A few days ago I linked to a nearly 10 hour documentary of the Gold Box computer D&D game Pool of Radiance. Maybe it’s something in the air, maybe it’s people desperately trying not to think about elections, but now there’s someone on Youtube talking for five-and-a-half hours of strategy for Kirby Air Riders.
It’s been some time since I obsessed in detail about KARs (my acronym for the sequel, it’s KAR with a plural y’see) here. I haven’t had the chance to play much of it, but I still like watching other people play, and the player who made the video, Moip, doesn’t just rank highly in the competitive scene, but she has logged 2,485 hours in it.
2,485 hours! I think that’s more than I played Animal Crossing New Horizons! It’s more than I logged in Smash Ultimate when I was running experiments on amiibo, running the game overnight with CPU players beating each other up! Both of those figures are over 1,000 hours, I think, but they aren’t as much as that, and I had far longer to log them; KARs has only been out a little less than a year so far.
Will any of you care that much about it? I don’t know, but I care about it, and I write on this blog, so you’re along for the ride. Even so, 5½ hours is a whole lot of obsession. The advantage to posting daily, as I say every so often, is if you don’t care about one day’s subject you can just come back tomorrow.
Even if you are interested in Air Riders though, 5½ hours is a formidable amount of time, even if you turn the speed up to double. Here are the basics of what they say about each machine:
Warp Star:
Doesn’t like, pretty weak generally.
Wing Star:
Really fragile, while not as fragile as Paper Star but being slower on the ground makes it easier to attack
Shadow Star:
Great for City Trial for the combo of flight ability and offense. It’s got low defense, and lift is poor though, you probably won’t make it to sky islands on its own.
Wagon Star:
The “master of being decent at most things.” One of the most solid generalists in City Trial, so long as you don’t care, at all, about flying.
Slick Star:
If you can control it it’s pretty fast, not as fragile as Shadow, but has trouble breaking boxes.
Formula Star:
Great for going straight. Recommended in City Trail to go for Boost and Turn. Being on Formula can make you a target.
Bulk Star:
They love Bulk Star, but say they’d never take it in City Trial. Moip says it is good for keeping legendary pieces.
Rocket Star:
Hard to control, but great boosts. Becomes hard for others to kill you because your movement is unpredictable. Low turn in the air.
Swerve Star:
Feels good to break things with it and collect stats, but bad for PvP. You instantly stop when breaking, and being absolutely still is dangerous in City Trial.
Turbo Star:
A favorite generalist pick. You can do something they call a “wall bounce” with it, which they explain in the video.
Jet Star:
Very bad for heavyweights, but a good generalist pick for lightweights.
Wheelie Bike:
Moip’s favorite generalist for City Trial. She explains you have to know how to build it: avoid Weight and look for Turn early. This gives you a lot of control and makes it safer to go for other stats. Takes some practice to get used to.
Rex Wheelie:
Similar to Wheelie Bike. A risky pick with low stats. Very hard to control, go for Boost and Charge to make up for it. Has really good Top Speed scaling. Benefits from Turn too. A top pick for offense.
Wheelie Scooter:
Great in City Trial early game due to high manueverability. Fragile though, and top speed is a little low.
Hop Star:
Low acceleration, needs Boost.
Vampire Star:
Normal state, it’s sluggish but has strong boost. Blood state: stats scale to extremes, and becomes the best machine in the game but for only a few seconds. Also it can steal items.
Paper Star:
Extremely good flyer. The master of air farming and going for islands, but it’s very fragile. Great if you can stay in the air, but often dies in one hit.
Chariot:
Great generalist for ground characters.
Battle Chariot:
Great for battle, but Moip would only pick it as a generalist with a lightweight.
Tank Star:
Aim for Boost and Turn. Makes it difficult for other players to tell where you’re turning. Pretty fast.
Bull Tank:
Loves taking it with lightweights.
Transform Star:
In wheel form, a mixture of Wheelie Bike and Wheelie Scooter. Too much Weight makes it hard to turn without stopping. Generally for wheeled machines, Weight increases grip and slows you down, so it’s important not to go for it too early.
Dragoon:
A Legendary. Moip notes it can actually be a bit squishy for a Legendary. If completed early, says it’s best to farm air rings and sky islands.
Hydra:
A Legendary. Extremely high offense, tends to one-shot most other machines.
Leo:
A Legendary. Very maneuverable, generally high stats. Not invincible though, high offense machines can still kill you.
