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Kirby Air Ride
GameCube
Released On: Oct 13, 2003
61
8.2
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 28 Critic Reviews
61
36% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
43% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
21% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 28 Critic Reviews
61
36% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
43% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
21% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Kirby has surprising depth and greater challenge than you might think. [Dec 2003, p.139]
If you pick up Kirby Air Ride expecting a great racing experience, you're not going to find it, go buy "F-Zero GX." The level themes seem more like platformer worlds than racing environments.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 121 User Ratings
8.2
80% Positive
97 Ratings
97 Ratings
10% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
10% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 121 User Ratings
8.2
80% Positive
97 Ratings
97 Ratings
10% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
10% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
This is probably one of the most underrated games ever and it's so much fun.
It's a simple experience but isn't as easy as people say because it has tons of things to do because of the checklist. The soundtrack has absolute masterpieces which are of great quality and depth. The game is a lot of fun, but the city trial mode is what offers the best experience, especially with friends or family.
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GameCube
The perceptive lack of lots of courses in Air Ride mode and the limited fun that the Top Ride and City Trial modes offer might shy away some gamers, but KAR is primarily a fast, fun, and novel take on the kart racing genre that shouldn't go ignored.
With an impressive variety of creative and offbeat game modes, great multiplayer, numerous tracks and minigames, a horde of vehicles, and endearingly charming characters and gameplay elements, Kirby Air Ride is surprisingly enjoyable if you give it some time.
So simple and so devoid of depth or challenge that most will dislike it -- will, in fact, be utterly bored with it.
An unintuitive mess. Never mind the fact that gamers are instinctively prepared to press a button to accelerate, but charging your boost by braking is an impractical affair that can also get you into trouble when you're stuck at the bottom of a hill and need a boost to get up.
None of this is very entertaining at all. The game offers some of the most slender, inconsequential, and ultimately, boring distractions to be found on the GameCube. [Sept 2003]
Looking at this game now, I understand why people hated it, it was honestly garbage and not a game worth picking up. I never really liked racing games as a kid as I was more of a casual fan of games that relied more on luck and less on skill. This was one of the few exceptions. This game was so simplistic, so easy, and so much fun to pick up that my brothers and I would spend hours investing in random game modes. At least 90% of the time we weren't even playing an actual game mode, we were just making up our own rules as the game went on. We would spend hours on the open world gamemode of city trial not even playing the minigames that came with it. It truly is an experience that I would love to be remade but sadly a lot of people never got that same experience as me. The game was simple so people gave it low scores and I understand that, I would love a remake however, this game really changed the gaming universe for me and my brothers.
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GameCube
Underrated game this one. While it's not the most sophisticated racer going around (acceleration is automatic), it has a surprising amount of content in it. Many hours to be had unlocking all challenges which does present a fair amount of challenge and roaming around the city in City Trial can be interesting. Worth looking at if you're after a racing experience other than Gran Turismo, Forza or Mario Kart.
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GameCube
With most Kirby games having the same formula of walking around and killing random enemies; sounds like Call of duty, it was about time for a change. This game was a great one as I remember, even if the idea sounded a bit: cash in on Mario kart. But little did people know that this game has a lot replay ability. That's the game greatest plus, you can play around with friends in any mode, it's not limited by mode, only controllers. Speaking of modes, there's Airide, top ride, and city trial. Airide is just simply racing around a track, still **** up enemies to get the edge. Top ride is a simple track race viewed from above by all players, you pick from only two types of carts: free movement and turn only, and instead of **** up enemies you pick up items. City trial is by far the main reason why people play this game, you can do pretty much anything. If you play the infinite mode: no time, you can pick from any vehicle in the game: you must unlock the two hidden ones first to ride them at will. Again, greatest thing about this game is just how much fun it is with friends, and I think this game doesn't get the appreciation that it deserves from most.
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GameCube
This game is one of the best Kirby games, and you can quote me on that. Its so simple and intuitive that anyone can understand it, its so simple that the controls become "complicated" (except not really). in order to boost, you have to stop moving which might seem odd at first if your jumping from any other Nintendo racing game like Mario Kart or F-Zero. And the game modes seem lacking at first, but the best game mode is probably city trial. And dont even get me started on how fun it can be with some friends. Also the game's graphics and mood is similar to smash melee but only Kirby, which might seem odd at first but you eventually get used to the graphics compared to other Kirby games. Overall, this Kirby game is so cute and charming but so different to other Kirby games. That may seem bad but the game is so nice and easy compared to other racing games that are so competitive that it becomes annoying. And because of that alone, I have to give it a 10, and Nintendo needs to make a sequel of some sort so this game can gain the hype and respect that it deserves.
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GameCube
While I can see Kirby fans loving this, the truth is this game is just plain boring.
It's repetitive, the "car" drives on its own, it controls like a drunk, and the menus are straight up ripped from Smash Bros. Melee. Having only 1 button and 1 control stick sounds simple, but having about 5+ different things assigned to that one button makes it overly complicated for no reason at all.
I had no fun with this, so I'm gonna stick with Mario Kart, which at least seems to have a varied roster...
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GameCube
Summary Prepare for fast and furious racing action as Kirby hits Warpstar speed. Use simple controls to race and battle your friends in one of three hectic game modes. In Air Ride mode, you'll race to the finish line against your friends or computer-controlled competition. Top Ride mode lets up to four players race to the finish line using wi...
Rated E
for Everyone
Platforms:
- GameCube
Initial Release Date: Oct 13, 2003
Developer:
- HAL Labs
Publisher: Nintendo
Genres:
