Keys and amulet pieces were littered throughout each of the tracks that would grant access to new content, but this was only after having completed the silver coin challenge a great addition that significantly increased the difficulty of a given race. This sense of mystery was also consistent throughout adventure mode, the core progression path. I was blown away by the sense of freedom enabled by this ability as inaccessible collectibles were often teased behind obstacles, secret locations were unveiled through exploration, and what other game disguises a bonus character as a squishable frog that splashes around near the waterfalls? Genius. Still, in order to get around you had to first frantically beep at Taj, the resident elephant genie (of course), to grab his attention and transform your vehicle into a car, airplane or hovercraft. Even now, I still find that a pretty unique design decision as it was one of several precursor approaches to the modern open world genre.Įach of the island's regions were fairly diverse and accompanied by an upbeat soundtrack that adapted to your location.
The hub is the central starting area where the player is able to become accustomed to the controls without fear of failure, and the spokes are a series of themed levels which are accessible through any of the many doors scattered around the world and propose a series of race challenges to complete. Then there was the game world itself, Timber's Island, a hub-and-spoke environment that was typical of platforming games around that time, except it was applied to a racing game instead. I can recall daring myself to do a lap in reverse before challenging for first position to keep things interesting - a change in playstyle inspired by many suggestions in N64 magazines of that time to keep things fresh. But that was also the beauty of the game. Though I fondly remember the "fastest-finger-first" metagame played by me, my dad and my sister on the character select screen, with the loser blaming their inevitable defeat on having to pick any of the other quirky characters with inferior attributes. But how can anyone forget the level of fondness for Tiptup and Pipsy? They were clearly overpowered but that wasn't to the detriment of the game's balance. The Diddy Kong roster was distinctively Rare (Image credit: MobyGames user Ben K)įirstly, there is a strong cast of characters and this is testament to the creativity and originality of the team: Donkey Kong's nephew, an evil warthog, a chipper squirrel, and a clumsy bear (both titular characters in their own right shortly after) were just a fraction of the playable cast. It was safe to say that anything Nintendo could do, Rare could do better. Preceded by GoldenEye and succeeded by Banjo-Kazooie, DKR was one of many fantastic games that compared favourably to their Japanese counterparts, and in an era where hidden gems were abundant.
More specifically, it's an archetypal title that also helped cement Rare as one of the best studios in the world. This edition was contributed by Jamie Smith, senior game designer at Sumo Digital.įor me, Diddy Kong Racing (DKR) reflects the pinnacle of high quality UK game development in the mid-to-late '90s and proudly stands in my top 5 games of all time even today. Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work.