Promotional Video Gives Closer Look At Kirby's Air Ride For The N64

As well as some other N64 titles

by Jack Yarwood Wed 7th Sep 2022

Recently, a user named Tank Caps uploaded a Japanese store video to YouTube, giving us a better look at some early footage from a number of N64 games.

The video (reported on by GameXplain and GoNintendo) was originally put together to promote the release of the Super Mario 64 soundtrack back in 1996, but also includes some interesting clips from other titles like Star Fox 64, Wave Race 64, and Mario Kart 64, as well as Kirby's Air Ride.

As you may well know, Kirby's Air Ride was a racing game originally in development for the N64 that was put on hold and eventually rebooted as Kirby Air Ride, for GameCube. In its original form, it was covered in magazines throughout the 90s (pictured below), but footage of the game online is usually low-quality or aggressively watermarked.

As Tanks Caps says in the video description, "While I don't want to be too preachy, I think it's important that preservation is done properly. No hoarding. No claiming. Just available. This is why I've asked Forest of Illusion to upload this footage to archive.org for your own use. Feel free to do what you want with it! I'm just happy it's out there and not on someone's shelf to collect dust."

In this footage, we get a better look at a multiplayer race between King Dedede and Kirby, as they barrel down a chequered slope towards a castle. What's interesting about this clip is just how vertical the course is, compared to the finished game where courses were designed to loop back in on themselves. This is because the original version was designed to be A to B, as opposed to lap-based.

As pointed out by GameXplain, some of the other quirks you'll be able to spot in this promotional video include Mario Kart 64 being advertised under its original title Mario Kart R and Wave Race 64 showing 5 racers inside of the 4 seen in the finished version. There's also some footage of the on-rails version of Goldeneye 007 and a look at Creator, the game that would eventually become the Japan-Exclusive Mario Artist: Paint Studio for 64DD.