Diddy Kong Racing Wii U (Wanted)

[-Dem0-]

Great to see that you got the game again, I on the other hand need to search through the attic to find it!

 

 

Yes, Tiptup, you are number 1! Timber looks to be enjoying himself.

 

Haha, I was never a fan of the lightweights; Tiptup, TT & Pipsy. Also wasn't a fan of this guy:

"I'm DrumSTIIICK!"

 

Thanks for posting that shot.

 

Straight away I remembered how the theme music changed as you hovered over each character. Classic.

 

My favourites were the four on the top along with Timbur.

[Josh64]

@Hero\-of\-Time Oh man, that boss is such a pain, the voice acting is totally worth it though.

 

And if you're desperate to hear all of the great music on offer, go to the passcode mode from the main menu and type in JUKEBOX ;D

 

Interestingly, it seems that Timber was originally the main character!

In an October 2012 interview, Lee Musgrave, who worked on Diddy Kong Racing, said Timber would have been the main character of Pro-AM 64 if Diddy Kong Racing had not been made. Musgrave says, "Yes, there was Pro-Am 64 that had Timber as the main character, but that became Diddy Kong Racing and that was the end of that." When Martin Wakely is asked about a rumored game called "Timber 64", Wakeley responds, "Where the rumour may have started is that an early version of DKR (I think it was called RC Pro Am at the time) had Timber as the lead character. I’m sure I’ve got a badly fitting Nylon polo shirt with the game logo on it somewhere."

 

I suppose the story makes a bit more sense now "Timber the Tiger's parents go on vacation and leave their son in charge of the island they live on, leaving him and his friends to race for fun. Their enjoyment is derailed when an evil, intergalactic, pig wizard named Wizpig arrives at peaceful Timber's Island and attempts to take over after he conquered his own planet's racetracks."

 

But what happened to the sequel Donkey Kong Racing?

Lee Musgrave, who lead the project, explained to NotEnoughShaders what the gameplay would have been like, "It was a pure racing game, the underlying software mechanics were actually based on car physics, but it also incorporated the idea of riders jumping between different animals mid-race, to always be riding the ones that were bigger or faster . . . we had some awesome gameplay in place, and it was lots of fun – we even had a multiplayer version working – and when you fell off, you had to tap-tap-tap (HyperSports style) to run on foot and catch up with an animal. Fun, but it lost some appeal without the DK universe around it, and Microsoft were unsure of its potential with Xbox gamers I think." He then explains what happened after the Microsoft buyout, "Donkey Kong Racing was obviously pretty heavily tied to Nintendo as a franchise, and as Rare approached the finalization of a buyout deal with Microsoft it was clear that the game had no future, at least with the ape’s as characters. We switched it around to be a Sabreman game, and there was a great early Xbox prototype – but someone, somewhere decreed that it was a little too old-school for the kind of ‘revolutionary gaming experiences’ that the Xbox was capable of delivering, and so it started down a path of meandering changes, updates and ‘evolution’ that finally saw it run out of steam and fall over. There were some great ideas in the game as it developed though, and I still look back to the early racing game design and think we could have done something great with that.

[Retro_Link]

Yeah the Octopus was hard as nails!

 

"I'm DrumSTIIICK!"

 

Yeah Drumstick was a bit of a sucky unlockable! I mean I love the guy, great character, but... so... damn... heavy!!!

 

Straight away I remembered how the theme music changed as you hovered over each character. Classic.

Oh man that was such a great little extra!

 

---

 

The Four Keys you had to collect in the races, was that to unlock Drumstick? (and then run over the frog), or to unlock the four multiplayer arenas?

 

Collecting those were so much fun/inspired!

Like when you had to ring the drawbridge bell and then drive backwards up it to that secret room atop the tower!!

 

This game just had everything!

 

*damn I think I might need to re-buy a copy!* :p

[Beaneth007]

Every other year i come back to DKR, create a new file then complete it on normal adventure and adventure two.....The silver coin challenges and final wizpig on adventure 2 (mirrored tracks) are so difficult but it always feels really rewarding! Adventure mode is great and the tracks have wonderful music, they nearly always bring a smile to my face. Oh how I would love a proper sequel, although would i want the legacy ruined? Probably not....

[Emerald Emblem]

I played this a bit with my Little brother the other month, Multiplayer Adventure FTW! Though went straight into Adventure 2 cause my mate who only played one race made us not knowing it was more difficult. Things were going great mind, beat the first phase of Dino Domain well enough, but then came the silver coin challenges. My goodness I didn't remember them being so hard, though it was Jungle Falls that finished us off.

 

I almost thought this was real news, I am disappoint. :C

[Beaneth007]

if you think that any of dino domain on silver coin challenge is hard, jeez you will hate the later worlds haha

[Lens of Truth]

So Emily Rogers has seen fit to deny the rumour of Diddy Kong Racing from Monster games:

 

Tweet #1: From what I've been told, there is no Diddy Kong Racing for Wii U from Monster Games. That is not their game.

Wherever that rumor came from...well...it's bogus. Not true. Monster Games is not making DKR for Wii U.

 

She's right most of the time, so it's probably best not to give this one too much thought. Still curious to see what Monster are brewing up!

[Beaneth007]

Even a HD remake with a few new tracks would be fun! Online gameplay too.

[Hero-of-Time]

Rumour time.

 

Three things in 2007 caused the cancellation of the Diddy Kong Racing sequel for Wii.

 

1) The low sales and poor reviews of 2007′s Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. This was a racing game based on the Donkey Kong license.

 

2) Sales for 2007′s Diddy Kong Racing DS did not live up to Nintendo’s expectations. Although the game would sell over 1 million units worldwide, it was a huge drop from the 4-5 million that Diddy Kong Racing sold on the Nintendo 64.

 

3) In 2007, Nintendo had negotiations with Microsoft to acquire/purchase some of the characters from the original game (including Timber, Pipsy, and Taj the Genie). Microsoft was asking for more money than Nintendo was willing to pay. This was the same year that Nintendo prevented Microsoft from putting Goldeneye 007 on Xbox Live Arcade.

 

After multiple meetings with Nintendo, Monster Games removed the Diddy Kong Racing license from the prototype, but they remained persistent about designing a game around these animal themed vehicles. Nintendo suggested that Monster Games should return to the “Excite” series.

 

Excitebots (Wii) would be designed around the animal themed vehicles from the Diddy Kong Racing 2 (Wii) prototype. For example, one of the vehicles in Diddy Kong Racing 2 was based on Winky the Frog from Donkey Kong Country. This frog vehicle from DK Racing 2 would later re-appear in “Excitebots” for the Wii. After ditching the Donkey Kong license, Monster Games changed the vehicle designs to make them look less like the animal buddies from the Donkey Kong Country series.

Two things would renew Nintendo’s interest in a Diddy Kong Racing sequel.

 

1) 2008′s Mario Kart Wii would sell over 35 million units worldwide.

 

2) 2010′s Donkey Kong Country Returns would sell over 6 million units worldwide. The game sold more than any Zelda or Metroid game for Wii.

 

Development on Diddy Kong Racing 2 would start up again as Monster Games was getting ready to release Pilotwings Resort. But this time, both Retro Studios and Monster Games would collaborate on the project, and it would get moved from Wii to Project Cafe (aka Wii U).

 

Monster Games and Retro Studios would soon form a bond over the Donkey Kong intellectual property. Retro Studios, who had been successful with the Donkey Kong IP, was tasked with assisting Monster Games on Diddy Kong Racing 2. Retro’s contributions to Monster’s Diddy Kong Racing project is why Nintendo asked Retro to assist with Mario Kart 7′s development.

 

Monster Games ported Retro’s Donkey Kong Country Returns to the 3DS. Monster Games is also credited for assisting Retro Studios on the development of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Wii U. It is no coincidence that Monster Games has worked on TWO Donkey Kong projects in a row. Many of the art assets from Tropical Freeze were used during the development of Diddy Kong Racing 2.

 

Diddy Kong Racing 2 for Wii U combines the animal vehicle ideas of Excitebots with the hub world single player adventure of the original Diddy Kong Racing. The game will feature both local and online multiplayer, as well as using your GamePad screen to find collectable balloons on the map.

 

A very interesting rumour and one that I hope comes true. I always preferred DKR over Mario Kart. The single player mode had far more substance to it.

 

To those lucky enough to have played Excitebots, can you see what this article is talking about when you look back on your time playing the game?

[The Peeps]

Now I understand why ExciteBots was so weird with the 'stunts' you could pull off. Makes much more sense if they had animals in mind.

 

I would love a true sequel to Diddy Kong Racing. The adventure mode was brilliant.

[Aneres11]

The Indian elephant was amazing. I loved it when he dished the balloons out after a successful race.

 

Adventure mode on this game was immense.

I truly hope they make a sequel to it as it is was an amazing game.

 

I loved how all of the characters actually felt different in this game too. Like Pipsy (who I always used) was the easiest to control and went round corners a dream, whereas the heavier characters, like Drumstick / Banjo were a nightmare to control, but really fast!

 

So many good memories of this game. And I completely forgot it came out on the DS. Pretty sure I had it, but it wasn't as good as the N64 if I recall correctly? Can't remember why though?

 

Anyway, this must happen!

[Dcubed]

Sounds like bogus to me. First off, why would Nintendo need to purchase the non Banjo/Conker characters in DKR for use in a supposed DKR2, when all of them appeared in DKRDS anyway?

 

Secondly, it's impossible for them Retro to have been working on DKR2 because they were drafted to work on MK7 immediately after shipping DKCR (and then onto full scale production of DKCTF afterwards too).

 

It's a fun theory that takes on some nice coincidences, but it falls apart when you really think about it...

 

Still, I do wonder what Monster Games will do next. They're only a small studio of about 25 people, so a retail Wii U title is out of the question. They could do a 3DS project themselves, but they could also end up offering support to Retro Studios... (they're very close to each other geographicaly).

[Aneres11]

Well thanks for ruining the dream Dcubed.

 

[Dcubed]

Well thanks for ruining the dream Dcubed.

 

 

You're welcome

 

One day it'll happen though, one day

[yesteryeargames]

Why was Diddy not in mario kart 7and 8 then

 

I think they are working on one but it will be at least a year before we hear anything with the MK sales atm

[Glen-i]

Why was Diddy not in mario kart 7and 8 then

 

[Rummy]

Sounds like bogus to me. First off, why would Nintendo need to purchase the non Banjo/Conker characters in DKR for use in a supposed DKR2, when all of them appeared in DKRDS anyway?

 

Because that was still made by Rare whereas this wouldn't be? Ofc they removed Banjo and Conker in that version probably to prevent overlap with pursuing them in other franchises - they'd still own the other characters but probably not mind selling them off to Nintendo for this.

[Wii]

Given a choice between this or F-Zero I'd pick F-Zero every time. Besides Diddy Kong Racing is too similar to MK8, so I'd doubt it'll happen and MK8 Nintendo says they've long term plans for. A DKR game would distract from that.

[Dcubed]

Because that was still made by Rare whereas this wouldn't be? Ofc they removed Banjo and Conker in that version probably to prevent overlap with pursuing them in other franchises - they'd still own the other characters but probably not mind selling them off to Nintendo for this.

 

Except that it is Microsoft who own these characters, not Rare. Them making DKRDS has no bearing on whether or not they can use these characters. Either way, Nintendo would still have to license them from Microsoft (if indeed Nintendo don't actually already own them as I suspect... IIRC, Nintendo own every single character that Rare made for the Donkey Kong and Starfox universes, including the entire cast of DKR - except for Banjo and Conker).

[Rummy]

Except that it is Microsoft who own these characters, not Rare. Them making DKRDS has no bearing on whether or not they can use these characters. Either way, Nintendo would still have to license them from Microsoft (if indeed Nintendo don't actually already own them as I suspect... IIRC, Nintendo own every single character that Rare made for the Donkey Kong and Starfox universes, including the entire cast of DKR - except for Banjo and Conker).

 

How is it you're suggesting that Rare don't own the characters that they've made? Microsoft may ultimately own them via ownership of Rare, but the property would belong to the company of Rare - it can then belong to Microsoft if they did a formal transfer of rights/ownership from Rare to Microsoft, but I'd wonder whether they'd have done that. Rare made DKR:DS, and included a majority of characters from the original, which were their characters to begin with. My question would be where do you assume that Microsoft own these characters and not Rare, and how did it come about to be that way given Microsoft did not own them at their original inception?

[Dcubed]

How is it you're suggesting that Rare don't own the characters that they've made? Microsoft may ultimately own them via ownership of Rare, but the property would belong to the company of Rare - it can then belong to Microsoft if they did a formal transfer of rights/ownership from Rare to Microsoft, but I'd wonder whether they'd have done that. Rare made DKR:DS, and included a majority of characters from the original, which were their characters to begin with. My question would be where do you assume that Microsoft own these characters and not Rare, and how did it come about to be that way given Microsoft did not own them at their original inception?

 

Because Microsoft have 100% ownership over Rare, they would also own all of their IP as well. MS gained ownership over Rare's property as soon as they aqquired the company. That's why they can take Killer Instinct and give it to anyone they want to make it.

 

Rare don't own anything on their own anymore because they are not an independent company now. They're a subsidiary of Microsoft.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Dcubed

[Hogge]

When I was a kid, I got this before I got Mario Kart 64, and I preferred Diddy Kong Racing.

I played it a lot until I got stuck at the first Wizpig race (I didn't beat it until I was on leave from my military service). However, when I played it with a friend a couple of months back, it didn't even remotely hold up well. The biggest problem was the controls. The karts felt very slippery, yet not in a realistic, fun or rewarding way.

 

Mario Kart 64, however, still felt like a solid racing experience.

 

That being said, I think Nintendo are making a mistake by not incorporating an adventure mode into Mario Kart. And Diddy Kong Racing sure was a good looking game for the time. In fact, for the most part, the visuals were considerably BETTER than I remembered them.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Hogge

[Rummy]

Yeah I understand that - but the rights would technically still belong to Rare no? Even as a subsidiary they'd exist as the entity of Rare. The studio isn't disbanded or anything, there'd be the legal side of actually taking the IP from Rare's name to Microsoft's, I'd imagine. Even so, my argument still holds the same about DKR: DS - that was made by Rare under ownership of Microsoft, whereas this new title wouldn't be, hence if Nintendo wanted to use the characters they'd need to license or purchase them off the rights holders(being Rare/Microsoft) - with DKR: DS the game was made by rights holders, so it wouldn't be the same situation.

[darksnowman]

Glad @Dcubed got in and posted his doubts to take the flack first cos when I skimmed this thread early this morning, I pretty much thought it sounded like too many convenient coincidences/ grasping at straws. Fun to think of all that stuff going on behind the scenes, all unbeknownst to us, but it really does read like someone trying to stir the rumour mill.

 

Now, if Nintendo were going to revive a DKR for us I'd really love it to be Donkey Kong Racing, which got canned when Rare were sold off. Still wish Nintendo had kept Rare and their old staff.

 

 

I still have screenshots of this printed out on an A4 page. One of the greatest games that never got made.

[Dcubed]

Yeah I understand that - but the rights would technically still belong to Rare no? Even as a subsidiary they'd exist as the entity of Rare. The studio isn't disbanded or anything, there'd be the legal side of actually taking the IP from Rare's name to Microsoft's, I'd imagine. Even so, my argument still holds the same about DKR: DS - that was made by Rare under ownership of Microsoft, whereas this new title wouldn't be, hence if Nintendo wanted to use the characters they'd need to license or purchase them off the rights holders(being Rare/Microsoft) - with DKR: DS the game was made by rights holders, so it wouldn't be the same situation.

 

No. Microsoft own all the rights to Rare's IP. They could shut down the studio tomorrow and they would still be able to hold onto Rare's IP to shop around however they wanted to. They can also licence out Rare's IP however they want without their permission either - Killer Instinct on Xbone and Conker in Project Spark should be proof enough of that.

 

It's like with Bungie. Even after selling the studio back to their owners, MS still retain all ownership of the Halo IP.

 

Even if Rare made DKRDS, Nintendo would still have had to licence the characters that MS own. Microsoft were obviously ok with Rare making the game for Nintendo, but either they didn't want to licence Banjo and Conker to Nintendo to allow them into the DS game, or Nintendo weren't willing to pay the price/drop the game into any sort of licencing/royalty sharing hell.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Dcubed