Kirby's Air Ride 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, seeKirby Air Ride.

Kirby's Air Ride was a canceled racing-sports spin-offKirby game intended for release on theNintendo 64, which would have featuredKirby and other characters ridingWarp Stars like snowboards down slopes. An early version of the game was briefly showcased at E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) in 1996 byNintendo 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 the2003-releasedNintendo GameCube title.

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

Gameplay[edit]

Gameplay footage revealed that the game would function similar to titles like1080° Snowboarding, with Kirby and other characters riding down a straight course onWarp 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, collectPoint Stars on the course, dismount andHover around on foot, and play splitscreenmultiplayer. Also present in later builds was ahealth bar in the lower-left with a portrait of Kirby's face that bore various reactions.

InMasahiro Sakurai's2023 video discussingKirby Air Ride for the GameCube, he explains that the GameCube title has no direct relation toKirby'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[edit]

• Kirby
• King Dedede
• Mr. Frosty
• Poppy Bros. Sr.

Trivia[edit]

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

Gallery[edit]

First version[edit]

• 
  Kirby
• 
  King Dedede
• 
  Mr. Frosty
• 
  Poppy Bros. Sr.
• 
  Four-player splitscreen match
• 
  Two-player splitscreen match
• 
  GamePro, July 1997

Second version[edit]

• 
  Riding on a hilly course
• 
  Riding on a snowy course
• 
  Hovering over the terrain
• 
  Performing a big jump
• 
  Gliding over a wind farm
• 
  Leaping through a bunch of rainbow-colored rings
• 
  Floating next to one ring

Videos[edit]

External links[edit]

• Kirby's Air Ride on Unseen64

See also[edit]

• Kirby Ball 64

References

• Canceled games
• Games on Nintendo 64