New Kirby Amiibo Are Up for Preorder – Here’s How They Work

If you’re a fan of Kirby the adorable pink puff ball, you’re surely looking forward to Kirby Air Riders, which hits Switch 2 on November 20. As Nintendo is wont to do, the company is also releasing a series of amiibo figures to go along with the new game. While five amiibo have been announced, only three are available for preorder so far: Kirby and Warp Star, Bandana Waddle Dee and Winged Star, and Meta Knight and Shadow Star. They all retail for (a somewhat shocking) $49.99, and are set to release either the same day as the game itself or next year.

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In addition to tariffs, another reason for the higher-than-usual price is that these are more elaborate than most amiibo figures. With each of them, you get a character and a vehicle that work together in interesting ways, particularly if you have both figures. Read on for the details.

Kirby and Warp Star amiibo

Bandana Waddle Dee and Winged Star amiibo

Meta Knight & Shadow Star amiibo

How the Kirby Air Riders amiibo Work

So how do these things work, exactly? When you put Kirby on the Warp Star vehicle and tap it on your Switch 2 controller, it creates an in-game Figure Player (think NPC) that will race around the tracks in your matches. As the FP competes in races, it will level up, and its machine proficiency level will also increase. (Machine proficiency is basically a score for that character-and-vehicle combo).

If you have more than one of the above amiibo figures, you can swap riders on the vehicles. That way, you can have an FP of Kirby riding on the Winged Star, or Bandana Waddle Dee riding on the Warp Star. When you do this, the FP character maintains its level, but starts from zero in its machine proficiency since it’s a new vehicle. You can watch the video above to see how the process works in action.

In a recent Nintendo Direct, Kirby Air Riders director Masahiro Sakurai announced two more Kirby Air Riders amiibo will be released later in 2026. These are King Dedede and Tank Star, as well as Chef Kawasaki and Hop Star. Once these are released, they'll create even more character/machine combinations for your FPs.

Preorder Kirby Airy Riders