A very unexpected move by Rare, putting googly eyes on an everyday object and calling it a character!
So, you can imagine I was always curious about the Nintendo DS remake that was released for the games 10th anniversary. However, much like a lot of games released in the DS era, I could never justify buying it new at full price as money was tight in 2007. Believe it or not, going for a post-graduate degree never pays very well.
And so Diddy Kong Racing DS has always been in the back of my mind as something to get. I hadn't looked into it extensively, but I understood it had extra content while removing two characters due to rights issues that came up after RARE was acquired by Microsoft.
The original game for Nintendo 64 came at a time when mascot racing games were a staple of the industry. Even since Super Mario Kart was released on the SNES, owners of videogame (and other) IP saw a quick and easy way to make game featuring their characters. And this included some absolute bangers like Crash Team Racing, Street Racer, Muppets RaceMania and Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. In just 1997, gamers were treated to:
- Mega Man: Battle & Chase
- Sonic R
- BugRiders: The Race of Kings
- and of course, Diddy Kong Racing
OK, I'd never heard of BugRiders. And a quick glance on youtube reminds me that, much like M&M's racing, not all mascot racers are of the highest quality. Sonic R is fantastic though, if only due to this absolute banger.
Coming just 1 year after Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing brought a huge number of ideas to the mascot racer table. Racers are woven together by a simple story mode and hub world. Beyond being just a kart racer, 3 vehicles are available: karts, planes and hovercrafts. The majority of levels are even designed to take advantage of this, with alternate paths depending upon the vehicle of choice. The weapon system is even tweaked when compared to Mario Kart. Rather than the item received from a weapon box being random, the tracks are peppered with different coloured balloons, with each colour granting a different weapon type. The delicious risk reward spice comes from how the weapons can be powered up, but require holding on to them to do so. Passing through a second and then third balloon of the same colour powers the items up, for instance one rocket becomes a homing rocket, and then a ten rockets.
Diddy Kong Racing DS makes a lot of changes over the original, most for the worst. Which as you probably would have guessed, is very disappointing for me. This starts even before you've played the game.
Diddy Kong racing starts with a delightful and whimsical credits sequence, with Diddy swooping around the Nintendo 64 logo in his plane, followed by children laughing as the Rare logo descends. Then we cut to an introduction of all the characters, each full of personality, as the absolute bop of a theme song plays. The DS version.... sigh. Three of the characters fly their planes on the upper DS screen for a few seconds until we cut to the title screen, which is just a static shot of Diddy in his Kart.
Some times I would fire up the original just to watch the title sequence
Upon launching the story mode, the differences continue. While the N64 original has a very simple opening, as the introduction has already established all we need to know: that Diddy and his friends are really into racing, and that a giant pig named Wizpig is bullying them. A genie appears, grants us a golden balloon to give access to the first race, and that's it. The DS version was under a misguided impression that infact more is more, and opens with Timber the Tiger and his friends being chased by Wizpig, writing Diddy a letter, Diddy receiving the letter on DK island and then rushing to his friends aide*. All..... done outside of any of the three vehicles, making this sequence seem more like it should come from a 3D platformer or adventure game. The charm is gone, the characters are no longer given any definition, and the player has to wait longer before they can actually PLAY.
The spot the Kongs meet up with their friends is clearly just next to Diddy's house, you can see the ladder! What, are we meant to believe this is just some sort of magic ladder?
Except that is kind of a lie! Because while the original gives you a balloon to access the first world, the DS version forces you to design a logo using the touchscreen and then undertake a training race before you can be granted the first balloon to be able to actually play.
Once in the actual first four races, the game seems to be a relatively faithful port, and I actually had a little fun! Minor changes are made, but nothing too detrimental. Rather than bananas littering the tracks, there are coins, which can be saved to purchase upgrades and other items. A new pickup is included, a powerup coin, that will upgrade any item further upon use. Once I had beaten the first boss the first time, I was pretty optimistic! And then..... obligatory DS gimmickry raised its ugly head.
You see, in the original game, after you beat all the tracks in a given world, you can race again on the tracks to earn a second golden balloon with a twist: in addition to faster AI opponents, you need to collect all the silver coins littered around the map before the end of the third lap. It was a fun little addition, as it would typically involve exploring alternative paths on each track. But the DS remake instead opts for.... an auto-scrolling shooter minigame controlled entirely via touchscreen.
As the camera automatically does a single lap around the track, you need to tap up to 50 balloons, dragging the screen around to change view. It is frustratingly slow to change view and the controls for popping balloon are hit or miss. It's unfun, unnecessary, and unfortunately, MANDATORY to move the story forward. For every, single track. Just a huge bummer.
Just awful
The most egregious touchscreen tomfoolery actually occurs at the start of EVERY SINGLE RACE, but is mercifully quite short. Rather than the tried and tested method of using the correct timing to get the best start speed, you must play a touch screen or microphone minigame at the starting line to try to get the engine revved correctly for a boost start. This of course means that your attention is completely taken away from the race as you scratch or draw circles on the screen, or of course, blow into the mic.
The worst of the three, you need to rapidly slide down over the touch screen.
Understandably, the DS game is a visual and audio downgrade compared to the Nintendo 64 original. The original featured some rudimentary coloured lighting in some levels, and the music on the DS version is missing a lot of the original's character. But given the Nintendo DS is not as powerful as the Nintendo 64, so this is not unforgivable.
As my hour with the game came to a close, I reached one of my favorite levels from the original game: Frosty Village. It features a clear, moon-lit night racing down a snow-covered slope through a quiant village, a race uphill through thick fog, between huge pine trees, winding caves, and of course, and absolute KILLER soundtrack.
The DS version unfortuantely applies the fog to the entire level, considerably ruining the mood. Bummer.
The bones of Diddy Kong racing are still in this game, and when the game is allowed to just be a port to the DS, its as close as you could reasonably expect, given the limitations of the 2 screen portable. But it is so often hamstrung by unnecessary additions that wastse the players time and removes a lot of the charm that made the game so appealing.
I must say, I've been on a streak of bad games! And while I expected Shrek to be bad, I had hope for this one. And unfortunately, this streak may continue, as the next game is the least popular of the Wario games, Master of Disguise. Let's just have a look at the back of the box...
*I've been reliably informed that this is actually the story from the original release, but only in the manual, and thus, not getting in the way of Playing The Dang Game.
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