Cool Air Riders Things to Mention. (Games Playing Right Now #19)

Neat Air Riders things.

The One Complaint

If you are in the gummies mode and specifically use a GameCube controller, the button layout is set up to where if you want to aim and fling gummies while moving, you need to use the forbidden grip known as the claw. It's not like the game doesn't support the controller either. The game uses legit GameCube glyphs and control binds and yet the game has this one specific issue in this one specific place. It stands out considering everything else in the game is pretty much perfect from my experience. I feel like the prince from Prince and the Pea who lies on a stack of mattresses and is bothered by the one pea between the bottom two mattresses because of how niche this issue is.

The Casual Multiplayer Finally Realized

The game itself feels like the kind of play that Smash Bros (particularly Ultimate) was aiming for. Smash Bros was meant to be an accessible fighting game that can be played casually but ended up affording more competitive play in the social spaces that stripped out that immediate gratification that various features and designs we supposed to bring. Air Riders on the other hand doesn't have those issues and is even simpler to play due to only using an analog stick and three buttons maximum¹ during action gameplay. 

Smash Bros with items and hazards is about taking the hand you are dealt and making the best out of it. The same applies with Air Riders/Ride City Trial, Top Ride, and a little bit with Air Ride modes with the main difference being the socially accepted rules. I'm guessing it helps that most of the fun in those modes is the game state variable aspect so most player don't play with the rules set for consistent racing just like what most people like for kart racing. 

I think it helps a lot that Air Riders is designed way better, but I'm not fully sure if it's because of the medium or if casual Smash could have been made. No one has proven that platform fighting doesn't eventually evolve into a competitive fighting game after all.

What the Campaign is

People online seem to have thought the mode was a rogue like mode at first. Once I finally played it and saw same challenges at the same place, I realized that this was the wrong assessment. Not only can you retry challenges by paying a very small amount of Roa², but you can also switch you machine between attempts which you otherwise can't do till you reach a rest stop or enter a new stage. If you are out of Roa or the challenge is impossible, you can just restart further back for free which allows to build up stats or even try a different challenge. The big thing though is that all the challenges are the same every time. They are all pre-built just like the Spirits mode campaign World of Light and the rest of the Spirit Boards. This time around, people seem to appreciate it more than Spirits which I am happy about. I enjoy it myself and I'm happy to see everyone say the same thing even though their isn't much agreement on what it even is yet.

[1] These buttons are Boost, Special, and Boss Targeting. Targeting is only used in Vs Boss Stadiums.

[2] Roa pronounced "row" is the money with the R symbol on it. I don't know what it's actually called, but that's what name I gave it.