Kirby Air Ride

Kirby Air Ride is a mascot racer along the lines of Mario Kart, except featuring Kirby and friends. It has several distinct modes of play such as standard racing, a top-down mode reminiscent of R.C. Pro-Am or Super Off Road, and an odd "adventure mode" called City Trial where you spend time gathering powerups then compete in a battle with other players. It... works better than it sounds. It's also notable for its long development history, starting as an intended Nintendo 64 launch title.

Previously, it was also the last Kirby game directed by series creator Masahiro Sakurai, who quit HAL Laboratory the month after its release (but still stuck around for the Super Smash Bros. series), before returning to direct the sequel Kirby Air Riders for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Sub-Pages#

Prerelease Info Debug ModeOne of the largest debug modes in a GameCube game!

Boot-Up Message Log#

This game sends a few debug logs to GameCube hardware during the startup process, but this is never seen by the player when using a retail GameCube. GameCube/Wii emulator Dolphin can receive and display these logs by enabling the logging feature (View->Show Log). Super Smash Bros. Melee, another game developed by HAL, has similar debug logs.

Note that "DbLevel" is reported as 3 if the debug mode code is used.

# ---------------------------------------------
#    Kirby's Airride 
#
# DATE Aug 18 2003  TIME 16:53:51
# ROM 0308181653 Dist us DbLevel 0
# Language us
# DbHideForceTurnOn 0
# Arena Size 18 MB
# ARAM Free Size 3 MB(3848960)
#

Unused Levels#

There are six unused level maps, all of which are accessible through the Debug Menu.

DUMMY#

A seemingly empty room, presumably for testing driving at odd angles. Kirby drives upside-down on the bottom of a large collision plane (viewable by pressing X + D-Pad Down). The plane does have edges, and if Kirby drives off he will flip to his usual upright position and begin falling endlessly.

TEST#

This ice-themed race track features a short lap, some star-shaped marks on the ground that don't seem to function, and a small tunnel before the finish line.

Note that the game will normally crash when trying to load this track unless the ENEMY REQ setting is switched to OFF. However, with the use of codes, this track can be played with ENEMY REQ set to ON. Enemies (mostly Broom Hatters and Scarfies) will spawn near the finish line.

Watch on YouTube

TEST6#

Appears to be a driving test environment, laid out in the manner of the Drag Race levels. To the left is a large square area containing Japanese characters that represent different types of terrain - grass, water, etc. It can only be accessed by turning around at the start and driving across a piece of invisible ground.

Kirby can drive off the terrain test as the entire map has collision. He can go back to the Drag Race area at any point, but cannot go back out of it as a one-way wall of sorts is in place around the Drag Race. Driving off the map will eventually result in Kirby falling; after some time, the drop notice shows up for a split second and Kirby dies.

There is a finish line on the north end of the track and a peg at the beginning, but it is otherwise a featureless plank.

TEST7#

Similar to TEST6, this level is laid out like a Drag Race. However, there are five steps where the level drops down with increasing grade. The first two drops aren't steep enough to cause Warpstar to fly, but the latter three are. By the time you get to the bottom of the fifth step, the drop notice activates.

Strangely, the notice also activates if Kirby turns around and goes behind the start, showing that the notice is not triggered by a set height.

There is a finish line at the end of the track, a non-solid checkered wall to the left, and a simple mountainous skybox not used elsewhere in the game. The track itself is snowy.

SIMPLE#

This track freezes the game. The Crash Debugger reveals that the cause of the crash is "assertion "addr" failed in initialize.c on line 397". One interesting thing to note is that this track's model data (GrSimpleModel.dat) is the largest non-movie file on the disc. The game runs out of RAM trying to load the model file because of its sheer size, primarily caused by the uncompressed textures, and it would take up almost 80% of usable RAM alone (18MB is usable). This is a test map, with various slopes and rotating objects that have textures containing Japanese letters ("ring check") for surface types. In order to play this, the textures must be converted from RGBA8 to CMPR. The patch below automatically does this, drastically reducing the level's file size. Watch on YouTube

Download GrSimpleModel.dat Patched File: KirbyAirRide-GrSimpleModel.zip (1.97 MB) (info)

SIMPLE2#

This comprehensive test environment contains every course feature in the game, marked with convenient labels should you happen to know how to read Japanese. Various terrain types, obstacles, moving surfaces, grind rails, and destructible objects can all be tested here.

This map is a big square world and has no finish line.

Unused Air Ride Machines#

WHEEL_NORMAL#

Watch on YouTubeSelectable as the 20th vehicle in the Debug Menu is WHEEL_NORMAL, a dummy vehicle that possibly worked as a predecessor to the Wheelie type vehicles in the game. It resembles the regular Wheelie enemy from other Kirby games, consisting of a simple black wheel with a yellow hubcap (which is where the enemy's eyes are typically present). It has all of the "Wheelie" type attributes, such as always being grounded, having little glide but a great jump, a special spin attack, and the ability to activate boost panels by just driving over them. Its Top Speed lingers somewhere around 42.60 kilometers per hour. Curiously, Kirby spins uncontrollably alongside it due to being attached to the wheel's rotating bone; machines like the Wheelie Bike don't have this issue due having a non-moving seat. This machine also seems to be sent flying whenever it takes heavy knockback for some strange reason.

Unused Top Ride Item#

A strange unused item named "UsiroYurerun" (translating to "Waver Behind") can be found in the game's Top Ride mode. Only accessible via the Debug Menu, picking up the item will trigger an unusually loud sound effect (that is also unused otherwise) and will create a large image distortion behind the player's vehicle. The exact purpose of this item is unknown, but it can be assumed it was used to confuse your enemies in some way.

The reason for its removal is also a mystery, but it was most likely because of its buggy nature. This item can cause random flickering of the HUD.

The item plays two sound effects, one overlapping the other. These go unused as well but can be played in the Debug Menu's Sound Test.

They are located at the very end of the "2D_ITEM" SFX Group.

SFX_A2D_IT_MAEYURE_GET#

SFX_A2D_IT_USIROYURE_GET#

Unused & Early Graphics#

Drop Notice#

There's a curious alert that triggers if Kirby falls near a death plane. This can happen in cases where you can use a glitch to get beneath the game world, but the easiest way to see it is to have your machine destroyed over one of the holes in Destruction Derby 1 and have Kirby fall into the hole (if he is killed on his vehicle, he will respawn before the notice appears). While it activates near death planes, the cutscene showing Kirby falling and respawning usually plays before this alert has time to trigger. It blinks faster the closer Kirby is to the actual death plane.

The icon is accompanied by the following sound:

Early IfAllTMP.dat Graphics#

These files are all found in IfAllTMP.dat.

To do: Compare to the results screen in the final.

This screenshot has an early version of Top Ride/2D Air Ride results screen. What's weird is that all players share the same stats, most likely for debugging.

Seems to be an early banner.

Crash Debugger#

A crash debugger can be seen upon a game crash while using the debug mode. The cause of the crash can also be seen when scrolling the debugger and the game's logs can also be found. Pressing Start will bring up an extra menu that allows you to move the cursor and dump the memory. Very similar to Super Smash Bros. Melee Crash Debugger.

Regional Differences#

To do: Check the European/Australian version for different English text than the American version (e.g. Certain text such as "Select Mode" and "PLAYER ENTRY" being removed in the European English version; "Damage: None" being renamed to "Damage: Off").

Title Screen#

Japanese	International

The game's English title is stylized as Kirby's Airride in the Japanese version and Kirby Air Ride everywhere else. "PRESS START" was changed to the more accurate "PRESS START/PAUSE".

Banner#

Japan	International

Records#

Japanese	American	European/Australian

The default option of Records screen is switched. "Best Records" is the default in the Japanese version, but "Checklist" is the default in the American one. "Game Settings" and "Records" is known as "Settings" and "Data" in the European/Australian version.

Checklist#

Japanese	International

The international versions added the number of completed challenges and total challenges to the Checklist screen.

Previews#

To do: Shorten the videos to only show the "How to Play" section

The previews from the main menu are different in the European/Australian version, with the most noticeable difference being City Trial. The European version also uses A-OTF Folk Pro (aka the Melee font, due to it being well known for its appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee) for the previews, which is also the main font of this game, as well as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which are all games that Masahiro Sakurai also directed.

Course Names#

All of the courses in Air Ride mode have completely different Japanese and English names. The Japanese names are corrupted versions of one or two English words that describe the course, while the localization gives them more conventional names. Checker Knights' name is the only one to have survived the localization mostly unscathed.

Some of the City Trial Stadium modes have different names as well.

In case you're wondering, "Zero-yon" is slang used to refer to a drag race.

Other Differences#

To do: Go more in-depth with the differences in previews. (e.g. different fonts and certain text not being highlighted in red in the European/Australian version)

• While all versions have the same vehicles, in the Japanese version all of the vehicles are lighter which makes them faster to race with.
• As in the Super Smash Bros. series, the graphic that appears at the end of a timed game (such as City Trial) reads "Time Up" in Japanese and "Time!" in other languages.
• Distances are measured in meters in the Japanese and European/Australian versions and feet in the American version. Likewise, the speedometer measures kilometers per hour in the Japanese and European/Australian versions and miles per hour in the American version.
• The file structure of the American version contains an empty "US" folder within the audio folder, with all audio put in the "JP" folder. The game has no voice acting, so why such a folder would exist is unclear.
• The player and computer player identifier is #P and CP in Japanese, while it's P# and CPU in most languages.
• There's no exclamation mark for the word "GO" in Japanese. Most languages include the exclamation.
• King Dedede is referred to as just "Dedede" in Japanese.
• In the Japanese version, the ending movie for City Trial uses the song "City Trial: City (Backside)" for its music. In the American and European/Australian versions, a new song, "City Trial: Ending", a remix of "City Trial: Legendary Air Ride Machine", is used in the ending movie for City Trial instead. "City Trial: Ending" is not present in the files of the Japanese version of the game. Kirby Air Riders' City Trial ending movie uses "City Trial: City (Backside)" like the Japanese version regardless of region.
• Some of the challenges on the checklist is different between versions:
  • Machine Passage song obtained by finishing Machine Passage in under 2:48:00 (Japan) / 3:10:00 (International)
  • Swerve Star obtained by finishing Sky Sands in 2 laps in under 1:45:00 (Japan) / 2:05:00 (International)
  • Sky Sands song obtained by finishing Celestial Valley in under 2:56:00 (Japan) / Sky Sands in under 3:10:00 (International)
  • Arr. Magma Flows song obtained by finishing Magma Flows in under 3:04:00 (Japan) / 3:20:00 (International)
  • Arr. Frozen Hillside song obtained by splitting ≥ 20 ice platforms and getting 1st place (Japan) / finish in 2 laps under 1:56:00 (International)
  • Finishing 6 laps in under in Fire stage awards nothing (Japan) / 1 free box filler (International)
  • Bonus: Pause screen power-ups (patch check) obtained by picking up 250 items in one match (Japan) / picking up a total of 2,500 items (International)
  • Breaking star pole 10 times gives nothing (Japan) / 1 free box filler (International)

References#