Air Hares, Wondoro’s pixel-art shooter about growing carrots while aerial dangers pile up, is set to launch for Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2026. The Switch edition will cost $4.99 USD and includes the Hare Force Edition update from day one.
Its pitch is deliberately at odds with the usual expectations attached to a bullet hell. Rather than clearing a screen by eliminating everything in sight, players fly planes over farmland, seeding and watering carrot fields while surviving hazards created by the Gale Gang. Winning a level hinges on cultivation: all three carrot fields must be seeded and watered until the soil turns green.
That makes Air Hares a game about route planning and survival at the same time. The player is still asked to maneuver through threats, but the objective is not simply to outlast a hostile encounter. They need to keep moving through the spaces that matter to the crop, manage the field work, and avoid losing their plane before the farm is restored.
Four stages of aerial farming under pressure
Air Hares has four stages and four avian bosses. In each level, pilots contend with shifting weather conditions including wind, rain and lightning, along with falcon swarms. The available evasive and defensive moves are barrel rolls, parries and loop-de-loops.
Bullet hell is a term generally used for shooters where staying alive depends on navigating dense patterns of incoming danger. Air Hares applies that high-attention movement challenge to a different end goal. Seeding and watering are its core tasks, so flight paths have an agricultural purpose rather than being only a means of lining up an attack.
The weather effects also suggest that a successful run involves reading more than enemy placement. Crosswinds, for example, are explicitly important enough to shape one of the new pilot abilities. Rain and lightning are listed among the level conditions alongside falcons, meaning players will be balancing environmental pressures with active hostile threats as they work on the three fields.
Those constraints should make the green-soil win condition easy to understand, particularly in local co-op, while leaving room for the team to decide how to split attention between crop work, defending a partner and staying clear of danger. Air Hares supports both solo and couch co-op play.
Hare Force Edition expands the playable squadron
The Hare Force Edition takes the roster to five playable pilots. Captain Rabbo and Dirk Doggo are joined by Linnie Lightfoote, Betty Bunting and Candie Clayton. Their stated traits are not cosmetic distinctions; each is built around a specific response to the game’s pressures.
Related coverage includes Air Hares Brings Its Farming Bullet Hell to Switch on October 29.
- Captain Rabbo: receives a one-time recovery after being knocked out.
- Dirk Doggo: can pull every falcon currently on screen toward himself, protecting a co-op partner.
- Linnie Lightfoote: has a longer roll intended to help her slip out of danger.
- Betty Bunting: remains on course when facing crosswinds.
- Candie Clayton: fires three parry shots rather than one.
A parry is a timed defensive response, typically used to answer an incoming attack rather than evade it outright. Candie’s three-shot variation points to a more forgiving or more productive version of that tool, while Linnie’s extended roll emphasizes escape. Betty’s crosswind stability is a direct answer to an environmental condition, and Dirk’s falcon-drawing move is the clearest team-protection ability in the group.
For co-op pairs, that gives the character selection practical weight. A duo could prioritize Dirk when one player wants room to focus on seeding and watering, choose Betty for a stage where wind control is the trouble spot, or use a stronger evasive option to deal with crowded hazards. Rabbo’s single recovery, meanwhile, offers a defined buffer against a knockout rather than an open-ended safety net.
The update also adds a Squadron section containing each pilot’s stats, abilities and lore. That should provide a central reference point for players deciding who fits their approach, without requiring those details to be inferred purely through repeated runs.
Scoreboards and carrot achievements create distinct goals
Hare Force Edition adds high scoreboards for solo and co-op players in both Story and Arcade modes on Switch and Steam. Scoreboards are a straightforward way to support repeat attempts, but their inclusion across both single-player and team play matters here: co-op runs are not treated only as a casual alternative to solo sessions.
Each level also contains three Carrot Achievements:
- Completion: seed and water the level to 100%.
- No-damage clear: finish without taking damage.
- Non-aggression clear: finish without aggression.
These goals separate different kinds of mastery. Completion asks players to fully perform the farming objective. A no-damage finish focuses on precision and evasion. The non-aggression requirement is especially revealing because it asks players to complete the stage without aggression, reinforcing the game’s stated interest in victories created through growth rather than destruction.
That last achievement does not mean Air Hares removes action from its action game structure. Its stages still include falcon threats, aerial maneuvers and bosses. Instead, it establishes an optional challenge that places the emphasis squarely on navigation and care for the fields. For players interested in optimizing a route, it creates a separate question from merely getting through a level: can the farming job be done cleanly, completely and peacefully?
The balance between these achievement types may also help the game serve different audiences. One player may chase a high score, another may want a 100% field result, and a co-op pair may attempt a no-damage or non-aggression run. The underlying stages remain the same, but the success criteria change what the group needs to prioritize.
A smaller-scale shooter with a restorative premise
Air Hares was developed by Tim and Megan Bungeroth of Wondoro, with freelance programmers, artists and musicians contributing to the project. The husband-and-wife team created the game during a difficult personal period and set out to make a shooter where the meaningful victories come from growing things instead of destroying them.
That purpose is visible in the information provided about the game, not just in its premise. Fields changing to green soil defines a cleared level. The named achievements reward watering, full completion, avoiding damage and avoiding aggression. Even the title’s enlarged roster is framed as a squadron whose abilities can protect partners or better navigate environmental stress.
Dirk Doggo has a personal connection to the developers as well. The canine pilot was inspired by Arthur, their adopted dog. Air Hares also includes narrative cutscenes, an original soundtrack and hand-crafted pixel art, placing its farming-flight concept within a broader authored presentation rather than treating it as a purely score-driven arcade exercise.
The release joins a small set of games using restoration and repair as their central player-facing activity. For another recent example of a game built around repairing a world rather than conquering it, see Terry’s Terraforming on Meta Quest.
What Switch players receive at launch
The Nintendo Switch version launches with the full Hare Force Edition feature set already included: five playable pilots for local co-op, solo and co-op scoreboards in Story and Arcade modes, the three Carrot Achievements for every level, and the Squadron information area. Steam is also receiving the update’s expanded play options.
For $4.99 USD, the Switch release offers a compact four-stage game with four bosses, but its structure places emphasis on replaying those stages through different pilots, score targets and achievement conditions. The combination of a five-character co-op roster and contrasting completion rules is the clearest indicator of how it intends to extend beyond an initial clear.
Air Hares will be available through the Nintendo eShop beginning October 29, 2026. Players can wishlist the game now.
