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- Image of Kirby AirRiders, Courtesy of Nintendo

Kirby Air Riders Granted a Massive Spotlight in Tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct!

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming
By Dakota Robinson | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:33 PM ET

As announced on Nintendo’s social media accounts, including the newly opened social media account dedicated to the new game, Kirby Air Riders is set to get a Nintendo Direct tomorrow, August 18th, 2025, at 6 am Pacific/9 am Eastern time. It will be hosted by director Masahiro Sakurai and held for around 45 minutes to cover details of the upcoming game.

Previously, it was shown off on April 2nd on an earlier Nintendo Direct, and you can watch the teaser for it here. Where we were not shown off a lot of the game, just that there will be multiple colored versions of Kirby playable and that famed director Masahiro Sakurai would be part of the project. Where before he was director of the Kirby series of Kirby Air Ride for the Nintendo GameCube, released back in 2003. Which, at the time, had been his last Kirby series title for over 15 years.

What is Kirby Air Riders?

Kirby Air Riders is a racing spin-off title of the ongoing Kirby series developed typically by HAL Labs., and is the actual the second installment in the Air Ride series. It hadn’t seen a title since the Nintendo GameCube classic in 2003. We can expect to be able to pilot many different kinds of air rides, such as the iconic Warp Star to the legendary Dragoon. As well as playing with the Kirby cast, naturally expecting Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede: mainstays of these sorts of titles. Though perhaps we could see more come…

What can we expect to get announced?

Screenshot of Kirby AirRide, Courtesy of Nintendo

Like with the previous Super Smash Bros. directs that would also be hosted by Masahiro Sakurai, we can expect to see a lot about the game. From courses, to game modes, rideable vehicles, as well as characters. With the brief look we got last time, we know that Kirby is in fact, going to be playable (as well as several colored variants of him), as well as a brief look at one of the courses–looking like it was ripped from a fairytale.

Hopefully, like with Super Smash Bros., the reveals will be as explosive and fun as they had been, with welcome additions to the cast that many Kirby fans will gush about their inclusion. With classics such as Marx from Kirby Super Star and Adeleine from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards being popular inclusions, though maybe we can expect to see newer additions such as Magalor from Kirby: Return to Dreamland and Susie from Kirby: Planet Robobot. Maybe even Chef Kawasaki has a chance at it?

One feature that would be great to know about is the return of the beloved City Trial game mode from the original title. Which pits up to four players on a city map to collect as many stat boosts as they can before time runs out, where they would engage in a random minigame to test out their new power boosts. This is much like what would become the Smash Run game mode in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, which was released September 13th, 2014, for the Nintendo 3DS.

With that, we hope that Kirby Air Riders is the much-awaited sequel that a lot of us had hoped for, and tides fans over until the inevitable return to the Super Smash Bros. series after the game’s development is wrapped up. My best hope is that the game is maintained well enough with a steady stream of content, something that has been personally lacking in Nintendo’s online experiences during the Nintendo Switch era. While also not paying respects to just Kirby’s past that Sakurai has been a part of, but Kirby’s present, and give a good glimpse into his future even!

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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