‘Diddy Kong Racing’ – Still the King of Single Player Karting After 20 Years

It seems like we may never get a true sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, but of course that just means the original is a unique entity.

[chrisx]

Cool game but CTR takes that crown for me. In the Ps1/64 gen that is.

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah same. CTR took Diddy Kart and added new things while expanding on the concept

I just don't see why in 2017 Mario Kart is still roughly the same. I mean you have the entire Mushroom Kingdom and other worlds as concepts, why not use them as hubs instead of just selecting races on screen. They could easilly make up a story for the game.

[coolbeans]

As highly as I'll praise CTR, where did they expand in relation to Diddy Kong Racing? You had land, water, and air-crafts to race in, a centralized hub, story in the background, and boss fights in Diddy. Don't recall that much variety and complexity with CTR.

EDIT: And I'm fine if I turn out to be ignorant of x,y,z feature in CTR, as it's been a long time since I've touched those kart racers. All I remember is CTR and Diddy Kong being neck-and-neck in regards to my favorite racer of that gen and DK coming out on top.

[DarXyde]

You've mentioned hub worlds before. I personally wouldn't want it because I don't think that necessarily makes it better or adds anything meaningful. For comparison, I didn't like Burnout Paradise because I found the free roaming (and other aspects) to be a huge letdown, especially after falling in love with Burnout Revenge.

[mikeslemonade]

All boring. Kart racing and regular racing is all boring and lame. I will give you that diddy kong racing is the most interesting of the bunch

[livedeht]

@darxyde, dude i F'ing love revenge... paradise was such a huge step backwards... #SAD #TRUMPFACE

[Soulst0rmer]

Mario Kart DS is still my favorite part racer, but Diddy rocks!

[Newmanator]

You are 100% CORRECT

[Dlaw76]

Yeah sure PS fans we already know you all hate seeing a others systems getting attention than pretend like you don't what I'm talking about quit being a insecure jealous ex girlfriend you know and we all know that Diddy Kong racing shits all over ctr quit playing bruh

[Teflon02]

Not a fanboy thing. These 2 games are my 2 all time favourite kart racers and I give Ctr over Diddy Kong racing. Why. It's a harder game and requires more skill. Diddy kong racing becomes easy once you learn the way to max your boosts. I even know how to max boosts beyond what people who do it get. I've never had a single challenge in that game whether other people or computer players. Yes I'm just as amazing at crash, but the computer players can keep up to a certain extent and the stages are great. As a single player racer, ctr is better. Multiplayer, I'd put crash over it too. It's like a Mario kart with more skill. Diddy kong racing is the best single player kart racer otherwise. Mk wins multiplayer though, I'd put sonic transformed up there though multiplayer wise. It's one of the only ones where I was able to get people not experienced as me to enjoy and have a chance

[TallonIV]

I'd love a remake or sequel to this game (I don't include the DS version). The "open world" single player campaign was a lot of fun as well as the multiple vehicle options. I'd be great to see something like this implemented into the next Mario Kart.

[thejigisup]

DKR was fantastic, great tracks, loved drumstick

[DialgaMarine]

I always played as either Conker or Banjo lol

[ViralGamesNews]

Some old school games have set new standards in the game industry and Diddy Kong Racing is surely one of them! I'm glad that there's someone who point out great gem like this to remember what a videogame should be like!

[FallenAngel1984]

Crash Team Racing had just as great a single player mode

[Newmanator]

No loot boxes in that game

[Wintersun616]

If it was up to EA to make a successor to CTR, the weapon and wumpa fruit boxes would be behind a paywall. An even worse version of loot boxes. I hope they're not reading this.

[zb1ftw777]

Hmmm. The game was great.

But i still preferred Mario Kart, even for single player.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

If only Donkey Kong Racing had been finished before RARE was bought. Maybe it could have been a must have for GameCube owners to this day.

[DialgaMarine]

Do you mean Dinosaur Planet? If so, that got turned into Starfox Adventures.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

No I mean the game called Donkey Kong Racing. It was announced at E3 2001 and shown off at Space World 2001 a little bit more. Only a rendered trailer was revealed for it

https://www.mariowiki.com/i...

[DialgaMarine]

Fun game for sure. I’m honestly surprised I never picked up the DS port. It’d be cool if they bring it back someday

[rZ1]

I loved Diddy Kong Racing, but not the hours of screaming at the television while i was trying to beat Wizpig.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I dunno, man; I had a pretty damned fun time with stuff like Extreme G and Snowboard Kids.
Tried CTR a couple of times but for some reason it just didn't resonate with me...

[ZeekQuattro]

Conker before he had his bad fur day. lol Put a lot of time into this game back in the day. A good part of it was just listening to the soundtrack. I don't remember ever beating Wizpig now that I think about it. Great game though.

[Stogz]

Guess I'm one of the few who loved modnation racers. The ability to make and create your own tracks and guys was a great feature I wish other kart racers would add.

[FernDiggidy]

damn, I wish rare was still an independent studio :'(

[CrimsonWing69]

Have you played Mario Kart... like ever?

[gangsta_red]

I actually liked Diddy Kong Racing a lot more than Mario Kart 64 just for the more variety of tracks and the added planes and hovercraft vehicles it featured.

Definitely one of the better and more under appreciated kart games of that time.