What's Good With That Game: Kirby Airride

My 74th Gamecube game actually entered my life in the coolest way possible. My good buddy Steve bought it off a woman who was looking to trade it in to Gamestop, who then sold it to me. I never had any real interest of getting this game because it was 20$ on amazon, but when my friend said he would help me out and it would only cost me 5$, I couldn't say "no". It took me a few weeks to finally pop this game into my cube, and when I did...well...I guess that's what this post is about.

What's Good With That Game: Kirby Airride

So I turned this game on for the first time with my friends. We were looking to play some multiplayer, and since one of them was a girl, we figured we'd play something easy that none of us had ever played before. The multiplayer racing was pretty fun, but nothing seriously incredible. It was easy, as we had imagined, but not immersive. I did enjoy the game, but put no pressure on myself to return to it.

Then I spoke with another one of my friends. He said something along the lines of "Let me tell you how your Kirby Airride experience is going to work. You're going to play the racing parts, and you'll unlock the hidden level and you'll feel pretty good about it. Then you'll play topdown once and hate yourself. But THEN you'll play City Trial and that will be the whole game for you."

If it wasn't for Mark telling me that, this post would not even be a thing. Turns out Mark is an insightful genius when it comes to Kirby Airride, being that everything he foresaw was the total truth. City Trial is where it's AT.

SO. Kirby Airride is a Kirby Kart racing game that purposely features the easiest controls known to anything. Operating a god damn vending machine is more difficult than operating this game. Picture a racing game where there is 1 speed, you move automatically, and the only functions you have to manually control are steering and breaking. Breaking (the A button) is also the same control as sucking up enemies on the track and, as Kirby will, use their powers for himself (I will assume a basic knowledge of Kirby during this post). So 1 button, 1 speed, 1 winner. Where's the fun? Well really, if you're buying this game for the racing fun, you're doing something wrong. This game is really all about the City Trial mode. City Trial is among the 3 different game modes featured in Kirby Airride, and it is the only mode that is not a straight-up racing mode per say. Now this is not a review, as this is What's Good With That Game, so I won't go into an big details but here is what you need to know:
City Trial:
-Roam free throughout a small city with 5 minutes on the clock.
-Spend your time exploring the city collecting as many power-ups as you can.
-Once the time expires, the power-ups you've gathered will influence the performance of your ship.
-You will then participate in a random mini-game riding your upgraded ship.
-Perform well during City Trial and each mini-game in order to complete each challenge on your Check List in order to beat the game like a pro.

So like Mark predicted, I'm addicted. With only 5 minutes per round, it is the PERFECT game to constantly tell yourself that you're "only going to do 1 more, then it's homework time." But that homework never comes, you rascal. I will admit, I did not expect to get so hooked, but I am and I love it, Steve, and Mark for helping me out with this one. I think I have around 15 out of 120 challenges on my Check List completed, and I do anticipate getting bored of the game before I complete all 120, but perhaps my friends will join me again for some multiplayer once I get home from school, and that will rekindle my love for the game, as everything I am doing on my own, can be done while playing with up to 4 players.

This game is perfect for me to take breaks from Metroid Prime with because a lot can be accomplished in multiple 5 minute periods. I like playing short games that are easy to pause while I play longer games that are more difficult to resume after a long time. Kirby Airride Metroid Prime combo? It's looking pretty groovy up in this dorm room.