Diddy Kong Racing

"The Fast and the Furriest!"

Please excuse the bad pun. Super Mario Kart for the Super NES was one of the first games of its kind. No other game of the same genre could match it. Mario Kart 64 for the N64 was simply a masterpiece. By this point it was nearly impossible to dethrone Mario in the kart-racing genre. Since then, Mario Kart has still remained supreme in all of its games. Many tried to match it, most failed. But Diddy Kong Racing was one of the few that even came close to achieving its greatness. The only kart-racer Rare's ever made, Diddy Kong Racing was a very fluid game.

There's actually a story to this. Timber the tiger is enjoying a nice relaxing vacation on an island, when suddenly, the whole place is attacked by the king of the bacon people (pigs, if ya catch my drift) - Wizpig! The overgrown swine starts terrorizing the whole place and claims it as his own. Timber decided to round up Diddy Kong and a bunch of other friends to save the island. How do they plan to do it? By racing! Huh? But there's some giant waddling Canadian bacon in the sky stomping around like a madman! What the heck will racing do to help? Sadly, this is an issue not covered in the game. Who cares? Let's race!

At the beginning, you have a choice of 8 different characters. The lightweight squad includes Pipsy and Tiptup. These two characters have excellent acceleration and turning abilities with lower top speed. The middleweights include Timber, Diddy, Conker, and Bumper. These characters have average stats all around. Average speed, average acceleration, and average turning. The two heavy characters are Banjo and Krunch. These two have very high top speed, but horrible acceleration and turning abilities. There are also two secret characters whose names I won't be mentioning at this time.

There are three main types of vehicles you can use: car, plane, and hovercraft. Which vehicle you're permitted to use depends on the track. For example, the hovercraft is the only one you can use on the water levels. The car is best suited on the main road. It won't fare very well off-road or in the water. Likewise, the hovercraft works best in the water. The plane, on the other hand, gives you a maximum range of capabilities, making it perfect anywhere. Certain characters also have certain advantages and disadvantages on certain vehicles. For example, heavy characterts are poor choices for the car or the plane, but their girth makes them the best choice for the hovercraft.

Like in Mario Kart, there are certain items you can pick up as you race. I'll be comparing these to Mario Kart items just to give you the general idea of what they do. Some of these include the missiles, which are like green shells. The rocket boost is like the mushroom. The shield is similar to Peach and Daisy's heart in Mario Kart: Double Dash. The oil slicks and mines act similar to the banana peels. And the magnet is a totally unique item, which pulls you up to the racer ahead of you.

You can also get more advanced items. If you touch a balloon of the same color twice in a row without using the item, you'll get an upgrade. Do it again, and you'll get another upgrade! For example, a triple red balloon will grant you a total of ten missiles in your arsenal! TEN! You can also get a gigantic super-boost from 3 blue balloons, a bubble that stalls your opponents for about 5 seconds from three green balloon, a shield that lasts about a minute from three purple balloons, and a magnet that pulls your opponents back behind you from the rainbow balloon!

There are 5 worlds total in the game, each with 4 courses. After you win 1st place in each of the courses in a world, you must race a boss. If you beat the boss, you will unlock the silver coin challenge for that world. The goal of the silver coin challenge is to collect 8 silver coins during the race and still get first! Also, the silver coins tend to be off-course, forcing you to make many detours. This tends to be much more frustrating than anything, but at least it adds some decent challenge to the game. Prepare to spend countless hours hunting down silver coins on the Greenwood Village and Spaceport Alpha courses.

And what's a kart-racer without multiplayer? As good as the single-player mode is, the real fun lies in the game's multiplayer. It's great for races, but it especially shines when you take advantage of the game's "battle arenas". In two of them, it's simply a matter of the last one standing, which is a classic battle mode as we know it. Darkwater Beach is perhaps the most fun arena in the whole game, which is a hovercraft free-for-all of missiles and mines flying all over the bay. The other two involve collecting items before your opponents. These aren't as fun as the other two, though.

In terms of difficulty, Diddy Kong Racing is easily the most difficult kart racer I've played in my entire life, and one of the toughest racing games overall. It's not like Mario Kart where each computer player has their own fixed speed they follow through the whole race. The AI is smart, meaning you won't be feeling like you're racing against mindless drones who have no awareness of your presence. Naturally, this adds challenge to the game. LOTS of it. The Silver Coin Challenge races are some of the most infuriating, yet welcomely-challenging tasks you'll ever come across. And of course, there's a certain secret racer that should give you even more headaches to unlock. This game is definitely no toddler-tackler, despite its lighthearted appearance.

For an N64 game, these graphics a fairly bright, colorful, and solid. It looks pretty cartoonish, but not in a bad way by any means. Objects don't tend to get too blurry when close-up, so all in all, not really much to be complaining about here. One thing I'd like to point out is the funky tree design, all of which look like puffy ornaments atop brown sticks. No, I'm serious, and I'm serious when I say that funkiness is good! That's Rare for you!

I'm really fond of some of the tunes in this game. Many of the tunes even surpass the quality of those in Mario Kart (It's David Wise. What do you expect?). The tunes of Jungle Falls and Stardust Alley are among my favorites. Very catchy and upbeat for the most part, though sometimes a little goofy-sounding. The major backdrop of the game's sound is in the character voicing. Certain characters like Pipsy the mouse and Banjo the bear are extremely annoying (Banjo sounds a lot different than in Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie). At least Diddy sounds like Diddy.

As for lasting appeal, this game can last for quite a long time. Unlock other kart-racers, Diddy Kong Racing has a very strong single-player merit. Adventure mode is NOT easy, especially on some of the later Silver Coin Challenges. They should take you two or three weeks minimum. Multiplyer adds to the game's replay value even more. Though the battle mode stages may not be as fun as in the Mario Kart games, they're still a blast to play.

Sonic, Crash, and others have tried and failed miserably at achieving Mario Kart's crown. Diddy is one of the few who've come close. When not being compared to its rival, Diddy Kong Racing is a very solid game. Yes, it's a clone, but it's an exceptional one. In fact, I don't get the whole "clone" thing. Must every platformer made after Super Mario 64 be shunned just because it shares similar jumping elements? Same thing here. Quite on the unappreciated side. If you're a fan of kart racers, then buy this, especially if you can find it for a low price at a place that sells used games. Even if you're not interested, I'd suggest taking it into consideration if you find it for a good price.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/06