I remember being at a sleepover at a friend’s house with the brand-new GameCube I’d gotten for Christmas just weeks earlier. I’d already sunk what felt like endless hours into Melee, but I still hadn’t uncovered everything it had to offer. I didn’t know how to unlock every character or stage, so when my more internet-savvy friend pulled up a list of requirements, it felt like we’d discovered a treasure map. That’s how we learned Mewtwo only appeared after 20 hours of Versus play. Determined, we tried to speed things up by plugging in extra controllers and leaving the game running overnight. After a few hours of sleep, we woke up, ended our endlessly looping match, and were ecstatic when the “new challenger” screen finally appeared.

Figure 1. Kirby Air Riders Restores the Magic of Unlockable Content.

So many of my childhood gaming memories revolve around unlockables. In the 2000s, it was practically expected that a game would come with secrets to hunt down, and figuring out how to unlock characters, karts, or stages was just as exciting as playing the game itself. Maybe that’s why I’m so captivated by Kirby Air Riders right now — it truly understands the joy of earning new content. Figure 1 shows Kirby Air Riders Restores the Magic of Unlockable Content.

The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, helmed by Masahiro Sakurai, the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros., blends action and racing with ease. It offers traditional races, a story mode, a mini slot-car game, and the signature City Trial mode where players roam a sprawling map collecting stat boosts. All of that is enjoyable, but none of it is what keeps me hooked. It’s the staggering 750 unlockables that have me playing endlessly.

Just like the 2003 original Kirby Air Ride, the sequel presents players with massive challenge grids—each one holding 150 boxes. Every square corresponds to a specific unlockable tied to a unique task: drive every course in Air Ride mode, avoid crashing into walls during a Top Ride race, finish a City Trial Drag Race within a set time, and so on. With so many challenges stacked on top of one another, you’re practically guaranteed to unlock several rewards the moment you jump into any mode. A new machine, a new rider, decals for customization—it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. Air Riders immediately makes it obvious: simply playing earns you something.

That philosophy hooked me instantly. After each race, I felt a rush of serotonin as the checklist screen popped up and boxes burst open like popcorn. I’d unlock a new rider and want to switch to them immediately, which would then unlock a new track, pulling me deeper into the loop. Once I realized that almost every action in a mode fed into some challenge, I started experimenting constantly—even if that meant intentionally tanking a race.

It’s no shock that Kirby Air Riders shares a director with Super Smash Bros. Melee. Melee has that same carnival-like appeal, constantly tempting you to clear every Event Match, run Adventure Mode with every character, or mess around in the Home-Run Contest. There’s always some reward dangling in front of you. It’s one of the rare games I feel I’ve genuinely mastered because of that design mentality. It wasn’t just about collecting every trophy or unlocking every stage—I had to understand the game on a deep level to do it. Unlocking Mr. Game & Watch meant learning how to play every single character well enough to beat each mode with them. That blend of teaching and rewarding is what makes Sakurai’s best work so delightful.

I can already tell that Kirby Air Riders is going to end up as my most-played Switch 2 title from the 2025 lineup. I’m still uncovering new content every session, getting a little thrill every time another box opens. And even better, each unlock brings a new skill with it. The ultimate reward for clearing every challenge? Knowing I’ll be fully prepared to dominate anyone I run into in City Trial.

Source: Polygon

Cite this article:

Priyadharshini S (2025), Kirby Air Riders Revives the Forgotten Joy of Unlockable, AnaTechMaz, pp.342