As for why she's not in Air Riders, my theory is that Sakurai still doesn't like humans in Kirby. That was, after all, one of his major creative stipulations for the anime.

His original concept for Kirby was that he's just a few inches tall, and having him side-by-side with a human muddies that.

For a long time HAL didn't reference her because, tbh, they seldom referenced anything from the Shimomura games. There was definitely a bias towards the Sakurai-developed titles after his departure from HAL.

That's clearly changed in recent years, and I'm ecstatic about that lmao

Surely this was just sprite mixed with the freestyle machine's lemon / lime flavoring?

which is the opposite problem rayman 3 has lmao. brilliant gameplay, rayman controls like an absolute dream. the whole thing is just let down by its tone.

tbh I think Rayman 2 has plenty of soul, the game's vibes are unmatched. it nails the music, the visuals, the atmosphere...

my biggest issue with the game is that it's just not very fun :/