Kirby Air Riders Gets New Update for February 2026

Kirby Air Riders has received a new update for February 2026, providing balancing adjustments for multiple riders, machines, and abilities while also incorporating some extra amiibo figurines. There are also plenty of new bug fixes for Kirby Air Riders, ensuring a smoother gameplay experience for players on Nintendo Switch 2.

The launch of Kirby Air Riders in late November 2025 was met with a generally positive response from the gaming community, with players responding well to the racing game’s unique two-button control scheme, variety of flying machines and characters, and customization options that let them kit out their rides for different types of races. It shows positive scores on OpenCritic, with a top critic average of 82 and a perfect 100 Player Rating, marking it as an early success during the Switch 2’s first full year on the market.

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While some fans were dismayed when Nintendo announced there would be no more major updates for Kirby Air Riders less than a month after its release, the company promised that it would keep up with game maintenance in subtler ways, offering smaller updates that would keep the racing game balanced. One such balance update has now been added to the game, adjusting the stats and skills of half a dozen different racers, 17 different machines, and a handful of Copy Abilities.

Kirby Air Riders Kirby Riding One-Wheeled Vehicle

Of the 21 unlockable characters in Kirby Air Riders, the only ones seeing a change in update 1.3.1 are King Dedede, Waddle Doo, Gooey, and Scarfy, who will all be getting improvements, and Noir Dedede and Cappy, who are in for some nerfs. The most changes are headed Cappy’s way, as he sees his Special top speed in City Trial and Air Ride modes, the durability of his mushroom cap in Air Ride and Top Ride, and mushroom cap regeneration time in Top Ride all take some hits. Meanwhile, Noir Dedede will see decreases in turn performance in Top Ride. As for the characters who are getting improvements, King Dedede will have increased attack detection for Quick Spin during his Special in City Trial and Air Ride, Gooey will have a longer Special in City Trial and Air Ride, Scarfy’s angry state will increase top speed in Top Ride, and Waddle Doo players will notice better ground turning performance in all game modes.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

There are even more changes being made to some of Kirby Air Riders‘ other features, with machines and Copy Abilities getting some adjustments. Wheel, Steel Ball, and Missile are all being tweaked for Top Ride, with all three seeing top speed boosts on the ground, Wheel granted greater turning performance during drifts, and Steel Ball seeing weaker deceleration during drifts. Along with those changes, a majority of the available machines see adjustments in the new update, most of which make them stronger. Of the few getting nerfed, Jet Star now has weaker boost dash acceleration and increased difficulty in landing perfect jumps in City Trial and Air Ride, while Wheelie Scooter now has lower top ground speed in Top Ride.

In addition to these changes, the game now supports more Kirby Air Riders amiibos, with functionality unlocked for Meta Knight & Shadow Star, King Dedede & Tank Star, and Chef Kawasaki & Hop Star. Amiibo figurines have a number of different functions in Kirby Air Riders, including creating Figure Players that can be leveled up during repeated gameplay, offering more customization options between racers and machines, and unlocking unique items. These three new figures join the Kirby Air Riders Series Kirby & Warp Star and Bandana Waddle Dee & Winged Star amiibo figurines that were released alongside the game’s launch 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

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

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.

Note: Ver. 1.3.1 may not be compatible with replays from Ver. 1.3.0. Ver. 1.3.1 is not compatible with replays from Ver. 1.2.0 and earlier. Convert replays you want to keep to video files by selecting Record on the playback-settings screen within Cached Data and Data Replay before downloading the update. (Note: A microSD Express card is required to use this function.)