Diddy Kong Racing
Encyclopedia
Diddy Kong Racing is a 1997 racing game for the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

 developed by Rareware. 800,000 copies were ordered in the two weeks before Christmas 1997, making it the fastest selling video game at the time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It is the first game to spin off from the Donkey Kong Country series. An enhanced remake
Enhanced remake
A video game remake is a game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game for newer hardware and contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, and story elements of the original game...

 for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 titled Diddy Kong Racing DS was released on February 7, 2007. It currently stands as the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

's sixth-most bestselling game of all time.

A racing game like Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64
is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...

, Diddy Kong Racing also has a distinctive adventure mode. Some of the playable characters would later appear in their own franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...

 titles. The game was partially intended to introduce these future franchise characters so that gamers would recognise them when these games were released. In Diddy Kong Racing, a player can choose to drive a car, hovercraft, or airplane, though a certain level may require that the player picks one of these.

Originally, two sequels to DKR were planned; Diddy Kong Pilot
Banjo-Pilot
Banjo-Pilot received mixed reviews. IGN gave it an 8, praising it as the second-best GBA racer. It received three out of five stars from GameSpy, who said it "wasn't worth the near half-decade wait." Generally, those who praised the game did so for its addictive multiplayer mode and large replay...

and Donkey Kong Racing. Diddy Kong Pilot eventually became Banjo Pilot, a game based on Rare's Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...

. Donkey Kong Racing was cancelled due to Rare's departure from Nintendo to Microsoft. Diddy Kong Racing was remade for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 as Diddy Kong Racing DS. The DS version uses the stylus for control purposes only in certain instances, such as the start of the race where the stylus can be used to attain a boost. Classic gamepad
Gamepad
A gamepad , is a type of game controller held in two hands, where the digits are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left...

 controls are employed for the majority of the game.

A Donkey Kong themed racing game was eventually released, however, in the form of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

Development

At its first stage, Diddy Kong Racing was a real-time strategy game with a caveman/time-travel theme worked on by a team of four. The Adventure element of DKR was influenced by Disneyland. At this point, DKR was known as Wild Cartoon Kingdom. Wild Cartoon Kingdom evolved into Adventure Racers. Nintendo had no involvement in DKR’s early stages. In June 1997, the game was known as R.C. Pro-Am 64, a sequel to the R.C. Pro-Am
R.C. Pro-Am
R.C. Pro-Am is a racing video game developed by United Kingdom-based company Rare. It was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Nintendo at North America in February 1988, and then in Europe on April 15 that year. Presented in an overhead isometric perspective, a single player...

titles on the NES
Nes
-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...

. It was Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....

 that offered Diddy Kong to the game. The Pro-Am 64 team wasn’t happy with having Diddy Kong in the game but finally agreed. The game was launched first in Japan and the PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...

 on November 21, 1997.

Plot

Timber the Tiger's parents go on vacation and leave their son in charge of the island they live on, leaving him and his friends to race for fun. Their enjoyment is derailed when an evil, intergalactic, pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

 wizard named Wizpig arrives at peaceful Timber's Island and attempts to take over after he conquered his own planet's racetracks. He turns the four island's guardians: Tricky the Triceratops, Bubbler the Octopus, Bluey the Walrus and Smokey the Dragon into his henchmen. The only solution available to the island's inhabitants is to defeat Wizpig in an elaborate series of races that involves cars, hovercrafts, and airplanes. Drumstick the Rooster, the best racer on the island, failed this challenge and was transformed into a frog by Wizpig's black magic. Timber recruits a team of eight racers: Diddy Kong, the first recruit; Conker the Squirrel (Dixie Kong on DS) and Banjo the Bear (Tiny Kong on DS), recruited by Diddy; Krunch the Kritter, Diddy's enemy who follows after him; and Tiptup the Turtle, T.T. the Stopwatch, Pipsy the Mouse, and Bumper the Badger, inhabitants of Timber's island. They eventually complete all of Wizpig's challenges and confront Wizpig himself to a race and defeat him. Shortly afterwards, Drumstick is turned back into a rooster, and Wizpig leaves for his home planet, Future Fun Land. Fearing that Wizpig would again attempt to invade Timber's Island, the islanders travel to Future Fun Land for a second challenge. When Wizpig loses the second race, the rocket he rides on malfunctions and blasts him to the moon, and peace returns to Timber Island for good. However, that peace may be short lived, as it is shown in a small scene that shows Wizpig's spaceship flying through the sky. Wizpig is then heard laughing, indicating that he survived.

Characters

The playable characters are:
  • Diddy Kong
    Diddy Kong
    , originally known as Donkey Diddy, is a fictional character in the Donkey Kong series of video games, first appearing in the 1994 game Donkey Kong Country. He lives on Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identified by his red hat, which has a Nintendo logo on it, and shirt...

  • Banjo (N64 version only)
  • Conker (N64 version only)
  • Krunch
  • Tiptup
  • Timber
  • Bumper
  • Pipsy
  • Dixie Kong (DS version only)
  • Tiny Kong (DS version only)
  • Drumstick (Unlockable)
  • T.T. (Unlockable)
  • Taj the Genie (Unlockable) (DS version only)
  • Wizpig (Unlockable) (DS version only)


Conker and Banjo went on to star in other games (Conker's Bad Fur Day
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Conker's Bad Fur Day is an action-platform video game developed and published by Rare. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001 and was Rare's last game published for the console. The game was in development for four years; it was originally intended for a young audience, but was redesigned and...

and Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...

respectively, with the former drastically changing the direction of the star character). Tiptup has a cameo in both Banjo's game and its sequel
Banjo-Tooie
Banjo-Tooie is a platform and action-adventure hybrid video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 as a part of the Banjo-Kazooie series. The game is the successor to Banjo-Kazooie and was one of the most anticipated sequels for the Nintendo 64.The game's story...

.

Gameplay

Each world contains several race tracks, an unlockable battle stage and a race against a boss character. Depending on the race track, players may have a choice of using a car, hovercraft or plane; this choice is restricted on some tracks. Each race track contains Zipper devices that give a short-term speed boost to racers that cross them, and balloons of various colors that provide powerups to racers.

If the player beats Wizpig in Future Fun Land and obtains the amulet pieces and gets all of the gold medals, the player will be able to play in a mode called Adventure 2. In this mode, all of the balloons are silver and the tracks are flipped from left to right. Along with the much sharper difficulty curve, the silver coins are also placed in different locations in each track, often in harder to reach places.

Vehicles

There are three different vehicles in the game. The car and/or plane are not used for some tracks.
  • Car - The Car is the standard vehicle of the game. The car cannot be used in all tracks.
  • Hovercraft - The Hovercraft is a vehicle used to travel over water and land. Used in all tracks.
  • Plane - The Plane is used to fly. It can turn at very sharp angles and is faster than the other two vehicles.

Music

The music for the game was composed by David Wise, one of Rare's in-house composers. Using the Nintendo 64's cartridge format, the music in the game could change mood across the overworld or midway through a racetrack (retaining the same tune and tempo but using different instruments) without being hampered by load times common to the disc format. However, this technique was only used on one track (Boulder Canyon), although it is used in the hub world, and in the character select screen as well. This was the first Rare game to use this technique, with it later being used in Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...

, Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64 is a platform game, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in North America on November 24, 1999 and in Europe on December 6, 1999. The game is a follow up to the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...

and Conker's Bad Fur Day
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Conker's Bad Fur Day is an action-platform video game developed and published by Rare. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001 and was Rare's last game published for the console. The game was in development for four years; it was originally intended for a young audience, but was redesigned and...

.

Reception

Diddy Kong Racing was very well received for its graphics and sound, but was criticized for being too similar to Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64
is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...

 (coincidentally, Diddy Kong would be a playable character in later Mario Kart installments). The game became a Player's Choice title, and is considered to be one of the better racing games on Nintendo 64, alongside Mario Kart 64. The game remains popular even today, despite being an older title. It currently holds an 89% score on GameRankings and an 88/100 score on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

.

Electric Playground stated: "Diddy Kong Racing is almost too good to be true. It is an exquisitely animated, color-rich racing game that bubbles over with character and charm. A triumph." Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....

 commended the game for its "very good Adventure mode" but stated: "don't expect multiplayer action on the same level as the Mario Kart series." Total Video Games stated: "There are so many subtle touches that only become apparent after many hours of play and the cunningly designed levels match anything Nintendo can offer." While IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 stated: "Diddy Kong Racing is an excellent follow-up to the somewhat controversial "Mario Kart," improving on all of the game's weaknesses and inventing a few new additions of its own. It's the best kart game we've ever seen."

However, Nintendojo stated: "With its lack of replay value and repetitiveness, the game just gets really old." While GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 stated: "Artificially lengthening games by making you do the same thing over and over again is my vote for the worst trend in gaming … even though this is a much better game than Kart 64 ever was."

Awards

Diddy Kong Racing won the Console Racing Award at the 1998 Interactive Achievement Awards and also won Best Console Game of the Year 1998 by Scandinavian Game Review.

Merchandise

Toy Biz produced a line of action figures, in 1999, (with Wizpig being the most common). The line, being acclaimed, has been said to be an improvement over the Mario Kart 64 figures for not breaking so easily, but also pointing out the lack of Conker. The line included 3 characters: Diddy Kong, Wizpig, and Banjo (from the Banjo-Kazooie game franchise).

Diddy Kong Racing DS

Diddy Kong Racing DS is a racing game developed by Rare for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

. It is Rare's first Nintendo DS game, and was released on February 5, 2007, in North America, April 20, 2007, in Europe and April 19, 2007, in Australia. It is a remake of the critically acclaimed Diddy Kong Racing. Diddy Kong Racing DS makes use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The is an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii games. The service includes the company's Wii Shop Channel, DSi Shop, and Nintendo eShop game download services...

, as well as the microphone for various features in the game, and the touch screen to create race tracks. Although some of the tracks underwent minor changes, they remained nearly identical to the N64 version. Unlike its predecessor, it was never officially released in Japan.

All the characters received new voices; the most notable is Taj, whose India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n-like voice was replaced with a more generic American voice.

New features in the DS version include collecting coins around tracks and using them to upgrade the player's vehicle so it can either have a higher top speed, better acceleration, better handling, or a custom design.

Characters Conker the Squirrel and Banjo the Bear were replaced with characters Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong due to copyright issues with Rare, Ltd. after Microsoft bought the company from Nintendo in 2002.

Reception

Diddy Kong Racing DS received an average score of 67% at Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...

. It has received a lower average of 63/100 at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, based on 39 reviews.

NGamer
NGamer
NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...

, an unofficial Nintendo magazine based in the UK, praised Diddy Kong Racing DS for the amount of variety in the different races, as well as the massively enjoyable online mode, but also criticized the game for the poor quality of the touch screen-specific sections, particularly the balloon-popping game on Taj's carpet and the third boss battle. Official Nintendo Magazine also criticized the game for the fact that the tracks created in the track editor were all set in a cloud setting (considered by the reviewers as bland), and also randomly generated hills and chicanes. These aspects led to the final score of 80%.

GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 gave the game a 6.7/10, praising the number of activities, customization features and online multiplayer, while criticizing parts of the game for being tedious as well as criticizing some of the touch screen controls.

As of July 25, 2007, Diddy Kong Racing DS has sold 1.04 million copies worldwide.

See also

  • Mario Kart 64
    Mario Kart 64
    is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...

  • Mickey's Speedway USA
    Mickey's Speedway USA
    Mickey's Speedway USA is a Disney racing game for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color, developed by Rareware and published by Nintendo. The Game Boy Color version of this game is a sequel to Mickey's Racing Adventure...

  • Banjo-Pilot
    Banjo-Pilot
    Banjo-Pilot received mixed reviews. IGN gave it an 8, praising it as the second-best GBA racer. It received three out of five stars from GameSpy, who said it "wasn't worth the near half-decade wait." Generally, those who praised the game did so for its addictive multiplayer mode and large replay...

  • Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
  • Donkey Kong Racing

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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