Kirby Air Riders, the sequel to the Nintendo GameCube game Kirby Air Ride, is coming to Switch 2 on Nov. 20, Nintendo confirmed Tuesday during a special Nintendo Direct presentation. In the Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct, game director Masahiro Sakurai did a deep dive into the features and mechanics for the sequel — changes that have warranted adding a second button to the experience.
“We’ve added a second button,” Sakurai said during the Nintendo Direct. “Unfortunately. This is to expand the game’s depth.” The original Kirby Air Ride required only one button, but the sequel will have additional mechanics with the addition of character-specific special moves. Kirby’s is a frantic sword slash.
Kirby Air Riders will have a much more robust playable cast, as well. While the original featured Kirby as a playable character, this time he’ll be joined by King Dedede, Meta Knight, Chef Kawasaki, Bandana Waddle Dee, Cappy, Magolor, Gooey, Waddle Doo, Knuckle Joe, Susie, and Starman. Every character will be able to mimic Kirby’s copy ability to even the playing field.
There’s also a long list of new machines that Kirby and friends can ride, including some strange ones, like the Swerve Star, which features a stop-start technique that lets the rider move at high speed and sharp angles.
In addition to a bunch of new mechanics, Sakurai also confirmed the return of the fan-favorite City Trial mode, in which players can sprint through a sandbox to acquire power-ups, then battle in a Stadium. City Trial’s sandbox is still a self-contained map, but it’s much, much larger this time, and has subdivisions. City Trial supports up to 16 players in online play and eight players in local wireless.
Sakurai says there’s still more to come — and the Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct ended with a small teaser — but long-suffering Kirby Air Ride fans have only three months left to wait for their sequel.