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 Kirbies 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, 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. There are no CPUs in Free Run.

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.

Pieces from the same machine are usually, but not always found in the same general area.
 * Red Boxes: Red boxes usually contain a random Copy Panel for the player to use when touched. However, if broken in a certain location, at a certain time, a Legendary Machine part (either of Hydra or Dragoon) will pop out of the box. Sometimes, no machine parts can be found ever in a match. Here are the specific locations where the red boxes that contain machine parts can be found:
 * In the beach in between City Wharf and Castle Hall
 * In the beach in between Electric Lounge and the City Wharf
 * In the Underground, underneath the city
 * In the golf area
 * In the Electric Lounge
 * In the Castle Hall
 * In the beach between Heat Top and Castle Hall
 * Inside the volcano in Heat Top
 * Red boxes in these areas always contain machine parts:
 * In the breakable city area
 * On the plains atop the water wheel
 * Underneath Whispy Woods. Red boxes in Whispy's Forest never contain machine parts
 * After the rail inside the volcano, after the tunnel, that leads into a small room


 * Green Boxes: Green boxes contain Quick Fix items such as the Attack Up or the 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.

Events
Many things happen during City Trial, usually appearing about every 2-5 minutes. Because of this, only one or two events happen 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.

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 Destrayer) flies over the stage. It is difficult to board, but 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 Red Boxes that contain machine parts do not bounce either.

Amok Engine
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 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 the rail stations catch on 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 on a railing at this time, it may be a good idea to charge so as to stop until the event is over.

Fog
Thick fog comes and covers the whole area. The music is thought by some to be rather creepy, but it lasts only about a minute as well. This is rather a long time considering that events last usually shortly.

Fake Power-Ups
When patches appear during this event, some might be fake and look different than normal patches. If the player hits one, that special attribute will go down.

The differences between a real power-up or patch and a fake one are listed below.


 * Glide: Has yellow dots
 * Boost: The purple arrows are tilted
 * Charge: The meter is lower
 * Weight: Looks like a suitcase
 * Offense: The spikes are curved
 * Defense: Has a hollow center
 * Top Speed: Streams at bottom curve outward
 * Turn: The arrow is missing

HP and All up patches do not have a known 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. If Kirby goes under the light house's light, he will be slowly healed. This lasts about a minute.

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 Singer.

Restoration Area
Three or four big white glowing circles appear randomly in the city. They heal Kirby if he rests on them (by charging while on his vehicle) and last until 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.

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 others' 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
Players accelerate down a hill, then aim for a target board with varying scores. There are 2 rounds, and the final result is a total of the two.

Single Race
A random Air Ride course is selected for a 1-lap race.

Vs. King Dedede
Arguably the hardest boss battle in Kirby history, players work together to defeat King Dedede. Victory is very rare, as his stats are 2-4 times what they normally are (varies by stat, not by match). Plus there is a short time limit which limits the player success even more.

Whispy Woods
Whispy Woods appears along with Whispy himself. Although 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 attacks Whispy, he'll eventually close one of his eyes and shed a tear (even the audience awws). 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. It also has a rail station that leads the player into other parts of the city. The third floor is green, 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 Whispy Woods 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 Grand Castle Hall. There are no quirks and turns in the wharf, unlike the Electric Lounge or Whispy Woods; it's simply a gray road area that leads into the heart of the city.

Grand Castle Hall
Grand Castle Hall is located on the northeastern part of the map, north of the City Wharf. Inside the Grand Castle hall is a large room, with a rail station and a large closed chamber. On ocassion, 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 Grand 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 3 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 gardens.

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 City Gardens 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 (Battlefield)
One section of the city is filled with giant, metal blocks, presumably old shacks. It's hard to do so, but the blocks are breakable. By breaking all of the houses in one City Trial, a checklist box will be checked off, unlocking a Hydra piece. Other than the Hydra piece, it is an area where racers could lose racers chasing them, but it serves no other purpose.

Trivia
These could be viewed as easter eggs that's awarded to the player for getting to very high and hard to reach points.
 * The City's structure resembles that of Cappy Town.
 * The UFO looks like the Destrayer.
 * The volcano looks like the volcano in the Anime.
 * Green Canvas Area has a golf course, just like Dedede's Golf Course in the Anime.
 * Scattered in the area are flowers. They serve no purpose whatsoever. They're located:
 * 1) At the very top of Castle Hall.
 * 2) At the corner of Heat Top, at the highest point.
 * 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.

City Trial