Publisher - Nintendo
Developer - HAL Laboratories
Platform - N64
Release Date - June 1999
Type - Action
Kirby has appeared on many a Super
NES and Game Boy in the past
couple years, and he may be the most
peculiar character of Shigero
Miyamoto yet. Kirby's Air Ride (still a
working title), is set to arrive on N64,
but it's still a mystery as to when.
And, in what form.
Most like a pink cream puff, but more
amorphous, this animated, fluffy
creature can swallow almost anything
that gets in its way, and devours things
twice its size with out a blink,
absorbing that creature's powers.
That's been the case in previous
games, anyway. It seems as if Kirby's
Air Ride will take on a different
aspect, or rather, may do so. The
game has been in development for a
little over two years, and we've seen
pictures of it in strikingly different
forms. (Compare our early
screen-shot with the later ones, the
earlier ones have the early N64.com
cap logo, and these came from a
videotape from the 1995 Shoshinkai
show.
Originally playable at Shoshinkai in
1995, the game featured a
single-player and a four-player set-up,
in which players rolled around on
checkerboard surfaces like giant
bowlling balls (which were, in fact,
Kirby all rolled up). The environment
looked more like a giant Italian
tablecloth with undulating surfaces and
obstacles and bad guys to avoid and
bonuses and power-ups to pick up.
Now, with new screen-shots
appearing from Japanese magazines,
the game looks much "cooler." Kirby
wears a baseball backwards cap and
speeds through his smooth, much
more detailed courses on what looks
to be a snowboard, somewhat
different from Kirby games in the
past. Also, this game appears to
contain more adventure and
exploration than previous versions.
It also appears as if Kirby may not
necesarily need a snowboard to move
(like in the past), The landscapes have
transformed into for more rural
scenes, with orange orchards, star
trails, oceans, and Nintendo's knack
for designing with the full extent of its
color palette, especially involving
multi-color, rainbow designs.
Recently, another stand-by, Mario
Kart 64, featured a full course called
the Rainbow Course, which was
beautiful from a distance, but painful
to stare at for any length of time.
Hopefully, Nintendo won't go
overboard this time.
Nintendo, however, has kept quiet
about the game, and it's still not on the
the 1997 schedule of games. But,
having said that, the Kyoto,
Japan-based videogame company
moves at its own pace, and is full of
surprises. The game could be out on
retail shelves for winter holiday 1997
Who knows. In any case, the game
looks more accessible to gamers who
are above the age of 12 (thanks,
Nintendo) and looks to continue
evolving. We'll have more when we
can get it.