Kirby Air Riders hasn’t even been available for more than a day yet, but that hasn’t stopped players from creating the perfect air rider design: a bikini clad Chef Kawasaki. What started as a meme a few years back in Japan has become a cultural phenomenon and is now making its way into Air Riders’ in-game marketplace, a spot where players can use in-game coins to buy designs from other players. Sadly, Nintendo isn’t too keen to let the Chef have his freak flag flying for all to see, and has been removing designs uploaded by various players.
Image source: Midwinter at pixiv
As spotted by Automaton, a number of different “Bikini Chef” designs have been removed by Nintendo in the last 20 or so hours. One of the first iterations of it had quickly climbed the ranks as the most popular Flight Warp Star on the marketplace before Nintendo shut it down. Other variants have cropped up and last for a few hours before they, too, receive the ban hammer. The likely reason for the removal of these custom machines is that they appear first on the in-game marketplace, meaning kids are more likely to see them. They also wind up costing a lot of coins, though I don’t believe that would be grounds for removal.
現在オレマシン市場で1番高いマシン。
2位に圧倒的な差をつけてこのマシンなんです。
エアライダーこわい。 pic.twitter.com/d6PrCdCluz
— あぽろ (@_aporoG) November 20, 2025
消された。任天堂許さん https://t.co/2e9JBJV8k1 pic.twitter.com/B6y5qdcqVn
— 真冬 (@mahuyu_xx) November 20, 2025
Kirby developer HAL Laboratory has a history of removing fan creations depicting Chef Kawasaki in revealing clothing. In 2022, the company sent a C&D to the fan developer behind “Chef Kawasaki’s Microbikini,” a card game which contained various drawings of the chef in a two piece. I’m guessing the fact that more skin is showing is the problem more so than the clothing option.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
