Diddy Kong Racing DS

"The magic of the original is there, they just threw it off a cliff fifty times."

You'd be surprised to see just how much writing a full-length guide can do a for a person's dislike of a game. I started off loving Diddy Kong Racing DS, and for good reason. It was a fun, colorful alternative to Mario Kart Racing DS, and although there were some little problems here and there, it still proved to be a racer worth playing. After months of playing and studying, though, that original opinion started to fade away. All of those little flaws that I ruefully overlooked became painfully obvious, and as I moved along in my guide, they nagged and nagged until my dislike for the game became immense. And you know, I was disappointed.

Diddy Kong Racing DS begins on a decent note. A couple of animals are happily playing on a beautiful island paradise. This paradise is soon thrown into chaos, however, when a swine by the name of Wizpig invades and chases the animals away. In an attempt to reclaim the island and turn Wizzy into a pile of bacon, the animals do the only logical thing possible – they call a Kong. Instead of getting the gallant Donkey Kong to save the day, though, a smaller relative of his shows up in his place. Meet Diddy Kong. He's a chimp of chimps, but he's got a good heart. Together with a couple of the other kids in the Kong family, Diddy rushes off to the animal's aid. And so a legend is born.

So what makes (or made) this game a legend? Diddy Kong Racing DS' original claim to fame was the fact that the whole game took place on a gigantic island. Scattered across that island where smaller “Worlds” that housed the game's races. In order to enter those races, players would have to collect Golden Balloons. Golden Balloons, in most cases at least, could be obtained by winning races and completing the Silver Coin Challenges that you'd be able to take part in after beating the world's boss in a race. It wasn't just that, however. Throughout the player's epic journey they'd have to contend with a number of tribulations, from driving in scorched sands to flying through the very dregs of a medieval castle.

Aside from the fact the Silver Coin Challenges have been ditched for a gimmicky DS Balloon Touch Challenge, little has changed from that original frame. Players can still choose one of multiple varied racers (although unlike the previous game, DKRDS was nice enough to drop Conker and Banjo in place of a band of Kongs who have the same exact stats. How nice of them), collect the four pieces of the Wizpig Amulet, and take the final battle to the swine himself. But unlike the previous embodiment of this renowned title, players now have to contend with a couple of horrific problems.

For anyone who ever played the original, they knew that the controls to the three vehicles that they raced in were tight and agreeable. Not so in DKRDS. Instead of that slick controlling, we're now introduced to a slipshod control matrix that accomplishes nothing but being sloppy and unreliable at best. Although it affects all three vehicles to a degree, it's most pronounced in the one that houses some of the toughest courses in the game – the hovercraft. Unless you frequently ride your break and play it tight, you'll slip, slide, miss turns, and slow down to a crawl. After playing in those same races for months due to my guide writing, I wanted to rip the hair out of my head.

It doesn't just stop there, however. Earlier I mentioned that they removed the Silver Coin Challenges in place of the new Touch Balloon Challenges. Idiots. Whereas those Silver Coin Challenges would often be difficult to complete, the Touch Balloon Challenges will very rarely, if ever at all, give you a serious challenge to even obtain the highest amount of balloons possible. The only thing that could ever screw you up is the DS' own touch controls. They're unresponsive. Appalling sounds good, too. How about crow?

Unfortunately, that low difficulty challenge also translates into the regular game itself. Unless the controls screw you over (which on occasions, they will, although I've had people lap me and I've managed to come back), you will be hard pressed to ever lose a race. You almost have to give a race to the AI in order to lose it. This, of course, made my guide writing a piece of cake. But then again, it also messes up the core foundations of the game itself, and that was to make it a challenging racer that got its job done. I mean, you can't expect that difficulty from anywhere else. God forbid.

And yeah, that was a pot shot at the Wifi. Unlike MKRDS that has a Wifi feature that won't die off, DKRDS was nice enough to lay down and keel after a few months on the market. Unless you have access to some form of a search function in a forum to look for people, finding anyone good on Wifi is like going through a needle in a haystack. Probably worse, if you really think about it.

My “Educated” remarks aside, there are a couple of things to DKRDS that may make it a worthwhile look for you. For one, the course design from the original is in tact, and although they have made some subtle differences to the overall mechanics, they still can be fun to play if you're not in it for difficulty. Another thing that looked great was the graphics. They're beautiful for a DS game, and they actually do a one-up to the N64's. Colorful, vibrant, and smooth all describe it perfectly. The music is also a joy to listen to, and while it can be repetitive at times, it still is a jubilant fest of homage. Tracks from the original return in their former glory, and the DS speakers don't hamper them one bit.

So that brings me to my final question: is DKRDS worth the money? That really depends. If you loved the original and can put up with the heinous difficulty and terrible controls, then yeah, you may want to take a look. Many things that made the original as fun as it was are still there, you just have to look hard. If you can't make the extra effort to deal with these shortcomings, and I can already say the mass of you will keel after playing a course or two, then please, do yourself a favor and stay away. The magic of the original is there, they just threw it off a cliff fifty times.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/07, Updated 12/20/09

Game Release: Diddy Kong Racing DS (US, 02/05/07)