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Kirby's Air Ride (Nintendo 64)

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Kirby's Air Ride
KAR64 Title card.jpg
Title card shown at E3 1996.
Details
Developer(s) HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Date(s) announced/showcased E3 1996
Platform(s) Nintendo 64
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This article is about the canceled Nintendo 64 game. For the GameCube game, see Kirby Air Ride.

Kirby's Air Ride was a canceled racing-sports spin-off Kirby game intended for release on the Nintendo 64, which would have featured Kirby and other characters riding Warp Stars like snowboards down slopes. An early version of the game was briefly showcased at E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) in 1996 by Nintendo as part of their Nintendo 64 line-up. Gameplay footage was also shown in a promotional video which featured the game in a later stage of development. Kirby's Air Ride was eventually canceled by the end of 1997,[1] with the name later being inherited by the 2003-released Nintendo GameCube title.

Before becoming Kirby's Air Ride, the game was originally known as カービィボウル64 (Kirby Ball 64), with Kirby Ball being controlled rather than characters on Warp Stars. It was most likely originally meant to be a sequel to Kirby's Dream Course, which is called カービィボウル (Kirby Ball) in Japanese.[2]

Gameplay

Gameplay footage revealed that the game would function similar to titles like 1080° Snowboarding, with Kirby and other characters riding down a straight course on Warp Stars, with the ability to jump off of hills and do flips in the air. It was also apparently possible to crash the Warp Star, collect Point Stars on the course, dismount and Hover around on foot, and play splitscreen multiplayer. Also present in later builds was a health bar in the lower-left with a portrait of Kirby's face that bore various reactions.

In Masahiro Sakurai's 2023 video discussing Kirby Air Ride for the GameCube, he explains that the GameCube title has no direct relation to Kirby's Air Ride on Nintendo 64, stating that the two differ in fundamental game essence. He does admit however that the Nintendo 64 title "...sparked some ideas about what might or might not work."

Playable characters

Trivia

  • The background image used in early demonstrations of the game is the map image used for the Dyna Blade game in Kirby Super Star.
  • The hat Kirby is seen wearing in later builds of this game resembles the one Kirby gets from Yo-Yo ability.

Gallery

First version

Second version

Videos

Electronic Entertainment Expo 1996 footage
A short introduction to the game.
Kirby and King Dedede racing each other
Promotional VHS for upcoming games on the Nintendo 64 (Kirby's Air Ride starts at 8:17)

External links

See also

References

  1. The game was still listed under the working title of Kirby's Air Ride in release schedules (albeit without a set release date) printed in magazine issues that would have been available towards the end of 1997, for example the January 1998 issue of 64 Dream and the February 1998 issue of Famimaga 64. However, the March 1998 issue of Famimaga 64 no longer lists Kirby's Air Ride, instead listing Kirby 64 (also a working title).
  2. Site talking about canceled or reworked Kirby games (PPPLand)