Kirby Air Ride is a game people tend to adore, but I'm a bit more tepid on it. I still like it well enough, but I don't think I hold the unequivocal love for it I see from people around my age. Largely, this is because I think Sakurai's two primary experiments with this game failed.
First, the controls. Sakurai wanted to make a racing game easy enough for anyone to play; he did so by reducing all controls to the control stick and the A button. It's a kart racer where you're constantly accelerating, with A being used to break. The emphasis is generally on drifting rather than building up speed. The problem is that this presupposes a certain level of skill when it comes to video games. Kirby Air Ride was one of many games I tried to get my very casual gamer mother to play with me as a kid, but the game's control scheme was so foreign for her that she couldn't wrap her head around it. I think it's a consequence of contrasting mechanical complexity with mechanical behavior. The physical actions you perform in playing Kirby Air Ride are considerably simpler than in, for example, Mario Kart. But Mario Kart is more firmly moored in reality. Much easier for someone to understand "button makes car go, stick makes car turn" than "button makes car stop, stick makes car drift", since the former is more consistent with how cars act in real life.
And to be clear, the issue wasn't that my mother wasn't good at the game. Even years later, she explains it pretty well - she always knew she'd lose playing video games with the rest of the family, but she still had fun trying anyway. She didn't even know how to try in Kirby Air Ride, and that made it frustrating to her.
Second, the different modes - Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial. All three have an equally large checklist, which in the game's language would suggest that each is meant to carry the same weight. But it's always always always been wildly lopsided in City Trial's favor. When people talk about Kirby Air Ride, they are specifically thinking about City Trial; when people talk about Air Ride being rereleased or remade, they're specifically missing City Trial. It's a great mode, don't get me wrong - the sandbox design is a ton of fun, there's a lot to explore in the city area, and it's always fun when you've correctly deduced what the final challenge will be and built your Warp Star accordingly. Problem is, it's so great that it outshines Air Ride (traditional races) and Top Ride (arcadey top-down racing). In fact, Air Ride mode is more or less contained within City Trial, since some of the challenges involve races around the Air Ride tracks. Top Ride is completely out of place by consequence, since the change in perspective and the unique Warp Stars make it a separate entity unto itself. I also never thought it was any good, but that might just be me not having a taste for R.C. Pro-Am or other racers of its ilk.
I'll also admit - I've always preferred the Hydra to the Dragoon. I've always found the latter overhyped, particularly when it came to its Smash Bros. appearances. I dunno, I'd much rather scream across racetracks than glide endlessly through the air. You have the Flight Warp Star unlocked from the start for that sort of thing, anyway.
I've been pretty negative on Air Ride, but I do still like it. When it's firing on all cylinders, I think it's really compelling for its cycle of short-form play-and-reward. City Trial remains fantastic, much as I never think I'll care to master the rest of the game it's attached to. Visually, it's one of more surreal takes on Pop Star, with its spiraling beanstalks, checkerboard landscapes, pillars of water, and floating detritus. It's honestly commendable for existing at all, being the ONLY GameCube outing for li'l Kirby (Super Smash Bros. notwithstanding) as well as a coincidental incarnation of a failed N64 title. It's a game I'm glad exists, just not one I think is a forgotten masterpiece.
First, the controls. Sakurai wanted to make a racing game easy enough for anyone to play; he did so by reducing all controls to the control stick and the A button. It's a kart racer where you're constantly accelerating, with A being used to break. The emphasis is generally on drifting rather than building up speed. The problem is that this presupposes a certain level of skill when it comes to video games. Kirby Air Ride was one of many games I tried to get my very casual gamer mother to play with me as a kid, but the game's control scheme was so foreign for her that she couldn't wrap her head around it. I think it's a consequence of contrasting mechanical complexity with mechanical behavior. The physical actions you perform in playing Kirby Air Ride are considerably simpler than in, for example, Mario Kart. But Mario Kart is more firmly moored in reality. Much easier for someone to understand "button makes car go, stick makes car turn" than "button makes car stop, stick makes car drift", since the former is more consistent with how cars act in real life.
And to be clear, the issue wasn't that my mother wasn't good at the game. Even years later, she explains it pretty well - she always knew she'd lose playing video games with the rest of the family, but she still had fun trying anyway. She didn't even know how to try in Kirby Air Ride, and that made it frustrating to her.
Second, the different modes - Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial. All three have an equally large checklist, which in the game's language would suggest that each is meant to carry the same weight. But it's always always always been wildly lopsided in City Trial's favor. When people talk about Kirby Air Ride, they are specifically thinking about City Trial; when people talk about Air Ride being rereleased or remade, they're specifically missing City Trial. It's a great mode, don't get me wrong - the sandbox design is a ton of fun, there's a lot to explore in the city area, and it's always fun when you've correctly deduced what the final challenge will be and built your Warp Star accordingly. Problem is, it's so great that it outshines Air Ride (traditional races) and Top Ride (arcadey top-down racing). In fact, Air Ride mode is more or less contained within City Trial, since some of the challenges involve races around the Air Ride tracks. Top Ride is completely out of place by consequence, since the change in perspective and the unique Warp Stars make it a separate entity unto itself. I also never thought it was any good, but that might just be me not having a taste for R.C. Pro-Am or other racers of its ilk.
I'll also admit - I've always preferred the Hydra to the Dragoon. I've always found the latter overhyped, particularly when it came to its Smash Bros. appearances. I dunno, I'd much rather scream across racetracks than glide endlessly through the air. You have the Flight Warp Star unlocked from the start for that sort of thing, anyway.
I've been pretty negative on Air Ride, but I do still like it. When it's firing on all cylinders, I think it's really compelling for its cycle of short-form play-and-reward. City Trial remains fantastic, much as I never think I'll care to master the rest of the game it's attached to. Visually, it's one of more surreal takes on Pop Star, with its spiraling beanstalks, checkerboard landscapes, pillars of water, and floating detritus. It's honestly commendable for existing at all, being the ONLY GameCube outing for li'l Kirby (Super Smash Bros. notwithstanding) as well as a coincidental incarnation of a failed N64 title. It's a game I'm glad exists, just not one I think is a forgotten masterpiece.