Kirby Air Ride

Infobox VG
title = Kirby Air Ride


developer = HAL Laboratory
publisher = Nintendo
designer = Masahiro Sakurai
series = Kirby
engine =
released = vgrelease|Japan|JPN|July 11, 2003
vgrelease|North America|NA|October 13, 2003
vgrelease|Europe|EUR|February 20, 2004
genre = Racing
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: E (Everyone)
platforms = GameCube
media = 1 × GameCube Optical Disc
requirements =
input =nihongo|"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, one of HAL Laboratory's characters. 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 20, 2004.

"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 from his position at HAL Laboratory only days after giving a public interview where he openly criticized Nintendo for circumstances surrounding the development of "Kirby Air Ride".cite web | url=http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=489&page=5 | title=Conceiving Sickeningly Cute Puffballs | publisher=N-Sider | accessdate=2006-11-29] cite web | url=http://www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=982 | publisher=N-Sider | accessdate=2006-11-29 | title=Masahiro Sakurai]

Gameplay

"Kirby Air Ride" is played primarily through use of a vehicle, many of which are taken from previous Kirby games, such as the Warpstar. 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. [Kirby Air Ride Instruction Booklet pg. 8-11] Gliding is also a definitive feature of the game, as the player can control the crafts' altitude when they go airborne.cite web | url=http://uk.cube.ign.com/articles/454/454599p2.html | title=Kirby Air Ride | author=Matt Casamassina | publisher=IGN | accessdate=2006-11-29]

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, new characters, and music tracks for the sound test. When a goal is completed, the squares fill to reveal completed goals. 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 all o. The checklist format is later used in the "Challenges" section of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl".

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 to get to the finish before anyone else. 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 Attack mode, where a single player races around a track for three laps. [citation needed] Lastly, a single player can also race Free Run mode, an endless race with the sole purpose of reaching the fastest possible Lap Time. [Kirby Air Ride Instruction Booklet pg. 13-19]

;Top Ride

Top Ride is a 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. [Kirby Air Ride Instruction Booklet pg. 20-24]

Like Air Ride, Top Ride also has Time Attack and Free Run modes. There are seven courses total, based on seven different themes: Grass, Sand, Sky, Fire, Light, Water and Steel. [Kirby Air Ride Instruction Booklet pg. 37]

;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, such as boosts, top speeds, charges, offense and defense, and more. 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 a lap on one of the Air Ride courses. [Kirby Air Ride Instruction Booklet pg. 25-31]

Playable characters

Kirby is the only playable character available from the start of the game. He's the only one who can ride different machines and is also the only character with his signature ability to suck up enemies and copy their abilities. Multiple players are represented of different colors of Kirby.

Meta Knight, Kirby's rival, is an unlockable character. He doesn't ride machines, but instead uses his wings to float above the ground. He controls like a combination of Wing Kirby and Sword Kirby, as he uses sword attacks automatically when he approaches enemies or other players. Because he has the highest speed and acceleration in the game, he cannot charge.

King Dedede is also unlockable. 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, similar to Meta Knight's attack.

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.cite web | url=http://www.gamerseurope.com/articles/363 | author=Mark Murphy | title=Kirby Air Ride | publisher=Gamers Europe | accessdate=2006-11-29] It went through many changes during its elongated development period before eventually being canceled 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.cite web | url=http://uk.cube.ign.com/articles/388/388035p1.html | title=Kirby's Air Ride: First Look | publisher=IGN | accessdate=2006-11-28]

"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 criticized for a lack of depth and a sense of speed.cite web | url=http://uk.cube.ign.com/articles/403/403209p1.html | title=E3 2003: Kirby Air Ride | publisher=IGN | accessdate=2006-11-28]

ound

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 songs originally from the Japanese version of "". There are also tracks from other "Kirby" video games, such as "Kirby Super Star".

Reception

Kirby Air Ride sold 422,311 copies in Japan and 750,000 in the United States. [http://www.japan-gamecharts.com/gc.php Number of copies sold in Japan] [http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3537&Itemid=34&limit=1&limitstart=2 Number of copies sold in the United States ] Upon its release, it received mixed reviews from most websites and magazines, with many praising its clean presentation and the originality of the City Trial mode while criticizing its gameplay as being overly simple. "Kirby Air Rides similarity to other titles released for the GameCube around the same time (such as "F-Zero GX" and ') resulted in it being categorized as a rather throwaway title.cite web | url=http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/kirbysairride/review.html | title=Kirby Air Ride | work=GameSpot | publisher=CNET | accessdate=2006-11-29 | author=Jeff Gerstmann]

References

External links

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