YMMV / Diddy Kong Racing

• Annoying Video Game Helper: It is rather easy to trigger dialogue with T.T. as he's wandering around the level hubs, even if you don't intend to. Especially pesky in the DS version, where he doesn't actually do anything useful besides make comments.
• Anti-Climax Boss: The second race against Wizpig is far easier than the first one. Not only is Wizpig generally slower, but since the race is on a plane, the player gains a lot more in freedom and maneuverability to tackle the course in a more eficient manner, which just isn't possible in the first race (done in a car), where only one (non-glitchy) strategy works and the game requires you to perform it flawlessly in order to stand a chance.
• Awesome Music: As expected from a David Wise soundtrack. The entire Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack, whether N64 or DS, is a guaranteed 10/10 from gamers. Some gems include:
  • The Intro theme in all of its glory.
  • Spaceport Alpha's theme is very awesome, which is good because you'll be playing the Silver Coin challenge quite a lot.
  • Darkmoon Caverns, one of the most infectious and varied pieces in the soundtrack. Doubles as the first credits theme.
  • Pirate Lagoon
  • Crescent Island, also used as the second credits theme.
  • Hot Top Volcano, one of the most iconic tracks from the game (in both the musical and gameplay senses.) It's timed exactly such that when you typically hit the final lap and speed up, the drum breakdown kicks in...
  • The lobby/select your level music, which doubles as an ear worm.
  • The DS version gave tracks that previously shared their music with another track their own themes. Exhibit A: The new Jungle Falls. Upbeat Tribal Chanting + a seriously catchy xylophone line = awesome.
  • The DS version's Snowball Valley. Not only does it sound more Christmassy than the original music, it has an infectious clapping-and-jingle-bell breakdown near the end.
  • The new Spaceport Alpha theme (with the old theme still being used in Spacedust Alley.) It has a great, mysterious outer-space feel to it.
  • Strangled Shrine, used for one of the DS-exclusive tracks. It's evocative of the already fantastic Hot Top Volcano theme, but more watery, which is pretty much what Strangled Shrine is. The brass stings are pretty epic, too.
  • Wizpig Challenge, the song that plays when you race Wizpig in both big final showdowns, is appropriately badass and intense.
  • Frosty Village is a really beautiful song that really reminds one of an Elvis-inspired 1950s-type boogie tune, especially the epic laid-steel guitar and bouncy bass in the background.
  • Walrus Cove is highly enjoyable.
  • Whale Bay is another one to praise.
• Breather Boss: Bluey is significantly easier than Tricky is, despite being the second world's boss.
• Breather Level: Star City is the final track of Future Fun Land, yet it's a simple course with little to no hazards compared to pretty much every other course in the world. The biggest challenge it provides is a couple of sharp 90º turns that the player should already be used to at that point.
• Broken Base:
  • The DS port. On one hand, it adds a ton of new content, like new tracks, new modes, new characters, new music, and even new fun doodads to mess with (like the Sound Recorder). On the other hand, the new quickstart is a Scrappy Mechanic, the hovercraft is much more difficult to control, Banjo and Conker are lost to the copyright gods, the new voice clips are crappy, and trophy races and battle modes are no longer possible in single player. Fans are very divided.
  • Tiny Kong's older Ms. Fanservice redesign in the same port. Some loved it, while others missed old Tiny and thought fanservicing up a child character was creepy and/or if they were gonna age up Tiny, they might as well should've aged up the rest of the cast.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Pipsy was used by most people, male or female, because she combined adorable characteristics with a simple and effective style for racing.
  • Banjo and Conker both proved to be very popular characters and both went on to star in their own acclaimed games (which were admittedly in development even before this game's release - ironically enough in Banjo's case it was a retooling of a scrapped game concept "Dream: Land of Giants" or "Kazoo", while in Conker's case his intended game, "Twelve Tales: Conker 64". ended up getting scrapped and retooled).
  • Also Tiptup, who had slightly higher top speed and slightly lower acceleration and handling, and went on to cameo in Banjo-Kazooie (where, contrary to this game, he is considerably bigger than Banjo.)
  • And T.T.? Apart from being a great host and mentor, as a playable character, he broke the game, to say the least.
• Event-Obscuring Camera: When racing Wizpig, due to the course's tendency to slant upwards, most of the boost pads will be obscured up until the point that it's already too late to turn into them. This happens elsewhere too, in Darkmoon Caverns in particular, but it's the most problematic with Wizpig, for reasons that should be obvious.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Timber/Pipsy, due to both being Ensemble Darkhorses, Timber because of his role as the deuteragonist/lancer of the group and Pipsy because as mentioned above, she's considered one of the best racers in the game.
• Fridge Brilliance: Krunch's Low-Tier Letdown status means that players rarely choose him, making him an opponent in most races, where the AI has no problem controlling Krunch at all. Not only will he almost always be an opponent, but he'll be one you'll want to see lose...which makes total sense given that he's a Kremling in a Donkey Kong game.
• Game-Breaker:
  • If you unlock T.T., practically every race becomes a joke. Thankfully when put into the hands of a computer, he drives at a much lower top speed.
  • The Acceleration Glitch is a Good Bad Bug that allows you to go faster than your normal top speed. It allows you to take down certain bosses (and clear certain T.T. times) with ease.
• Good Bad Bugs: Tapping A rather than holding it while racing in the car makes it perpetually gain speed, to the point where it's actually possible to lap Wizpig.
  • It's possible to get out of bounds in Hot Top Volcano by using a blue balloon power up to shoot yourself into the lava and aim yourself so when it bounces you out, you're past the collision preventing you from leaving. This also allows you to enter the fourth world way before you should be able to.
  • There's a frame or two between crossing the finish line and losing control of your character. During this time, you can pause and choose to exit the track, which skips the cutscene of Taj giving you the balloon. Since the game registers you as winning, you still get the balloon when you leave the track's door.
  • While Bluey is probably the easiest boss in the game, the races against him can be made even easier by pausing at the right moment when the game's HUD appears on the screen. If done correctly, instead of getting a headstart, he will stall at the starting line, allowing you to get the headstart without jumping the gun.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • With how Conker's appearance here was an Early Draft Tie-In to the much friendlier Twelve Tales: Conker 64, a lot of gamers chuckle seeing his inclusion before his eventual downfall as an alcoholic squirrel in his title game.
  • A manga called Mario no Bōken Land has Taj competing in the race during the Diddy Kong Racing chapter. Years later, the DS version has him as an unlockable.
  • A promotional Nintendo Power video features a reporter named Frank Fontaine.
• It Was His Sled: There is a fifth world, Future Fun Land. You get there by having 1st place trophies in the four worlds and colliding with the signpost placard that displays them.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Fans of Rare's other works may feel inclined to check this game out just to see the debut appearances of Banjo and Conker.
• Low-Tier Letdown:
  • Krunch is meant to be an advanced character that's very fast, but hard to control. The problem is that the "very fast" part does not make up for the "hard to control" part, since any moderately difficult curve can just stop the crocodile on his tracks and it takes a long while for him to get "very fast" again due to his terrible acceleration. This means most players don't even bother with him (although he does have a niche with the hovercraft, but that's also the least popular vehicle), preferring to use the far more controllable Banjo or Drumstick if there's a need for a heavyweight.
  • Strangely, the DS port does this to all the Kong characters, as Timber completely outclasses them by having the same handling and acceleration, yet higher speed with no compensating downsides. And unlike the Game-Breaker unlockables, he's also a starting character.
• Memetic Mutation: "Pirate Lagoon" has gained recent notoriety from its pervasive use as background music in YouTube meme compilations.
  • Conker's Fall From Grace, as it's often joked thanks to this title how Conker went from being one of Diddy's friend gang, to a depressive alcoholic in one of the more infamous M-rated titles in any Nintendo console.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • The ending after you beat Wizpig the second time.
  • Before that, the lighthouse transforming into a rocket to take you to Future Fun Land.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • The little triumphant jingle that plays if you win a race.
  • The epic whooshing sound that you hear if you activate a level 3 speed boost.
  • T.T. saying "Power up!"
  • When you get all the Silver Coins in a stage, you'll hear T.T. telling you "Go for it!"
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Jeez, could they have made the jingle for attaining a Wizpig Amulet fragment any more startling?
  • This cutscene that plays when you go back out into the main hub area after collecting all the pieces of the Wizpig Amulet. In short, the giant stone head of Wizpig in the hub world comes alive and begins laughing maniacally after being restored to full flesh before giving the camera, which is slowly zooming in on the eyes, a Death Glare.
  • The Game Boy Advance-looking animations after you hit a character with an item in the DS version are horrifying, especially Pipsy and Tiptup's, notably due to their eyes turning red.
  • The sting that plays when you lose a battle stage or a boss race can send chills down anyone's spine, let alone those of kids.
  • As mentioned above, the loud, discordant "No Entry" sting, which plays when trying to access a locked area, can easily be a Jump Scare if you're not expecting it. The comments section of the linked video is filled with users remarking on how it frightened them as kids.
  • Wizpig went from this◊ to this◊ in the transition to the DS.
• Obvious Beta: A very rare (no pun intended) example of this not having any real negative effect on the game's enjoyability. The game was rushed to market so that Rare could have something out for Christmas 1997, and numerous signs of this are left in the game, including the fact that attaining 100% Completion requires two save slots (one for the normal adventure and one for "Adventure 2") and several not-quite-functional elements accessible via in-game cheats, including a 2-player Adventure mode and a rather-broken sound test (all music tracks are only listed as numbers, are in no real order, include some beta elements, and exclude some music heard in the final game, and the Variable Mix tracks do not have their individual versions listenable - only a mash-up of all versions at once). The core game itself is complete, however - many of the Obvious Beta elements are side-features that aren't in any way necessary to enjoy the game itself.
  • This could also explain why Bubbler the Octopus is the only boss not seen in the ending.
• Paranoia Fuel: Downplayed. The hub-world with the gigantic Wizpig head looming over it can seem somewhat eerie and creepy thanks to the game's Obvious Beta status, and even after its texture changes completely from rock to skin and its mouth opens after completing the Wizpig amulet, the head only comes alive in a cutscene.
• Replacement Scrappy: Conker and Banjo were replaced by Dixie and Tiny Kong in the DS version due to the Microsoft buyout of Rare. Very few people liked this.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The hovercraft is widely hated for its absolutely horrible manoeuvring (especially how if you turn too hard then it basically comes to a complete stop) and the fact that it bounces all over the place if you run into any walls. Worse yet, two of the four initial boss races stick you with it, one of which is That One Boss.
• Surprise Difficulty: Think a racing game involving Diddy and his friends is going to be a walk in the park? Think again. The Boss Battles and Silver Coin Challenges require a ton of practice to clear, and achieving 100% Completion is an exercise in frustration.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The soundtrack for Treasure Caves in the DS version sounds roughly similar to Koopa Troopa Beach.
• That One Boss:
  • Tricky's second race is meant to be a Wake-Up Call Boss, but that doesn't prevent the extra boost of speed he receives from being complete bullshit. Do not allow him to pull ahead of you before the spiraling section, otherwise you'll need to be absolutely perfect with boosts and homing missiles to keep up.
  • Bubbler's second race is considered by many people to be the toughest race in the game, next to Wizpig's races on Adventure 2. It's all thanks to the freaking time-wasting bubbles that eat up precious seconds if they catch you, and the course having too many turns and obstacles to make missiles reliable.
  • The first race against Wizpig is damn near impossible unless you know what to do. You need to use the zipper trick (let go of the gas before getting a boost) to beat it. Unfortunately it's quite possible for players to never get this bit of info, since it only shows up randomly after bosses. If players don't know the zipper trick, the one way to beat Wizpig is trying to get a boost start and stay in front of Wizpig all the time, hoping his foot will hit the player as he runs, pushing the kart forward. It requires insane timing as messing the position of your car up will result in Wizpig squashing you. Wizpig's first race is either a Guide Dang It! or a Luck-Based Mission.
    • Even if a player receives Taj's hint concerning the zipper trick, it's quite possible that they will not interpret it correctly. If you release the gas while going over a zipper, the boost will be green instead of the usual purple, and you may incorrectly conclude that you have executed the zipper trick. This is wrong. In order to get the full effect, you must keep your finger off the gas until you see rainbow smoke. This is very unintuitive if you're desperately trying to keep up with Wizpig.
    • There's also a special acceleration trick which only works on cars. Due to the immediate acceleration bump when you press the A button being so great with cars that it can override the designated top speed, repeatedly tapping the A button can make you go up to 10 mph faster than you're supposed to. This doesn't work with hovercrafts or airplanes, however, or when you're driving a car on off-track terrain, and seems to be a glitch since you're never told about it as an actual hint.
• That One Level:
  • Many of the normal levels during the Silver Coin Challenge, but especially Greenwood Village.
  • This gets much worse in Future Fun Land, particularly Spaceport Alpha.
  • Adventure 2 makes it even worse by changing the locations of some of the coins, so you can't just go off to where they were in Adventure 1.
  • Fire Mountain is a pain to play considering the CPU's will almost immediately steal every egg you obtain.
• That One Sidequest:
  • Unlocking T.T. as a playable character requires beating his best time on every track, and he's good. In the original, this means unlocking the fifth and final world... In the DS version, this means both unlocking the final world and buying all the tracks in the D.K. Jungle world. Of course, once you get T.T., you have no excuse for losing to anyone ever. You practically need Drumstick to get some of the tracks, like Darkmoon Caverns.
  • In the DS version, getting all the balloons in the "Balloon Touch Challenge" can be frustrating for some courses. In fact, it is oftentimes the courses that are otherwise the easiest to race on where they are the hardest, since those courses are shorter and so there are more balloons in one area, forcing you to tap like mad to get them all before they pass by for good.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans of the original are not keen on how the DS version changed several key mechanics, such as changing boost starts to touchscreen and microphone gimmicks based on vehicle type and implementing a completely different control scheme for the bosses' second rematches.
• Waggle: The DS port clearly and poorly tried to cash in on the DS's unique gimmicks. Trying to do a boost start now requires swiping up on the touchscreen (kart), blowing into the mic (hovercraft), or sliding the stylus in circles (plane); the stylus-based methods force you to immediately put the stylus down and both hands back on your DS, unless you decide to just try to awkwardly drag your finger on the touchscreen. Then there's each of the bosses' third rounds, where instead of the more traditional controls you have to drive by tracing on the touchscreen map.

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