Hands-on with Nintendo’s 2025 Holiday lineup: Kirby Air Riders, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and more

The Switch 2’s first holiday season is nearly here! Last week, Nintendo held a special holiday preview event to show off their biggest games still to come in 2025. With only a few months left in the year, we won’t have to wait long at all to play these titles in full.

Nintendo’s 2025 holiday lineup includes Kirby Air Riders, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A. I was lucky enough to get to try the latest public builds of these games to see just how the next few months are shaping up. Read on for my impressions of what’s on the schedule from now until the end of the year.

Let’s start with Kirby Air Riders, which Nintendo seems to be positioning as Switch 2’s biggest holiday release. This is the long-awaited follow-up to 2003’s Kirby Air Ride which hardly anyone saw coming. Sakurai has returned to helm this sequel, at long last giving the series another day in the sun.

For whatever reason, I never had the chance to play the original Kirby Air Ride on the GameCube. In the years since though, I’ve heard many people speak fondly of the game, particularly its City Trial mode, and have always been intrigued by it. Air Riders is ostensibly a racing game, but Nintendo and longtime fans are positioning City Trial as the main event.

I was able to play two rounds of City Trial with four human players (including myself), plus twelve CPUs to fill out the max count of sixteen players. Each player had their own Switch 2 to play on, with two of us in docked mode, and two playing handheld. In terms of performance and ease of connection, the entire local multiplayer experience was quite seamless.

Before playing City Trial proper, we did run through a few of the game’s tutorial missions. These help introduce the basics of play: moving, drifting around corners, attacking by spinning the stick, using your special, and gliding off of ramps. There were plenty more tutorial lessons covering the finer points of gameplay, but we skipped over them in the interest of time.

In City Trial, you’re given five minutes to race around a huge map in search of new machines to drive and power-ups to alter your base stats. Once time is up, you get to choose a competition that best suits your build as a test of your skills. Then whether you win or lose, it’s over and you’re ready to jump into a brand new match. I played as iconic Kirby characters Gooey and Chef Kawasaki, both of whom had their own specials and attack styles that felt very different to control.

I could really feel the fun in this mode even in my limited play time, and I’m eager to play more of it. The first segment is frantic in the best way possible, as you’re zooming around this huge map, desperately hunting for stat boosts, and running into other players along the way. Whenever I crossed paths with someone else I found myself asking: “Where are they going? Do they know something I don’t? Should I follow them? Should I attack them and try to knock them off their vehicle?”

Of course all of these thoughts were happening in the space of about two seconds, and by the time I decided what to do, that other player was already gone. In the meantime, there were about a dozen other things in my immediate area inviting further questions. It can all feel rather chaotic as you’re zipping from one spot to another with so many distractions, especially as you’re constantly aware of the timer ticking down, threatening to end the game before you feel ready.

This being my first foray into Air Riders, I did not fully understand all of its nuances. The game does try to help new players by telling them the strengths and weaknesses of each machine they come across. For example, some are better at flying, while others are slower, but better for attacking. You can also check your current power-ups at any time; If you have a lot of speed boosts, it probably makes sense to stick with a faster machine that complements that. These little reminders and tips are definitely helpful, though as a newcomer I still felt like I was in over my head.

There are myriad decisions to contemplate at just about every point in City Trial, which I think is part of what makes it so compelling. Should you be looking for a new machine, or is your current machine a safe bet? Are you picking up the right power-ups, or are you not being discerning enough in what you grab? Then there are the random events that can occur (like a giant boss enemy appearing for everyone to attack) which should keep things fresh for repeat play sessions. I certainly had not locked into the most efficient strategies for this mode, so I ended up flailing around a lot and just basking in the wacky, rapid-fire nature of it all.

Once the time limit runs out, everyone gets a choice between four different minigames. The first game I went for had me trying to fly my machine farther than anyone else, while the second was Gourmet Race, in which I wanted to gobble up as many food items as possible. Both were fun, silly, and very, very quick. The timed portion of City Trial feels genuinely tense and dramatic, and your reward is a super fast, lighthearted minigame. Whether you win or lose, you’re then immediately ready to jump into a new match and do it all over again.

City Trial was the only mode of Kirby Air Riders that I got to try. There’s still another Direct for this game coming up soon, so I imagine we’re going to learn much more then. Still, I could feel the level of sheen and polish that Sakurai always brings to these games. There’s just something special about his designs, even down to the menus and tutorials.

As a neophyte to this franchise, I’m not qualified to comment on how Air Riders compares to the original game. I can tell you that it’s fast-paced, colorful, and inviting. I can easily foresee the City Trial mode being very addicting in online play. Nintendo seems to have a ton of confidence in this as a holiday product, and I’m curious to see how it’s received by the gaming public at large when it drops on November 20th.

As much as I am not a Kirby Air Ride player, I’m perhaps even less of a Pokémon player. This is a series that I was in love with as a kid, but fell out of step with years ago. I was curious to try Pokémon Legends: Z-A to see how it meshed with me as a lapsed player.

One of the primary ways Z-A separates itself from other Pokémon games is with its real-time battles. You control your trainer directly during battles, choosing and commanding Pokémon as you run around the arena. As someone who grew up watching the Pokémon cartoon, this felt like the closest we’ve come to replicating that show in video game form.

During my demo, I had a small team of four Pokémon to work with. You can freely swap between them during a battle, then have them use one of their four moves via button commands. Helpfully, it will even tell you on the screen whether or not those moves are effective against your current opponent. You can also pause the game in order to use items; however, there is a cooldown period for that, so you can’t just spam healing potions.

My first introduction to the game came in a series of battles with trainers in the city. Beyond the real-time element, I also had to worry about stealth. You can try to sneak up on trainers if they’re not facing you, which will reward you with a surprise attack. Since this was an early area chosen for the demo, most of these battles were pretty easy, but there was one trainer with a higher level Pidgeotto that annihilated my entire team without breaking a sweat. (This was very humbling.)

I also got to try out a boss battle in which I controlled a Lucario vs. an Absol in a big rooftop arena. The Absol was specifically trying to attack my trainer avatar, not Lucario, which is definitely a bit of a shakeup from normal Pokémon battles. I had to focus on avoiding Absol’s attacks while getting Lucario to do what I needed it to do. All the while, we were building up a meter so that I could Mega Evolve Lucario, which would enable higher attack damage.

There are a lot of things I had to keep track of at the same time for this battle: my own positioning, the Pokémon’s positioning, which moves I should be using, whether or not I needed any items, plus that Mega Evolution factor. It feels more complex than turn-based battles because you don’t have the chance to sit there and think things over for any significant length of time. You’re constantly on the move and juggling all of these ideas in your head at once.

One aspect of Z-A I’m still unsure about is the story. I only got to explore two tiny slices of this world; one was a fairly bland back alley, and the other was an empty boss battle void. I didn’t get to enter any buildings, or explore any wilderness, and the character dialogue I experienced was nothing to write home about. It remains to be seen if I’ll be more impressed with the final product.

Regardless, I think Z-A could serve as a way back into this franchise for myself and other lapsed or new players. For veterans, it seems that all of the staples of Pokémon are still there (stats, items, movesets, and abilities). This doesn’t feel like a pared down, simpler version of the game for newcomers, it’s just been transposed into a different style of gameplay. This one’s coming out October 16th.

More classic Nintendo games are returning with newly remastered versions, and this time it’s Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. If you’re familiar with these games, you already know that they’re masterpieces of the platforming genre. From the art design, to the music, to the creative use of planets with their own individual gravities, these are two of my all-time favorites.

That said, I must admit that I wasn’t terribly excited about these re-releases. I do still have both games on the Wii, and I wasn’t sure there was enough new content to make me want to re-purchase them. However after playing them in person, my tune has started to change just a bit.

For one thing, I don’t think the gameplay videos that have been shared online do justice to just how good Galaxy looks in 4K on the Switch 2. The colors are richer, darker, and more vibrant than ever before, and the textures are sharper and clearer. If you didn’t know better, you really could be convinced that these are modern games. They’ve hardly aged at all.

I played the Galaxy games with both the Switch 2 Pro-Controller, and the Joy-Con 2s. The Joy-Cons are probably going to be the way that most people want to experience this game, because they effectively mimic the original Wiimote and Nunchuk style. You use your right Joy-Con as the pointer, and it works pretty smoothly. I never thought that the IR pointing capabilities of the original Switch were particularly strong, but they’ve definitely been upped on Switch 2.

Joy-Cons might be closer to the original experience, but the Pro-Controller ended up surprising me too. You might not think this would be a great way to play since Galaxy has you constantly using pointer controls to pick up Star Bits in the environment. With the Pro-Controller, you actually use its gyro sensor to move your cursor around the screen as you play. After taking a minute to get used to that, I found that it actually feels pretty darn good. You may lose your tracking every so often, but it’s easy enough to reset your pointer position by aiming at the center of the screen and pressing a button. If you just love your Pro-Controller, and you want a more traditional control style, it’ll get the job done.

I didn’t get to look at any of the new Rosalina storybook content or the music player or anything like that, but just as far as the games themselves go, they look great, and they play as well as ever. We hardly have to wait any time at all for these to come out on October 2nd.

The last game that I got to play was Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which I’m anticipating very highly. I am eager to see more of this one, especially after that motorcycle reveal in the most recent Direct. Unfortunately, the demo at this event was still the same one that was already playable in May of this year at the Switch 2 experience events, so I don’t have anything new to report. If you’d like to read my original impressions of that first demo, you can do so here.

One thing I can add is that I played Beyond seated this time, using the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls and a special mousepad-like armrest that Nintendo had prepared. I previously experienced the demo with mouse controls while standing, and it was definitely more comfortable sitting down. I’m still thinking that mouse controls will be the best way to play this one, and I’m looking forward to really testing them out in a full-fledged title. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be available at last on December 4th.

Finally, I got a peek at the upcoming wave of amiibo, which you can see photos of above. I actually held the Kirby Air Riders amiibo in my hands, and can report that they feel like high quality products. They’re also a good deal larger than I expected them to be. The machines and the riders can be separated, and there’s a very strong magnetic pull when they’re inside, so there’s no worry about them falling out. You’re also going to be able to use these to hold characters and stats from Air Riders itself, similar to how amiibo were used in Smash Bros. Ultimate, so there’ll be more value here for anyone who plans on really getting into Kirby Air Riders.

I also got to take a look at the Metroid Prime 4 amiibo. I didn’t get to pick these one up, but they do look gorgeous, especially Samus on that motorcycle. I’m not a die-hard Amiibo collector, but some of these are just so pretty, and I’m such a fan of these franchises that it’s making me think I want to pick them up. That said, amiibo are getting more expensive these days, so I imagine these are going to be a tougher sell to anyone who isn’t a die-hard collector.

Of course, for the holiday season, Nintendo is still going to be relying heavily on the selling power of Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and the freshness of the Switch 2 itself. I think those are going to be the biggest selling points for them this holiday, because there are still a lot of people who have yet to pick up a Switch 2. However, there’s still plenty to get excited about for current the early adopters.

For me, it’s all about Metroid Prime 4. We’ve been waiting so long for that one to get a release, and I can hardly believe it’s almost here. I think Kirby Air Riders is going to make a great companion piece for it. Those two games only come out a couple weeks apart from each other, and they should be a perfect pair for when you want to switch between solo and multiplayer gaming.

Are you planning on picking up any or all of these games, or buying them as holiday gifts for others? How about some of the games that weren’t featured at this event, like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment? Do you think this is a strong enough lineup for the Switch 2’s first holiday season? Let us know in the comments!