Nintendo has been making video games for well over fifty years, so of course they would have a bunch of recognizable series and franchises within their game catalog today. There’s Mario & Luigi, Pokémon, Metroid, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Kirby, and so many more.

There are also plenty of strange games that have come out of Nintendo — many even feature some of those big name characters. Mario is Missing! was a weird educational game I owned as a kid but don’t remember much about. Arms was a neat new concept for a fighting game on the Nintendo Switch, which featured ranged boxing matches where the fighters had stretchy arms — it was also a way to use the joy-con in an interesting way. Drag X Drive was released soon after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch as a way to showcase the new joy-con mouse controls.

With their growing list of long dormant series, there are plenty of games that Nintendo fans would love to see make a comeback. F-Zero and Star Fox are two that I’d like to see with today’s tech.

Air Ride Time!

Recently, Nintendo decided to bring back one of these dormant series featuring Kirby — Kirby Air Riders. The first trailer made me think this was a Mario Kart-type racer starring Kirby and friends. After playing the game, this feels closer to Super Smash Bros. than a Mario Kart racing game. It’s also got some F-Zero flavor, but with Kirby and friends. If I knew Nintendo was going to bring back a racing game I would have hoped for the return of Diddy Kong Racing (originally developed by Rare).

I love that Nintendo can pull out something like Kirby Air Riders — a GameCube era game — and a large group of their fanbase will lose their minds over it. This also brings new players to the table. In 10-20 years, we may see the return of Arms, maybe Drag X Drive, and there will be some players who were kids when the original game came out who have been waiting for this moment since their childhood.

What makes Kirby Air Riders different from Mario Kart and other Kart racers is the learning curve. You can’t just toss a first-timer into a race in Kirby Air Riders. One must train to learn how to Air Ride. People who have never touched a game in their life can figure out Mario Kart — and if they can’t, there’s “kid mode,” and accessibility features.

After completing a number of lessons, I was ready to race in Kirby Air Riders. I still have no idea what I’m doing in these races. Races and events are pure chaos, but that’s what makes this game fun.

Ways to Play

After completing the lessons, I competed in Air Ride races. I won some and lost most, but I had a good time overall. Within Kirby Air Riders there are two racing styles — Air Ride is the classic third-person view, while Top Ride is a smaller-scale, top-down view approach to Air Riding. Top Ride took some getting used to since you have to learn to turn according to where you are on the track. Once I got the hang of this, I won a few Top Ride races. It’s kind of crazy that there are technically two different racing games within this game — Air Ride and Top Ride.

The City Trial mode is a mix of games leading up to a race. Throughout the games, you build up your vehicle with ability points. Next, you enter a race where everyone brings what they have gained in the prior games. It’s almost like drafting in a TCG.

My favorite way to play thus far has been Road Trip (or Story Mode). Completing the lessons and jumping into Road Trip is the perfect way to become a master Air Rider. Road Trip is a collection of all game modes. There are collect-a-thons, knockout games, boss fights, and more. I still feel like I’m mostly mashing buttons in these races and events, but it’s still a fun time.

The Nintendo Way

I love seeing Nintendo bring back their strange and weird games of the past. I have yet to play a WarioWare game, but they always look like the strangest collection of weird little mini-games — and people love them.

Nintendo knows what works. They know what the fans want and what we love — more Mario, more Kirby, more Pokémon, more Metroid, more Animal Crossing, and everything we love.

Nintendo is also known for trying some odd stuff here and there. Sometimes it sticks and other times it doesn’t, but I love that one of the top three gaming companies is taking huge swings with certain projects. This has led to great success and some failures.

Nintendo recently released Pokémon Pokopia, a new style of Pokémon game, “which is closer to Animal Crossing meets Dragon Quest Builders without the combat” (according to my buddy Nero, who’s been obsessed with it since it came out). Pokémon Pokopia is one of those big Nintendo swings that seems to have paid off for the company.

I’m excited to see which other long-dormant Nintendo franchises make it onto the Nintendo Switch 2. Also, all of the strange new projects.

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*myVGBC.com was given a Kirby Air Riders review code from Nintendo.