Kirby Air Ride. One of my favorites. Read on and find out why.

How fun is it?
You've got to be kidding. This game has a certain way to make you think that, while doing something else, you don't feel like playing Kirby Air Ride. As soon as you start playing, you get addicted. First, there are three modes to keep you busy.

-Air Ride- Your basic race around one of nine tracks, each with its twists and turns and obstacles. Enemies are in the way, which you can swallow to copy their ability to defeat, or at least slow down, your opponent racers. You also get to choose from a list of vehicles or "machines" which starts with only one. However, there are about 15 unlockable machines. I don't like it too much compared to the others.
-Top Ride- A little mini-race which is over pretty quickly, and involves a top-down view. You choose from seven courses, again with unique obstacles, and race against others. No enemies, but tons of items that can make a race fun. Two simple machines.
-City Trial- My personal favorite, and a favorite of many others. You start on a wimpy machine, then drive around a city to collect a better machine and powerups, and to destroy others. There are several events that take place too, like meteor showers, or giant evil strong pretty metal Dynablade bird attack. After a set amount of time, you go to a minigame, where you are tested on minigame skills and skills at creating a good machine with good powerups.

Overall, fun? This game has it covered. I cannot stop playing it after I've started. Easily, at least. Fun level is 19/20 (point taken out for Air Ride mode).

Is the game original?
Well, sort of. It's kinda like any other racing game. It does have quite a few added features, like copy abilities, mostly the City Trial, items, and machines to make it fun. But Nintendo has managed to make it fun while adding only a few features. There isn't much of a "Hey look at me a new idea" factor here. 3/5 points.

Is it customizable and comfortable?
Customization? Oh, wow. Kirby Air Ride gives you tons of options for each mode, including machines, tracks, computer difficulty levels (a must), items, damage, events on City Trial, time, laps... And these aren't including all the unlockable options. Kirby Air Ride is almost fully customizable.
Controls? Simple. Use the control stick to steer. Holding A brakes, and releasing accelerates. That's it. By that's it I mean there are two buttons involved with the actual gameplay. A does every other action, like hold to charge, release to boost... activate ground boost pads... swallow enemies... use Copy Abilities... It's quite simple. You won't have trouble learning how to play this. Really.
Finally, I'd like to note that the game is fast paced... not only in gameplay, but in menus. There's pretty fast loading time, customization doesn't take long, and- here's something amazing- the logo screens don't take forever to get through! So you don't have to wait for "Nintendooooo... Hudsoooon... Nintendoooooo Gamecuuuuube...." to pass. The logos take ONE SECOND. And you can even skip them! The logos are groundbreakers. I hope everyone else will follow in their footsteps this way. 7/7 is what I score this.

Will I rip out my hair in frustration?
Nope! Probably not. Since the computer levels are changeable you don't have to worry about a thing. Even on the easiest difficulty, though, you will have satisfaction when you bust a computer's machine and watch them desperately search for another. There are also checklists for each of the modes. These checklists have 120 achievements on them, and you get stuff by filling in the checklists. These checklists give a sense of "achievement" (ha ha ha) but sometimes can be frustrating. You may want to bring a friend to help you. Difficulty gets 4/5, the one point taken out for the few checklists. I suppose that's a good point for most gamers though.

Can my friends play? Will it be fun?
Yes, and YES. The game allows four players in one game, and there's also a LAN feature where you can connect a Gamecube to another. I'm not sure if this supports more players, I haven't really looked into it, but it sounds pretty sweet. Yeah, multiplayer here is a huge plus. It makes certain checklist achievements easier, and games more fun, especially since your friends don't have computerized minds. I hope. But even without friends Kirby Air Ride is great, so don't feel left out when there are none to get together with. 10/10.

My eyes are gonna bleed, aren't they?
The graphics in this game are your standard Gamecube graphics. The Air Ride tracks and Top Ride tracks are both pretty detailed, the City Trial city looks fun, happy, and a bit Picasso-ish. I find these to fit the mood pretty well. The special effects are sweet, too. If you get REALLY close to a Kirby (yes, A kirby) you can see some straight edged polygons, but those are tiny, and who would randomly zoom in that much? At the beginning I said this game contains standard Gamecube graphics. And I mean that as a good thing. 9/10 just for the polygons. Warning: Some people, like my sister, do get motion sickness from this game (or something). So if you feel sick, don't play for TOO long. Hah, that's a challenge.

Okay, so how's the music?
Beautiful, well done, and beautiful. Kirby Air Ride contains several original and remixed songs from previous Kirby games, music from the Japanese Kirby anime (Hoshi no Kaabii), and new, amazing music. It gets stuck in my head all the time, and I'm glad it does. It obviously fits the mood everywhere, and pretty much forces you to start humming along... if you're into music as much as me. Heck, before I downloaded the 200 MB Kirby Air Ride soundtrack, I played just to listen to the music. 17/15 for this amazing soundtrack.

....

Okay, fine, 15/15.

Sounds cool. Will the ending be some single screen saying "You Win"?
There's no way to actually win the game, but it shows a little "cutscene" if you get at least 100/120 of the checklist achievements checked. Checklist... That's what gives all the rewards. If you complete certain achievements on the checklists, you can get sound tests, alternate music (YAY!), new Kirby colors, Air Ride machines, extra settings, the ability to check a checklist of your choice, Meta Knight playability (only in Free Run mode of City Trial, which kinda sucks, sorry), new minigames or tracks, the cutscene type things as said above, and much, much, much more. You feel proud whenever you check off a square of the checklist, and when you get a prize from it, that just adds to the fun. I haven't gotten 120 on one checklist yet, but give me a break, they're sometimes challenging and I get distracted by the other modes and their checklists. Anyway, reward is high in this game. 5/5.

Final Words
Kirby Air Ride, a very addicting, fast-paced game with pretty graphics, moderate challenges, customizability, great unlockables, and great multiplayer support. And LAN, which I don't know much about. Or care much about. It's already good enough. When I add up all the points I've given the game, it gains a 73/77. That's about 95/100. ...If you count the extra two points I wanted to give to the soundtrack, 75/77, 97/100.

Go buy it. If it's not in stores, buy it somewhere else. Find it, play it. You HAVE to.

"This post has 1257 words "

They still make gamecube games? Or is this old..

It came by in the later half of the gamecubes life.

And this review is quite really UNDERRATING the game. It's even better.

Great review despite the large word total. And this settles it, I will somehow find and get the game

That's really a great review, 500 Viz.

This was the very first game i got when i got my gamecube in i think 2004, and i still have it and play it on my wii. It is one awesome game