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

The title screen for the pitch.

Status: Lost

Diddy Kong Racing Adventure was a pitch to Nintendo sometime in April 2004. It was going to be a sequel to the classic N64 racer Diddy Kong Racing.

Story

After the events that took place after Diddy Kong Racing, Wizpig has been planning for 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 is unknown, as some of the characters were made uncertain to be used when Microsoft purchased Rare Ltd and that some of the characters had dark versions of themselves. The known roster included Diddy Kong, Tiptup, Pipsy, Bumper, Timber, Krunch, Dixie Kong, Lankey Kong, and Donkey Kong. Banjo, Mumbo Jumbo, (Both from Banjo-Kazooie) and Conker (Conker's Bad Fur Day) were considered being in the game. If the character was unavailable because of legal reasons or otherwise, the team would have thrown in another character from the Donkey Kong universe. Dark versions of the characters included Diddy Kong, Pipsy, Bumper, and a few others.

Gameplay

Adventure mode would have returned from the first game. There was 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. Funkey Kong's surf resort), The Rainforest, Kremiling Construction Camp and KremCo Industries, Krunch's den and Wizpig's lair. 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 were 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 from that village, while beating all the races from all the villages would have unlocked Donkey Kong to defeat Wizpig. There was also a boss at 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 was also be sidequests that included obstacle courses and stunt challenges.

Vehicles in the game would have included planes, hover scooters, jet skis, buggies, and quad bikes. All of which could be customized for accessories to gain access to certain areas of the map or to find secret items. 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 preform a trick or to gain an advantage. The player could switch from the front, to 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 a 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 was also melee attacks that would have costed 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 mode), Show Off (Simon Says mode where the player would preform tricks), and Fruit Bowl (the gathering mode where the person with the most fruit wins).

Videos

PtoPonline talking about the pitch for Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.

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Climax's original Pitch video on Diddy Kong Racing Adventure.

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Concept Art

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  Concept art of Pirate Lagoon.

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  Concept art of switching between the front, sides, and back of the cart.

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  Concept art of Timber on a jet ski.

External Links

• The Mario Wiki article on Diddy Kong Racing Adventure. Retrieved on 24 Oct '17
• The DKvine article on the game. Retrieved on 24 Oct '17
• The Unseen64 article on the game. Retrieved on 24 Oct '17