A decent port of the N64 classic

The first time I played an N64, I remember playing Diddy Kong Racing. I also remember the same day I got smacked in the face with a plastic slide. In all seriousness, when playing DKR, I thought it was a pretty good game (which isn't saying much; I was about 4 at the time).

If you don't already know, Diddy Kong Racing was made by Rare. It's essentially a kart/hovercraft/plane-racer showcasing most of Rare's friendly critters (ranging from Diddy Kong himself, to Conker, to Banjo Kazooie) as all playable characters. It was compared to Mario Kart 64 (the best Mario Kart game of all time, hands down) at the time, however not nearly as great.

Anyways, before I get all nostalgic about those two excellent N64 games, I'd better focus on the real deal: Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo DS.

Not much has changed from the original to this game. This version includes single player adventure, single player free race, single player time trial, single player battle mode, and single player Wish Mode.

Single player adventure is an interesting twist to most kart-racing games. (Usually the story mode is about as deep as a thin-crust pizza) An evil pig wizard, aptly named "Wizpig" has... ... um.. Gee, I kind of forgot. Well, I'm sure whatever he did was sinister enough to make all of the islanders upset. Anyways, as one of these upset islanders, your ultimate mission is to defeat Wizpig and, uh... bring whatever Wizpig stole back to the island. (I forgot what that was, I hated this game so much I sold it, but I still beat it) Anyways, to do this, you go about collecting balloons. (Is that what he stole?) You collect balloons by winning races, completing "missions", or just finding them out and about the island. The more balloons you have, the more access you have to different parts of the island. To start with, you have one easy part of the island already unlocked, and you win all the balloons you need by getting 1st place in all of the races in that area. You don't necessarily need all of the balloons in the current area to advance to the next, but let's just say it's a pretty good idea.

Of course, what's a kart racer without weapons? A boring one, that's for sure. The weapons in this game are attained by running into a colored (here it comes) balloon, with each color represent somewhat limited items; you have turbos, missiles, mines, shields, and magnets. Each different weapon has 2 upgrades, which are obtained by running into and popping the same-colored balloon. In addition to 2 upgrades, there's also the super upgrade. There are super upgrade tokens lying about the course, which, when activated, power up your current weapon to extreme abilities, such as a deadly missile, super turbo boost/slipstream, and much more. These tokens can change the tide of the race at any given moment (if used correctly). But anyways, yeah, that's all there is to the items. Moving along!

After each area, there is a boss. It's no ordinary boss; it uses some gimmicky control scheme/touch-screen based maneuvering. For instance, in the original game, you just had to race and beat the boss. In this game, you have to either draw a path for you character to take while spinning a somewhat unresponsive wheel to accelerate, use the touch screen like a cockpit in an airplane, or some other weird ways of playing. But basically, they're all just races with a different control scheme. Once you beat a boss, he unlocks another set of "races" for you to play with, called "Balloon Challenge" something-or-other. What this is is a mini-game where you ride a magical carpet in first-person perspective. You swipe the stylus to look around, (yes, swipe, not drag; and yes, look, not control. This is a rail-based mini-game.) and look for balloons to pop and bonus coins to obtain. You pop the balloons by tapping on them, and you need to pop enough balloons to beat the game. (Wait, I thought we were trying to rescue the balloons!) However, the touch-based controls sometimes interfere with each other, making for a somewhat annoying magical carpet ride. The coins you can get aren't necessary to beat the mission, but if you get them, it adds to your in-game currency. Ooh. Forgot about that.

Yes, during races and most other modes of play, there are coins lying about the course (somewhat out of the way) for you to pick up or leave to decay. By collecting coins, you can buy upgrades for your vehicles, tracks, characters and other nifty features.

As far as upgrades go, it's somewhat advanced. You have about 3 different kits to choose from 3 categories: Speed, Control, and Acceleration. You can only have one of each kit per category, however, so you need to choose the kits wisely. There isn't much depth to that though; the rule of thumb is, "The more cash, the better the ride."

The other "nifty features" include things like a billboard editor. Along the race tracks, there are billboards scatter about the landscape. With the billboard editor, you can put up a custom image for all to see. Getting creative with this isn't hard at all, and granted, it's pretty funny and entertaining. In addition to the billboard editor, there's also a sound effect recorder. Basically, your character has about 5 sound effects: Overtake (for when you pass an oppenent), fire a weapon (simple enough), getting hit, losing, and winning a race. The default is usually some monkey grunt or squirrel chatter, depending on the animal you pick. However, using the DS's integrated microphone, you can record your own sound effects that will play throughout the game. Being the mature gamer I am, I soon inserted sounds of belches and flatulence for my listening pleasure. Anyways, I better get back to what I was talking about.

Oh, right. Balloon mini-game. So basically, you pop balloons, get some coins if you like. There's bronze, silver, and gold minimums for how many balloons you pop, which don't really affect your game other than the feeling that you accomplished (virtually) nothing. After you beat all of the balloon mini-games (which you are rewarded a balloon for) in that area, the boss will allow you to race him/her once more, usually stepping up the difficulty. Beat him again, and he'll reward you with 100 coins (or maybe a balloon; seriously). There's also one other opportunity to challenge the boss; by beating the tournament mode in the area. This is unlocked by finding the hidden key in one of the courses throughout the area. (Being a seasoned DKR player, I already knew the general location of the keys, so it was a no-brainer) In addition to being able to race the boss again, I'm pretty sure you get another stupid balloon.

Alright, so that basically sums up story mode for ya. Um, there's also the exhibition mode where you pick a course you've previously (or maybe not) raced on, and race against 7 NPC's. Not too much depth in that. Also, there's time trial mode, where you see how fast you can complete a given course. (Hint: Getting a high enough time on all the courses will get you something dandy, and it ISN'T A BALLOON.) Then there's Battle Mode, which isn't your traditional run-around-with-weapons-and-beat-the-snot-out-of-each-other battle mode. Actually, that's half-true. There's two CTF-type missions, and two beat-the-snot missions. One Capture the Flag type mission is in an airplane in a volcano, while the other is in a castle where you try to collect and secure an amount of coins before the other players. The two battle missions are similar; one in a kart, and one in a hovercraft.

Finally, there's wish mode (which is an unlockable, actually), where you "create" your own track. I use quotation marks because you don't really make one at all. You just draw a path on how the track should go, and change the amount of hills here and there. That's about it. (Besides, what can you expect for a track editor on the DS?)

Alright, that basically tackles single player. Now onto multiplayer (oh fun).

As most DS multiplayer games go, there's multi-card play (where each player has his/her own game card), and single-card play (one user hosts a game with a game card, other non-game-card owners and game-card owners alike can join). This actually turned out to be pretty fun, considering my two brothers bought the game as well. The game is also WiFi compatible, but I cannot say I have ever used this feature. I heard it's pretty good, though.

Much like single player mode, there's battle mode, free race mode and wish mode; which only excludes time trial and adventure. Come to think of it, there was a cheat code for DKR for N64 that allowed you to play 2-player adventure. It would have been fun to bring that same concept to the DS for a co-op play. Anyhoo.

I'm pretty sure you don't want to read another essay about the game modes, so let me sum it up; they're the same as single-player, but GASP! with other, real people. It's that easy.

Phew. I'm done describing the different game modes. Now it's time for content!

Main Idea: Run around an island thwarting an evil wizard pig's plans with balloons. Lots and lots of balloons. *wince*

Sound: Well, it's not too much different from the original. There's somewhat annoying/kiddy/happy background music, animal noises, and assorted childish explosions and sound effects (like oil slicks).

Gameplay: As you can see, there's a nice slice of game modes that will keep you busy, however, they're freshness soon wears off.

Learning Curve: About 10-15 minutes.

Graphics: If you haven't played the original, then I'll describe what you missed. Basically, there's a lot of 2D elements for obstacles (i.e. trees, weapons, other environments). The textures in this game are somewhat detailed; up there with Mario Kart 64 and Donkey Kong 64. Unlike Mario Kart 64, the character models are in 3D, as are the terrain (but the terrain in MK64 is 3D as well.) The graphics themselves aren't too noteworthy. They usually involve bright colors (which my guess would be for younger audiences), but there are some nice effects, like waterfalls and lava. The graphics are a little improved in the DS version, but all it really is is improved textures 3D elements like the vehicles and characters. (You can't actually see Wizpig's polygons in this version!) As far as animations go, there's really not that much variety. Most of the animations take place in the 2D elements, but as far as 3D animations go, there's not too much variety. There are a few simple ones, like spinning out and power-sliding, but they're pretty basic. So, overall out of 5, I'd give it an average 3.

Overall, this game's pretty good for a younger and in-between audience, as well as hardcore fans of the classic. However, it's newness soon wears off, and if you're like me, you'll probably trade this game in for some extra moolah for, oh say, Pokemon Pearl?

Either way, it's still a good game. Hopefully you can try a demo at the store to finalize what I've said about this.