Characters we could still see in Kirby Air Riders

A few months back, we compiled a list of characters we’d like to see added to Kirby Air Riders. And fortunately, several of our picks actually came true – Marx, Taranza, Rocky, and Daroach were all revealed in the recent presentation held for the game. The same video also revealed that Kirby Air Riders won’t receive any DLC – a refreshing chance of pace to receive a complete game from day one, for sure, but it also means that the base game’s character roster will be final.

At the time of writing, we aren’t sure if Masahiro Sakurai has revealed every single character in Kirby Air Riders. During the game’s Direct, it was never clarified if everything during the presentation rounded out the roster Historically – and with the exception of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Sakurai tends to leave a couple of characters hidden for players to unlock. So today, we’re looking at a few remaining contenders that we could see in the game.

At the moment, the biggest exclusion in Kirby Air Riders’ roster is Elfilin. He’s a fairly recent addition to Kirby’s line-up of characters, but in that time Elfilin has already become one of the most popular characters in the series. In the recent Kirby Air Riders presentation, the Tortuilding enemy from Kirby and the Forgotten Land was shown as an obstacle in the new Road Trip mode. That means Kirby and the Forgotten Land was not completely excluded from Kirby Air Riders, even though it released during the same year this game entered development (2022). However, Tortuilding appears to just be a quick 2D render, rather than a fully modeled character. This could imply that characters from Kirby and the Forgotten Land were tacked on last minute, which could also mean that Elfilin didn’t make it in time. We’ve seen this happen in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where characters from ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did not make it into the base game because their games released while Ultimate was being developed. Still, given how major of a character Elfilin is now, it’d be a surprise if he were completely omitted.

Another odd exclusion is Adeleine, who appears prominently in Kirby 64. Kirby Air Riders’ recent presentation showed off music from Kirby 64 as well as a boss from it, so the game hasn’t been forgotten. It’s still rather strange that Adeleine seemingly won’t make the cut, because she’s a major character in that game. The same goes for Ribbon, who follows Kirby for the duration of the story. Kirby Star Allies added Adeleine and Ribbon together as a team, and something like that could definitely happen here as well. Or Sakurai could throw a wrench into things and add Ado instead – she’s a character from Kirby’s Dream Land 3 who looks almost exactly like Adeleine, and for some reason there are still ongoing theories as to whether she and Ado are the same person or not.

There’s one more notable exclusion –  the Three Mage Sisters from Kirby Star Allies. They were introduced in 2018, so if they’re not in Kirby Air Riders, it isn’t because they’re too recent. That being said, the Three Mage Sisters are generally much less popular than Taranza, Magolor, and Susie, who are playable in Kirby Air Riders. It’s technically possible that we could get Hyness as a playable character instead of the Three Mage Sisters, though that’s rather unlikely given that Hyness is much more of a spoiler character than them. Not that anybody is trying to avoid Kirby Star Allies spoilers in 2025 or anything!

Like we mentioned on our last post, Sakurai is known to include some deep cut unlockable characters in his games. You had Mr. Game & Watch in Melee, R.O.B. in Smash Bros. Brawl, Duck Hunt in 4, and Piranha Plant as DLC in Ultimate. It’s very possible that the Kirby Air Riders roster we know about right now is final, and that there are no additional characters. But it’d still be cool to see any character from our list of deep cuts: Yin-Yarn, Phan Phan, Paint Roller, Drawcia, Claycia, President Haltmann, Prince Fluff, Nightmare, Captain Vul from Kirby Super Star, the Fairy Queen from Kirby 64, and Shadow Kirby from Amazing Mirror. Characters from the Kirby anime are still unlikely, but any of Tiff, Tuff, or Escargoon would be very interesting picks. Even if they’re not going to happen!

Are there any missing characters you’d still want to see in Kirby Air Riders? Do you think there are any riders that are unrevealed, or do we know the entire game’s roster now? Let us know in the comments down below.