It's been over 20 years since the original Kirby Air Ride game released on the GameCube, so by the internet's standards, if you've played this game when it came out in 2003, you're old --I don't make the rules.
But guess what, all you old people? Kirby Air Riders is expected to release this year, and Nintendo has announced that a Nintendo Direct dedicated to the Sakurai-directed racer will take place on Tuesday, August 19, 2025. Here's how to watch it!
Nintendo Switch 2 is a GameCube Fan's Dream Come True
The recent Nintendo Direct event was a big day for fans of the brand, but especially those with fond memories of the GameCube.
Where to Watch the Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct
We've embedded the Kirby Air Riders Direct livestream right here so you can watch it as soon as it goes live. Alternatively, you can click this link to head straight to the channel. Of course, you don't need to watch the presentation live. Nintendo always publishes the video onto its channel once the stream ends. So, if you want to rewatch the Kirby Direct 10 times to spot all the tiny details, knock yourself out!
What Time is the Kirby Air Riders Direct?
The Kirby Air Riders Direct presentation will begin at 6:00 AM Pacific Time (California) / 9:00 AM Eastern Time (NY) on August 19, 2025. For a rundown of the starting times for different time zones, you can check out the table below:
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Kirby Air Riders Direct Time |
|---|
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6 AM PT (LA, San Francisco) |
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7 AM MT (Denver) |
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8 AM CT (Chicago) |
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9 AM ET (NYC) |
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2 PM GST (London) |
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3 PM CEST (Berlin) |
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10 PM JST (Tokyo) |
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11 PM AEST (Sydney) |
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1 AM Wednesday NZST (Auckland) |
How Long is the Kirby Air Riders Direct Going To Be?
Nintendo states that the Kirby Air Riders Direct will be around 45 minutes long, which is pretty extensive for a dedicated Direct like this. For comparison's sake, both the Directs for Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza were under 20 minutes long.
The director of Kirby Air Riders, Masahiro Sakurai, tends to show a lot of tiny details when it comes to presentations for his games, so we can expect to see a lot of stuff for the 2025 Switch 2 exclusive. But most importantly, I hope we get a release date and confirmation of the City Trial mode that I loved so much in the original.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 86%
- Released
- November 20, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bandai Namco Studios, Sora Ltd.
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo







- Genre(s)
- Racing