Official artwork of City Trial.
City Trial is one of the three game modes in the game Kirby Air Ride. It involves a group of two to four Kirbys riding their Air Ride Machines through an immense island city, gathering various power-ups called Patches and better Air Ride Machines for a competition in a Stadium event. The city is divided up into various sectors, each connected by a series of rails that can be ridden for quick transport between them. After a certain amount of time is spent exploring the city, 3–7 minutes depending on the options set beforehand (default is 5 minutes), a Stadium match begins, where the players can put their new, upgraded machines up against the other players in one of several different challenges.
All players begin on a Compact Star, an Air Ride Machine exclusive to this game mode with lackluster stats. However, strewn about the city are Air Ride Machines of every type that the players can find and ride. An important note is that when getting on a new machine, if a Player has collected more than 20 power-ups, the Machine will drop them until it has 20 (these can then be picked back up, though).
Besides the actual main City Trial mode, there are also two other options for play. First is the Stadium mode, which allows players to skip the City portion and compete in a stadium event immediately. None of the players are given the option of gathering power-ups in the city, but everyone is allowed to choose their vehicle. Second is the Free Run mode, which omits the timer and the stadium portion. It begins a match with a choice of vehicle. All the vehicles not chosen are placed in the city's underground (save for Meta Knight and King Dedede). There are no CPUs in Free Run, nor are there any Boxes. There is one Air Ride Machine that is exclusive to Free Run in City Trial, and that is the Flight Warp Star.
Mechanics
Boxes
Boxes are scattered around the city. The player may simply bump or quickspin them to break them and reveal items. Three different colored boxes are found in the city, giving a different type of item when broken.
- Blue Boxes: Blue boxes give out either a power-up patch, a power-down patch, or Food. A blue box may contain at most 4 items, in any combination of patches and or food. All patches can be found in blue boxes, but very rarely, and only during Events.
- Green Boxes: Green boxes contain Quick Fix items such as the Attack Up or Invincibility Candy, and the Special Offense Items such as Hyper Spin or Timer Bombs. All of these items vary and have different effects when touched, either helping or hindering the player.
- Red Boxes: Red boxes usually contain a random Copy Panel for the player to use when touched, but occasionally contain a Legendary Machine part (either of Hydra or Dragoon).
- For more information on finding legendary machine parts, see Legendary Air Ride Machines.
Food
Picking up different foods will recover the current Machine's HP by a fixed amount, or always 100% regardless HP pool for the Maxim Tomato.
| Food Item | +HP | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Ice Cream | 5 |
 |
Apple | 18 |
 |
Onigiri | 20 |
 |
Hamburger | 25 |
 |
Hot Dog | 25 |
 |
Sushi | 25 |
 |
Curry | 30 |
 |
Omurice | 30 |
 |
Ramen | 30 |
 |
Meat | 35 |
 |
Energy Drink | 70 |
 |
Maxim Tomato | Max |
Events
Many things happen during City Trial, usually appearing about every 2–5 minutes. Because of this, only one or two events happen in each match.
Some of the events can be detrimental to the players, while others prove to be helpful. The Events that occur are selected randomly, and it is very rare that the same event occurs twice in one match.
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Meteors | Meteors will rain on the city. Players that come in contact with the falling meteors are instantly engulfed in flames and take massive damage. Once a meteor lands back away from it because it will have a "blast zone" around it that still causes great damage. However, there are two different outcomes once this event begins; either 8-10 small meteors, or 3-5 large meteors, will fall from the sky, each ending with a huge meteor at the end that drops patches. After the event, the player can see that the meteors have left patches behind for the player to acquire, sometimes an All patch. |
| Air Ride Formation | An assortment of 5 Air Ride Machines will fly over the city. If a player is lucky enough to board one of the Machines, he/she will not lose any Patches if he/she has more than 20. The Machines eventually disappear after passing over the entire city-scape, however, by flying away at high speeds. |
| UFO | An immense UFO (which resembles Destroya) flies over the stage. If reached, it really pays off. On the top of the UFO are random power-ups, but with a guaranteed All power-up in the center.To get atop it, one must get on the "Garden in the Sky" via the volcano, and then from there drift onto the space craft. The player can also make it to the UFO by having an excellent gliding ability and gliding to the top of the UFO. Eventually, the ship slowly leaves the vicinity of the city. |
| Rubbery Items | All items and boxes will start to bounce up and down. This has no impact on whatever is inside of them, but it does make them very difficult to smash open, even with the use of an ability. The only items that don't bounce are the Hydra and Dragoon machine parts. This can also be advantageous as the Red Boxes containing the parts do not bounce either. |
| Amok Engine / Rowdy Charge Tank | All Air Ride machines will speed out of control. This makes things like dilapidated houses and Boxes easy to break, but can be lethal if two racers collide. This lasts a very short time; about less than a minute. A good way to avoid speeding out of control is by stopping using charge, or by going on the grind rails, and wait the event out. |
| Tac | Tac appears with a bag of power-ups. The player can ram into him to make him drop power-ups. After being hit enough times (or if no one manages to find him), Tac flies away and the event comes to an abrupt end. The places Tac appears in are random, but he is usually hidden somewhere in the city's underground. |
| Dyna Blade | Dyna Blade usually lands once, but occasionally lands twice, each at one of 5 set locations. In order to attack her, Kirby must fly at her head to obtain power-ups, or throw Gordos or bombs at her. Attacking her eye will give an All power-up, but she will leave right away and drop some patches behind for the player to take. |
| Burning Rail Stations | All of the rail stations catch fire. It may only last for about a minute but makes it virtually impossible to use the rails for quick travel without getting damaged if the player doesn't have the Invincibility Candy. If a player is grinding a railing at this time, it may be a good idea to charge (impossible on the Wagon Star) so as to stop until the event is over. |
| Fog | Thick fog comes and covers the whole area for about a minute, which makes seeing anything over 3 meters ahead very difficult. This is a rather long time considering that most other events last usually last for seconds. |
| Fake Power-Ups | When patches appear during this event, some might be fake and look different to normal patches. If the player hits one, that special attribute will go down (not always detrimental), but the air ride machine will take some damage as well.
The differences between a real power-up or patch and a fake one are listed below.
HP and All up patches do not have a fake since all power-ups that involve fake items also have a gray patch counterpart. |
| Lighthouse | The sun goes down and the light house turns on for about a minute. If Kirby goes under the light house's light, the air ride machine will be slowly repaired. It has no effect on machines without a rider, or machines at full health. |
| Same Item | All boxes contain the same item. Red boxes that do not spin contain legendary machine pieces. |
| Pillar | An odd, glowing pillar appears somewhere in the City. When destroyed, it gives out many power-ups, and some Copy Panels such as Bomb and Mike. |
| Restoration Area | Three or four big white glowing circles appear randomly in the city. They repair Kirby's machine as long as he is inside one of the circles and repair until the time is up or they use up their energy. |
| Secret Chamber in Castle Hall | The square-shaped box in the Castle Hall opens and reveals six of the same power-up or food. However, the patches will disappear if the player doesn't make it to the Castle Hall in time. |
Stadium
Once Kirby has spent enough time in the city, he will compete in a Stadium event.
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Air Glider | Players accelerate, and then go off a ramp to glide as far as they can. Vehicles with high speed and a great glide rating will fare well in this stadium. |
| Destruction Derby | Players try to destroy each other's vehicles as many times as possible on one of five stages. Vehicles with high offense, defense, and durability will prove to be an advantage in this stadium. It is not advisable to have too much Boost and Top Speed since the machine may get out of control. |
| Drag Race | One of 4 variations of a straight course is selected for a quick race. |
| High Jump | Players accelerate, and then go off a jump to jump as high as they can. There are 2 rounds, and the final result is the higher of the two. |
| Kirby Melee | One of 2 enemy filled arenas is selected. The objective is to defeat as many of them as possible. |
| Target Flight |   |
| Single Race | A random Air Ride course is selected for a 1-lap race. |
| VS. King Dedede | A highly-difficult event. Players work together to defeat King Dedede. Victory is difficult, as his stats are 2-4 times what they normally are (varies by stat, not by match). Players have to defeat him within 90 seconds. Defeating him under 60 seconds is one of the objectives of the Checklist. |
Areas
Green Canvas
Whispy Woods in Kirby Air Ride
Green Canvas appears along with Whispy Woods. It's small and it has two areas: overground, and underground. In the overground, all of the trees are destroyable except for Whispy. If the players attack Whispy, he'll eventually close one of his eyes and shed a tear (and the audience awws in the background). The underground area can only be accessed through one of the two pitfalls around the place. Beneath the woods is a small network of tunnels, with pads that will propel a player through the ground and back overground, and a model of what appears to be the city. The underground area can also be accessed if the player creates a hole in a wall that is in the basement.
Electric Lounge
This lounge is located to the south in the center of the city if the player uses the map for direction. The Electric Lounge is made up of 4 floors. The first floor is green and has 3 panels that lead the player up into the second floor. Two panels in this level lead the player directly to the top. The second floor is blue, with a big hole in the center that leads the player back down into the first floor. There is a panel that leads the player to the third floor. It also has a rail station that leads the player into other parts of the city. The third floor is yellow, also with a hole in the center. It has one panel that leads into the last, red floor, on the top of the Electric Lounge. Seen to one corner of the lounge is a hole, that leads the player back to the center floor. Each floor (excluding the first one) also has boosters on the northern side, that can help the player fly back towards other parts of the city. The Electric Lounge rail system connects Green Canvas and City Wharf.
City Wharf
This place is located between two beaches. The wharf is located east of the city, to the right of the underground area and in between the Electric Lounge and Castle Hall. There are no quirks and turns in the wharf, unlike the Electric Lounge or Green Canvas; it's simply a gray road area that leads into the heart of the city.
Castle Hall
Castle Hall is located on the northeastern part of the map, north of the City Wharf. Inside the Castle hall is a large room, with a rail station and a large closed chamber. On occasion, the chamber will open up, revealing patches or food for the player to take. The patches will disappear over time if the player isn't fast enough. Outside, the Castle Hall is white. If the player manages to go to the very top of the Castle Hall, there will be a flower on it. However, this is minor as this flower serves no purpose whatsoever. The Castle Hall's rail system connects Heat Top and City Wharf.
Heat Top
Heat Top is a hot area, with a smoking volcano in it. Dragons fly out of the lava, which will damage the machine if the player happens to run into the flying dragons. 3 breakable walls are found in the base of the volcano. Two of them lead into a small chamber of 2 to 5 random patches and food, while one leads inside the volcano. There is another way to take, which is spiraling across the volcano until reaching the top of it. The player can see a rail leading inside the volcano and a bridge, which leads to the smoky volcano. If the player goes into the smoky volcano, he/she will end up in the highest place in the city, which is the Garden in the Sky.
Inside the volcano is a completely different environment. In the room the player will go into, the room is completely icy, with a tunnel that leads further or a pad that will launch the player into the Garden in the Sky the same manner as going into the actual volcano. If the player takes the rail, he/she will go through the icy tunnel, and then into a tunnel with dirt in it. If the player continues further, he/she can see the underground of the city. If the player goes into the underground of the city, he/she may not return back where he/she came from.
Garden in the Sky
There's a giant flying platform in the sky. It can be accessed by using the Heat Top launch pad or by flying up there. This area allows people to see the rest of the city, thus giving the advantage of flying to anywhere in the city easily. This place is also a reliable place to get to the U.F.O. during the U.F.O. event.
Dilapidated Houses
One section of the city is filled with giant, metal blocks, presumably old shacks. These blocks can be broken, though it's somewhat difficult to do so without an ample amount of Offense Patches or speed. By breaking all of the houses in one City Trial, a checklist box will be checked off, unlocking a Hydra piece. Occasionally a Legendary Air Ride Machine piece can be found while destroying the homes, and sometimes random items will drop from them as well. Other than that, the area serves no other purpose besides unlocking the piece, but it can be used to lose racers.
Checklist Tasks
Like the ones in Air Ride and Top Ride, the Checklist in City Trial has a total of 120 tasks.
General
There are 3 tasks that record progress from completing other Checklist tasks.
| Mode | Course | Task | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any | Any | Unlock Dragoon Parts A, B, and C on the Checklist! | Dragoon: Select in Free Run mode. |
| Any | Any | Unlock Hydra Parts X, Y, and Z on the Checklist! | Hydra: Select in Free Run mode. |
| Any | Any | Fill in over 100 Checklist blocks! | Ending |
City Trial
There are 63 tasks that record progress from City Trial. They have a variety of requirements.
| Mode | Course | Task | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| City Trial | City | Bust the Star Pole! | None |
| City Trial | City | Bust the Star Pole 10 times or more! | Check off an empty box of your choice! |
| City Trial | City | Knock down all of the trees in the forest! | None |
| City Trial | City | During one game, break all of the volcano rocks and high plains rocks! | None |
| City Trial | City | Destroy all of the dilapidated houses! | Hydra Part X: Use 3 to complete Hydra. |
| City Trial | City | Use the grind rail to break into the crater! | None |
| City Trial | City | Make your way to the garden in the sky! | None |
| City Trial | City | Open up the pitfall in the forest! | None |
| City Trial | City | Open up all of the holes around the base of the volcano! | None |
| City Trial | City | During one game, go into the hole in the high plains 3 times or more! | None |
| City Trial | City | During one game, fly through the rings in the sky 5 times or more! | Dragoon Part B: Use 3 to complete Dragoon. |
| City Trial | City | Let the waterwheel carry you 10 times or more! | None |
| City Trial | City | Get the Bomb ability from the Copy Chance Wheel! | None |
| City Trial | City | Get the Sleep ability from the Copy Chance Wheel! | None |
| City Trial | City | Jump on top of the building 10 times or more using the super jump ramp! | None |
| City Trial | City | Enter a race with 3 CPU players and do damage to all of them in the city! | None |
| City Trial | City | Do damage to a rival within the first 10 seconds of the match! | None |
| City Trial | City | Break a CPU's machine 5 times or more in the city! | Purple Kirby |
| City Trial | City | Use Gold Spikes to KO rivals 3 times or more! | None |
| City Trial | City | Use Sensor Bombs to KO rivals 3 times or more! | None |
| City Trial | City | Use Fireworks to KO rivals 10 times or more! | Green Kirby |
| City Trial | City | Have all players simultaneously get off their machines! | None |
| City Trial | City | Let time run out while all players are off of their machines! | None |
| City Trial | City | Let time run out while all players are on the rails! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Wheelie Scooter while riding Compact Star! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Swerve Star while riding on Wheelie Bike! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Wheelie Bike while riding on Warpstar! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Warpstar while riding on Swerve Star! | Sound Test: The Lighthouse Light Burns |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Rocket Star while riding on Slick Star! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Slick Star while riding on Formula Star! | Sound Test: Station Fire |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Formula Star while riding on Turbo Star! | None |
| City Trial | City | In the city, bust Turbo Star while riding on Rocket Star! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one race, eat 3 or more plates of Sushi! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one race, eat 3 or more Hot Dogs! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one race, drink 3 or more Energy Drinks! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, eat 2 or more Maxim Tomatoes! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get over 10 Boost Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Top Speed Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Turn Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Charge Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Glide Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Weight Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 10 or more Defense Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | Get 10 items within the first 20 seconds of the match! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one game, get 50 or more items! | None |
| City Trial | City | In one match, complete both Dragoon and Hydra! | White Kirby |
| City Trial | City | Get 30 or more Glide Patches! | None |
| City Trial | City | Pick up a total of over 100 items! | Sound Test: Item Bounce |
| City Trial | City | Pick up a total of over 500 items! | Bonus: Pause Screen Power-Ups |
| City Trial | City | Pick up a total of over 1000 items! | Music: City |
| City Trial | City | Pick up a total of over 3000 items! | None |
| City Trial | City | Break more than 500 boxes! | Sound Test: Dense Fog Today |
| City Trial | City | Break more than 1000 boxes! | Meta Knight: Select in Free Run mode. |
| City Trial | City | Race over 60 miles! | Check off an empty box of your choice! |
| City Trial | City | Race over 200 miles! | None |
| City Trial | City | Steal over 8 items from Tac by yourself! | Sound Test: Tac Challenge |
| City Trial | City | Do some damage to Dyna Blade! | Sound Test: Dyna Blade Intro |
| City Trial | City | Get trampled on by Dyna Blade! | Check off an empty box of your choice! |
| City Trial | City | Go into the castle chamber when it opens! | None |
| City Trial | City | The meteor attacks the city 3 or more times! | Sound Test: Flying Meteor |
| City Trial | City | Use up one of the restoration areas! | None |
| City Trial | City | Break a huge pillar within 40 seconds of the time it appears! | None |
| City Trial | City | Break 5 or more of the huge pillars that appear! | Sound Test: Huge Pillar |
Stadium
There are 50 tasks that record progress from Stadium mode, and must be fulfilled by completing certain objectives in the corresponding Stadium.
| Mode | Course | Task | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stadium | Drag Race 1 | Finish in less than 00:24:00! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 1 | Finish in less than 00:20:00! | Sound Test: Rowdy Charge Tank |
| Stadium | Drag Race 1 | Finish under 00:17:00 on Formula Star! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 1 | Finish under 00:26:00 on Warpstar! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 2 | Finish in less than 00:24:00! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 2 | Finish in less than 00:20:00! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 2 | Finish under 00:27:00 on Wagon Star! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 2 | Finish under 00:29:00 on Winged Star! | Brown Kirby |
| Stadium | Drag Race 3 | Finish in less than 00:35:00! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 3 | Finish in less than 00:27:00! | New Stadium: Drag Race 4 |
| Stadium | Drag Race 3 | Finish under 00:28:00 on Swerve Star! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 3 | Finish under 00:31:00 on Wheelie Bike! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 4 | Finish in less than 00:24:00! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 4 | Finish in less than 00:19:00! | Sound Test: Drag Race |
| Stadium | Drag Race 4 | Finish under 00:24:00 on Rex Wheelie! | None |
| Stadium | Drag Race 4 | Finish under 00:33:00 on Turbo Star! | None |
| Stadium | Air Glider | Fly more than 330 feet! | None |
| Stadium | Air Glider | Fly more than 660 feet! | None |
| Stadium | Air Glider | Fly more than 1300 feet! | Dragoon Part C: Use 3 to complete Dragoon. |
| Stadium | Air Glider | Stay airborne longer than 30 seconds! | Sound Test: Air Glider |
| Stadium | Target Flight | In one game, get over 150 points! | None |
| Stadium | Target Flight | In one game, get a perfect score: 200 points! | None |
| Stadium | Target Flight | In one game, get exactly 90 points! | None |
| Stadium | Target Flight | Stay airborne longer than 15 seconds! | Sound Test: Target Flight |
| Stadium | Target Flight | Get more than 1500 points! | None |
| Stadium | Target Flight | Play 15 times or more! | None |
| Stadium | High Jump | Jump higher than 500 feet! | None |
| Stadium | High Jump | Jump higher than 1000 feet! | Dragoon Part A: Use 3 to complete Dragoon. |
| Stadium | High Jump | Stay airborne longer than 10 seconds! | None |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee 1 | In one game, KO enemies over 50 times! | None |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee 1 | In one game, KO over 75 enemies by yourself! | New Stadium: Kirby Melee 2 |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee 2 | In one game, KO enemies over 30 times! | Sound Test: What's in the Box? |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee 2 | In one game, KO over 40 enemies by yourself! | Sound Test: Kirby Melee |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee (All) | KO over 500 enemies! | None |
| Stadium | Kirby Melee (All) | KO over 1500 enemies! | Hydra Part Z: Use 3 to complete Hydra. |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 1 | In one game, KO your rivals 5 or more times! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 1 | In one game, KO a rival 10 times or more! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 1 | Bust all the rocks on the field! | Check off an empty box of your choice! |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 2 | In one game, KO your rivals 5 or more times! | New Stadium: Destruction Derby 3 |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 2 | In one game, KO a rival 10 times or more! | New Stadium: Destruction Derby 3 |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 3 | In one game, KO your rivals 5 or more times! | New Stadium: Destruction Derby 4 |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 4 | In one game, KO your rivals 5 or more times! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 4 | In one game, KO a rival 10 times or more! | New Stadium: Destruction Derby 5 |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 5 | In one game, KO your rivals 5 or more times! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby 5 | In one game, KO a rival 10 times or more! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby (All) | KO enemies over 50 times! | None |
| Stadium | Destruction Derby (All) | KO enemies over 150 times! | Hydra Part Y: Use 3 to complete Hydra. |
| Stadium | VS. King Dedede | KO King Dedede in less than a minute! | King Dedede: Select in Free Run mode. |
| Stadium | Any | Play in over 10 Stadium modes! | New Stadium: Single Race (Nebula Belt) |
| Stadium | Any | Play in over 20 Stadium modes! | None |
Free Run
There are 4 tasks that record progress from Free Run.
| Mode | Course | Task | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Run | City | Change Air Ride machines 10 times or more! | Sound Test: Legendary Air Ride Machine |
| Free Run | City | Drive for a total of 10 minutes or more! | None |
| Free Run | City | Drive for a total of 30 minutes or more! | Sound Test: City Trial |
| Free Run | City | Drive for a total of 2 hours or more! | Check off an empty box of your choice! |
Music
|
The following section contains transcluded content from the Database. Source: (view • edit • help) |
Trivia
- The City's layout resembles that of Cappy Town.
- The UFO looks like a Destroya.
- The volcano looks like Booma-Dooma Volcano in the Anime.
- Dyna Blade is incorrectly mentioned as a male when she lands.
- Green Canvas Area has a golf course, just like Dedede's Golf Course in the Anime.
- Scattered in the area are two flowers. They serve no purpose whatsoever. They're located:
- At the very top of Castle Hall.
- At the corner of Heat Top, at the highest point.
These could be viewed as easter eggs that's awarded to the player for getting to very high and hard to reach points.
- It is possible to fly over the first set of invisible walls on the borders of the city. If the player happens to fly far enough and high enough, he/she will fly past the area of the invisible walls and into a land of nothingness and just water. However, there is another invisible wall just after that. The player may explore there as he/she wishes. This is due to an error that the invisible wall is not extended up enough, although there are one-way ramps scattered about to get back on the main land.
- Although the dilapidated houses are referred to as such in the checklist, they more so resemble metal blocks in a junkyard than houses.
- In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, there is a mode called Smash Run, which Sakurai himself said it was created inspired by Kirby Air Ride's City Trial.
