Game Debate #192: Diddy Kong Racing

[GPX | 1,371]

I missed out on the N64 era for the most part, but thankfully have tried a few of the top titles and this was one of them. I enjoyed Super Mario Kart on the SNES and this took it one step further with the better gameplay, graphics and depth a la adventure mode. 

I haven’t had the chance to play much of Mario Kart 64 so can’t compare the 2 main N64 kart games. However, I can judge solely on DKR’s own merits and say that this is a fine example of a racing game. It’s also a perfect example of a racer for those who aren’t normally into racing games, worth to give it a spin. 9/10

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,014]

I never understood the cult following for this game. It seems like one of those games you got for Christmas instead of Mario Kart and played it enough to fall in love with it. Everyone who has Mario Kart made fun of it and it only solidified your love for the game, backing you into a corner and a creating strong confirmation bias for the games perks. There are bright spots but idk, it's an OK game. Different than Mario kart but certainly not better. 

[G-type | 2,486]

I didn’t remember if I played it for Survivor so I checked the thread and I got penalized for not submitting times so I guess I didn’t. Not surprised, browser based N64 emulation is pretty dodgy.

[AirVillain | 490]

8/10

I was thinking the score might be so high because of nostalgia... and it's been a while since I actually played it. But still... 8. Looking forward to giving it a good play-through now after reading all the posts, though.

Starting with that Adventure mode

 

On 2/24/2024 at 3:53 PM, RegularGuyGamer said:

I never understood the cult following for this game. It seems like one of those games you got for Christmas instead of Mario Kart and played it enough to fall in love with it. Everyone who has Mario Kart made fun of it and it only solidified your love for the game, backing you into a corner and a creating strong confirmation bias for the games perks. There are bright spots but idk, it's an OK game. Different than Mario kart but certainly not better. 

Haha.... this is me. Kind of. I got it for Christmas anyways.

Played the shit out of it as a kid, but never had to defend it against MK64, or really bothered to compare it, really.

 

On 2/22/2024 at 2:17 PM, Gloves said:

Diddy is Donkey Kong's (from DKC) nephew. The original Donkey Kong is Cranky, and Donkey Kong from DKC is Cranky's grandson.

Kind of makes you wonder what happened to DK's parents?

I mean... Diddy's as well? They kinda gloss over that. Like.... yeah DK is Cranky's grandson, but what about Cranky's kid??? Did Mario fuck him up one day? I guess it could have been Cranky's daughter and DK's mom....? And DK's brother/Diddy's Dad.... where he at? I guess it could be DK's sisters kids...?

Maybe these questions are answered somewhere.... I only played DK64 for like 5 minutes and don't remember them discussing it in the TV series.

[OptOut | 8,889]

On 2/25/2024 at 4:53 AM, RegularGuyGamer said:

I never understood the cult following for this game. It seems like one of those games you got for Christmas instead of Mario Kart and played it enough to fall in love with it. Everyone who has Mario Kart made fun of it and it only solidified your love for the game, backing you into a corner and a creating strong confirmation bias for the games perks. There are bright spots but idk, it's an OK game. Different than Mario kart but certainly not better. 

Everyone I knew with an N64 growing up had both... so... 

[TDIRunner | 2,746]

1 hour ago, AirVillain said:

8/10

I was thinking the score might be so high because of nostalgia... and it's been a while since I actually played it. But still... 8. Looking forward to giving it a good play-through now after reading all the posts, though.

Starting with that Adventure mode

 

Haha.... this is me. Kind of. I got it for Christmas anyways.

Played the shit out of it as a kid, but never had to defend it against MK64, or really bothered to compare it, really.

 

Kind of makes you wonder what happened to DK's parents?

I mean... Diddy's as well? They kinda gloss over that. Like.... yeah DK is Cranky's grandson, but what about Cranky's kid??? Did Mario fuck him up one day? I guess it could have been Cranky's daughter and DK's mom....? And DK's brother/Diddy's Dad.... where he at? I guess it could be DK's sisters kids...?

Maybe these questions are answered somewhere.... I only played DK64 for like 5 minutes and don't remember them discussing it in the TV series.

Cranky Kong's song is Donkey Kong Jr. who was in first playable in Donkey Kong Jr. (the sequel to the original DK).  Donkey Kong Jr. was also playable in the original Super Mario Kart as well as a few other games.  Donkey Kong Jr.'s son is the DK that is playable in Donkey Kong Country.  However, I always thought it was odd that he isn't referenced in DKC at all

[RH | 4,928]

He stepped out for a pack of banana-flavored Swishers and never came back...

 

[Rhuno | 108]

3 hours ago, AirVillain said:

8/10

Looking forward to giving it a good play-through now after reading all the posts, though.

I did the same; I'm about 30 balloons in. The game is still fun. 

[AirVillain | 490]

22 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Cranky Kong's song is Donkey Kong Jr. who was in first playable in Donkey Kong Jr. (the sequel to the original DK).  Donkey Kong Jr. was also playable in the original Super Mario Kart as well as a few other games.  Donkey Kong Jr.'s son is the DK that is playable in Donkey Kong Country.  However, I always thought it was odd that he isn't referenced in DKC at all

Haha.... fuckin' duh. My bad. Thanks for that... I DO know this. I guess I was only considering DKC on and didn't really think about Jr. in the previous games

But yeah.... like you said, it's odd he's not mentioned at all in DKC sssssoooo where'd he go? .... I can't find anything here about a reference for "where" he went pre DKC.

https://www.mariowiki.com/Donkey_Kong_Jr.

[RH | 4,928]

24 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

Haha.... fuckin' duh. My bad. Thanks for that... I DO know this. I guess I was only considering DKC on and didn't really think about Jr. in the previous games

But yeah.... like you said, it's odd he's not mentioned at all in DKC sssssoooo where'd he go? .... I can't find anything here about a reference for "where" he went pre DKC.

https://www.mariowiki.com/Donkey_Kong_Jr.

I smell a rad fan made project-- Donkey Kong Country 4: The Search for Donkey Kong Jr.

[AirVillain | 490]

On 2/27/2024 at 9:24 AM, RH said:

I smell a rad fan made project-- Donkey Kong Country 4: The Search for Donkey Kong Jr.

King K. Rool has had him tied up on a pirate ship, still with his diaper on, feeding him only carrots this whole time. DK and the crew MUST save him right away!

I mean... we had to save our banana hoards first of course, and we didn't actually "realize" he was missing those first 3 games.

[OptOut | 8,889]

6 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

King K. Rool has had him tied up on a pirate ship, still with his diaper on, feeding him only carrots this whole time.

Whatever fetish it is you're talking about here, I want no part of.

[AirVillain | 490]

Okay so I played a bunch of Diddy Kong Racing.... But figured I would "beat the game" and complete the adventure mode. Didn't seem to insane to attempt.... BUT WHY IN THE SWEET JESUS LORD IN FUCKING HELL is the silver coin bullshit so annoyingly hard????

There's 2 levels I can't get.... The town in Frosty Village took me forever, too, fuck. A couple of them too were ridiculous, in Windmill Plains no matter what I did the computer would ALWAYS be too far in front to reach.... but I managed to get them except the last 2 in the Dragon Forest. Greenwood Village.... can't do it. 

And yeah, the racing is cool, probably fun with friends.... but the Adventure mode itself is fucking annoying.

[Gloves | 11,801]

28 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

Okay so I played a bunch of Diddy Kong Racing.... But figured I would "beat the game" and complete the adventure mode. Didn't seem to insane to attempt.... BUT WHY IN THE SWEET JESUS LORD IN FUCKING HELL is the silver coin bullshit so annoyingly hard????

There's 2 levels I can't get.... The town in Frosty Village took me forever, too, fuck. A couple of them too were ridiculous, in Windmill Plains no matter what I did the computer would ALWAYS be too far in front to reach.... but I managed to get them except the last 2 in the Dragon Forest. Greenwood Village.... can't do it. 

And yeah, the racing is cool, probably fun with friends.... but the Adventure mode itself is fucking annoying.

Lol git gud scrub. 

[Brickman | 4,000]

5 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Okay so I played a bunch of Diddy Kong Racing.... But figured I would "beat the game" and complete the adventure mode. Didn't seem to insane to attempt.... BUT WHY IN THE SWEET JESUS LORD IN FUCKING HELL is the silver coin bullshit so annoyingly hard????

There's 2 levels I can't get.... The town in Frosty Village took me forever, too, fuck. A couple of them too were ridiculous, in Windmill Plains no matter what I did the computer would ALWAYS be too far in front to reach.... but I managed to get them except the last 2 in the Dragon Forest. Greenwood Village.... can't do it. 

And yeah, the racing is cool, probably fun with friends.... but the Adventure mode itself is fucking annoying.

I 100% this game when I was 14. You can do it!

It is actually a pretty hard game though, it starts off so easy then becomes brutal. Wizpig #2 is very difficult. I spent a week learning that race.

[Sumez | 2,969]

18 hours ago, AirVillain said:

BUT WHY IN THE SWEET JESUS LORD IN FUCKING HELL is the silver coin bullshit so annoyingly hard????

because you're playing at like half a frame per sec  

[Gloves | 11,801]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

because you're playing at like half a frame per sec  

REEEEEEEEE!

[AirVillain | 490]

On 4/11/2024 at 4:25 PM, Brickman said:

I 100% this game when I was 14. You can do it!

It is actually a pretty hard game though, it starts off so easy then becomes brutal. Wizpig #2 is very difficult. I spent a week learning that race.

Haha, fuck, well that doesn't make me feel any better. I mean, at least you confirmed it's a "pretty hard game"... that's enough for me, haha. A week? sweet lawd, well done.

It literally feels impossible right now... I'll give it a couple more tries, but damn.

Then there's the SECOND adventure mode??? Lord...

 

On 4/12/2024 at 5:20 AM, Sumez said:

because you're playing at like half a frame per sec  

I'm sure this is funny.... but I just don't understand the reference. Meaning I'm slow?

Because I am LITERALLY slow at the game?

Haha... I'm sure it's a good zinger ( @Gloves thinks so? ) as I do indeed suck enough at the game to find it difficult.

[Mega Tank | 967]

35 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

I'm sure this is funny.... but I just don't understand the reference. Meaning I'm slow?

Because I am LITERALLY slow at the game?

Without providing any evidence, @Sumezhas maintained his stance that this game is literally unplayable due to frame rate issues he claims to have experienced. Just look at page 1 in this thread.

[rdrunner | 422]

Just in case it helps, make sure that whenever you reach a dash/zipper, you let go of the gas while holding the weapon button.  Your vehicle should have a blue fireball instead of red or green for the biggest speed boost.

[AirVillain | 490]

22 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

Without providing any evidence, @Sumezhas maintained his stance that this game is literally unplayable due to frame rate issues he claims to have experienced. Just look at page 1 in this thread.

I see... Haha... Yeah, me too! What Sumez said!!!

 

On 2/22/2024 at 6:15 AM, Sumez said:

I feel kinda bad giving it such a low vote, but I tried playing the game for the "Survivor" event thing going on on this forum a while ago, and it's just completely unplayable.

I remember seeing my cousin playing it when it was new, and I thought it looked so cool. a Mario Kart style racer, except based around an adventure mode with a lot of cool things to do and find. It's appealing for sure.

But man, the framerate and input lag just straight up ruins the game - for a racing game especially it's just completely impossible to control, and by the time you see stuff you're supposed to react to, it's already too late to react.

I've only tried it on N64, but I've heard from a friend that even playing the game on an emulator with a solid framerate, it just ends up feeling equally unplayable, because the game was designed with the abysmal performance in mind.

I guess this is a great example of a game that's desperately in need of a modern port, giving it a solid overhaul to make it playable at 60fps like it deserves. So does Mario Kart 64 btw.

At least Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed exists.

I get it now....

At least someone agrees with me the game is basically unplayable at a certain stage.