Well, I suppose I ranked the tracks for Mario Kart and Sonic Racing so I might as well come back to complete the trilogy. Kirby Air Riders has just released and I'm still kind of stunned it exists. I've gone on about how much I love the original game despite its obvious balancing issues. The sheer variety of vehicle builds, creative modes like City Trial and Top Ride, multi-tiered track design, and immensely satisfying "push and release" drift system made for a kart racer unlike anything else on the market. It's such a strange oddball of a cult classic that a sequel or even a remake felt like a pipe dream, and yet we somehow got both in the same package.
Sakurai's sequel to Kirby Air Riders feels like the full realization of his initial vision, fixing pretty much every single issue with the original game and elevating everything that did work. Air Riders is faster, snappier, more polished and yet more chaotic at the same time. The vehicles are far better balanced, there's more playable characters than just Kirby, City Trial has more events and challenges, Top Ride's gameplay is less mechanically simplistic, there's a Story Mode that's actually kinda solid, the list goes on. And just to sweeten the deal, this game even brought back the original nine tracks allowing me to enjoy them in clean HD with those improved controls, it's truly euphoric. For as much as I loved Mario Kart World and... reasonably enjoyed Crossworlds, Kirby Air Riders is easily my favorite of the three. Hell, it's probably my new favorite kart racer period, and an easy contender for my Game Of The Year. It's got all the mechanical weirdness I love to see in this genre, but with the polish, presentation, and content to further elevate it into something truly special.
But enough with the rambling, time to rank all 18 Air Ride tracks in Kirby Air Riders:
18. Nebula Belt
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nebula Belt was Air Ride's sole unlockable track and it was a massive let-down, basically played out as a very sluggish drag race with a few wide turns. There's the occassional ramp and item box, but for the most part, Nebula Belt is a track where pure raw speed beats out pretty much everything else and it's just plain boring. The one thing carrying this track is the stellar visuals and atmosphere which is only amplified in Air Riders, but unfortunately the improved mechanics just can't save such simplistic track design. This is still easily the weakest track in the game and it only sticks out even more like a short thumb with how stellar all the other tracks in Air Riders are.
17. Fantasy Meadows
Fantasy Meadows is obviously an iconic first track and it does look spectacular. The big-ass windmill tree in the center makes for a very striking visual setpiece, and the music is stellar as usual. Unfortunately, the actual track design is pretty barebones even for a first track. It's got one wide turn with optional rails and boost pads, and a sharper turn near the end, but that's pretty much it. It's a 20-second-long track that felt overly short even in the original game. It's a great pick for grinding out races or if you want to try the 99-lap endurance run, but that's pretty much it.
16. Floria Fields
Floria Fields is a perfect showcase of how well Kirby Air Riders improves on the faults of its predecessors. While this is still a fairly simple first track, it is quite a bit longer with more turns of increasing narrowness and a bit more visual variety with an extended cave section and a gorgeous rail-grind through a storm of petals. It accomplishes everything Fantasy Meadows does while feeling a lot more developed and replayable, and the stunningly beautiful floral scenery helps give Floria Fields an identity of its own. I'd easily say Floria Fields beats out both Mario Bros Circuit and E-Stadium as the best first track out of these three kart racers, and the only reason it's not higher is because the standards here are just that high.
15. Magma Flows
Magma Flows is a track that never fully came together for me. It has a fairly bit of memorable setpieces like the split rail paths, the spinning boost panels, and that one big flight over lava, and the hellish molten atmosphere is incredibly striking, but the sense of flow that I tend to love in Air Ride tracks just isn't fully here. I also think Magma Flows is seriously harmed by that aforementioned lava flight because if you don't have a vehicle with aerial mobility, you are severely screwed and right at the end of the track too. The better balancing in Air Riders does make this less of an issue, but it still holds Magma Flows back compared to other tracks in the game.
14. Airtopia Ruins
The fact that Airtopia Ruins is this low is a testament to how good Air Riders' new tracks are because this is a really cool course. It's a very platforming-heavy track that has you boosting across floating islands in the sky, and there's a lot of cool split paths and jaw-dropping vistas. I also have to appreciate how well Airtopia Ruins is able to accomodate ground vehicles while still giving aerial vehicles clear advantages with its upper paths. However, what holds Airtopia Ruins back just a bit compared to other courses is how bumpy it is occasionally, with simply driving on the terrain often being enough to send you into flight mode when you're not intending to. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, but with such a high bar for quality, even little gripes like this can mean a lot when I'm ranking the tracks.
13. Celestial Valley
Celestial Valley is a rare retro track that I actually think got worse in Air Riders. The original Celestial Valley for me was a highlight with its moody moonlit atmosphere and the way it fluidly integrates rail-grinding, but this version ends up having very similar issues to Airtopia where the bumpy terrain keeps sending you into flight mode on accident and interrupting the flow. I also think the brighter visuals just don't look as striking as in the original. That's not to say Celestial Valley is bad in Air Riders though, far from it, it's still a very fun track with lots of branching paths, a very fun water slide at the end, and a standout musical track to this day.
12. Sky Sands
Unlike Celestial Valley, I think Sky Sands got a massive glow-up here. This is a fairly cramped track that I always felt didn't play too well with the original game's controls, but the improved mechanics of Air Riders lets Sky Sands' track design truly shine like never before. The enhanced visuals look stunning, the abundance of bumps and blockades makes it so any vehicle type feels viable, and I love all the hidden paths and secret nooks that make Sky Sands feel like these truly mysterious ruins. I do still think Sky Sands' overall track layout is a bit too simple for it to be a truly standout course, but I am glad to say I got a much better appreciation for me thanks to this incarnation.
11. Mount Amberfalls
Mount Amberfalls is a fun change of pace for the Air Riders formula, being a mostly linear gauntlet that has you riding down a mountain. There are a few small split paths, but the vast majority of this course is focused entirely on razor-sharp cornering. You'll be having to do back-to-back-to-back hairpins which would be a nightmare in any other racing game, but in Air Riders, it feels so damn satisfying. The flow state you can enter in Amberfalls is absolutely unreal, and it became my go-to course for testing out vehicles in the demo. However, this focus on pure driving does come at the cost of Amberfalls lacking a bit in crazy gimmicks, not to mention just how much aerial vehicles really struggle here. I'm also a bit confused as to why this is the penultimate track, it's really not as hard as some of the ones to come before it. Still a very fun and original course though, and visually stunning to boot even by the standards of Air Riders.
10. Waveflow Waters
From what I can tell, Waveflow Waters seems to be the big fan favorite course so far and it's not hard to see why. It's easily one of the most original beach tracks by kicking off with you driving through a parted sea before spending the rest of the course drifting over a raging whirlpool. It's an incredibly fast and frantic course high on visual spectacle, and it's all set to a banging earworm of a rock tune really solidifying the mood. The track design is also quite varied featuring a lot of sharp turns and a dedicated aerial path that pretty much transforms the feel of the course depending on what vehicle you use, it's very well-balanced. That being said, Waveflow Waters is still the second track of the game so it does feel a bit short compared to some of the later courses. Still incredible, but once again, the bar is very high.
9. Cavernous Corners
Some of the best Air Riders courses feel like they're telling a story through the track design, and Cavernous Corners is one of the best examples of this, having you start in a jungle and slowly descend down into a cave. You travel through a mineshaft, ancient ruins, and a treasure room, each with their own unique gimmicks like rolling boulders, Waddle Dees in minecarts, dangerous spikes, Golems, and geysers that push you up. This is a track that changes things up every few seconds and it makes for an incredibly thrilling experience, only amplified by the stellar atmosphere and gorgeous soundtrack. My only gripe here is that Cavernous Corners is a bit lacking in branching paths, though that's partially made up for by it having arguably the most hidden and hard-to-reach shortcut in the entire game.
8. Beanstalk Park
Beanstalk Park may seem a bit unassuming after Frozen Hillside and Magma Flows, but it's actually an impeccably-designed course that utilizes rails to implement a ton of branching paths that you can hop between pretty much at will. Everything flows really well too, pulling off a clean run of Beanstalk Park just feels really nice, even if it's not especially hard. Though what really elevates Beanstalk Park for me is, of course, that iconic ferris wheel shortcut. There is no better feeling than being caught by the ferris wheel in Beanstalk Park, and it adds this perfect element of luck/skill to make races feel more unpredictable.
7. Crystalline Fissure
I'm just gonna say it, Crystalline Fissure is the most visually-stunning track in the game. This entire course is made up entirely of shimmering crystals and it looks absolutely gorgeous especially coupled with its heavenly music track, and that's not even mentioning the downright trippy rail-grind sequences that have you fly through caves of multicolored stalactites and bizarre crystalline formations. But how's the track itself? Very good actually. It starts off unassuming enough, but the track keeps amping up the pressure as it goes on with increasingly tighter pathways, culminating in you being sent down to the track's molten core to fend off against a giant dragon that shoots crystals at you. The turns are tight and have a wonderful flow to them, and there's a lot of really thin upper pathways that are deceptively challenging to stay on which helps give Crystalline Fissure a really great skill ceiling. This is one of those tracks that's just begging me to master them, and I can't wait to keep improving at its many twists and turns.
8. Frozen Hillside
Frozen Hillside was always the point where Air Ride let off the kiddy-gloves with its track design, and it makes for such a frantic and memorable course. The opening section with its precarious upper path, the wobbly bridge, the ring boosts, the icicle cave, the infamous U-turn staircase, the ice slide, there are so many standout setpieces here so it never feels like there's a dull moment. It all makes for a consistently challenging course that still feels satisfying to master. The atmosphere in Frozen Hillside is also an obvious standout with its gorgeous aurora sky and iconic giant frosted whale flying around, all adding up to an easy contender for best track in the original game. Unfortunately, in the context of Air Riders, the competition is just that steep.
5. Checker Knights
With Nebula Belt being such a disappointment, Checker Knights ultimately ends up being OG Air Ride's big final gauntlet track, and it nails that role perfectly. For starters, the surreal visuals are still so striking, especially once you enter the lower section of the track with its neon lights. But the track design itself is also stuffed to the brim with memorable setpieces, awe-inspiring moments, and rewarding bits of challenge. The icy hairpins at the start, the shortcuts hidden behind breakable walls, the spinning tube, the powerful rail cuts that require extremely tight turns to hit, and the final two forts that can easily screw over your run if you're not careful. Just a truly wonderful track all around.
4. Steamgust Forge
Theming-wise, Steamgust Forge is definitely a standout for being a factory track set in a steampunk city. As you'd expect from a factory course, the track design is very tight with lots of sharp turns, branching paths, and cool obstacles like molten lava pools and conveyor belts making for a solid challenge. Out of all of Air Riders' tracks, Steamgust Forge feels like the one that splits up the aerial and ground vehicles most often with both vehicle types basically getting their own separate paths, culminating in a jaw-dropping final cinematic setpiece that has you hopping across blimps. The better your flight stats, the faster this sequence will go by, but the rest of the track feels balanced enough that you can still fare pretty well with a ground vehicle regardless unlike in, say, Magma Flows. There truly is a lot to love in Steamgust Forge, it's visually-inventive, mechanically dense, and absolutely lives up to the original game's factory course while still having a unique identity of its own.
3. Galactic Nova
Wow, what an apology for Nebula Belt! Kirby Air Riders' secret unlockable track isn't just an actually good track, it's hands down the coolest spectacle in the game basically letting you play out Super Star's battle with Nova in the form of a kart racer. It starts with a frantic intergalactic war set outside Nova, before you enter the giant comet and work your way through to its heart. While I do think the early stretch is admittedly a bit flat, once you enter Nova, this track just kicks into overdrive with a slew of crazy setpieces, tricky track design, dangerous obstacles, and split paths that accomodates for pretty much every single vehicle type you can think of. It's a perfect final test of everything you've learned throughout the game while still being able to get in a ton of impressive visuals along the way. You can definitely make the argument that Galactic Nova is one of the best final tracks in any kart racer now, and the fact that it's still not #1 is a testament to how stellar Air Riders' track design is.
2. Machine Passage
Machine Passage was always my favorite track in the original Air Ride and one of my favorite kart racing tracks ever, and guess what? It still is! Machine Passage is a tense and frantic factory track known primarily for its constant back-to-back 90 and 180-degree turns that may seem brutal at first, but feel immensely satisfying once you can get them down consistently. But being a factory stage, there's also a lot of fun gimmicks from split paths to conveyor belts to slanted platforms to bumpers to fans to windmills, it's all so perfectly paced. The icing on the cake for me, though, is the stellar atmosphere. The cold blue interiors juxtaposed by the haunting sunset-lit exterior makes for such a moody setting for a race track and that's only amplified by Jun Ishikawa's intense and heavy techno score that still stands out as one of my favorite pieces of Kirby music ever. I've played Machine Passage so many times and it still hasn't gotten old, an absolute stone cold classic if I've ever seen one.
1. Cyberion Highway
Cyberion Highway shouldn't work. This track is absolutely nuts, tossing so many crazy ideas at the player and a frenetic race. There's hidden rail shortcuts all over the place, parts of the track that just disappear on you or straight-up turn into boost panels, a split path that either shrinks you or turns you big, fake-out rail grinds, and lots and lots and lots and lots of branching paths all over the place. There's so much going on and it should all feel really gimmicky, but it just doesn't. Cyberion Highway actually has a stellar flow with a great sense of rhythm to pulling off all its turns, and the sheer amount of split paths and mechanical variety make this course pretty much endlessly replayable. And of course, that's not to mention this track's unhinged and visually-overwhelming cybernetic visuals that still manage to stand out even by this game's high standards. I wasn't sure if any of Air Riders' new tracks would manage to beat Machine Passage in terms of sheer elegance, but Cyberion Highway managed to by being the exact opposite. This track is unhinged, chaotic, and frenetic as hell just like Air Riders as a whole, and it's all the better for it.
