Each character has their own unique walking and jumping motions.

Here, a racing room is created and each player participates in it.

Communication in the paddock is selected using two analog sticks. Although it is not possible to communicate very complex things, simple communication is possible.

There may be multiple sessions running at the same time, so you can join as many as you like.

While you're waiting to participate, you can spend your time however you like, such as wandering around the paddock or watching the race.

License cards have classes.

There is also a point called 'World Victory Power.' This is a point that simply increases if you win, so the more you play, the higher it becomes, and it does not directly reflect a person's ability.

Classes are distinguished by color, not by letter.

There are three classes available: Air Ride, Weride, and City Trial.

And the song.

Amazingly, courses from the previous game are being revived in 'Kirby Air Rider.'

All nine types are included.

There are nine new courses in this game, so there are a total of 18 courses.

However, the courses have not remained the same, but have been remade for this game, and there are more characters and machines, so you will not be able to achieve the same times as in the previous game.

Apparently, the courses from the previous game won't be playable from the start, but the conditions for unlocking them have been made easy.

Air Ride also allows you to enjoy a special race called the 'Transfer Relay.'

In short, the rule is that drivers must switch between multiple machines every lap.

Additionally, in City Trials, 'Rare Containers' have been added to the containers that contain items.

In addition to rare items, there are also characters that you may have seen somewhere before.

As in the previous game, parts for legendary machines will also come out of the containers.

Dragoon

Hydra

A legendary machine can be completed by collecting three parts, but since City Trial can be played by up to 16 people, collecting parts can be quite difficult.

However, City Trial will feature team battles, which will make it easier to collect parts.

In team battles, players are divided into two teams, so the probability of winning is 50/50. If more than 10 people participate, players will be divided into two stadiums and continue fighting.

The decision is made by total points.

Here, the character who will be the new rider was announced.

There are also some unique machines.

For example, 'Henshin Star' allows you to switch between a star and a bike.

For example, the 'Willy Scooter' is a maneuverable mini bike.

Regarding voices, character voices are not reproduced as much as possible.

However, it seems that the machine's death throes sound more like a voice.

The voice in this work mainly plays the role of announcements.

Male and female voices are available in a variety of languages.

The Japanese announcements will be made by Ginga Banjou for men and Omoto Makiko for women.

The voice actor for the announcement also acts as the storyteller, or narrator, for the road trip.

Narration can be set separately from in-game announcements.

Air Ride has two modes: 'Time Attack' and 'Free Run.' Time Attack is a mode where you can challenge your own record.

Free run aims to achieve the best time for one lap.

In Free Run, you can have a ghost of your best run appear.

Please note that times vary depending on the machine, so time records for each course can be recorded separately for each machine.

However, your time record will not be published online and you will not be able to see other people's times.

Sakurai said, 'Time attack is a battle with yourself.'

City Trial has a 'Drive Mode' that lets you drive the Skya freely. This mode just drives the Skya aimlessly.

However, there is a parking lot underground at Skya, where you can freely switch between machines.

There is also a 'Flight Warp Star' that is exclusive to drive mode.

This Flight Warp Star has excellent gliding ability, and you can create smoke by pressing the Y button while in drive mode.

You can also draw a trail in the sky like this.

Of course, you can also take photos.

Various events occur during the Tea Trial.

For example, something like this.

Stadium has a different mode from City Trial.

You can freely choose the stadium type and play with it.

Detailed rules can be set.

It is also possible to restrict the rules by preventing certain stages from being played.

Furthermore, the 'boss battle' from the previous work has been

The previous game featured a cooperative game called 'VS Dedede' in which players fought against King Dedede.

'I made a cool transforming machine.'

That's Mecha Dedede.

Dedede type

Car type

Mecha Dedede is a powerful transforming boss. Teams must work together to defeat him. This game also includes a lock-on function, which can be switched on and off by pressing the R stick.

There are also several other series bosses waiting.

This game also features a 'Clear Getter' feature, which unlocks achievements when you complete certain tasks in the game.

There are five separate Clear Getters: Air Ride, Weride, City Trial, Road Trip, and Online. Since it's not necessary to clear the online version, there are no rewards for unlocking machines or characters in the online Clear Getter.

You can make the Clear Getter appear at any time by pressing the ZL button, and directly challenge races with combinations that meet your conditions from the Clear Getter.

If you find the rules too difficult, you can change them. Sakurai said, 'It's OK to cheat a little.'

You can also get multiple copies of the same machine as rewards.

In this game, you can even customize the appearance of your machine. It's called 'My Machine.'

You can freely set patterns, decals, accessories, and effects. You can also adjust the size and angle of patterns and decals.

Additionally, you can purchase customizations for your favorite Ore Machines from the online Ore Machine Marketplace.

You can purchase machines designed by others. There is a market price for the machines, and the more they are sold, the higher the price goes.

This means you can also sell machines that you design.

However, you won't make any money from the sale, so you'll just have to wait and see how popular your design is and see what the market price is.

There are also multiple rider hats available.

When it comes to hats, copy abilities take priority, but if you discard a copy ability, you'll wear a hat of your choice. You can also discard copy abilities by repeatedly pressing the special (Y button).

Hats and Ore Machines can be purchased with the in-game currency, 'Miles.'

You receive miles every time you run a race, so the more you run, the more you earn.

The Mile Shop also sells parts that allow you to customize your machine, but it seems that they no longer sell parts that improve the machine's performance.

And when you play online and beat someone, you get gummies.

Gummy bears are simply collectibles. Collect lots of them and have fun attracting or slicing them away.

You can also decorate your room with your Ore Machine.

The composers are Shogo Sakai, who was in charge of the previous work, and Noriyuki Iwadare, known for 'Kid Icarus: Uprising.'

City Trial features a custom song selection function.

You can decide the probability of background music appearing.

Of course, a sound test is also implemented.

Some of the songs will be available on Nintendo Music after the 'Kirby Air Rider Direct 2' broadcast ends.

The menu screen UI. This is what it looked like in the previous version.

'Kirby Air Rider' is designed to look like the top of a desk.

According to Sakurai, 'This tab at the bottom right is very important,' and it contains much more than what has been explained here.

You can also press the Y button to watch a video showing how to play.

Button settings can be managed by linking them to your 'name.'

Depending on the button settings, it can be played with one hand.

The options are also implemented for accessibility and color vision enhancement.

And, 'A feature I really wanted to try my best to make'

That's 'drunkenness prevention'

The system aims to reduce motion sickness by increasing the number of grid lines displayed on the screen and adjusting the shaking, rotation speed, and field of view.

Motion sickness prevention measures can be set in detail, and there are three preset settings available as a 'motion sickness prevention set.'

The Kirby Air Rider amiibo was also introduced in the previous Kirby Air Rider Direct.

The main feature is that you can change riders.

Additionally, three new characters have been announced: Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Cook Kawasaki.

Not only can the rider and machine be separated and interchangeable, but King Dedede's machine, for example, can be transformed from a tank form to a gliding form by replacing the caterpillar parts.

So far, we've been talking about the game's mechanics, but now we have a story that answers the question of why Kirby and his friends are riding in machines.

Air Ride Machines Falling from the Sky

By touching someone and communicating your thoughts, the engine of the Air Ride machine is ignited.

Machines were eventually accepted by society, and those who rode them came to be called riders, and society grew into one in which machines and riders coexisted.

However, the riders notice that the machine is staring somewhere, and so they set out on a journey to find out what the machine is staring at.

In the movie announced at Nintendo Direct, Kirby's Warp Star was a blast, not a way to fix a Showa-era TV, but rather a way to ignite the engine by pouring his will into it.

And the semi-living entity 'Zora'

Fate revolves around Zora's wish.

According to Sakurai, 'Kirby Air Rider' was developed in response to the positive feedback and strong requests from fans of the previous game, and he stated, 'We are putting all our effort into this game, so we have no plans to release any DLC. We also have no plans to release a sequel to the series.'

However, some features will be implemented through the release date update, so an announcement was made to update online immediately after purchase.

The final video: Zora, a semi-living being

Star Rod

And Galactic Nova. His eyes slowly open.

The online trial sessions are scheduled for Saturday, November 8th from 5pm to 11pm, Sunday, November 9th from 9am to 3pm, Monday, November 10th from midnight to 6am, Saturday, November 15th from 5pm to 11pm, Sunday, November 16th from 9am to 3pm, and Monday, November 17th from midnight to 6am.

'Kirby Air Rider' will be released on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The price is 8,980 yen (tax included) for the packaged version and 7,980 yen (tax included) for the download version.

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