Kirby Air Riders Has a Low Ceiling to Shatter With its Roster

The lowest bar that Kirby Air Riders has to clear compared to its predecessor would probably involve its roster of playable characters. The original Kirby Air Ride is a game that has a lot of room to grow in many aspects. Kirby Air Riders has ample opportunity to expand in all of these areas, from gameplay to presentation. However, the biggest possible expansion comes in the form of the game’s roster. That was one of the areas where the original game fell rather short. However, Kirby Air Riders can reverse that thanks to years of advancement for the series.

The reveal of Kirby Air Riders was a pleasant surprise for several reasons. Kirby Air Ride was a title for the GameCube that largely flew under the radar during its time. A racing game starring the lovable Kirby, it broke the usual mold of racing games. Rather than a grand prix, its most prominent mode was arguably City Trial, a free-roam mode where players would explore, battle, and search for upgrades before taking on a challenge at the end of the round. Kirby Air Ride was a unique game, and hopefully its sequel will be able to keep the spirit of the original.

Kirby Air Riders Desperately Needs to Bring Back One Feature Above All the Rest

The return of Kirby Air Ride through the Nintendo Switch 2’s Kirby Air Riders is a surprise for many fans, but it won’t be the same without one mode.

Kirby Air Riders Will Need a Serious Expansion to Its Roster

Kirby Air Ride’s Roster Mostly Consisted of Just Kirby

With Kirby Air Riders confirmed for the Switch 2, it will need to be a bigger and better game than its predecessor. The most necessary upgrade in that sense would be the game’s roster. In Kirby Air Ride, almost the entire roster consisted of various recolors of Kirby. The only exceptions were Meta Knight and King Dedede, both of whom had to be unlocked. As a result, the roster suffered from a serious lack of variety because inevitably, at least half of the players would be playing as Kirby. Changing this lacking roster should be a major priority for Kirby Air Riders.

Several Kirby variations in Kirby Air Ride also had to be unlocked, further restricting the initial roster.

Kirby’s World Has A Lot of Potential For Playable Characters

Thankfully, there should be more than enough characters in the Kirby series to fill out a roster in a racing game. The two biggest, Meta Knight and Dedede, have already been mentioned, but the iconic Waddle Dee feels like another obvious inclusion. Other classic enemies like Waddle Doo and Bronto Burt would likewise fit, as would allies like Rick and Adeline.

Even a few more villains like Magolor and Marx could be added to the roster. The Kirby series has an underratedly strong roster of characters. With this in mind, Kirby Air Riders can definitely have a much stronger roster than the original.

Kirby Air Riders Will Have a Lot of Competition From Other Racers

There’s another factor that warrants an improved roster. The roster of Mario Kart World has already received widespread attention due to the impressive amount of characters on display, including many minor or obscure characters. Likewise, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is also coming in the near future with a roster full of beloved Sonic characters, including the long-awaited return of the Babylon Rogues. If Kirby Air Riders mostly features a list of Kirby recolors, it’s going to look far less impressive compared to its competition. Kirby Air Riders needs to embrace the world of Kirby characters, or else its competition could leave it in the dust.

Kirby Air Riders‘ roster should be able to handily surpass the original. The developers of Kirby Air Ride now have over two decades’ worth of games to comb through when it comes to putting together a roster, so they should be able to find plenty of contenders. While the original Kirby Air Ride was a solid game, its roster was a glaring weakness, especially for fans of the series who knew it had more to offer. Kirby Air Riders can give the Kirby series’ roster the recognition it deserves.