Kirby Air Riders director Masahiro Sakurai says those who haven't already played the GameCube racer might ask themselves "if it's basically Mario Kart," and, uh, yeah, "it basically is like Mario Kart"

Kirby rides a jet-powered warp star in the announcement teaser for Kirby Air Riders, over a lush green race course.

Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai magnanimously devoted himself to spreading the gospel of, originally, GameCube racer Kirby Air Ride during Nintendo's surprise Direct for Switch 2 sequel Kirby Air Riders today, and he admits that, well… yeah, I guess it kind of is like Mario Kart… sort of…

"The original was widely viewed as a racing game featuring Kirby," Sakurai says during the livestream. "You might be asking yourself if it's basically Mario Kart. You race and battle with familiar characters around courses with different features, or so they say."