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Super Smash Bros creator and Kirby Air Riders director Masahiro Sakurai says that we should finally see gameplay for the upcoming Switch 2 racing game "soon."
Arguably the biggest surprise from the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct was the announcement that Masahiro Sakurai's newest project wasn't a new Super Smash Bros game, or even something entirely new. No, it was in-fact a sequel to the cult-classic GameCube racing game Kirby Air Ride, and it will be coming out before the end of 2025. And since then, we've been bombarded with information about the game like… actually, there's been nothing since then.
Yes, since it was revealed, Nintendo has been silent about the upcoming racing game (perhaps not to take attention away from Mario Kart World), which has led to players wondering what's going on, and even Nintendo's former marketing leads saying Kirby Air Riders should be delayed to 2026. But Sakurai has returned with good news.
ほとんどの人には関係ないのだけど､きょう有限会社ソラが20周年ですと｡……長いね!ご愛顧ありがとうございます｡新作『カービィのエアライダー』､まだゲーム画面さえ出せていませんが､近いうちに情報を出せると思います｡お待ちを! pic.twitter.com/vIPsiJCyQTAugust 15, 2025
In a Twitter post (translated by Nintendo Life), Sakurai celebrated the 20th anniversary of his company Sora, "It doesn't matter to most people, but today, Sora Co., Ltd. is celebrating its 20th anniversary…That's a long time! Thank you for your continued support." He then acknowledged Kirby's lack of info, saying, "The new game *Kirby Air Rider* hasn't even shown gameplay footage yet, but I think we'll be able to share some information soon."
Nintendo typically has a Nintendo Direct in September, which is presumably when "soon" will be, but then again, it's been a weird year for Nintendo. Outside of Pokemon, none of the big Switch 2 releases slated for the rest of 2025 have release dates, with Metroid Prime 4, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, and Kirby Air Riders all having generic "2025" release dates.
Plus, Nintendo skipped its typical February and June directs with there being two shows a week apart back in March/April, with the March Direct almost exclusively announcing Switch games coming in 2026 like Rhythm Heaven Groove and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. So there's a chance the September direct might not even be in the cards, but Nintendo is seemingly running out of time if both this and Metroid are still coming in 2025.
