The community went wild (and a little cheeky)
Some inventive — or mischievous — players of Kirby Air Riders have been designing in-game machines that dress Chef Kawasaki in what can only be called a very tiny bikini. Because of course the internet would take a classic Kirby face and give it a swimsuit makeover.
How the Marketplace got involved
The game’s Machine Marketplace lets users buy and sell player-made vehicles using coins earned in races. Popular designs climb in price, and these bikini Kawasaki machines exploded in visibility fast after fans started uploading them. A joke from a few years back resurfaced and suddenly the Marketplace was full of it.
Nintendo steps in and cleans house
Not long after they started appearing, Nintendo appears to have pulled the plug on those designs. The original bikini Kawasaki was removed from sale, and follow-ups that shot up the leaderboard and price charts disappeared too. Nintendo’s message was clear: no spicy Kawasaki content in the storefront.
Collectors panicked — value spiked
Once people realized Nintendo was nuking the designs, similar machines became hot commodities. Scarcity anxiety kicked in and prices climbed. Players were snatching them up partly as jokes, partly as “rare artifact” flexes — the usual mix of memes and collector mania.
What’s left in the wake of the chaos
Every time one bikini Kawasaki gets yanked, another pops up trying a slightly different take — wings, tails, pans in hand — and some of those also get taken down once they get attention. It’s a cat-and-mouse game between creative players and the company that owns the IP.
Why it matters (or doesn’t)
At the end of the day this is mostly silly fan silliness: creative expression, a dash of trolling, and a marketplace reacting to human behavior. But it’s also a reminder that when you mod or add content to a branded game, the brand might step in if things get too weird.
