Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing
Developer	Rare Ltd.
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo 64
Release Date	JP November 21,1997 EU November 21, 1997 US November 24, 1997
Genre	Racing/Adventure
Gallery	GH Gallery
Rating	ESRB: E

Diddy Kong Racing is a racing game starring Diddy Kong. It was apparently developed in a rush to be release in the 1997 holiday season in the place of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's Quest, both of which had been delayed to the next year. Banjo and Conker appeared as playable racers in Diddy Kong Racing to endorse their games.

Story

Timber's Island had been invaded and conquered Wizpig, an alien warlord obsessed with racing, while Timber's family was away visiting the Kongs. Wizpig brainwashed the island's four greatest warriors into being his lieutenants. A group of racers banded together and sent their champion racer, Drumstick, to race with Wizpig for the fate of the island, but Drumstick never returned. As a last-ditch effort, Timber sent a message to Diddy Kong asking for his assistance, not wanting his parents to know. Diddy Kong soon arrives with his own friends and, under the wise guidance of the genie Taj, the racers set out to defeat Wizpig.

Gameplay

In this racing game, the player can alternate between three different vehicles- the traditional kart as well as the plane and the hovercraft. It is one of the few racing games with a story and adventure mode. There are various goals that must be reached to collect Golden Balloons and other items. The game has an overworld, similar to Super Mario 64, which acts as a hub where all the other worlds can be accessed if the proper items are presented.

Legacy

Tracks

Dino Domain	Snowflake Mountain	Sherbert Island	Dragon Forest	Future Fun Land	*
Ancient Lake	Everfrost Peak	Whale Bay	Windmill Plains	Spacedust Alley	Thunder Cove
Fossil Canyon	Walrus Cove	Crescent Island	Greenwood Village	Darkmoon Caverns	Meandering Mount
Jungle Falls	Snowball Valley	Pirate Lagoon	Boulder Canyon	Spaceport Alpha	Splashdown Pass
Hot Top Volcano	Frosty Village	Treasure Caves	Haunted Woods	Star City	Strangled Shrine

• DS remake only

Ports/Remakes

Diddy Kong Racing DS was made for the Nintendo DS in 2007. This version featured new characters (most notably replacing Conker and Banjo, as they were owned by Rare who was bought out by Microsoft), improved graphics and some more new features.

Sequels

Two possible sequels were developed by Rare, but both were cancelled after Rare was bought out by Microsoft. The first was Donkey Kong Racing for the Nintendo Gamecube. This one starred Donkey Kong and featured the animal buddies as steeds in place of karts and other vehicles, but Taj was shown as a playable character.

The other was Diddy Kong Pilot, which once again starred Diddy Kong and featured the planes in racing. This game was later reworked into 'Banjo Pilot, starring Banjo-Kazooie characters instead of Donkey Kong ones.