Kirby Air Ride
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| Kirby Air Ride | |
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| Developer(s) | HAL Laboratory |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Masahiro Sakurai |
| Series | Kirby |
| Release date(s) | JPN July 11, 2003 NA October 13, 2003 EUR 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 Kābī no Ea Raido?) is a racing video game developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc. and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console starring Kirby, HAL Laboratory's mascot. It was first released in Japan on July 11, 2003, and was later released in North America on October 13, 2003 and in Europe on February 22, 2004.
Rather than racing in cars, Kirby Air Ride has the players and computer-controlled racers ride on air ride machines. Kirby Air Ride supports up to four players, and was the first GameCube title to support LAN play using broadband adapters and up to four GameCubes.
Masahiro Sakurai, the game designer behind most of the games in 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.[1][2]
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[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.[3]
Each of the three modes of the game has a "checklist" associated with it. These are large grids which contain 120 squares each, all of which are initially blank. Each square has a hidden goal contained inside it, and certain goals also have unlockable content attached to them, such as alternate machines, new items and courses, and music tracks for the sound test. When you complete a goal, its square fills in and you become able to read the goals in any adjacent squares. In practice, this system of discovering unknown goals is balanced out by several goals which are relatively easy to obtain, such as "finish a race three times," "race on every course," and various other goals which only require the accrual of play time; these, in turn, make it easier to find out what other, more specific goals are, since each goal you complete allows you to see up to four more.
[edit] Modes of Play
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
[edit] Playable Characters
Kirby: He's the only one who can ride different machines; he is also the only character with his signature ability to suck up enemies and copy their abilites.
Meta Knight: Kirby's rival. He doesn't ride machines, but instead uses his wings to float above the ground; he can't use boosts as a result. He controls like a combination of Wing Kirby and Sword Kirby, as he is pretty good at gliding, and he also uses sword attacks automatically when he approaches enemies or other players.
King Dedede: Kirby's arch-enemy, he rides a bike similar to the Wheelie Bike machine. Controlling him is almost exactly like using the Wheelie Bike, except he can attack automatically with his hammer.
Obviously, Kirby is available from the start, but Meta Knight and King Dedede have to be unlocked under certain conditions. They're fully playable in Air Ride, but in City Trial they're only playable in free run.
[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 video game console.[4] It went through many changes during its elongated development period before eventually being cancelled and then resurfacing on the GameCube in the form of a short video preview in March 2003 at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas, and was renamed from. This preview received a mainly negative reception due to slow speeds and poor graphics.[5]
Kirby Air Ride 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 the playable demo was more positive than they were from previous showings, but when it was released, it was criticised for a lack of depth and a sense of speed.[6]
[edit] Graphics
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since February 2007. |
Kirby Air Ride has a new graphics engine that was improved from the N64 models. The graphics are very bright and smooth. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per minute[1], and have been praised by both IGN[2] and Gamespot [3].
It runs in progressive scan for HD TVs. [4]
[edit] Sound
The sound was composed by four different sound composers - Jun Ishikawa (the original sound composer from Kirby's Dream Land), Hirokazu Ando, Shogo Sakai, and Tadashi Ikegami.
Kirby Air Ride also features soundtracks from the Japanese version of Kirby: Right Back At Ya!. There are also tracks from other Kirby video games, such as Kirby Super Star.
[edit] Reaction
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Kirby Air Ride 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.[citation needed] Kirby Air Ride'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] Trivia
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! references Kirby Air Ride in a two-part episode where Kirby fights a group of four enemies riding various Air Ride machines. The release of Kirby Air Ride coincides with the airing of this episode in Japan.
[edit] References
- ^ Conceiving Sickeningly Cute Puffballs. N-Sider. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Masahiro Sakurai. N-Sider. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Matt Casamassina. Kirby Air Ride. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Mark Murphy. Kirby Air Ride. Gamers Europe. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Kirby's Air Ride: First Look. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ E3 2003: Kirby Air Ride. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ Jeff Gerstmann. Kirby Air Ride. GameSpot. CNET. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
[edit] External links
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Dream Land • Adventure / Nightmare in Dream Land • Dream Land 2 • Super Star • Dream Land 3 • 64: The Crystal Shards • Amazing Mirror • Canvas Curse • Squeak Squad |
