Kirby Air Ride

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kirby Air Ride
Kirby Air Ride box cover
Developer(s) HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Designer(s) Satoru Iwata
Series Kirby
Release date(s) Japan JPN July 11, 2003
United States USA October 13, 2003
European Union EU February 22, 2004
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone)
Platform(s) GameCube
Media 1 × GameCube Optical Disc

Kirby Air Ride (カービィのエアライド Kirby no Air Ride?) is a 2003 racing video game featuring Kirby, a Nintendo mascot. Rather than racing in cars, the players and computer-controlled racers ride on air ride machines. Originally intended to be released on the Nintendo 64, the game was instead released for the GameCube. The game supports up to four players, and was the first GameCube title to support LAN play using broadband adapters and up to four GameCubes.

Contents

[edit] Development

Kirby Air Ride (known as Kirby's Air Ride at the time) was originally in development during the early days of the Nintendo 64.[1] The game went through many changes during its elongated development period before eventually resurfacing as a GameCube title in the form of a short video preview in March 2003 at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas. This preview received a mainly negative reception due to slow speeds and poor graphics.[2] The game was first seen in playable form at E3 in May later that year. The demo contained five playable tracks and three different game modes. The reception to this was slightly more positive than previous showings, but the game was criticised for lacking depth and a sense of speed.[3]

[edit] Gameplay

Kirby Air Ride is played primarily through use of a vehicle, many of which are taken from previous Kirby games, such as the warp star. Players take control of Kirby or any of his multicolored counterparts to compete in races or other minigames.

The simple controls are a defining feature of Kirby Air Ride. Unlike most racers, no input is necessary for the craft to move forward. Other than the use of the analog stick to steer, a single button performs all other actions in the game, including braking, charging up for a boost, sucking in nearby enemies and thereafter using the powers absorbed from them. Gliding is also a definitive feature of the game, as the player can control the crafts' altitude when they go airborne.[4]

[edit] Modes of Play

There are three modes of play:

[edit] Air Ride

Air Ride is a basic, back-view racing mode. The player chooses a racing machine and races against up to three other human or computer players via split-screen or LAN. There are two ways to play a typical Air Ride race:

  1. Laps: Laps is the default mode, where the player finishes the race by completing a set number of laps around the course. The number of laps can be custom set from 1 to 99, or kept at the track's default. The default number of laps may depend on the current course.
  2. Time: In Time mode, players race for a set amount of time, and the player that goes the farthest down the track wins the match.

In both modes, the Kirbys may swallow and acquire the abilities of enemies strewn along the track and use those powers against their rivals. Doing so will slow Kirby's enemies down and potentially do damage to them (if the Health Bar is activated for the race.)

In addition to the racing mode, Air Ride also has the option of Time Trial mode, where a single player races around a track (with the track's default number of laps.) Lastly, a single player can also race Free Run mode, an endless race with the sole purpose of reaching the fastest possible Lap Time.

In all, Air Ride has nine courses to choose from. These courses are widely varied and range from simple grassy plains to frozen hillsides to courses located in space.

[edit] Top Ride

Top Ride is an overhead racing mode on smaller, simpler tracks. Due to the decreased track size, the default number of laps is increased per track. Top Ride has only two vehicles to choose from; the red Free Star moves in the direction the Control Stick is tilted, while the blue Steer Star rotates clockwise or counterclockwise based on tilting the Control Stick right or left.

Like Air Ride, Top Ride also has Time Trial and Free Run modes. There are seven courses total, based on seven different themes: Grass, Sand, Sky, Fire, Light, Water and Metal.

[edit] City Trial

City Trial is a larger mode where players must navigate a city, along with several more sections such as a forest, cave, and volcano, while grabbing Air Ride machine upgrade items. Various Air Ride vehicles are randomly scattered throughout the city, allowing the player to switch vehicles at any time in the game. Players can even collect rare machine pieces to fuse together into "legendary machines". This mode also features random events such as falling meteors, UFOs, Dyna Blade, rail station fires, bouncing items, and more. A City Trial game can be custom set to last 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 minutes. When time expires, players face off in a small competition that tests how well your machine ended up, which can vary between a short race, a brawl, a contest to destroy the most enemies, a gliding game, and even more. Once played in City Trial mode, these contests are unlocked for play in the Stadium, where one to four people can choose a vehicle and instantly play the mini-game to set high records.

[edit] Vehicles

Main article: List of vehicles in Kirby Air Ride

[edit] Features

The game features incredibly simple controls, using only the control stick and one button.

The game also features soundtracks from the Japanese version of Kirby: Right Back At Ya!. There are also tracks from Kirby Super Star and other Kirby games.

Masahiro Sakurai, the game designer behind the Kirby series, resigned only days after giving a public interview where he openly criticized Nintendo for circumstances surrounding the development of Kirby Air Ride.[5][6]

Multiplayer LAN connectivity with up to four Nintendo GameCube systems.

[edit] Reaction

Review scores
Publication Score
GameSpy
3 of 5
IGN
5.2 of 10
GamePro
4 of 5
1UP.com
4 of 10
Revo-Europe
7 of 10
G4's X-Play
3 of 5
Game Freaks 365
6.7 of 10
Planet GameCube
8.5 of 10
Game Informer
7 of 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly
7 of 10
Nintendo Power
4.2 of 5

The game was met with mixed reviews upon its release, many of them praising it for the smooth visuals and orchestrated music, but criticizing it for its overly simple gameplay and lack of extended appeal. Many fans support it for being a fairly easy and quick-to-learn game, allowing the player to have fun in a high-speed racing experience and be able to relax rather than playing games that require ridiculous button mashing to succeed. The game's similarity to other titles released for the GameCube around the same time, such as F-Zero GX and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! resulted in it being categorised as a rather throwaway title.[7]

[edit] Anime Series Tie-Ins

Kirby's Air Ride, along with Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land were both released while the Kirby anime series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! was being aired in Japan and the US. As such there are numerous references between the two.

Episodes 96 and 97 of the original run were a two-part episode entitled Air-Ride in Style (originally Crisis of the Warp Star) in which four of the Air Ride Machines from the game, specifically the Wing, Jet, Rocket and Shadow Stars, were featured. The game's actual release in Japan coincided with an earlier two-part episode that had the characters participating in a race.

The game also had references back to the TV show. Many of the tracks, including the main theme for the Checker Knights course and many of the City Trial events were taken directly from the original soundtrack for the anime scored by Akira Miyagawa.[8] (This was not immediately noticeable to fans in the US, as the English dub of the anime had all the original music removed.) Some of the remixes of other Kirby games that appeared in Air Ride were also actually used in the anime first, many months before the game's release.

Other references were more subtle. In the City Trial mode, Whispy Woods appears in a small forest. It is possibly to destroy the surrounding trees. You are then left with a golf course- King Dedede in the anime was constantly plotting to destroy Whispy Woods to build his own private Country Club. Also, one City Trial event has a massive, disk-shaped ship appear overhead. It is identical to ones called Destrayar that appeared in the final episodes of the anime.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Murphy. Kirby Air Ride. Gamers Europe. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  2. ^ Kirby's Air Ride: First Look. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
  3. ^ E3 2003: Kirby Air Ride. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
  4. ^ Matt Casamassina. Kirby Air Ride. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  5. ^ Conceiving Sickeningly Cute Puffballs. N-Sider. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  6. ^ Masahiro Sakurai. N-Sider. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  7. ^ Jeff Gerstmann. Kirby Air Ride. GameSpot. CNET. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
  8. ^ Kirby anime music used in the games. Kirby's Rainbow Resort. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.

[edit] External links


v  d  e
Kirby video games and anime
Dream Land • Adventure / Nightmare in Dream Land • Dream Land 2 • Super Star • Dream Land 3 • 64: The Crystal Shards • Amazing Mirror • Squeak Squad • Kirby (tentative title)

Pinball Land • Block Ball • Star Stacker • Sparkling Kids  • Dream Course • Avalanche • Tilt 'n' Tumble • Air Ride • Canvas Curse

Anime • Movie
v  d  e
Kirby characters
Kirby  • King Dedede  • Meta Knight  • Waddle Dee  • Kirby's Animal Friends  • Whispy Woods  • Ribbon  • Lololo and Lalala  • Dyna Blade  • Kracko  • The Squeaks

Main Villains
Dark Matter  • Marx  • Nightmare  • Dark Mind • Drawcia  • Dark Nebula

Enemies
Normal Enemies  • Mini-bosses  • Bosses  • Ice Dragon

Anime Series Characters
Tiff  • Tuff  • Escargoon  • Minor Characters  • Guest characters  • NME Monsters

v  d  e
Kirby Locations/Items/Misc
Items
Warpstar • Magical items • Air Ride Machines

Miscellaneous
Kirby Copy Abilities • Battleship Halberd • Nightmare Enterprises • Star Warriors

Locations
Popstar • Green Greens • Fountain of Dreams

In other languages