This game came out shortly before Christmas of 1997 (25 years ago). It was a Christmas gift that year and it is one of my greatest Christmas memories from when I was a kid. My friends, cousins, and I played the crap out of this game over that Christmas Break.
I like how there weren't the online video guides day 1 of a game's release, if you discovered a secret, you really had some good sauce for everyone to listen to. And we would all have to chip away at games like this w our friends occasionally helping with some crucial knowledge or even by beating a boss race. We definitely weren't beating these games in a weekend, there was a community effort of the local kids to figure out all the secrets through their own exploration and from Player's guides. We had a lot of fun beating games like that, something that is pretty much gone, bc guides are out within the first week if not on launch day.
I got it for that Christmas as well! I played it non-stop, trying to beat all the time trials and finding all the secrets. Discovering the light house space shuttle to a whole new world blew my 10 year old mind.
Yes! We were 4 kids and we got an N64 on Christmas in 1997 with DKR. I was 4 and I can still remember playing with my parents and siblings. My parents were 28 and 29 back then. Now I am 29, crazy how time flies by. Still loves this game so much.
I remember getting this game for christmas evening '97 too. Today, 25 years ago. My parents must have bought the game in early december, how do I know? When I was home alone I searched for the presents (c'mon, you all did!), found it and skipped through the manual of the game before carefully taking it back in place again. This got me even more excited after reading about all the characters and stuff. After the holidays, DKR was a big talk in school "Did you beat Wizpig?" "Who? I can't beat the damn Greenwood Village coin race..." Good memories! Next christmas it repeated itself with Ocarina of Time, which I don't remember as a "christmas game" like DKR, true.
Oh hell yes ! Stoked for this one ! Merry Christmas Goose and everyone! Love getting Christmas games lined up every year and getting into them while it's terrible out
This was easily one of my favorite games as a kid. It's odd that I can't recall another racing game like this that used a progressive power up system for the weapons, or one that had side missions that required you to go off the tracks and explore in the levels to find items for quests. All racing games today feel like they could easily fit into specific genres, but Diddy Kong Racing just had it's own mix of racing, adventure, battle, story, etc. that I don't see today. Mario Kart games are fun, but they are just racing games with battle modes, and that's basically it. There's no real story line, progression, interesting boss battles, or any real reason to explore the maps outside of lowering times. Diddy Kong tried to do things differently, and executed it perfectly in my opinion.
That Lego Racers game is the only one I could think of that has item progression similar to Diddy Kong where you could get power ups if you collected the same color Lego, but the game wasn't nearly as popular as DKR
I've forever wanted someone to redo Mario Kart 64 w boss races, silver coin challenges and a story mode like this game has, it's something that just sets this game above most other racers of the time. I'm expecting a rom hack for either MK64 to add the coins, or for DKR to add the mario kart characters and courses, but I'm hoping a see a rom hack of a mario kart w an adventure mode like this game in my lifetime even if I have to do it myself. Adventure/campaign makes the longevity that much better for this racer, as compared to most others on the whole console or from the era. I can go back to MK64 for a few GPs every now and then, but DKC, I can return and get glued to the adventure mode whenever I want, definitely one of my favs and I'm hoping someone will take the adventure format and add it into Mario Kart 64 since I like those kart mechanics better.
Another Rareware racing game, Mickey's Speedway USA, also had hidden engine parts to unlock the Frantic Finale grand prix. I just wish that we could get more games like these on newer consoles.
Interesting video. I recall hanging around the houses in Frosty Village and just chilling for a while. Definitely a standout environment in the game. Rare was the most prolific Western console game studio at that time, and I think they nailed that cozy, British/European Christmas atmosphere because they're closer to it culturally than a Japanese dev studio (like Nintendo) would be. The snow level in Banjo-Kazooie (Freezeezy Peak) had very strong "Christmas spirit" as well.
メリークリスマス鵞鳥さん!🎄Seasons greetings from Japan! My CRT broke so me and my daughter are enjoying 絶体絶命都市2 (Raw Danger) on PS2, which despite being about natural disasters is explicitly a Christmas game. Otherwise we would be enjoying DKR! Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
No other game reminds me of Christmas more than DKR. Christmas ‘97 was probably the best Christmas I ever had and one of my favorite childhood memories. My parents surprised me with my n64 by giving it to me early on the last school day before Christmas break. They had it set up for me when I got home from school with Star Fox in the system. I was shocked to say the least because I’d been begging for months. Then on Christmas itself I got DKR and played it relentlessly. Also that same Christmas, my sister received the Spice Girls’ Spiceworld cd and she played it over and over on our boombox while I played in the room we shared. To this day, if I hear any of those songs, I instantly think of DKR and that Christmas.
Something not specifically mentioned in the video, when talking about snowy levels in Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda etc, is how these were developed by Japanese studios. Rare games always had an unmistakable British vibe, and their Christmas aesthetic is much more recognisable for a western audience. Freezeezy Peak in Banjo is another obvious example. The reason it seems so overt in DKR is the release date and the fact the Christmassy world takes up 1/5 of the main game.
That's a great point and not one I really considered. It makes a lot of sense why Rare's videos were more Christmassy than the Japanese ones. Thanks for the insight, and Merry Christmas! 🎅🎄
I always felt this! On top of what you said, I can think of a couple more reasons. Firstly, it's a very colourful game with highly saturated colours, which gives off an impression of multicoloured wrapped gifts under a tree of multicoloured decorations. Banjo-Kazooie also gives off that feeling for me at times, especially when you discover a secret tunnel and the walls change design and colour as you go through that tunnel, then you discover a hidden puzzle portrait or other secret. Boggy's igloo too, of course. Speaking of - the progression system in DKR has you constantly finding secret areas, collectibles, rewards, etc. that feel like getting presents. They're also decorated with sparkles and Christmassy noises e.g. when Taj gives you a balloon and flies around you to celebrate. Makes you feel special (you could even say this particular scene feels like a birthday too). In fact, the whole game feels like a celebration, right from the character select screen with a group of friends dancing around. The whole game is basically them partying on an island while the parents are away, going on a secret kids' adventure to defeat the big bad Wizpig. It feels like all the brothers, sisters and cousins on Christmas day up in a bedroom, away from the parents, imagining they're on their own special adventure, exploring all the new presents they just got (e.g. they might be crowding around one kid playing Pokemon Blue for the first time and being transported into that world, discovering new Pokemon together while the boring adults are drinking tea and missing out on all the fun). Also, I think part of the whole 'secrets' aspect might stem from the mystery of the magic of Christmas many of us got as a kid, where we believed in Santa and were curious about how it all worked, like there was some big universal secret that only the adults knew. What does Santa do the rest of the year? How does he acquire the presents? How does he reach every house in the world in one night? What other secrets are the adults hiding from us? Maybe I'm overanalysing but I do think these small things, combined with everything you said, add up to that special feeling
This video honestly unlocked some deep Christmas memory for me. We went over to friend’s family’s house. After dinner, we played some Diddy Kong racing and some goldeneye multiplayer. It might have been my first time with GE, and I remember being blown away trying to grasp what was happening with the rocket launchers in the Library. I remember so much more about the house, the people and that night too. Thanks for everything Goose. I’ve been watching you for years, since the first SpeedLore and those Silo attempts in 2017. You are a master storyteller and a wise and honest soul. Merry Christmas!!!
That's awesome! Those are the memories I was hoping to unlock with this video. Merry Christmas to you as well! 🎅🎄 Here's to more great memories with the family and friends to come!
Aha that explains it, I was wondering why I was unsubbed from Goose's channel. I remember some weird Tesla stream I was subbed to that I didn't understand how I'd gotten subbed to so I unsubbed from it.
I think I more or less agree with your analysis. DKR is a non-christmas game with Christmas themed levels and a natural subconscious connection to the holiday. I for sure am in the crowd who got DKR with my N64 for Christmas.
This is why I replayed the game last Xmas for my channel. I still sing the words in my head to go with the tune. "A rum & coke, a dirty joke. It's enough for everyone"
Wow, I thought I was the only one who thought this felt like a Christmas game! In the following years shortly after its release, I actually played this game around Christmas time to get in the Christmas spirit ('98 and '99 I think). Crazy to know that I wasn't the only one and how thousands of other 90's kids lived through the exact same memories. Thanks Goose for a great video taking me back to my awesome childhood. And congrats on coming up on 100k subs - very well deserved!
N64 is my childhood. However, we never really purchased N64 games and mostly rented the games. So, I don't have specific memories of DKR and christmas. However, I do agree that DKR is a great Christmas game and that the 2nd World has an amazing christmas mood to it and I can understand your arguments for the 3rd and 4th world as well. Btw, DKR is one of N64's greatest games.
Seems several Rare games from this time had those little pockets of Christmas inside them; DKC3's Christmas easter egg, Diddy Kong Racing's Snowflake Mountain, and Banjo-Kazooie's Freezeezy Peak. Even outside of Rare, you had other games around this time like Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams that also go all-out on the Christmas aesthetic. Maybe there was just something in the air in the mid-to-late 90s that made game developers more drawn to these holiday scenes, I'm not sure. But I do know that area in Frosty Village. with the three houses warmly lit against the backdrop of a cool winter night, is the epitome of cozy Christmas vibes to me.
I will watch the video but first, my immediate reaction is YES, it's the perfect Christmas game. I'm sure you'll address it, but it came out just in time for our '97 winter breaks, it had SO much content that it was really the only game we played that season. The holiday levels and music only cemented it in our minds. Hell I didn't even celebrate Christmas but it was totally a Christmas game for us. Also, your Winter Wonderland comparison is right on, the melody is purposefully similar, with just enough changes to avoid copyright problems. Another track cribs Here Comes Santa Claus for its bridge section. Etc etc. These are deliberate, common, and normal in the music industry. edit: so you made reference to it, but its release literally just a few days before the Thanksgiving break set it up as THE winter break game, especially the multiplayer, and it was a very fun alternative to Goldeneye which was a birthday party / weekend sleepover game since it came out when the school year started and missed the summer break. The holiday references-from the music to the visuals, etc-were deliberate. We got no other *great* N64 games that rest of that year (though I guess some people like Bomberman?). Also Clay Fighter's Santa and Snowman characters were funny but didn't make the game feel Christmas-y, like how Nathan For You isn't a Christmas show even though he spends time with a mall santa.
Your memory of playing this game during a snow storm & missing school, is the same one I have with Super Mario 64 lol. My sister & I would play in the snow until our hands & feet were too cold to keep playing. So we'd throw our snow clothes in the dryer, play some SM64 while everything got warm & dry by the fire, then go back outside & do it all over again haha. Also something about those colored lights around the levels, really added to the Christmas feel for me!
I didn't really get to play Diddy Kong Racing, but a few other games and pieces of media have core memories tied to Christmas for me. Goldeneye 007 specifially is one of them. I remember it was one of the few times I've seen snow on Christmas (I live in southern USA), and we kids bundled up to go outside and play, and when we came back in, me, my brother, and my dad were taking turns trying to beat Jungle, and then Control. This was the year after we got the N64, so I'm fairly certain this would've been some time around 1998 or 1999. But thinking about snow and my childhood home always reminds me of Jungle and Control, remembering how challenging those levels were to us when we were younger. I hope you have a warm and happy Christmas and New Year, Goose.
DKR is a classic example of how a Soundtrack can fully emerse you into the experience. David Wise and everyone involved are legends for this, to this day one of the best Soundtracks in a Video Game. Shoutout to Frosty Village and Darkmoon Caverns!
Diddy Kong Racing is a bit past my time, I was a GameCube kid, but I love Christmas-y and Winter-y levels, ice physics never bothered me anyway! Merry Christmas, Goose!
Banjo and Kazooie feels like a Christmas game to me. No reason but every year around Christmas I play it through. Maybe it's just something to make me feel a little warmer around winter.
Merry Christmas @Goose's Gamer Folklore and all else whom happen to read this around the holiday season. May the Christmas Spirit live on, through every season of the year! Also, beautifully done video, as always, @Goose...
Rareware always nailed the Christmasy Winter vibes. DKC, Banjo Kazooie, DIddy Kong Racing. I also really liked that frozen wasteland planet from Jet Force Gemini.
I remember going to my grandma's house in Christmas of 97, and my cousin had an N64. We went to Toys R Us and picked out a few things. He picked up Diddy Kong Racing, and I have vivid memories of Frosty Village. While I've never really sat down and played DKR very much myself, I still associate that and Mario 64 with that Christmas at Grandma's house. I was 6 years old at the time.
Christmas '97, 5 years old. N64 and DKR was my first game. Favorite racing game to this day and that music? Still great even without that nostalgia. I'll be listening to that medley you brought up in the car today. Merry Christmas Goose.
To me, David Wise has always been fantastic at capturing the vibe of a particular level or scene. His music composition can always take you away to a far away place. I also think having a full world dedicated to the snowy, Christmas themes is much stronger than having just one or two levels. Happy Christmas to you Goose when it comes!
I totally associate this game with christmas, it was so fitting I got it as a christmas present. I still pull it out around christmas, and even today my kids love it. Classic game.
DKR went hard. I still remember the absurd time that my little friends and I spend just combing the overworld for secrets. We never quite got to space world but had a blast slowing improving all the same.
I literally searched "diddy kong racing frosty village" today just to get some vibes and your video popped up (long time subscriber, FYI). Talk about perfect timing!
@@GamerFolklore You ever think that the N64 Mario Party Trilogy (MP1 - MP3) really missed out on having a truly Christmas themed board? Yes, Chilly Waters was there, but was hardly a Christmas themed board other than the top-right of the board.
I can agree with that. They had some great boards, but definitely a Christmas one would have been cool! I just want them to bring over DK's Jungle Adventure to Mario Party Superstars on Switch!
@@GamerFolklore Didn't they kinda butcher Horror Land from MP2 in that transition? Like they cut out a lot of the charm of the board, especially the night-time theme?
a little bit... Horror Land used to be the most "epic" board to play a 50 Turn match, but in Superstars it's just not as "epic". Hard to elaborate further.
@@GamerFolklore Not sure if you remember, but I made a Speedrunner soundboard trolling video on Rainbow Six: Siege a few years ago that included your voice. There was a Christmas themed map at one part during your session where I used one of your “Merry Christmas” sound bites at the very end.
Haha I totally relate to why you made this video. I certainly have my list of games I like to play around certain times of year because of the vibes or memories that they bring. Diddy Kong Racing is actually double sided for me. I like to play the snow levels around Christmas however it is also very much an Easter game for me aswell. The balloons have always reminded me of chocolate Easter eggs especially the smaller sized Cadbury ones. When I was a kid on Easter morning I would go outside and hunt for those little colourful eggs all around our house and in the garden and has always reminded me of those balloons in Diddy Kong Racing. Also while browsing the over world you can meet T T and he mentions game Easter eggs which when I was a kid made me associate Easter with the game even more. I really like that you do these style of videos as it helps add to the spirit and getting in the holiday mood. I hope you had a very merry Christmas and all the best in the new year!!
Banjo-Kazooie feels like more of a Christmas game. It has a gigantic snowman and Christmas tree in one of its levels. I never had DKR as a kid but I still remember unwrapping my brand new N64 on Christmas of 1998, along with GoldenEye and Top Gear Rally. That very same N64 is now sitting about 10 feet away from me, currently plugged into my 55" 4K TV. Nintendo really built things to last back in the day.
Having played Clayfighter (all of them, actually) I can definitely vouch that it has a strong Christmas vibe. Not just Santa being playable, but the main poster boy character is a snowman, and a TON of stages have Christmas/winter themings to them. They definitely wanted to tie the game to Christmas in a lot of ways. Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention Freezeezy Peak, which I like to consider a cartoon Christmas special you can actually play.
the Winter Soundtrack of DKR and Freezeezy Peak are in my Christmas Playlist, for baking Cookies and enjoying the christmas spirit. i love Frosty Village, music is awesome and yes i am always thinking im living in one of these houses, awesome video
The very first n64 games i saw being played at a friends house were diddy kong racing and 007 World is Not Enough. The boys were somewhat poor, so they were sitting in the floor, the room having mostly only a tv and the console, a dark room only lit by the tv, some cookies and coffee, while multiplayer maps are being played on screen. Both of these games always kick in a hidden nostalgia button that i have at the back of my mind. I am literally transported to another place and time when i see both of these games.
Tomba 2 definitely feels like a Christmas game. Reflecting on playing both a lot as a kid, I'd argue Tomba 2 feels this way even more than Diddy Kong Racing. Great video!
I wouldn't say it was a Christmas game, but they really Christmassed up the snow levels so it feels so much warmer than other games snow levels! They knocked it out of the park with the theming and I do remember playing some of these levels around Christmas when I was younger to help get in the mood! Hope you have a good Christmas Goose!
I didn't own this game but rented it a lot from the local video game rental place and from friends who did have it. It was special and very different from Mario Kart and I loved the unique flavour it brought. It has a warm and cozy feeling to it that you just don't see anymore.
4:35 I just love how blue the sky is at night, I wish the night the sky was royal blue like this, I also wish there was more art not just in video games that depicted blue night skies in this fashion.
As usual for me, a retro gamer, I got the game pretty late. A friend was done with it and let me have it for free in 2008. I mastered both Adventures 1 and 2, and decided to change the language to the only other option in the North American version- French. It was my first experience playing a game in a different language, and would be valuable practice for intuiting how to navigate them in a foreign language in the days before I started buying numerous games in Japanese. In fact, I would import my first Japanese language game, Mobile Golf, the following year in 2009 and go on to master quite a few import games in Japanese. It all started with changing the language in Diddy Kong Racing to push the game even further after already mastering Adventure 2 mode.
Great timing, I just replayed this whole game last week haha. I was expecting a heavy dose of naustalgia, but was pleasently surprised to find out the game holds up super well and actually has a pretty big difficulty curve if you decide to unlock TT. All that to say, I would prefer it if you would just-- have a Merry Christmas 🤶
Merry Christmas! Historically I've always been traveling away from my 64 around the date, but might just boot up some diddy kong racing here during the hot days of tropical summer in Brazil.
This was my Christmas gift of the year and I played it quite a bit when I first got it. It did everything Mario Kart 64 didn't do. Until years later on the Wii and Gamecube where you could select other vehicles. There was going to be a Donkey Kong Racing game with animal buddies but they never made it. It was scrapped. I loved this game, I got a Diddy Kong plush animal with it too because I preordered it. I miss those days.
Bluestinger on the Dreamcast has a direct Christmas connection like Diehard. It was an old zombie kind of game but at one point early on you have to navigate through a shopping center that’s all decked out for Christmas and playing festive music. Naturally as kids we would get stuck in this point of the game so basically our entire playtime was in this Christmas zone lol. My brother and I talk about the game every Christmas Eve because of a Christmas Eve puzzle in the game that we were stuck on for years. He’s already messaged me about it today. Great video as always, and a Merry Christmas to you!
Another big part is that the game has a joyous atmosphere. There's nothing hostile about the areas presented in the game. There's none of the unease or adversarial nature of the snow levels in other games. The snow is welcoming, not threatening. The Donkey Kong Country one feels like you're in a blizzard in January. The Mario 64 one feels like an empty, dead or dying place, far removed from any human joy. It feels like being included, like in a Christmas celebration. Like you're part of the place, rather than an unwelcome intruder.
Hey Goose, great video and great to see you back. I noticed some videos missing such as the GTA one missing and that really sucks if those are gone for good but either way, props for getting through the whole ordeal and still delivering new content. Fondest wishes that you have a great new year without any crap like what happened recently.
I have that vid in my possession. Just not entirely sure I want to publish it again. I probably should, but I don't love making cheating content anymore. So I'm wondering if it should stay unlisted. Anyhow, happy new year to you as well! All the best for 2023. Thanks for watching 🌞
I think it's more based on personal experiences for me, but I've always associated Yoshi's Story with Christmas. Surprisingly not really because of the winter themed levels in the game, though those certainly add to it. I always found the song "Yoshis in the Wind" to capture the atmosphere of a quiet night around Christmas time, I think because the music box sound reminded me of a christmas music box that would play Silent Night when wound up. But I think the biggest link was the similarities between the castle theme "Baby Bowser's Lullaby" and the song "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" that plays so commonly around Christmas time. When I was younger, I wasn't very good at video games at all. Even a game like Yoshi's Story was too scary for me at times. (That might sound silly, but let me tell you, that game has some *terrifying* sound and imagery for a small child). One of my favorite things to do was watch my older brother play video games and explore the areas that were too scary to explore on my own. It's a really wholesome memory that gives me a special attachment to a lot of my childhood games. Anyway, Yoshi's Story was always one of my favorite games to watch him play because it always felt like there was so much to the game I didn't know about. I distinctly remember one Christmas something had gotten him interested in clearing all of the levels and sometimes I'd hear Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy playing on a commercial in another room and would mistake it for him playing the Castle levels in Yoshi's Story. Though it was always a bit of a disappointment to find out he wasn't, I think it's a memory that's so intrinsically tied to the game for me that Yoshi's Story is the number one game that comes to mind when I think of Christmas.
The irony is that it's one of the first N64 games I owned on Christmas Day 1998, alongside Yoshi's Story, which also has a couple of Christmas-themed levels in the Summit chapter.
Of course it looks like Christmas themed because it's a snow level just like how everytime Nintendo makes a dessert level, it's Egyptian themed, if it's a forest level, it's Donkey Kong themed
