Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing
North American box art.
Developer(s)	Rare
Publisher(s)	Rare
Release Date(s)
Nintendo 64	NA: November 24, 1997 (Player's Choice, 1998) JP: November 21, 1997 EU: November 21, 1997
Nintendo 64	NA: November 24, 1997 (Player's Choice, 1998) JP: November 21, 1997 EU: November 21, 1997
Platform(s)
Genre(s)	Racing
Rating(s)
ESRB	02
PEGI	01
ACB	01

Diddy Kong Racing is a racing game for the Nintendo 64. Featuring Diddy Kong from the popular Donkey Kong series, it was also the first game Banjo and Conker starred in. The game was developed and published by Rare and distributed by Nintendo.

Gameplay

Modes

There are three vehicles available: cars, hovercrafts, and airplanes. Each track requires a different vehicle. Tracks can only be accessed through the acquisition of golden balloons by winning races or completing tasks. Once each race in an area is completed, a bonus challenge will be accessed, such as racing a triceratops. To access each world and its tracks, you must drive, fly, or sail to the desired area.

Playable Characters

Eight characters are available at the start of the game. Two additional characters can be unlocked by completing certain objectives in adventure mode.

—	Character	Acceleration	Weight	Handling	Top Speed
	Banjo
	Bumper
	Conker
	Diddy Kong
	Krunch
	Pipsy
	Timber
	Tiptup
Unlockable Characters
	Drumstick
	T.T.

Banjo and Conker could not be transferred to the DS remake, Diddy Kong Racing DS, because Microsoft had bought rights to Rare before the game was made.

Bosses

• Tricky the Triceratops
• Bluey the Walrus
• Blubbler the Octopus
• Smokey the Dragon
• Wizpig

Tracks

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

Legacy

The characters Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel both made their debut in this video game. Banjo would become the star of the family friendly Nintendo 64 adventures Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, both published by Nintendo. Banjo also stars in the Game Boy Advance game Banjo-Pilot which is reminiscent of the plane flying action seen in Diddy Kong Racing. Meanwhile, Conker would appear in the Game Boy Color game Conker's Pocket Tales, and subsequently in the mature rated Conker's Bad Fur Day. Diddy Kong Racing would later be remade for the Nintendo DS under the name Diddy Kong Racing DS.

Virtual Console

Diddy Kong Racing is one of the most popular N64 games not available on the Virtual Console, the main issue being Rare, which now is owned by Microsoft. To this effect, Banjo and Conker were replaced by Tiny and Dixie in the remake. However, because Nintendo holds exclusive rights to the Donkey Kong franchise, the game could be released if the Rare characters were removed. Even so, because of the costs of adjusting the game, a release still is unlikely.