Kirby Air Riders has been updated for February 2026! The update includes adjustments to improve balance for riders, machines, and abilities, as well as support for new amiibo figures. It also fixes several bugs to make the game run more smoothly on the Nintendo Switch 2.
When Kirby Air Riders came out in late November 2025, gamers mostly loved it. Players especially enjoyed the simple two-button controls, the diverse selection of flying vehicles and characters, and the ability to customize their rides for different race types. The game received good reviews on OpenCritic – critics averaged 82, and players gave it a perfect 100 – making it a successful launch title for the Switch 2’s first year.
Some Kirby Air Ride fans were disappointed when Nintendo said they wouldn’t release any large updates so soon after the game launched. However, Nintendo promised to continue supporting the racing game with smaller adjustments to keep things fair. They’ve now delivered on that promise with an update that tweaks the stats and abilities of six racers, 17 different vehicles, and a few Copy Abilities.
Image via Nintendo
Update 1.3.1 for Kirby Air Ride includes changes to six of the game’s 21 playable characters. King Dedede, Waddle Doo, Gooey, and Scarfy will receive improvements, while Noir Dedede and Cappy will be slightly weakened. Cappy will see the biggest adjustments, with reduced top speed during special moves in City Trial and Air Ride, less durable mushroom caps in Air and Top Ride, and slower mushroom cap regeneration in Top Ride. Noir Dedede’s turning ability will be reduced in Top Ride. On the positive side, King Dedede’s Quick Spin attack will be easier to land, Gooey’s special move will last longer, Scarfy will gain a speed boost when angry, and Waddle Doo will handle turns better on the ground across all modes.
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More changes are coming to Kirby Air Riders, affecting both vehicles and Copy Abilities. Top Ride vehicles like Wheel, Steel Ball, and Missile are getting faster on the ground. Wheel will also handle better while drifting, and Steel Ball will slow down less during drifts. Most vehicles are receiving improvements in this update. However, a few are being adjusted for balance: Jet Star will have a slower boost and it will be harder to land perfect jumps, and the Wheelie Scooter will have a slightly lower top speed on the ground.
The game now works with even more Kirby Air Riders amiibo figures! You can now use Meta Knight & Shadow Star, King Dedede & Tank Star, and Chef Kawasaki & Hop Star. These figures add extra features to the game, letting you create and level up custom racers, personalize your machines, and unlock special items. They join the previously released Kirby & Warp Star and Bandana Waddle Dee & Winged Star amiibo, which were available when the game launched in November 2025.
Kirby Air Riders Update 1.3.1 Patch Notes
General
The following amiibo figures are now supported.
- Meta Knight & Shadow Star
- King Dedede & Tank Star
- Chef Kawasaki & Hop Star
Balance Adjustments
The performance of certain riders has been adjusted.
King Dedede
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Increased attack detection for Quick Spin during Special.
Waddle Doo
Affected modes: All modes
- Improved Turn performance on the ground.
Gooey
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Lengthened the amount of time Special is active.
Cappy
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Lowered Top Speed of Special.
Affected modes: Air Ride/Top Ride
- Lowered durability of the mushroom cap.
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Lengthened the amount of time it takes for the mushroom cap to come back.
Scarfy
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed in angry state.
Noir Dedede
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Lowered Turn performance.
The performance of some machines has been adjusted.
Warp Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
Winged Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed while gliding.
- Machine will now jump higher when going over jump ramps, etc.
Slick Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
Bulk Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Increased charging speed while drifting.
- Reduced amount of charge-gauge consumption during Boost Dash.
Swerve Star
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Increased charging speed.
- Strengthened acceleration of Boost Dash.
Turbo Star
Affected modes: All modes
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
Jet Star
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Weakened acceleration of Boost Dash.
- It’s now harder to maintain speed on perfect landings when landing from a course gimmick.
Wheelie Bike
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Machine will now jump higher when going over jump ramps, etc.
Rex Wheelie
Affected modes: All modes
- Strengthened acceleration when going over a jump ramp, etc.
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Raised Top Speed.
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Weakened deceleration when hitting a wall.
Wheelie Scooter
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Lowered Top Speed on the ground.
Hop Star
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- It’s now easier to maintain speed on perfect landings.
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed.
Vampire Star
Affected modes: City Trial/Air Ride
- Raised Top Speed while gliding.
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Reduced reaction from rivals when preyed upon.
Paper Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed while gliding.
- Strengthened acceleration while gliding.
Chariot
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Machine will now jump higher when going over jump ramps, etc
Battle Chariot
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Machine will now jump higher when going over jump ramps, etc.
Tank Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Weakened deceleration during Boost Charge.
Transform Star
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Raised Top Speed while gliding. (Star mode only.)
- Machine will now jump higher when going over jump ramps, etc. (Bike mode only.)
The performance of some Copy Abilities has been adjusted.
Wheel
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Improved Turn performance while drifting.
Steel Ball
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
- Weakened deceleration while drifting.
Missile
Affected mode: Top Ride
- Raised Top Speed on the ground.
Bug Fixes
- Improved communication stability during online play.
- There was a problem in the Checklist where the number of events, machines, riders, etc. would not be counted correctly in applicable tasks. This has been fixed so that even if the issue has already occurred, players can restore counts to the correct number by restarting the game.
- Fixed an issue in the Checklist where rewards for completing all the tasks for Air Ride, Top Ride, City Trial, and Road Trip could not be obtained.
- Fixed an issue in the Checklist where the task “Hit 2 riders with Kaboombs in a single race” would not be considered accomplished in an online match, even if conditions were met.
- Fixed an issue where multiples of the same legendary-machine parts would sometimes appear during online matches in City Trial.
- Fixed an issue in the Air Ride course Cyberion Highway where riders would sometimes go off course after getting off the grind rails and be unable to return to the course.
- Fixed an issue where, by performing a Quick Spin on a grind rail just before a specific rider’s Special would end, the Special would not end.
- Fixed an issue in the Air Ride course Crystalline Fissure where riders could go at abnormally fast speeds when jumping out of the ground of the half-pipe using the Drill Copy Ability.
- There was a problem with Taranza where spider silk could be produced even when in a frozen state from something like a rival’s Freeze Copy Ability, so the frozen state could be quickly lifted. This issue has been fixed so that Taranza cannot produce silk when frozen.
- Fixed an issue where headwear was not reflected when riders were randomized in Local Play.
- Fixed an issue where, if a player-controlled Scarfy was near when a Transform Star placed in a garage transforms, Scarfy could end up entering angry state.
- Fixed an issue in the Air Ride course Checker Knights where the appearance effects of the jump ramps that appear and disappear were sometimes out of alignment with their actual position.
- Fixed an issue with Transform Star where it would sometimes not accelerate if a Boost Dash was performed when a mode switch finished.
- Fixed an issue where certain Copy Abilities wouldn’t work properly after Scarfy’s angry state ended while the Copy Abilities were activated.
- Fixed an issue where the thumbnails for My Machines would, in rare instances, be incorrect.
- Fixed an issue in City Trial where items would sometimes not appear when destroying crystals in the underground area with Knuckle Joe’s automatic attack.
- Fixed an issue in Free Run where, after recording a Personal Best with Transform Star (star mode or bike mode), the Best Run data could not be loaded when trying to start a race in a different mode from the one in which the Personal Best was recorded in.
- Fixed an issue where online-events records could sometimes be used as a reference value for the “High Score” search condition in Spectate.
- Since records that could not be produced in normal play were sometimes used as a reference value, all reference values for “High Score” have been initialized in this latest update.
- “High Score” search results will temporarily not be displayed until players race with and on the corresponding machines/courses.
- Fixed an issue where the game would stop progressing if the course was randomized during a Top Ride Series in a paddock.
- Made several other miscellaneous gameplay fixes.
Important: Update 1.3.1 might not work with replays saved from version 1.3.0. It also won’t work with replays from versions 1.2.0 or older. If you want to keep any replays, convert them to video files first. You can do this by going to the playback settings in the “Cached Data and Data Replay” menu before updating. (You’ll need a microSD Express card to use this conversion feature.)
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2026-02-26 01:54