Good Game Design - Diddy Kong Racing: Perfecting The Kart Racer 

wait...beating wizpig the first time WASN'T the end? D: I PLAYED THAT GAME 20 YEARS AGO AND I JUST FOUND THIS OUT! D:

Being careful about which items you pick up reminds me of Snowboard Kids. If you don't have enough coins for the item, you smash into the thing and fall down. So when your low on coins, the item boxes become obstacles you need to avoid. It was pretty cool!

The music. Oh GOD the music was literally the best thing that came out of this absolute DIAMOND of a kart racer. I still hum Hot-Top Volcano and Taj's theme from time to time simply cause of how MEMORABLE those songs are.

Isn't really so sad that such a perfect racing game didn't get the sequel it really deserved?

My favorite memory is just randomly honking in front of the sign post and seeing the lighthouse turn into a rocket ship. I rushed to school the next day to tell me friends about it. They didn't believe me.

Nothing would make my heart happier then to see a remastered version of this game on the Switch. Heck, even a port of the original would be great. One can only hope. It's nice to see this game still getting love. 🙂

I was perfectly content with flying around in the plane in the overworld. Diddy Kong Racing? Naw fam, Diddy Kong Flight Sim.

I used to wake up at like 4:30 am so i could play this game before getting ready for school lol

The lower frame-rate of Diddy Kong Racing is probably due to the fact that it used 3d polygonal characters and mariokart 64 used 2D sprites

The characters were one of my favorite parts, and the fact that they were from other Rare titles. I remember that I played this before Banjo Kazooie as a kid, and when I found Tip-Tup in Banjo, I was so geeked.

*Turns right, cart slides left* Opponent AI was super-human and did everything you did.

It's always annoyed me that the genre never really did more with the adventure mode concept. I know the Crash games did something similar, though I never played much of them, but that's about it. It's nice to have a world to explore and some context for the racing so you're not just doing Grand Prix at different difficulties. Plus there's so much unexplored potential. Imagine a sort of Metroidvania thing, where you unlock characters as you progress, and every character has a unique ability in the overworld that lets you access new areas - like Tiptup could drive underwater, Pipsy could get through small passages other characters are too big for, that kind of thing. They could also use this to force you to do certain challenges with a specific character, so you can't just play the whole game with your favorite one. God, I might just make that game myself.

My favorite thing was the music, (Frosty village) how dynamic and different it was from Mario kart, and how my family and friends would play this game all the time

I am baffled that Mario Kart had never had an Adventure mode ala Diddy Kong Racing. DKR was like Mario 64 and Mario Kart combined. I loved it.

I always like DKR better than MK64 for pretty much all the reasons you mentioned.

I remember getting a long-form ad for Diddy Kong Racing on a VHS tape in the mail. My little brother and I would watch that thing multiple times every day after school. We were probably more hyped for DKR than any other game before or since. It's the only time I can remember being so heavily affected by an advertisement and then having the game _actually_ deliver in spades. When we finally got it for Christmas, we played the ever living shit out of it, unlocking everything there was and having an absolute blast the whole time. I can honestly say that Diddy Kong Racing was by far my favorite multiplayer game on the N64, much more fun than Scotch-taping a godawful DIY cardboard divider to the TV for "fair" rounds of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark.

This is precisely why I'm so hyped for the CTR remake. CTR took everything great about this game and polished it, imho it's still the best kart racer out there, and to see it coming back is beyond exciting.

oh man, I loved playing this game. I hardly ever actually raced, just screwed around in the overworld. I remember loving getting into the plane and flying into trees. I can't remember if that actually did anything?? I just remember doing it. I wonder if I still have that game...

One thing I think Mario Kart is missing is strategy. It's mostly skill, (and a bit of luck)which is fine, but some strategy would be nice as well. I think the best way to get strategy elements is to have meaningful decisions. The player should have to figure out which decisions are best. Diddy Kong Racing looks like it does this well! (I'll have to play it some time! )

I'm a speedrunner of DKR and it's gotten to be one of my all-time favourite games over the past few years. I would absolutely love a sequel but one thing that I'm afraid would get passed up on by the devs is something often overlooked in DKR's gameplay, but something that's super obvious to speedrunners. The mechanics of DKR are extremely unique and have an insanely high skill ceiling. You can just hold A and cruise along, grabbing some boosts here and there, but if you play your cards right between drifting, plane tricks, chaining boosts, and other tech, the speed you can achieve is nuts. I've been playing this game pretty seriously for quite a few years and even top speedrunners agree that the skill ceiling is almost infinite. There's always minor adjustments you can make to your execution that can make the race faster. Time Trials are a huge hit in the DKR speedrun community for this reason. If there's a sequel to DKR, I would love for it to keep or expand on the same mechanics of DKR, where it's easy enough to play and get by, but to play on a professional level takes insane amounts of skill and practice and is incredibly rewarding. It's wonderful how satisfying it is to chain the right set of boosts and barrel rolls together in a plane to maintain the highest possible speeds, or to drift back and forth quickly to go faster in the hovercraft. In the car you will go faster by drifting and by tapping the A but in a steady rhythm rather than simply holding it. There's so much hidden tech in DKR that a casual player would likely never know about, but when put into practice this is by far one of the best gaming experiences I've had in my entire life. I highly recommend checking out a speedrun of this game to see just how far things can be pushed with a relatively low use of glitches. This is a much more solid game than people even realize and my one hope for a sequel is that the mechanics aren't overly simplified and are left open for improvement and experimentation.

Unlocking TT was the crowning achievement of my childhood.

Man, I remember that same item system from Lego Racers. I'd always thought it was so clever and original, but I'd never realized they just lifted it straight from DKR. :P

People constantly mention how difficult this game is, I honestly don't remember that. I do remember having a shit load of fun doing everything in this game, 9 y/o me completed this game 100%.

Great vid. The giant octopus sux ass. I remember feeling so ecstatic when I finally beat him!

I think these racing games can really *drive* you insane

I played the DS game as a kid. I LOVED it. All the secrets and flying blew my mind

My favorite memory is facing Wizpig. I was 7 years old and I had lost to him CONSTANTLY. So frustrated, so angry but always so close to beating him that I wouldn't quit. Picked different characters but still lost just the same. It went on for at least 60 times. I remember the intro: "Mwahaha! *You can't beat me, kid!* " I had heard it so much that when I lost all hope I said "I know I can't" as I tried again, but that race went differently. I got all the boosts just right and made no mistakes. My crushed morale rebuilt itself as I finally passed him, and I got excited! I was in the lead and the finish line was close. I was PRAYING out loud to win the race as I got closer; hoping that no BS thing would mess me up and suddenly... I passed the finish line. I had won. After hours of failure, mistakes, hopelessness and taunting, I had won.

There was indeed a sequel for GBA. Diddy Kong Pilot. Which was reborn as Banjo Pilot a few years later after Microsoft bought Rare. However, two prototypes (both Voxel and Mode 7 versions) from the original Diddy Kong version were dumped some years ago.

Such an incredible game. Really reminds me what modern gaming is missing out on.

The best memory I had was that I knew you could get Drumstick but I didn't know how. Then I noticed the frog with the head flap and spend 10 minutes trying to run it over to be rewarded with the character.

I loved the music. It got stuck in my head in moments throughout my entire life. Thanks for the nostalgia trip. Great video. Also I never got good enough as a kid to see that lighthouse turn into a spaceship!

I rented this game from Blockbuster a lot as a kid and I remember booting it up and being so confused about the overworld aspect of the game that I got lost and was ramming into the doors for levels I hadn't unlocked for quite a while. The hovercraft and especially the airplane totally blew my mind and made me feel like I had so much freedom to move around. Great times.

Even though Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed dropped the “adventure” aspect of it, I think it was a great example of how to evolve the racing mechanics of DKR. Karts change form mid-lap, the track changes with them, and in general it adds variety to an otherwise-standard kart racer. If you haven’t played it before, you should give it a shot!

This actually made me a bit depressed at the years of my childhood that have disappeared before my eyes. Being a kid playing these games was really magical and being an adult now I know those feeling will never be replicated.

What I loved about Diddy Kong Racing was the variety of challenges added to a racing game like the egg battle royale and the surprise of boss battles. They made me grind my teeth and squeeze my controller furiously. What I would love to see in a sequel would mainly be more of the same with a higher definition as well as just more content, characters, items, car types, and perhaps a changing overworld.

Aside from Banjo-Tooie and Majora's Mask, Diddy Kong Racing is one of my top favorite N64 games! I played it religiously when I was younger, and I worked so hard to get that space place unlocked. I really enjoyed playing it on the DS, too.

Banjo and Conker characters I played as the most

Two words: Icicle. Pyramid. Great memories there

I don't think I have a single bad memory from this game. Played it growing up with my 3 brothers, all taking turns trying to beat courses if the others failed. Ended up dropping the game for a while around Greenwood Village Silver Coin Challenge, and finishing everything else the game had to offer. To this day we'll still pull up the soundtrack on youtube and jam out to it. To me, this game will never get old.

I remember playing the remake of this game for the DS a long time ago, I actually had no idea it was a remake until this video! It was definitely a really fun game, and the DS version included local and online multiplayer. There was also sort of a custom track editor thing if I remember correctly. It was probably the most unique racing game I've ever played.

Sno, I have not watched this yet, but by title alone, this is your best work. Congrats. Subbed.

Yeah! Thanks for the shout out and on one of my favorite N64 games by Rare! I first played Diddy Kong Racing in 2017 and I agree, its far superior to Mario Kart 64. Rareware had a way of taking N64 classics and making classics of their own. The music is extremely charming in this game and the ice tracks in this game are nICE! The only thing, and I agree, is that I would've liked a co-op from the get-go. I also didn't know you could get subtitles and for some reason I had a hard time understanding some of the bosses dialogue. Honestly though, all these complaints are very minor and I truthfully think its one of the best racing games out there. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is fun for sure, but its missing that charm that Rare does so well. I was actually thinking to myself in my alone-in-the-car/shower thoughts that if Playtonic made a racing game similar to Diddy Kong Racing, I would certainly be interested in it. Interestingly enough, I don't think Banjo or Conkur had been made in their games yet. That being said, if Yooka-Laylee had their own racing game with other characters from the universe, I would love to see what people think of the other racers, and then maybe we could get another game starring one of the most liked new drivers! It's definitely a dream! But one can still hope! I agree though! I'm still waiting for the spirtual successor racing game, of Diddy Kong Racing too; great video Snoman as per usual!!!

This game was the unexpected gem of 1997. I got it Christmas morning and had no idea what to expect. I was way more excited for Madden 64 (which was also fantastic back when EA knew how to make American football games) but I put far more time into playing DKR. I played this from Christmas Day 1997 until I got another Rare masterpiece, Banjo-Kazooie, for my birthday in July. It blows my mind just how many all-time great games Rare released, all within the span of of like 2 years. It's arguably the greatest "run" any developer has went on

Haven't played Diddy Kong Racing on a long while, but this video reminded me of just how terrific it was. Thanks for the wholesome reminder, my dude

The best part: "I'm Banjo, oooowwooohhh!"

Welp... Banjo & Kazooie are in Smash. If that can happen, surely Microsoft can have Nintendo rerelease specific Rare-made games like Diddy Kong Racing and Star Fox Adventures. =P

once as a kid I hadn’t beaten Wizpig. however, I turned on the console and suddenly the space tracks were available to play! I was blown away, I played them, then restarted the game to see if they stayed. they were gone. it was surreal.

Yes! I absolutely LOVED DK Racing! I played so much of this game with my best friend and we would trade playing races until we finally beat Wiz Pig. I had no idea we could have put in a code to play adventure mode in co-op!! Thanks for another great video!

I was 27 years old when I learned there's AN ENTIRE SECOND ADVENTURE AFTER THE SPACE BATTLE?!? WHAT!!??? I was never able to beat Wizpig in space. For 20 YEARS I THOUGHT I'D SEEN IT ALL. Holy shit. Digging out the N64 tonight.

That hubworld and bossfight stuff sounds extremely similar to Lego Racers 2, which was released a few years after this game.

That one mini cinematic you would get every time the blue elephant man would come on his magic carpet to hand you your balloon at the end of a race !

I played this game to completion when I was a kid. It was absolutely wonderful and the music still sticks with me years later. My favorite part was how the difficulty ramped up with each bit you completed. Such a fantastic game.

My favorite part was that I thought I beat the game when I beat the pig but then 3 years later i went back to it and realised there was way more

I dunno about "perfecting," that shit was hard as hell for the very young demographic it was aimed at. Even speedrunners who've sunk several thousands of hours into DKR struggle with some of the bosses, like the octopus, where making even one, single mistake, no matter how small = GG, reset

Without even watching the video yet, I agree 100%. Nothing felt repetitive and the new challenges on levels after beating bosses weren't frustrating. The hardest boss fight was the pig before he goes to the moon as long as you don't have TT :D. I know you could get the rooster, but I hated how much he slid. I used tiptup - One of my favorite racing games to this day.. time to watch the video. Oooo also the hidden balloons in the over-world were a nice touch too. The hovercraft levels were my least favorite, but I still enjoyed them. Edit: I take that back... the second time you fight the walrus was a pain in the butt. I just loved how good the controls were with the car when racing. Also, you could jump to help turn around corners with the hovercraft... it helped a lot.

One of my all time favorite games. Back in the day, my brother and I had an unofficial, friendly competition on our respective game save files. We both got stuck at the first Wizpig race, and I took him down first, showing him the green smoke trick. My brother found the golden keys though. After that we both made it to the second Wizpig race. We both were so close to beating him, and one weekend, I was grounded from playing video games. He beat Wizpig's second race, while I sat in timeout. We both started Adventure 2, and I came back and crushed it. Awesome game!

Had no idea you got extra boost if you left off the gas in DKR. That's wild.

Never knew he was gonna do an episode on *this* game.

there is a tradition in my country, wait until midnight to open the christmas gifts, i opened the boxes and there it was my first ever n64 game, i played until sunrise, was a total blast. since then everytime i think about diddy kong racing i think about christmas (specially with the christmas theme tracks). that was an amazing gift.... funny thing i didnt ask for that game, i for donkey kong 64. sorry for my english

The best part about this game: NO RUBBERBANDING. It felt really cool to see your progress based on how many NPCs you could lap in a particular race.

The item system and the overworld exploration maybe the best things this game has going for it. Screw the silver coin challenges. I don't get the point of vehicle variety so much. Mario Kart 8 and Sonic Racing Transformed have air and water sections, but the track basically dictates when you transform. Sonic at least has some parts where you can choose to use one vehicle type over the other during the track. Diddy Kong Racing makes you pick one type and stick with it. Wouldn't it be more interesting to allow the player to switch vehicle types on the fly to approach each track challenge how they see fit? Different obstacles could easily give advantages and disadvantages per vehicle, but also offer incentives for taking more difficult paths such as shortcuts and items. It also means thinking even more about the course and which parts of it you want to tackle with which vehicle. I wouldn't make vehicle transformations instant though. It would take a second or two to make the change, so you also need to look for the best opportunity to switch and timing your transformations inbetween obstacles. Anyway, I thought I'd also chime in that I'm making Donkey Kong month video reviews to celebrate DK month with you Snoman!

I always felt diddy kong racing really pushed the genre forward. Then CTR took that improvement and turbo charged it.

I remember i got stuck in the game and i spent months searching the access door for the dragon forest. After quitting the game for a while i bumped into the wall where the door was hidden. i was damn happy after that xDD i realized that kinda magic of discovering things was what made past games like so inmersive

I got it for Christmas 1997 and ignored my family the entire day. It's one of my favorite games of all time. Shout-out to the Star Wars death star trench run reference in the last world :D

There was a remake of Diddy Kong Racing for the DS. Maybe you could do a vid on that? :3

I doubt diddy kong racing will ever get a sequel, especially since Mario kart sells so well it would probably not make sense for nintendo to make multiple kart racing games. still, there's no reason Mario kart can't get a story mode one day, like the one diddy kong racing had. and I don't think diddy kong racing retro tracks in the next Mario kart are out of the question. I mean, there are already F-zero tracks. . . maybe they could also have Kirby air ride tracks and have Kirby be playable.

Favorite thing about it pretty much was the adventure mode along with how much depth it had for a kart racer. Like you said, it has a good amount of things to do in it and it's a good way of getting the player accustomed to the game without being repetitive or boring. A good single player mode, to me atleast, is the best way of feeding the people into the multiplayer modes and more importantly it doesn't make me feel like I wasted 50 bucks on a game only for it to have barebones single player content with only grand prix's to pass the time along with a completely random and unfulfilling unlock system.

Amazing analysis! I love everything about this game. Your channel has the best content about Rare games. I always played as Bumper in Diddy Kong Racing and finished 100% of it

Sonic and All Stars racing transformed would like to have a word with you

Nintendo got tired of being outshined by Rare so they sold them to Microsoft. Try to convince me otherwise.

This was my first N64 game, and I played it non-stop. I love it. Thanks for the good memories

I thought it was really interesting that DKR eschewed the rubber band mechanic that made MK64 so accessible. This made the lower difficulty levels absolute slaughters where you regularly lap the 2 or three slowest opponents, but the higher difficulty levels were totally demoralizing, since there was never a maximum distance the opponent could be from you.

He insulted DK64. I'm not okay with this.

I think you misspelled Garfield Kart.

It was the only racing game I could get behind as a kid because of the adventure of finding and unlocking new stuff.

Thank you for making a video about this game, this is the first game that I ever owned and I spent countless hours playing and exploring. May have to find myself a copy

Diddy Kong Racing is the perfect game. Change my mind.

Diddy Kong Racing track design was bland and boring. And the overworld is empty and tedious. It was a good game and I know Mario Kart 64 has its own flaws, but I wouldn't say Diddy Kong Racing is better. Good video!

This reminds me of one of the least talked about (and still buggy as all hell) racing series: Lego Racers (both 1 and 2) which had some really unique concepts for a racer. 1 had a similar system for powers as this one, 3 different color big blocks with white blocks that do nothing on their own but increase the power and effect of the colored blocks. The races were pretty straight forward but it was fun. 2 had way more to offer (and way more bugs, so be warned) like each power you can get in a race has 2 uses. Usually this made a smart risk vs reward system. The game also had each zone have an overworld, and all the races were played on that overworld but with checkpoints added to create a track. They didn't make a set track, it was just waypoints and you figure out the best way to get there. It was so much fun! If you haven't ever played them, look them up. Bugs aside, they offer some really unique mechanics

I'm currently replaying it. This game is very special to me, A childhood favorite.. The whole adventure mode, Bosses, Challenges It's like you said, They did a collect-a-thon in a freaking racing game.. And that is what i love the most.. And the multiplayer, Of course, We used to spend hours shooting missiles at each other, My brother, a friend and i. Awesome video dude, *Thumbs up*

Honestly, when I played DKR it always felt pretty bland and forgettable.

DKR memories... well, for most people it's beating the Greenwood Village silver coins or Wizpig for the first time. They were so tough for kids.

the best as the adventure mode, that you could unlock so many secrets, ne courses - and even get them ,irrored was genious. but it was the atmosphere of the dark courses and the ones in space which really was something special

I'm so glad you suggested a sequel and not a remaster. I feel like remasters are all the rage and people are loving them, but if I wanted to play the original, I would. What I want is developers to progress from past work, not just redo it with fancier effects and higher framerates! If Nintendo ever greenlighted a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing that actually added to the formula, I'd be very very happy

I loved this game. So much that I even dreamed of it sometimes. In one of the dreams, the lighhouse suddenly turned into a rocket and we were having rocket races in space... now imagine my surprise when something kind of like that happened a few days later in the game. Probably the most satisfying thing from it was T.T., though. When you first unlock a ghost, and decide to see if you can unlock all of them and beat them just to see if there's something to get at the end (some of those races were super frustrating), and there is actually something cool at the end, it's really a great feeling.

I've had this game my whole life and didn't know there were extra characters, this video blew my mind. Im going home after work and playing this again. And I did get the trophy races and stuff when I was little but boy did I forget about alot of these features

The one thing I remember from that game is the multiplayer map, "fire mountain!" It's funny my best friend had Mario Kart, so I got this game.....and man this game had such a magical place in my heart. Probably my favorite racing game ever, just for all the charm (like you said)

we had this instead of mario kart in my childhood household. i think my favorite aspect is the overworld--finding the secrets there was dope as hell, and i loved being able to drive around just for fun / practice without any time limit or goals or linear track. i have mario kart on the switch now and i regularly wish there was a way to just drive around for fun, like even just a "free drive" mode so you could explore the tracks, find the shortcuts etc without the pressure of a race.

I played it as a kid and my favorite memory is playing it on Christmas on the ice world and it was just so fitting. Really loved it. Also remember Playing with my brother passing the control trying to beat the bosses they were really challenging.

Absolutely would love to see a sequel. I feel had Rare hadn't been bought by Microsoft, we probably would've seen Rare make a Diddy Kong Racing Sequel for the Gamecube

My favourite memory was duking it out with two of my friends (who happened to be brothers) so I had Goldeneye and they had diddy Kong ... I didn't play Mario kart 64 until the mid 2000's... The battle mode was always fun, but we would also pass the controller when stuck on sections or act as an extra set of eyes when exploring the overworld. Definitely happy memories 😁

Holy yoga pants. This game does have a lot of content. I never played it but I heard about it over on Madness on Normal Boots and they talked about how many secrets there were. They actually made a racing game also a collect-a-thon. God I love Rare.

My Dad is 70 now. He’s no gamer. Hasn’t picked up a controller in years. (Besides wii sports when that came out) But my Dad beat this game. When the N64 came out, Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing were a hit with the whole family. And not just multiplayer. My dad is the one to unlock Drumstick and the space tracks. Not something I was able to do when I was 10 at the time. A few months ago, I finally booted up that same cartridge and started a new file and beat the game myself.

I've heard so many people talk about how good Diddy Kong Racing is and I never really thought about it since I didn't grow up playing it, but now having you explain what actually the game consists of I really want to give it a try. I now know why so many people want it to come back! If they made this with the technology available now with the graphics of Mario Kart 8, I would pick it up day 1.

DKR was the first game my siblings and I rented from Blockbuster after our parents bought us an N64. I have so many memories of 3 of us trading off playing all the races trying to win while learning the new N64 thumbstick that I can't pick just one; and that doesn't even include later once we bought the game and delved deeper into it.

Diddy Kong Racing is one of my favorite games of all time and I come back to it every few years. My fondest memory of it would have to be spending hours playing on the battle pyramid with my siblings. Or when I finally found the key in the dragon domain because that took me forever.

I picked that up as a kid and poured many hours into it. My fondest memories are of the coop adventure mode, which I loved playing with friends. And to this day, I still haven‘t unlocked TT. Those time trials are really tough. But my favourite thing about this game was that they spun off Banjo into his own game. If they would make a sequel (which I always hoped to see back in N64 Days) they could include maybe some more non-race focused stuff, like for example shoot 'em up minigames or something like that. Plus, obviously new tracks, racers and vehicles.

I don't know if it's my favorite memory from the game, but definitely the most memorable one: The very last and final race against Wizpig in adventure 2. At least for my child self back then, that race was freaking hard and i don't know how many times i had to retry to finally win.

Diddy Kong Racing is one of my favorite games of all time, just behind Banjo Kazooie. Great memories I have of it is as a young kid I got to the first wizpig race and it was such a tough challenge. I'd wake up early before school so I could try a couple attempts before having to hop on the bus and over a week I managed to do it and I felt so accomplished. The secrets are incredible in this game. I used to just play around in the overworld and would be ecstatic when i discovered something like unlocking drumstick (My favorite racer) when i ran over the frog and I was so hyped when i just accidentally crashed into the trophy sign on the beach and was taken away to a whole other extra world! What a game truly great and I make sure to throw it in and play it on my N64 many times a year. Amazing game.

If you're looking for a series that could maybe be considered the spiritual successor of sorts to this one then definitely check out the Lego Racers series. LR1 is a little basic in terms of story but it actually does tie into its sequel LR2.