Kirby Air Riders director Masahiro Sakurai says those who haven't already played the GameCube racer might ask themselves "if it's basically Mario Kart," and, uh, yeah, "it basically is like Mario Kart"

Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai magnanimously devoted himself to spreading the gospel of, originally, GameCube racer Kirby Air Ride during Nintendo's surprise Direct for Switch 2 sequel Kirby Air Riders today, and he admits that, well… yeah, I guess it kind of is like Mario Kart… sort of…

"The original was widely viewed as a racing game featuring Kirby," Sakurai says during the livestream. "You might be asking yourself if it's basically Mario Kart. You race and battle with familiar characters around courses with different features, or so they say."

"OK, so it basically is like Mario Kart," Sakurai admits sheepishly. "I even mentioned this when I received the request to make the game. I asked [Nintendo] if they still wanted to do it. But as fans of the original know, the appeal of the game is not actually the races!"

For many Air Ride enthusiasts, the game's appeal lies in its City Trial multiplayer game mode. You scoot around on a plain, old star before trading it up for better machines, power-ups, and gobble food like roast chicken, get blitzed by random events like meteor showers and UFO landings. Finally, you face off against your friends' boosted machines in a Stadium event challenge.

Sakurai says this beloved mode will come back in Kirby Air Riders on the floating island and sandbox Skyah, which is complete with flower fields, smoking volcanoes, and a hardcore 16-player cap.

I have simpler tastes than most Air Ride players, though. For me, as long as I see Kirby – the pink gumball with a heart of gold – in a video game, I have no choice but to give its developers my life savings.

Mashiro Sakurai says he's making Kirby Air Riders because, well, Nintendo asked him to while he was working on Smash Bros. DLC, ending speculation it was his own doing.