In 1997, Diddy Kong Racing arrived on the Nintendo 64. The sport bought 800,000 copies within the two weeks main as much as Christmas that yr, which on the time made it the fastest-selling recreation of all time, in keeping with Guinness World Data. Who knew that Diddy, Timber, Tiptup the Turtle, and that band of comparatively unknown misfits could be so marketable?
Extremely, this record-breaking hit by no means obtained a real console sequel. Uncommon was within the course of of constructing one titled Donkey Kong Racing – which might’ve been launched on Gamecube, however that was cancelled after going by means of completely different iterations and modifications. Climax Studios additionally tried its hand at making a sequel referred to as Diddy Kong Racing Adventures round 2004, however once more it didn’t come to fruition.
But regardless of not getting an precise sequel, Diddy Kong Racing surpassed Mario Kart 64 in nearly each method (other than gross sales, regardless of its quick begin). It expanded on the mascot racing style by implementing a number of options together with an expanded roster, a mode referred to as Journey Mode which contained an precise story and explorable hub-world, a number of different modes, an upgradeable weapons system, and a number of kinds of automobiles – boats, planes and naturally karts.
In contrast to Mario Kart’s roster which solely contained eight racers till Mario Kart: Double Sprint was launched in 2003, Diddy Kong Racing’s roster was comprised of eight instantly playable characters. Now, most of those characters had been relative unknowns on the time, however the truth that it gave debuts to Banjo and Conker, who would go on to headline their very own massively profitable video games within the coming years, makes it fascinating to return and see the place all of them started. Banjo really talks right here, whereas Conker isn’t but the foul-mouthed rodent he’d go on to change into in Conker’s Unhealthy Fur Day, however the truth stays that each of them would go on to change into N64 heavy hitters!
The sport’s two secret characters – T.T. who turns into playable after you beat all of his course data, and Drumstick who you unlock by operating over a sure frog – convey the overall quantity of racers to 10. Like Mario Kart, the racers in Diddy Kong Racing had been damaged up into courses – gentle, medium, and heavy.
As soon as you choose your character, that’s when the sport actually begins to drag forward of the pack of Mario Kart, as a result of you’ll be able to go into Journey Mode and participate in an precise story, with voiced dialogue and every part! The sport’s story entails an intergalactic pig wizard named Wizpig who invades the gang’s island and it’s as much as them to reclaim it. You then are greeted by an Elephant Genie named Taj who may change your car from a automobile to a hovercraft, or an airplane. Every car grants you entry to completely different components of the island and the sport’s 5 completely different worlds, every containing a number of tracks. It gave an nearly Metroidvania-like sense of exploration to the entire thing!
To be able to achieve entry to sure worlds and tracks, you’d must unlock the prerequisite quantity of gold balloons, with every space requiring a unique quantity. Every race in Journey Mode makes use of a sure car that all the racers use – different modes permit you to freely select the car sort so long as it’s suitable with the observe – racers would nonetheless use the identical automobiles.
You had fairly granular management over your weapons too, and all through every race, you may select what kinds of weapons and upgrades you needed to equip. Crimson balloons include missiles, blue balloons are boosts, inexperienced balloons are traps, Rainbow balloons are magnets that pull you nearer to the racer in entrance of you, and yellow balloons act as shields – it’s also possible to accumulate bananas to extend your high velocity.
However the place this method actually shines is that you may improve your weapons and boosts utilizing balloons of the related colour. One crimson balloon will provide you with a single rocket, which like a inexperienced shell in Mario Kart makes use of guide accuracy to hit a goal; two balloons get you a homing missile, and three get you a 10-pack of non-homing rockets, which is the max for every balloon. It allowed for a bit extra strategising about which pickups you’d go for, and the fun of build up your balloon rely to make these pickups as highly effective as doable.
On the finish of every world, you participate in a 1v1 boss race towards characters like Tough The Triceratops, Smokey The Dragon, Bubbler The Octopus, and extra. That’s proper a mascot racing recreation with boss battles! After successful every boss battle, you’d then tackle Wizpig himself, who races towards you on a large rocket. These goliaths you’d race actually added a ‘wow’ issue to the sport.
Diddy Kong Racing added one thing racing video games desperately wanted, which was extra technique – some methodology to the ‘get to the entrance of the pack and smash everybody out of your method’ insanity.
