History VideoGame / KirbyAirRide

* StarterEquipment: The Compact Star is the ride you start with in City Trial. While it's not the best choice for actual competition, it boasts a surprisingly good combination of charge, turn, and gliding ability which makes it good for collecting a lot patches before switching to a more suitable ride for the event.

* FlyingSaucer: One of City Trial's many random events has a gigantic one fly ominously overhead. What does it do? It rewards any player able to get on top of it with many power-ups, including the normally rare All-Up.

* JackOfAllStats: The Warp Star doesn't really excel in any one area, but it also doesn't have any huge flaws. It's got okay speed and acceleration, decent health, passable gliding ability, a good charge speed with some drifting capacity, and controls well.

* ShiftingSandLand: Sky Sands in Air Ride mode and Sand in Top Ride.

* PatchworkMap: The map of City Trial definitely counts as this, with a volcano, forest, river, icy cavern, several buildings, and the sea all quite close to one another.

* YourSizeMayVary: In his event, King Dedede is ENORMOUS. When you're actually playing as him, he's barely bigger than Kirby.

''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'''s one and only title on the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, ''Kirby Air Ride'' (or ''Kirby's Airride'' in Japan), is a MascotRacer that was released in 2003 (though its TroubledProduction goes farther back, having originally started development on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64). Its three different modes, Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial, all involve Kirby riding and gliding on one of several different vehicles while competing against up to three others. More notably, it was the final game in the ''Kirby'' series to be directed by creator Creator/MasahiroSakurai; after its release, he resigned from Creator/HALLaboratory out of frustration for the pressure to keep creating sequels for his [=IPs=], stating in an interview with Nintendo Dream that he wanted to create games without people expecting follow-ups each and every time. Sakurai would collaborate with HAL two more times after his resignation, serving as a special adviser for ''[[VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror Kirby & The Amazing Mirror]]'' and directing ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''.

* ShoutOut: The menus are clearly inspired by ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee''. In fact, it seems that ''Brawl'''s menu designs were inspired by this game.
** The Fog Event for City Trial, in which the city is trapped in an intense fogbank, is a possible one for a [[Franchise/SilentHill certain other game franchise]], especially with the eerie music.

* RecycledSoundtrack: A surprising amount of music is reused from the Japanese version of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa!''. Songs from other ''Kirby'' games get recycled too, but the anime takes the cake. How many video games refer to TV shows based on them for soundtracks?

!! ''KirbyAirRide'' contains examples of:

* RecycledSoundtrack: A surprising amount of music is reused from the Japanese version of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa!'' Songs from other ''Kirby'' games get recycled too, but the anime takes the cake. How many video games refer to TV shows based on them for soundtracks?

** The Fog Event for City Trial, in which the city is trapped in an intense fogbank, is a possible one for a [[VideoGame/SilentHill certain other game franchise]], especially with the eerie music.

** There's passage underneath the forest accessed by breaking through from above in a couple specific spots or by breaking through a wall in one of the other underground sections.

''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'''s one and only title on the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, ''Kirby Air Ride'', is a MascotRacer that was released in 2003 (though its TroubledProduction goes farther back, having originally started development on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64). Its three different modes, Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial, all involve Kirby riding and gliding on one of several different vehicles while competing against up to three others. More notably, it was the final game in the ''Kirby'' series to be directed by creator Creator/MasahiroSakurai; after its release, he resigned from HAL Laboratories out of frustration for the pressure to keep creating sequels for his [=IPs=], stating in an interview with Nintendo Dream that he wanted to create games without people expecting follow-ups each and every time. Sakurai would collaborate with HAL two more times after his resignation, serving as a special adviser for ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'' and directing ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''.

* RecycledSoundtrack: A surprising amount of music is reused from the Japanese version of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa''. Songs from other ''Kirby'' games get recycled too, but the anime takes the cake. How many video games refer to TV shows based on them for soundtracks?

* VideoGame3DLeap: This is the first game that allowed players to fully control Kirby in a 3D space. Beyond racing and battling on Air Ride machines, the City Trial mode also allowed you to dismount your vehicle and freely run and float around. Although just like in ''Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', your jumps are limited.

''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'''s one and only title on the {{Nintendo GameCube}}, ''Kirby Air Ride'', is a MascotRacer that was released in 2003. Its three different modes, Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial, all involve Kirby riding and gliding on one of several different vehicles while competing against up to three others.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Many of the rides suffer from being too specialized in a certain stat or gimmick. For instance, the Rocket Star has the boost in the game. But it suffers so much in almost every other category that it often becomes moot.

* InvisibleWall: The main area in City Trial and each of the races in Air Ride are surrounded with these to prevent escaping or cheating. Some stages do have a way of getting of the track, but they result in Kirby falling to his death in a BottomlessPit.

* MagikarpPower: The Compact Star. At first it, has one the weakest stat spreads in the game. But as it gains {{Power Up}}s its performance increases exponentially. If one manages to snag enough power ups, its final performance can dwarf many of the more specialized rides in the game and allows it to be strong contender.

* VideoGame3DLeap: This is the first game that allowed players to fully control Kirby in a 3D space. Beyond racing and battling on Air Ride machines, the City Trial mode also allowed you to dismount your vehicle and freely run and float around. Although just like in ''Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', your jumps are limited.

Kirby's one and only title on the GameCube, ''Kirby Air Ride'', is a MascotRacer that was released in 2003. Its three different modes, Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial, all involve Kirby riding and gliding on one of several different vehicles while competing against up to three others.

** There is also an icy cavern underneath the volcano reached by breaking one of the rock walls around its base or riding a rail straight into its center.

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