- PAL release: 21st November 1997
- JP release: 21st November 1997
- NA release: 24th November 1997
- Developer: Rare
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 90%
Pretty much all racing games on the N64 so far have the same problem: there’s not a lot of progression for a single player, and you can do everything in a couple of hours. Some of them focused on being great in multiplayer (like Mario Kart 64) but there wasn’t a lot of choice for singleplayer.
Which is where Diddy Kong Racing comes in, as it has a very meaty singleplayer campaign with an adventure mode where you find tracks within its hub world.
It’s a neat area to explore, although a lot smaller than I remember it being. You’ll find four doors with balloon requirements (which you get from winning races or finding them in the world), with a fifth world hidden until you defeat five bosses. They start out simple at first: you have to win each race individually then defeat the boss in a race. Do that, and it gets much more challenging.
You’ll be tasked with finding 8 coins in each race. However, finding them isn’t enough as you still have to win, and then defeat a harder version of the boss. Diddy Kong Racing is a difficult and brutal game and you’ll need to learn its tricks (such as letting go of the accelerator just before boosting) to have a chance of winning. Once you defeat a boss a second time, you then complete in a tournament across the four tracks. There’s also a key hidden in one level of each world to unlock a battle mode challenge. Oh, and also time trail challenges.
Once you’ve done all that and defeated the evil Wizpig, it’s time for Adventure Two. This is a mirror mode version of the game, although the silver coins are now in more difficult places. Of course, this amount of content wouldn’t be anything if the game wasn’t fun to play.
And thankfully, it is fun. Levels use three vehicles: car, hovercraft and plane. The car and plane are very easy to use, while the hovercraft is more difficult. When you repeat tracks (or choose to play outside Adventure mode), some levels let you pick your vehicle – with some restrictions on a per-level basis – and it’s great having multiple types of vehicles racing alongside each other.
One let-down in DKR are the characters. None of them are bad in terms of a design perspective – and this is the first appearance of Banjo (without Kazooie, although some of his voice clips sound like her) and Conker, but they’re a bit too varied in terms of ability, so the game’s difficulty will very a lot based on who you pick, with Pipsy being the best for hitting boosts (plus the silver coins).
The weapon system sets itself apart from other kart racers. Instead of giving you random items, the balloons providing items are colour coded for specific items. Collecting one of the same type you already have will also upgrade the item.
Diddy Kong Racing is still a great game, and the only kart game that’s come close to it for single-player is Sonic Racing Transformed (which also had three vehicle types, but it was specific to the part of the track you were on). It set itself apart from Mario Kart 64 and I actually prefer this one.
Fave
And if re-thinking the whole racing game ‘thing’ wasn’t enough, Rare have set a whole new standard for in-game graphics. Even the simplest tracks positively bulge with background extras, from lumbering dinosaurs to beautiful timber-framed houses to wallowing whales.
James Ashton, N64 Magazine #10
Remake or Remaster?
If not a sequel, then Diddy Kong Racing deserves a remake. It would look gorgeous with a Mario Kart 8 style sheen to it and some updates to the control and balance would be great, with some additional options. While it would be nice for all characters to return, I’d still be very happy with the game even if they had to replace most of them. The Switch seemed perfect due to the system’s potability and how it doesn’t have its own Mario Kart.
Official ways to get the game.
There is no official way to get Diddy Kong Racing
Re-releases
2007: Diddy Kong Racing DS (Banjo and Conker replaced with Dixie Kong and a tall, teenage Tiny Kong, coin challenges replaced with tapping balloons).
Europe
Japan
North America
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
it’s so much better, it’s not even funny.
Can’t wait for this to get on NSO! Online on this will be great. Especially Two Player Adventure!
Show me someone who insists Plane is the the best, and I’ll show you someone who loses to me in a car!
Rare saved Nintendo again with this one. Nintendo had nothing prepared for the 1997 Xmas season in the west as all of their internal titles got delayed (Yoshi’s Story just barely squeaked out on Dec 21st 1997 in Japan, but would have to wait until March 1998 in the US and May 1998 over here), and Rare once again swooped in with this surprise release to save Nintendo’s hide.
And it would go on to be a massive success, selling more than 4.5 million copies (making it the 8th best selling game for the console).
I won’t bother going into all the development history, because you probably all know it already (started as RC Pro Am 64, morphed into a Timber Racing game, Diddy got shoved in at the last minute etc), but it’s an important release not just because it helped save the N64, not just because it was a huge influence on the genre as a whole, but also because it was the start of Rare’s Cinematic Universe. Banjo and Conker would get their starts here, and other characters would go on to cameo in other games. In fact, Dinosaur Planet was originally going to be based in the same universe, before being retrofitted into a Starfox title (yes, Tricky in Dinosaur Planet is supposed to be the same dinosaur that you race against here as a boss in Dino Domain!).
But alas, the Rare buyout happened, the once great ship began to tear apart at the seams, and the studio’s plans for the rest of the DKR cast would eventually be cast asunder… (and the less said about what happened with Bumper, the better…)
But yeah, DKR is a masterpiece of a game. It’s the best racing game of its generation and one of the best racing games ever made. Bloody tragic that Donkey Kong Racing on the Gamecube would never end up happening… and oh, what happened to you Bumper…