Nintendo has announced that a Nintendo Direct will be showcased tomorrow, on August 19th, which will begin at 6 am PT, 9 am ET. This directive will focus on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 title, Kirby Air Riders, and will feature 45 minutes’ worth of information about Kirby’s latest outing, a sequel to Kirby Air Ride, a racing game originally released on the Nintendo GameCube.
This news was announced via the Nintendo Today app, an app released by Nintendo to focus on upcoming announcements. Interestingly, Kirby Air Riders is the first new project from developer Masahiro Sakurai in years, best known for working on the Super Smash Bros., last serving as the director on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which released in 2018 and released additional characters through 2021. Sakurai got his start in the industry in 1992, serving as the director on the original Kirby title, Kirby’s Dream Land, though interestingly, he did not serve any role on the most recent title in the series prior to Riders, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which saw Kirby explore a 3D world for the first time.
The timing of this announcement seems to point to the game being playable in some capacity at Gamescom in Cologne, which Nintendo has confirmed its presence at for this year. Opening Night Live, the kickoff event to Gamescom, hosted by Geoff Keighley, will also take place on the 19th, with the conference itself taking place over the next few days. To this point, Kirby Air Riders has had very little information revealed beyond a teaser trailer that was showcased alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement.
There has been no indication that tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct will feature anything beyond Kirby Air Riders, similar to the Donkey Kong Bananaza Direct held last month. Nintendo does have several other first-party games in development, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends Z-A that will have demos playable on the Gamescom Floor.
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