We went hands-on with another Kirby Air Riders preview this week, but you can try out the game for yourself over the next couple of weekends.

We’re still not entirely sure why Nintendo has chosen Kirby Air Riders, of all things, to be one of its first Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives, especially after we came away from the Gamescom demo less than impressed.

Even ignoring the original’s status as one of Nintendo’s worst reviewed games, the original Kirby Air Ride from 2005 only found itself a niche audience. And with the sequel charging £58.99 digitally and £66.99 physically, it may be a hard sell for anyone outside of the hardcore Kirby fan base.

In order to convince people that it’s worth the money, Nintendo is running an online playtest this weekend for all Switch 2 owners, so you can try the game out before committing to a pre-order ahead of its November 20 launch.

What is the Kirby Air Riders global test ride?

The Kirby Air Riders global test ride is essentially a limited time demo that you can download from the Switch 2 eShop right now.

At the time of writing, you’ll only be able to play the lessons mode, which contains various tutorials about Kirby Air Riders’ controls and techniques.

Once the playtest goes live, you can play against each other online across two modes: the standard Air Ride mode for traditional races and City Trial, where up to 16 players roam across a map to collect stat upgrades within a time limit, before competing in a random challenge.

When is the Kirby Air Riders global test ride available?

The Kirby Air Riders global test ride is made up of three six hour sessions spread across Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9, so you have ample opportunities to take part.

The exact times are listed below:

• Session 1 – Saturday, November 8 at 8am GMT – 2pm GMT
• Session 2 – Sunday, November 9 at midnight GMT – 6am GMT
• Session 3 – Sunday, November 9 at 3pm GMT – 9pm GMT

In case you’re unable to take part in any of these, there will be a second batch of sessions the following weekend. Those times are:

• Session 4 – Saturday, November 15 at 8am GMT – 2pm GMT
• Session 5 – Sunday, November 16 at midnight GMT – 6am GMT
• Session 6 – Sunday, November 16 at 3pm GMT – 9pm GMT

Are you really number one Kirby? (Nintendo)

Kirby Air Riders hands-on preview

Before you hop into the demo, we recently attended another hands-on session with an updated version of Kirby Air Riders. We still weren’t exactly blown away, though, and the whole City Trial concept, which is supposed to be one of the key draws, continues to seem utterly misconceived.

You’re literally just collecting icons to increase your vehicle stats (for speed, manoeuvrability, etc.) and while there are other players in there with you we managed to win a match without ever coming anywhere near them.

The race for stats ends after a set amount of time, at which point you take part in a mini-game so simple it would make Mario Party blanch, with the whole thing over so quickly it just seems utterly pointless.

However, we do now have more optimism for the normal races, aka Air Ride mode. These are essentially PvPvE matches, with lots of cannon fodder enemies driving around (primarily so you swallow them and steal their abilities) as well as actual rivals.

Since you accelerate automatically, the game heavily emphasises drifting, which is fun, and the course design is very good. For those that resent the more open-ended tracks in Mario Kart World these are the complete opposite, with a particularly cool one themed around waterfalls.

Whether Air Ride will be enough to justify the whole package we don’t know, but at least now you can check out the game for yourself.

This is one of the mini-games at the end of City Trial, it’s not every good (Nintendo)

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