Diddy Kong Racing Adventure (found build of cancelled Nintendo GameCube sequel to "Diddy Kong Racing"; 2004)

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DKRA1.jpg

The title screen for the pitch.

Status: Found

Date found: 02 May 2020

Found by: Unknown

Diddy Kong Racing Adventure was a pitch to Nintendo sometime in April 2004. The game was going to be a sequel to the classic Nintendo 64 racer Diddy Kong Racing.

Story

After the events that took place after Diddy Kong Racing, Wizpig has been planning his revenge. He decides to team up with the Kremlings (of Donkey Kong Country fame) and their company KremCo. The Kremlings decide to go "Kongnapping" on Kongo Island. Wizpig's main goal is to bulldoze the entire island and build a giant raceway to get revenge on Diddy Kong and the others while Diddy is away visiting Timber the Tiger on Timber Island. Upon coming back from Timber Island and witnessing the Kremlings bulldozing an entire forest, Diddy reassembles the racers from the previous game to come back and defeat Wizpig again.

Earlier drafts of the story would have included a new villain instead of Wizpig, a white rhino named "Baron Von Snort." However, the character would have done the exact same actions as Wizpig, teaming up with the Kremlings and wreaking havoc on Kongo Island.

Characters

The character roster for Diddy Kong Racing Adventure would have included Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Donkey Kong, Lankey Kong and Krunch from Donkey Kong Country, Timber, Bumper, Pipsy, and Tiptup from Diddy Kong Racing, and Banjo, Mumbo Jumbo, and Conker from Rare titles (Banjo and Mumbo Jumbo from Banjo-Kazooie; Conker from Conker's Bad Fur Day) were being considered for the game. There would have been "Dark" versions of some of the characters, including Diddy Kong, Pipsy, Bumper, and a few others.

Some of the characters that were gonna be featured in the game, such as Banjo and Conker, were uncertain because Microsoft bought the remaining half of Rare from Nintendo. If some of the characters were made unavailable due to legal reasons or otherwise, there would just have been replaced with another character from the Donkey Kong universe.

Gameplay

Adventure mode would have returned from the first game. There was to be a hub world that connected the sixteen villages scattered across Kongo Island that players could travel at their own pace. The villages would have included The Kong's Family Village, Icy Peaks (ft. Candy Kong's ski Chalet), Pirate Lagoon (ft. Funky Kong's surf resort), The Rainforest, Kremling Construction Camp, KremCo Industries, Krunch's den, and Wizpig's lair.[1] When the user first travels to a new village, a black and white mode would have indicated enemies owning the village. Each of the main villages was unique from one another, and each would have had a unique NPC that characterized that one village. The villages would have had three main tracks (all of which could be played in mirror mode) and would contain extra secrets and/or items. Beating one of the given races in a village would unlock the unique character of that village while beating all the races from all the villages would have unlocked Donkey Kong to defeat Wizpig. There was also a boss in every village that would require you to beat them in a race or to deliver a special item for them to show the worthiness of the player. There would also be sidequests that included obstacle courses and stunt challenges.

Vehicles in the game would have included karts, planes, hover scooters, jet skis, buggies, and quad bikes. All of the vehicles could be customized for accessories to gain access to certain areas of the map or to find secret items.[2] Some of these accessories include spiked tires, a "powershoot" for crossing small gaps, and a shark fin to fight against underwater currents. A unique feature of the game was to change the character's position on a vehicle to perform a trick or to gain an advantage. The player could switch from the front, to the sides, and to the back of the vehicle. The player could also "leapfrog" from one vehicle to another, effectively changing the playing style in the middle of the game.

Like in the Mario Kart series, the game would have had a weight-based system for all of the characters. There would also be a fruit-based system, which decides what kind of item you get after picking up fruit. Picking up dark fruit, for example, would have given access to a character's custom move, such as Diddy Kong knocking players with giant gorilla faces or Krunch using his jaw to chase down other racers. The dark characters would have also had some unique powers of their own, like how Dark Bumper could form a mud tornado. However, the custom move would drain some of the character's health. There were also melee attacks that would have cost bananas to use.

The game would also support local multiplayer, with up to four people playing at one time. The multiplayer would have come with every single track, character, and accessory the game had to offer. The tracks would have been split between normal and "monochrome" (a different version of the original). There were settings to change the time of day and weather. Other modes (which could be played in the modes "free for all" or "2v2s") would have included a straight race mode, time trials, Knockout Cup (last player is eliminated from race), Elimination (demolition derby minigame), Show Off (Simon Says minigame where the player would perform tricks), and Fruit Bowl (the "Collect Them All" minigame where the person with the most fruit wins).

Gallery

Concept Art

Videos

PtoPonline talking about the pitch for Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.

Climax's original pitch video from Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.

See Also

Donkey Kong

Rare Ltd.

External Links

References