those cutscenes in Air Riders look like they come straight out of a PS5 game. Feels like the first game on Switch 2 to really start to edge near those "PS4 Pro" visuals. Not to say MKWorld nor DKBananza are not substantial upgrades over NS1 visuals... but it definitely feels like they aren't outputting much more than what you'd find on weaker PS4 title.

I get the feeling that MKWorld and DKBananza started development life on Switch 1, while Air Riders was always intended for Switch 2 only. 

It's confirmed that MK World and DK Bananza started as Switch 1 games, yeah. No word yet as far as I know regarding whether Air Riders did too, although I wouldn't be surprised personally as during gameplay it does kinda look like a high end Switch 1 game, just at a higher resolution than you'd get on Switch 1.

Kirby Air Riders had a soft launch (12th place at retail in the UK) according to Chris Dring:

https://x.com/Chris_Dring/status/1992650603810460138

This feels like one of those Nintendo IPs that get carried by Japan like Splatoon and Pikmin. It shows how important the Japanese market is for Nintendo that they make a tentpole holiday game for the Switch 2 that is almost 100 % aimed at the Japanese market.

Having now played through it, I feel like it's a bit too niche to do big numbers sales wise.

Still a good game though; I ended up adding a handicap to the CPU so that I didn't have to sweat so much, made it much more enjoyable. As a matter of fact, the game is actually really good in terms of accessibility features, with way more than your typical Nintendo game.

It's also just nice to be able to enjoy a Sakurai game as I could never get into Smash as fighting games aren't my thing, even though I did always like his style.

This is the kind of game that I'd really love to get on sale but Nintendo being Nintendo a sale will equal the game being sold for $50 in 2 years time

Yeah game looks cool and unique, but $70 is a joke. Should have launched at $50 at absolute most, and probably be dropped to $30 in a year or two. It's a cutesy cartoony offbeat niche racer with no mass market brand, having only one very old fairly obscure game before it, and with Mario Kart World already being the main racing game people will get on the new system. Selling this game above $50 is just asking for low sales. Also, Otter, in two years you'd still be hard pressed to find this, or any first party game, at $50 even during a rare sale. Best bet is a used copy at GameStop.

Remember the little Kirby fighting game on Switch that Nintendo randomly released for $20? I'm not saying Air Riders should be quite that cheap, but the same kind of thinking that led to that price should have been used for Air Riders. But in 2025 Nintendo is so focused on getting every last cent out of every individual purchase that they are charging way above what they should be for this game. Nintendo's every-game-must-be-$70 strategy combined with their games-must-never-drop-in-price strategy is really gonna kill more niche games like this.

Nintendo knows Kirby Air Riders isn't appealing to western markets, they made the game to sell Switch 2 consoles in Japan. Expect to see a big launch week in Japan for Air Riders. There are several Nintendo games that get carried by Japan like Splatoon and Pikmin as well, so for them its nothing strange to make some games they know is mostly for the Japanese market.

In only five days, Kirby Air Riders has already become my most played game of the year (>35hr). Actually had time to really dig into my games for once! Unfortunately, after today, I’ll be without any games until finals are done… at which point, it’s Metroid Prime 4: Beyond time.

Hopefully I’ll find time to jump back into KARs. I’m thinking next year I’ll focus on digging a little deeper into a smaller pools of games, as opposed to getting a sample of several games. MKWorld, DKBananza, and Kirby Air Riders deserve much more than a combined 90hr; that’s less than half the time I put into SMOdyssey & BotW individually in 2017.

Holy moly, that's like 7 hours a day! You must really love it.

Personally I was only really interested in the racing side of things, so I played through the Air Ride and Top Ride modes then jumped back into Hyrule Warriors, which I was halfway through when Kirby came out.

I enjoyed Air Riders, but the more competitive side of things isn't for me, I'm more of a relaxed single player guy.