Diddy Kong Racing Remastered

Diddy Kong Racing Remastered

Developer(s)

Retro Studios

Publisher(s)

Platform(s)

Genre(s)

Racing

Predecessor

Diddy Kong Racing DS

Release Date(s)

TBD

Mode(s)

Single-player, multiplayer

Age Rating(s)

Media Included

Nintendo Switch Cartridge

Digital Download

Available Input

GameCube Controller
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
Joy-Con

Storage Needed

8 GB

Cost

$59.99

Diddy Kong Racing Remastered is an upcoming racing game for the Nintendo Switch. It serves as a remake of Diddy Kong Racing that was released for the Nintendo 64 back in 1997. There was a remake for the game back in 2007 for the Nintendo DS titled Diddy Kong Racing DS.

History[]

A team of four individuals employed with Rare were developing a caveman/time travel-themed real time strategy game for the Nintendo 64, but the project was swiftly abandoned and wanted to try a whole different topic. The development team adjusted their focus to a racing game, having a reference from Super Mario Kart. The initial concept featured a hub world based on theme parks from Disney World. Development was initially slow until a larger team was brought in to help accelerate the project, and the game was renamed to Adventure Racers.

The project was renamed Pro Am 64, which served as a reference to R.C. Pro-AM, a game released for the NES by Rare. The project briefly featured the characters using three-wheeled trike-like vehicles. In June 1997, the project was presented to Shigeru Miyamoto, who reluctantly approved of it and suggested that Diddy Kong should be included. Under Miyamoto's suggestion, the latter character was included due to the popularity of the Donkey Kong franchise, and Rare decided to name the game Diddy Kong Racing.

Diddy Kong Racing released for the Nintendo 64 on November 21, 1997 in both Japan and Europe. The game was released in North America three days later. A total of 4.5 million copies of the game were sold worldwide, especially with 800,000 copies being sold within less than the first month upon release.

With Rare being acquired by Microsoft in late 2002, attempts for developing sequels for Diddy Kong Racing fell through three times. However, a remake titled Diddy Kong Racing DS was released for the Nintendo DS on February 5, 2007, developed by Rare. There were differences in the remake as Banjo and Conker were omitted due to Microsoft's aquition of Rare. The replacing characters for the DS remake were Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong.

Gameplay[]

In Diddy Kong Racing, players can choose one of eight characters, who have access to three different vehicles: car, hovercraft and aeroplane. The car is an all-round vehicle, however it is slowest on surfaces such as sand and water. The hovercraft is designed for both sand and water areas but lacks in acceleration and manoeuvrability. The aeroplane is designed to access aerial areas; it is good at acceleration and manoeuvring, however it has the slowest speed. Each racetrack has a set of boosters known as "zippers" that temporarily boost the player's speed, as well as featuring regenerating balloons of various colours that provide power-ups. There are five different types of balloons: red, blue, green, yellow, and rainbow. Red balloons grant missiles to attack racers ahead, blue balloons grant a speed boost, yellow balloons grant shields to protect the player from attacks, green balloons grant deployable traps to delay other racers, and rainbow balloons grant a magnet ability that brings the player closer to the nearest racer. If multiple balloons of the same colour are picked up, the power-up will be upgraded to a more powerful version. A total of two upgrades are available for each balloon. Additionally, racetracks contain non-regenerating bananas that add to speed when they are picked up. A maximum of ten bananas will improve the speed but can also be obtained to prevent other players from gaining speed. If a racer gets hit, two bananas will be deducted.

In "Adventure Mode", players control the racer of their choice to progress through the story. Players begin on Timber's Island, which consists of five interconnected worlds; Dino Domain, Snowflake Mountain, Sherbet Island, Dragon Forest, and Future Fun Land. Each world contains four race tracks, an unlockable battle stage and a race against a boss character. Depending on the race track, players may have a choice of using either a car, hovercraft or aeroplane. Each race track contains boosters to racers that cross them, and balloons of various colours that provide power-ups to racers. If the player defeats Wizpig in Future Fun Land, obtains all amulet pieces and collect all of the gold medals, the player will be able to play in a mode called "Adventure II". In this mode, all of the balloons change colour to platinum and the tracks are inverted from left to right. The game also features four battle modes which consist of two deathmatch maps, a capture-the-flag-style battle and a mode which involves opponents capturing eggs.

Plot[]

Timber the Tiger's parents go on holiday and leave their son in charge of the island they live on, leaving him and his friends to organise a race. Their enjoyment is derailed when an evil intergalactic pig-wizard named Wizpig arrives at Timber's Island and attempts to take it over after having conquered his own planet's racetracks. He turns the island's four guardians (Tricky the Triceratops, Bubbler the Octopus, Bluey the Walrus and Smokey the Dragon) into his henchmen. The only solution available to the island's inhabitants is to defeat Wizpig in an elaborate series of races that involve cars, hovercrafts, and aeroplanes. Drumstick the Rooster, the best racer on the island, failed this challenge and was transformed into a frog by Wizpig's black magic.

Timber recruits a team of eight racers: Diddy Kong, the first recruit; Conker the Squirrel and Banjo the Bear, recruited by Diddy; Krunch the Kremling, Diddy's enemy who follows after him; and Tiptup the Turtle, T.T. the Stopwatch, Pipsy the Mouse, and Bumper the Badger, inhabitants of Timber's island. Aided by Taj, an Indian elephant genie residing on the island, they eventually complete all of Wizpig's challenges and confront Wizpig himself to a race and defeat him. Shortly afterwards, Drumstick is turned back into a rooster, and Wizpig leaves for his home planet, Future Fun Land. Fearing that Wizpig would again attempt to invade Timber's Island, the islanders travel to Future Fun Land for a second challenge. When Wizpig loses the second race, the rocket he rides on malfunctions and launches him to the moon. However, an additional cutscene reveals Wizpig's spaceship flying through the sky, unscathed.

Characters[]

Image	Name	Unlockable
	Diddy Kong	Default
	Dixie Kong	Default
	Tiny Kong	Default
	Tiptup	Default
	Pipsy	Default
	Bumper	Default
	Conker	Default
	Banjo	Default
	Krunch	Default
	Drumstick	On the map in Adventure Mode, flick a frog onto the cliff with the frog face on it, then run over it.
	T.T.	Beat T.T.'s time on all tracks in Time Trial mode.
	Taj	Complete Adventure Mode.
	Wizpig	Complete Adventure Mode II.

Boss Characters[]

Name	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount
Tricky	6 or more once all 4 are beaten	11 or more once all 4 are beaten
Bluey	10 or more once all 4 are beaten	17 or more once all 4 are beaten
Bubbler	17 or more once all 4 are beaten	23 or more once all 4 are beaten
Smokey	23 or more once all 4 are beaten	38 or more once all 4 are beaten
Wizpig (1st Battle)	All 4 pieces of the Wizpig Amulet
Wizpig (2nd battle)	---	47 + all 4 pieces of the T.T Amulet

T.T.'s Wish Tracks[]

T.T. is the major host of the adventure (second to Taj). T.T. is imprisoned in a locked door in every area, due to Wizpig kidnapping him. In order for the player to open the doors, they must find hidden keys (one in every area) to unlock the door and race T.T. on a custom track. If the racer defeats T.T., a piece of the T.T. Amulet is won and T.T. wanders the lobby. During these custom races, T.T. guides the racer in the first three. However, it's really his custom track. For the final one, the racer makes their own, short or long. Once the racer gets all the T.T. Amulets, T.T. is freed to walk around the lobbies like in the original game and announces he's a playable character if the racer can beat his staff ghost in single race trials.

T.T. Keys Track Locations[]

Dino Domain - Ancient Lake
Snowflake Mountain - Snowball Valley
Sherbet Island - Crescent Island
Dragon Forest - Boulder Canyon

Once all four amulet pieces are won, the player can compete in the final race against Wizpig, providing they have also won all 47 Golden Balloons and the Future Fun Land trophy challenge.