Kirby Air Riders - Jan 25 26

Описание: Something I noticed: there seems to be parallels with the new and old tracks, in the order that they’re presented in-game. Here is what they have in common that I could find:

Florio Fields and Fantasy Meadows: flowery peaceful grassland
Waveflow Waters and Celestial Valley: rushing, gravity-defying water
Airtopia Ruins and Sky Sands: ruins with large buildings
Crystalline Fissure and Frozen Hillside: shiny, glass-like natural structures (crystal and ice)
Steamgust Forge and Magma Flows: molten mineral
Cavernous Corners and Beanstalk Park: vines and ancient ruins
Cyberion Highway and Machine Passage: technologically advanced industry
Mount Amberfalls and Checker Knights: on one large natural object (a mountain and a lake)
Galactic Nova and Nebula Belt: outer space

And, of course, all races in this video were played using motion controls.

00:17 - Match #1
AIr Ride
Course: Cyberion Highway
Character: Gooey
Machine: Formula Star
Not the first time I used the Formula Star on Cyberion Highway, but one thing I have observed is that most courses have a straight final stretch, especially the ones new to Kirby Air Riders: as long as you don’t fall behind too far with this machine, you can use that straight path to accelerate well beyond any other machine and overtake people.

03:32 - Match #2
Air Ride
Course: Fantasy Meadows
Character: Bandana Waddle Dee
Machine: Warp Star
I still have trouble taking that last corner before the end of a lap quite as well as these other guys do. I seem to do okay, not good, but not bad, landing right in the middle ranks a lot, far behind the guys in the front but also well ahead of those falling behind.

05:09 - Match #3
Air Ride
Course: Airtopia Ruins
Character: King Dedede
Machine: Chariot
I discovered playing this race that when the path splits up a lot about halfway through, you have to pick a different path depending on the gliding capabilities of your machine. I assumed the Chariot, looking light, would be enough to get through the middle path, but it wasn’t.

08:04 - Match #4
Air Ride
Course: Checker Knights
Character: Marx
Machine: Rex Wheelie
I noticed the caves towards the beginning now open up right on the first lap instead of people waiting until the second. With enough time having passed, people are learning this game better. I still don’t know what you do to open them up. Do you just crash into the wall?

Notably, the person who came in last place has already pulled off two 1st place finishes earlier in their session. This was a tough room.

11:31 - Match #5
Air Ride
Course: Waveflow Waters
Character: Knuckle Joe
Machine: Rocket Star
I tend to slow down a lot when in the air after a jump. I think it’s my stance, which is different from Mario Kart World’s motion controls: when you get off a ramp in Mario Kart World, the neutral position is whatever angle the controller is at when you leave the ramp, but in Kirby Air Riders, it is always a flat horizontal angle. As I tend to hold my controller between 30 degrees and 60 degrees, it results in them pointing upwards and slowing down from it, which is something I still am not used to and against my own habits. In this race, I was actually ahead until I slowed down from it and caused me to fall to 4th, where I remained for the rest of the race.

14:35 - Match #6
Air Ride
Course: Cavernous Corners
Character: Susie
Machine: Transform Star
Susie’s special ability is that a propeller comes out of her head after taking off, allowing her to stay in the air for longer. This time, I kept the controller relatively horizontal through the final geyser sections of this race, allowing me to skip some offroad portions or fly over some geysers outright. Both laps, I gained some positions (though never actually reached 1st place). The person who placed 1st also used Susie. I wonder if they did the same thing.

18:10 - Match #7
Top Ride
Course: Mountain
Character: Taranza
Machine: Paper Star
People are really good at this course! I have never placed above 3rd out of 4 in it playing online even though I can crush the top-level AI. As demonstrated here though, I am never too far behind. That kind of makes it feel even more annoying because it must mean I am close to being decent here.

19:44 - Match #8
Top Ride
Course: Steam
Character: Meta Knight
Machine: Wagon Star
It was a very close race the whole way through between me and Scott for the top 2 positions, though I made the final turn on the 3rd lap too soon. Perhaps I should’ve just let the mechanism on the outsid of the turn carry me over, though it’s hard to get to the boost pad afterwards.

21:37 - Match #9
Top Ride
Course: Cave
Character: King Dedede
Machine: Wheelie Scooter
This is the machine with the best handling based on what I can observe, between it and the Paper Star, though the latter wasn’t quite so great for me in Mountain (but I think it’s just me). Here, I was finally able to use its excellent cornering to take the hairpins with ease. I was really in the zone for this one!