10 Video Games With Insane Features You Never Knew
3. "City Trial" Mode Basically Invented Battle Royale - Kirby Air Ride
The Battle Royale genre has become a monolithic mainstay of video games over the last few years thanks largely to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite, but its origins in fact date back much further than that.
Believe it or not, the blueprint for the Battle Royale game was basically set by the 2003 GameCube cult classic racer Kirby Air Ride. While hardly a great game, it nevertheless featured one incredible mode that basically justified the purchase.
City Trial mode dropped four players into a sandbox where they're given five minutes to scavenge power-ups and craft their vehicle before doing battle on the racetrack.
Anyone who played the game back in the day can attest to how ludicrously addictive it was, and though it has a few distinct differences from contemporary Battle Royale games - for one, nobody dies - it really doesn't get the credit it deserves for paving the genre's way.