Kirby Air Ride
| Kirby Air Ride | |
|---|---|
North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | HAL Laboratory |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Masahiro Sakurai |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Designer(s) | Kenichirou Kita |
| Programmer(s) | Kouichi Watanabe |
| Artist(s) | Kazuya Konishi |
| Composer(s) |
|
| Series | Kirby |
| Platform(s) | GameCube |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Kirby Air Ride is a 2003 racing video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. A spin-off of the Kirby series, the player controls Kirby or his multicolored counterparts as they compete in races. The game supports up to four players, and was the first GameCube title to support LAN play using broadband adapters and up to four GameCube systems.
The game had a convoluted development cycle, starting as one of the first wave of Nintendo 64 games before undergoing numerous revisions to the basic concept and being cancelled for a time. It was the final Kirby game directed by series creator Masahiro Sakurai until 2025, due to his departure from HAL Laboratory. Upon its eventual release for the GameCube it saw a mixed reception from critics, who criticized its simplicity, but was a commercial success. A sequel, Kirby Air Riders, is scheduled for release for the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.