Gigantes is one of the headline additions in Kirby Air Riders, a colossal legendary machine that doubles as a story payoff and a chaos button in City Trial. It is built directly into the Road Trip campaign and then spills over into multiplayer once you’ve cleared specific requirements.
Gigantes’ role in Kirby Air Riders’ story
Road Trip, the single-player campaign in Kirby Air Riders, is built around the mystery of why Air Ride machines on Popstar start behaving strangely. As the rider follows where those machines seem to be “pointing,” the story gradually reveals a much older problem: an immobile inorganic lifeform named Zorah once arrived in a remote region called The Farthest Land and wished to be able to move freely.
That wish reached the Fountain of Dreams and then Galactic Nova. Nova responded by mass-producing Air Ride machines modeled on Zorah and dropping them onto Popstar, seeding the world with strong-willed riders who could eventually power something much larger. At the same time, Nova’s drones disassembled Zorah itself, taking its core and rebuilding it into a planetary weapon: the legendary machine Gigantes.
Gigantes is enormous and initially inert. Nova broadcasts a recall signal through Zorah’s core, calling Air Ride machines “home.” Most can’t hear it, but the strongest rider–machine pairs do and begin the Road Trip. Whenever one reaches Gigantes, their machine’s will is hijacked to awaken the weapon.
Noir Dedede is tied directly to that backstory. This Dedede-like figure is Zorah’s escaped consciousness in a new body, trying to prevent any rider from activating Gigantes. Noir Dedede appears throughout Road Trip as a rival, even dropping memory fragments when defeated, and stands between you and Gigantes at the end.
Normal ending: Gigantes as the final boss
On a standard Road Trip clear, the rider finally arrives at the destination and their machine awakens Gigantes against their wishes. That kicks off a battle where you have to destroy Gigantes’ health bar, then immediately race Noir Dedede to the core.
If Noir Dedede reaches the core first, it ends in a bad ending where Noir Dedede and Gigantes self-destruct. Win the race instead, and your machine pierces through Gigantes’ core, neutralizing it. Noir Dedede fades away as Nova departs, and the rider returns home.
This normal ending is what unlocks Gigantes for other modes. Once seen, Gigantes is permanently recognized by the game as a legendary machine you can build during City Trial.
True ending: Hyper Gigantes and Leo
There is a second layer to the story that turns Gigantes into a stepping stone rather than the final threat. On a New Game+ playthrough, if you arrive at the end of Road Trip having collected every Air Ride machine available in the mode, the script changes.
Instead of letting you approach, Gigantes immediately swats the rider off their machine, then hijacks every machine and absorbs them. That fusion turns it into Hyper Gigantes, an upgraded, ultimate form. Noir Dedede appears again and summons the classic legendary machines Dragoon and Hydra. You pick one; Noir Dedede rides the other, and both of you team up to fight Hyper Gigantes.
After Hyper Gigantes goes down, Noir Dedede merges with the core and fires a beam that hits Galactic Nova, creating the road to the final Road Trip stage, Journey’s End. A new legendary machine, the living Leo, awakens independently of Nova and carries the rider into Nova itself for the real last battle.
Post-credits, Gigantes is gone, but Zorah’s core has survived. Freed from Nova’s plan and from the Air Ride network, it reassembles into its original form with help from the now-independent machines and finally moves freely before ascending, closing the loop on its original wish.
How to unlock Gigantes in Kirby Air Riders
Unlocking Gigantes happens in two layers: first in Road Trip, then in City Trial.
| Step | Mode | Requirement | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Road Trip | Watch the normal ending once (clear Road Trip normally) | Adds Gigantes to your checklist unlocks and flags it as available |
| 2 | Checklist | Complete the Road Trip checklist entry “Watch the normal ending in Road Trip” | Formally unlocks Gigantes as a legendary machine tied to your save |
| 3 | City Trial | Collect all 3 Gigantes parts from red boxes in a single match | Constructs Gigantes for that City Trial round |
The key gate is step one: you must see the normal Road Trip ending at least once. After that, Gigantes becomes one of the legendary machines whose parts can appear in City Trial, in the same red boxes that spawn Dragoon and Hydra pieces.
Gigantes does not have a Miles Shop price and is not purchased like regular machines. It exists entirely as a checklist unlock that then shows up as three buildable parts in City Trial.
Gigantes in the legendary machine lineup
Kirby Air Riders now has four legendary machines: Dragoon, Hydra, Gigantes, and Leo. Dragoon and Hydra behave much like they did in the original Kirby Air Ride, while Gigantes and Leo are new.
| Legendary machine | How it’s initially unlocked | How it’s used |
|---|---|---|
| Dragoon | Available as parts in City Trial from the start | Collect 3 parts in City Trial to ride it in that match; can later be unlocked for Free Run by completing specific City Trial checkboxes |
| Hydra | Available as parts in City Trial from the start | Collect 3 parts in City Trial to ride it in that match; also unlockable for Free Run through dedicated City Trial challenges |
| Gigantes | View the normal ending in Road Trip (and fill the related checklist) | Collect 3 Gigantes parts in City Trial to construct it; it does not function as a standard Free Run machine |
| Leo | View the true Road Trip ending and complete at least 140 Road Trip checklist blocks | Collect Leo’s parts in City Trial to ride it; can also be unlocked as a Free Run machine |
Gigantes stands out in two ways:
- Its story role is central; it’s effectively the Road Trip final weapon.
- Its scale and behavior in City Trial make it closer to a roaming boss than a conventional vehicle.
Gigantes behavior and controls in City Trial
Once you construct Gigantes in a City Trial match, the dynamic of the lobby changes. Gigantes is huge, heavily armored, and built to dominate the end-of-round Stadium battle rather than to weave delicately through Skyah.
Movement is unusual. Players often try to “hold forward” the way they would on a normal machine and end up barely moving. Gigantes needs charge-style inputs similar to heavy machines like Bulk Star: you build up charge, then release to lunge or slam forward. It can still creep slowly when pushed, but its meaningful repositioning comes from these charged dashes and attacks rather than steady steering.
Its offensive options give it a massive advantage in the Stadium phase. Community matches show that in the 1-vs-15 big battle, it triggers, Gigantes only needs a limited number of KOs to win, while the rest of the lobby must chip it down quickly. Its area attacks and durability make that difficult if players are underpowered or disorganized.
Because of that, the usual City Trial advice flips: instead of trying to win a conventional race, the rest of the lobby needs to:
- Power up offense and HP aggressively while avoiding direct contact with Gigantes.
- Use the arena layout, verticality, and hiding spots to break line of sight during the prep phase.
- Focus fire during the Stadium match rather than fighting each other.
When the rider on Gigantes understands the charge mechanic, the machine plays less like a sluggish wall and more like a raid boss sweeping the city. When they don’t, it’s possible to see Gigantes spinning in place or scraping against geometry for most of the timer, which can blunt its impact but also wastes a rare unlock.
Gigantes ratings and best uses
Official tier lists place Gigantes at the very top for City Trial, treating it as an S+ pick for that mode. That rating reflects what happens when it actually comes together: the player effectively becomes the final boss of the lobby. For other categories like traditional racing, flying, or small-scale battle, there is no standard rating because Gigantes is not meant to be a regular selectable machine there.
The design pushes Gigantes into three main use cases:
- Road Trip story payoff: it anchors the normal and true endings and connects the Zorah and Nova arc.
- City Trial spectacle: rare matches where someone completes it turn the Stadium into a boss fight with a human player in control.
- Meta shake-up: its presence forces City Trial lobbies to decide whether to team up against it or hope someone else handles the problem.
Practical checklist for getting Gigantes
For a direct path to using Gigantes in City Trial, the sequence is simple:
| Order | Task | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Play Road Trip from the start until the normal ending | No New Game+ requirements; a single full clear is enough |
| 2 | Ensure the Road Trip checklist item for watching the normal ending is completed | This ties Gigantes to your save and enables its parts in City Trial |
| 3 | Enter City Trial and search for red boxes around Skyah | Gigantes parts share the red box pool with Dragoon and Hydra pieces |
| 4 | Collect all 3 distinct Gigantes parts in a single City Trial match | The machine auto-constructs once the third part is collected |
Once those steps are done, Gigantes becomes a permanent possibility in your City Trial rotations. It remains rare by design, both because legendary parts are uncommon and because you need all three in one round, but every appearance turns the match into something closer to a scripted event than a standard race.
Gigantes ties together several of Kirby Air Riders’ best ideas: a lore-heavy campaign, the return of legendary machines, and City Trial’s ability to flip from party racer to survival brawl in a single item pickup. Clearing Road Trip once is all it takes to invite that chaos into every future City Trial run.
