In every other way, Kirby Air Riders is so extremely not just a Mario Kart redux that riding around 150cc matches at home ...

With Kirby Air Ride, Sakurai felt it would be best to do something “different” so that it didn’t directly compete with the two Game Boy Advance titles in development. A very smart choice.

Air ride is the main mode of the game, where you race on a variety of colorful courses against several opponents. You don't have to accelerate--Kirby will do that for you.