Retro Racing July 2022 - Diddy Kong Racing 1997 N64

First up - If anyone has a game you want to race for a month & feel like taking a trip to Wikipedia to copy & paste a bunch of stuff just hit me up and I'll slot you in the calendar!

Join the OCAU Retro Driving Club in a different retro driving game each month and see who can lay down the fastest lap!

The Game of the Month: Diddy Kong Racing N64 1997








The Game Description

Diddy Kong Racing is a 1997 racing video game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game is set on Timber's Island and revolves around Diddy Kong and his friends' attempt to defeat the intergalactic antagonist, a wizarding pig named Wizpig, through winning a series of races. The player can take control of any of the featured characters throughout the game. Diddy Kong Racing features five worlds with four racetracks each, and the ability to drive a car, hovercraft, or pilot an aeroplane.

Diddy Kong Racing received critical acclaim upon release. The graphics, audio and gameplay were the most praised aspects of the game, with minor criticism directed at the game's repetition. The game has sold 4.8 million copies since release and stands as the Nintendo 64's eighth best-selling game. A sequel named Donkey Kong Racing was in development for the GameCube, but was abandoned after Microsoft purchased Rare for £375 million in 2002. An enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS titled Diddy Kong Racing DS was released worldwide in early 2007.

The How To

Go out and purchase an original N64 with the game. If spending $487 + Freight doesnt float your hovercraft then source the ROM from a completely cool and 100% legal internet websource, jump into RetroArch, load up the ParaLLEl Core, crank up the resolution scaling and launch the game.
I was going to see how the DS version goes, but my battery is flat & I need a system update and ... anyway, apparently its available on DS too...

The Player

I choose Diddy, but I'm happy with a free for all selection here, but just let everyone know who you're using so we can keep it fair.



The Track
4 Tracks are available from the start without unlocking anything:

Ancient Lake



Whale Bay



Everfrost Peak



Boulder Canyon



The Car

Car choices are also limited from the beginning so:
Ancient Lake: Car
Whale Bay: Hover
Everfrost Peak: Plane
Boulder Canyon: Hover

Check out speedrun.com for inspiration / (de) motivation

The Entry Fee

A $5 Donation to a legitimate charity of your choice. This is not mandatory. If you cant afford it don't worry. I just figure we may as well have some “greater good” come out of this!

The Rules
• Post your best lap time in the thread for the nominated car & track. Please copy the existing leader board and insert your time to make for easy updates.
• Its basically the honour system and just for good fun.
• Don't forget a photo of your retro setup so that we can all drool over the mister genuine experience
• An uploaded video will get you bonus points.
• Stating your donations will secure you a spot on the leader board with a gold star and many likes.


The Prize:

The glory of telling your family and friends that you beat some strangers on the internet in some random old racing game you played as a kid.


The Leaderboard

Ancient Lake: Car
Trizae 21.15
MUT 21.91
jimbogimp 23.18


Whale Bay: Hover
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Everfrost Peak: Plane
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Boulder Canyon: Hover
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Let the Great Retro Kong Month Begin!

 

Last month was all-PlayStation, this month is all-Kong! I'm loving the monthly themes we have going by pure accident.

This is one of those games I've never tried out, but always wanted to. Very happy to have it pop up this month. I'm going to enjoy mucking around with it immensely.

 

plenty of fun in this one
should get some times from a ton a people ?? I didnt take any scrrenshots/pics yet, but have some times to rival your early runs jimbogimp

 

Question for the people playing on real hardware:
Has it held up better or worse than Mario Kart 64?

I remember renting this one back in the day and it was a bit of fun, but I found it felt old even by the time I had to take it back to the video store a week later.
I can't imagine it's aged too well in the 24 years since. Even Mario kart which I adored for years has aged horribly, but maybe this still feels good to play?

If I play on an emulator, it doesn't really give a feel for how the actual game is holding up as emulators tend to make games better or worse to play depending on how they're set up, and I don't have actual 64 hardware anymore to see if it feels good.

 

dkr vs mk64 ... Ummm, I don't know. I think that will come down to the person playing ??? what they like dislike etc.
I think N64 has aged poorly in general, but I'm still enjoying my time with it
A recent upgrade to wireless controller in a modern form has helped a lot too

 

In what way?

I think this game pushed the hardware way more. Mario Kart 64 used sprites for the characters, while the world itself was 3D. Tracks were fairly simple.

Diddy Kong Racing by comparison has EVERYTHING as 3D, not to mention a huge variety of vehicles with different physics. I think the sheer choice puts some people off the game (in a similar way that MK64 even put me off, coming from playing hundreds of hours in Super Mario Kart on SNES, where the N64 version just seemed too overwhelming).

I'm interested to see the framerate differences between MK64 and DKR too. MK64 was atrocious in certain places where framerates went way down, and really effected the responsiveness of the karts. Videos of DKR seem to indicate that's not as bad, but I'll have to feel it in action to see.

Interested to test this out all the same. Will be playing on a real NTSC-J 60Hz N64 with an N64 EDPlus from AliExpress, playing the US version.

 

Great game. Remember the hours spent grinding down Ancient Lake. And my amazement when I saw the exploits for the first time

 

I never played it back in the day (only Mario Kart 64), but I remember being a bit "overwhelmed" when I gave DKR a brief play on an emulator a few years ago. Plus it seemed to run far worse on the emulator I had, so that might have added to it. Or maybe it was just the lack of familiarity and nostalgia.

Is it similar with Donkey Kong 64 vs Banjo-Kazooie? I only ever played Banjo-Kazooie, and I thought it was a great game (and quite large if you wanted to 100% it), but I've heard people describe Donkey Kong 64 as the same game, but with much larger maps and an excessive number of collectable items.

 

For me, it was Mario Kart easily won over DKR just because of the multiplayer aspect. DKR was excellent and very polished but just seemed to be missing that magic X factor, somehow.

 

Holy crap, just blew me away with that stat... Nintendo 64's 8th best selling game... Wow.. I've got this cart, but picked it up at cashies for next to nothing. Had no idea it was that popular as I've never really seen it anywhere else??

 

break out that RGB modded JP 64 of yours Vanne and put down some laps. This aint no BMW Z4

Looks like my times are better in a "car"

All my times are with Diddy for now, but I have a bit of a thing for Conkers that scallywag so I might see how I go with him behind the wheel ..

The Leaderboard

Ancient Lake: Car
MUT 21.91
jimbogimp 23.18
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Whale Bay: Hover
jimbogimp 27.18
MUT 27.70
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Everfrost Peak: Plane
jimbogimp 38.03
MUT 41.71
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Boulder Canyon: Hover
jimbogimp 39.53
MUT 45.18
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Tell you what Mut, I got a deli turn tonight, then 2 days to finish the deck, and then to Holland for a week of r&r before heading to brissy for another week with the kids.. while in Holland I'll set some times. Guaranteed they will be shit though..

 

all good buddy. just me shit stirring.
I know you got a nice N64 there

 

Ancient Lake: Car
Trizae 21.15
MUT 21.91
jimbogimp 23.18
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Just booted this up its been decades!

For me at least Diddy Kong Racing > MK64 even though I loved and owned both I don't think there has been a Kart racer that rewards skill and its Adventure campaign is as glorious as a Banjo-Kazooie or the 3D platformers as well the combination of skill story and boss battles and hidden collectables. and to unlock alot of the cooler stuff to go for those records and TT himself such a great game!

Will have my other times up over the next day or so and still want to improve my ancient lake! I need to dig out my kart and see what I had as a kid I remembered I had a couple of records at the time

 

Geez thats great times mate

I can't get under this


What Vehicle are you running ??

 

Just using timber and the default kart!

 

Cheers mate.

I'll give Timber a run tonight. Hope to take some of your lead away

 

Hehe when you asked I actually ran someone else who may surprise you but challenge accepted as it was looking to blitz timber

 

Well, I just couldn't find the time.
I tried a few different drivers but Nada

Well done Trizae

 

Something must be in the water today I was literally about to post to you and in here if anyone is going to try before the retro gaming refresh? I'm about to try again but would be easier on OG hardware CRT if you have one.

If anyone is interested to beat me choose timber or banjo.

Badger and the Croc are too heavy if you make a mistake but their top speed is insane! Turn on TT (time trial hidden character which you earn through the game) Make sure you boost start when they say "lets ready *here* go!" Get Ten banana's within the first lap and hold good lines timber and tip tup are light weight heavy high acceleration characters so they can maintain a high speed off road