Video: The N64 Kart Racer That Deserves To Be On Switch

This game is crying out for a remake, basically just make the same game and make it look like Mario Kart 8 deluxe and you're into a winner.

For my money this was a better game than Mario Kart 64 (certainly from a single player perspective at least)

We need this… and DK 64 in NSO …. Only then, with the aid of Rare Replay, will we have a Rare complete collection.

The DS version was really fun too

While it's a fantastic kart racing game at the time, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe already implementing similar features, it's not needed. If the next Mario Kart game feature some sort of Story or Adventure Mode then there's no reason to see this one return. Rare right now aren't even the same Rare that made the game and without Nintendo backing the game we will probably never see it. Like F-Zero and Excitebike, we could see some inspirations or features taken from this game for future Mario Kart titles but we will never get another Diddy Kong Racing ever again. Sad to say it but Nintendo will never let their other racers dethrone Mario Kart.

@Mauzuri

I hope you're right and it will eventually come to NSO.

Although if I was given creative control myself my absolute dream scenario would be to have a shiny new remastered version of it as a launch title for the Switches successor.

Do I think that will happen? Absolutely not but we can dream can't we

a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing on Switch sucessor would be nice, but that nearly impossible to happen due to Rare been a Xbox subsidiary for 25 years.

@Member_the_game Diddy Kong Racing got remade on DS in 2007

This was so much better than mario kart 64. Leagues ahead. I do habe it, but onoine on nso would be amazing

@Serpenterror wouldn’t it be lovely if diddy kong would be in the last dlc wave and would add adventure mode… one can but dream..

@Giancarlothomaz

As clearly stated in the article.... that version doesn't count and we just pretend it didn't happen

I want to replay it in glorious high definition, not on a little crappy 4" screen

@Giancarlothomaz But, Xbox has been a 3rd party since 2017 and has already set a precedent for working with Nintendo (which somehow people confused as Xbox eventually getting Nintendo IPs 🤣). It'll likely happen if the demand is there.

DKR was, and always will be, the best N64 kart racer. No, the DS abomination (much like SM64) does not exist. We need it on Switch, whether as an NSO title or a faithful remake.

I was just thinking about old Diddy Kong yesterday. This was probably my favourite N64 title.

I would love a sequel but I'd buy an Xbox for a Rare version. Conker, Banjo, viva pinata etc it could be fantastic.

I couldn't get into Diddy Kart Racing back when I had an N64. Mario Kart was my go to racing game.

Though, there was a F1 game on N64 that I also enjoyed a lot but can't remember the name.

I think if we see Diddy Kong Racing, it won't be until like 2026. January seems to be Microsoft NSO month and I get the feeling Banjo-Tooie and Perfect Dark would come before Diddy Kong Racing.

My favorite racing game of all time and one of all time greats just in general. I played through it a year or two and I think it hold up just as well as it ever did.

Agree with all the comments above, I'd love to see it on NSO along with DK64.

The only other games left that I'd want to see (on the N64 app) would be Super Smash Bros. and Banjo-Tooie!

Can we please, for the love of all that is holy, get a Rare Replay for the Nintendo Switch. Keep the 360 games. Just swap them with stuff like this. I know Phil Spencer wants to bring games to as many people as possible (he said as much in court!) so he needs to put his money where his mouth is (or maybe he just has a big mouth - to be able to fit Microsoft's profits in.)

Hmm. I think its up there with goldeneye in the ‘rose tinted glasses’ competition, and when that hit NSO it was like oh my it god it’s unplayable.

Even back in the day i struggled with DKR because of the framerate and i think it would get slaughtered these days

Always preferred it to Mario kart and Nintendo knows it!

Why couldn’t rare have made a new one but without diddy?🤷🏻‍♂️

Always preferred the way it controlled to Mario kart 64 too

This and banjo tooie and I’d never leave the house.

I would love to see Diddy Kong Racing come to the Nintendo Switch.

@Total_Weirdo it’s worth going back to if you get chance. A lot meatier than mk64

Favorite kart racer ever! Would be really nice to see on the Switch.

want Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Tooie before we get this.

Goat single player kart game for sure. Would love Donkey Kong racing one day! A man can dream…

Fond memories of playing on a friends N64, those last couple of races were quite a challenge, I think I managed to beat them in the end. Would be a welcome addition to NSO.

Diddy Kong Racing (1997)...I´ve never liked this game...

On N64 era...this game was in "slow motion" for me....not fast enough, so much boring game..like 99% of the N64 racing games, including Mario Kart 64.

I really did not like racing games on N64 (except for Xtreme G 1 and F-zero X)...because the speed sensation...low frame rate....and graphic style. N64 was poor.

I played for 10 hours and never played this game again. It's on my list of abandoned games that I didn't enjoy.

In 1999, 2 years after Diddy Kong Racing, I was playing Test Drive Le Mans, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Sega Rally (1998), on Dreamcast. You can't even compare the monstrous difference in quality.

In 1997, I'd rather keep playing Super Mario Kart and Top Gear on the SNES than racing games on the N64.
I also preferred playing on Sega Saturn, Sega Rally 1, Need for Speed, Andretii Racing, Daytona, Tokyo highway battle, so much better quality and fun.

I remember playing the remake on the DS. Pretty good game.

Why not allow Rare Replay to be released on the Switch with Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong 64?

I put way more time into Diddy Kong Racing than Mario Kart 64 but it was really hard and I never managed to complete the whole game.

I'd love to see the Snowboard Kids games on the switch too.

@Giancarlothomaz Why is Rare required for Nintendo to make a sequel? Diddy Kong is Nintendo's property, not Rare's.

İ had not this game but my old friend had it. İ have little played at him when İ was a child. İ like it. İt is a very good game but İ do not know many things about this game. İt is better if Nintendo would make a really Remastered from it.

What's with the hate for the DS version? I love the original with all my heart and I thought the remake was fantastic. I swear people these days just get a prepackaged talking point and just run with it.

@vio because theres severals characters in the game, Rare created, Banjo was in the original Diddy Kong Racing, but got replaced due to the Rare been a Microsoft subsidiaries

@Jiggies Too many gimmicky uses of the touch screen. Other than that, it improves on the original in almost every way, including online play, custom tracks, 4 new original tracks, the story actually appearing in the game instead of the manual (much like the GBA versions of the DKC trilogy now that I think about it...), vehicle customization, and a redesigned item system!
I don't care how much fun it was to grab 3 red balloons, use 9 missiles, then grab another red balloon to refill them. That was broken as heck, and having 5 missiles as the second level upgrade was the right play.

I always preferred even Mario Kart 64 over Diddy Kong Racing. But then again, Rare games never really managed to captivate me as it seems to have got other people. I think it has something to do with how their games control. It tends to feel a bit less refined, if that makes sense.

Probably also doesn't help that the characters and worlds in Rare games don't really do much for me. I'm not a fan of DK or Diddy, Banjo-Kazooie are cool but nothing too special for me, and Conker is... well, Conker. Goldeneye meanwhile is just because I'm not a fan of first person perspective games, mainly.

That said, I do recognise Rare games, especially during the SNES and N64 era, to be very great games, and Nintendo might not have been quite the same Nintendo as they are now of it wasn't for Rare. I can't think of a single game from them during this era that was bad in any way shape or form. It just never really clicked with me personally, for some reason.

All that said, I do have some fond memories of Diddy Kong Racing. I used to play it a bunch with a relative I pretty much grew up together with (my cousin), and we just had a blast with it. But on my own I just never really enjoyed it all too much. I would instead gravitate towards Mario Kart 64 to get my racing fix.

In the end though, I absolutely wouldn't blame anyone for saying Diddy Kong Racing is better than Mario Kart 64, or any Mario Kart game really. It is definitely a great game. But personally I'll take any Mario Kart game over Diddy Kong Racing any day.

I prefer MK64 for racing, but DKR was brilliant too, and I loved the story mode. Slight spoiler, but Wizpig coming from behind the lighthouse and causing chaos on the beach is one of my favourite moments in gaming.

It's a shame Donkey Kong Racing never saw release.

Well, if Microsoft can get Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie on NSO, I don't see why they cannot get more of RARE's games on there, and not just those on N64 but on NES as well.

@KayFiOS That's an excellent summary as to why the DS version is actually a good remake. You're right about the touch screen gimmicks, but I found them surprisingly easy to get used to. Also the graphics were quite nice for a DS game.

My favourite was double dash.

It was a great kart racer, but I always remember the single player mode being incredibly difficult, especially the bosses.

@KayFiOS @Jiggies

There's nothing wrong with the DS version as such.

My only issue is that the DS has such a tiny Screen.. I want to replay it with modern graphics in glorious high definition on a 65" TV

Compared to that the DS port just doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid (just my opinion obviously)

The DS version was alright though

I want a new DKR, but because of licencing issues, neither Nintendo nor Microsoft can do another DKR.

nope this game is bad

We hear you at Rare and are proud to announce our upcoming Sea of Thieves DKR soundtrack DLC.

Played the crap outta it and it honestly had a lot more to it than mario kart 64... Secret characters and levels and a story mode....planes and hovercrafts...goodtimes

Too bad people are too honorable here to emulate... You can easily play it on multiple devices with higher resolutions with modern controllers, nothing has to be lost

@Member_the_game I get what you're saying, but find a portable w good headphones much more immersive. Then again, that's probably because chillun be crazy.

Diddy Kong racing and mystical ninja are the two main games I’m wanting to come to the Nintendo switch. I’ll keep my subscription forever if this happens

@Member_the_game They cranked down the difficulty from sort of too hard to way too easy for the DS. Also the character models are stiff, they never turn around, so you only see their backs, it's weird once you notice it, like the scene in eternal sunshine where Jim Carrey keeps trying to spin Elijah Wood Around, but it's always just he back of his head.

UH, NOT!!!!!!!! NICE TROLL!!!!

Yes! This one and Beetle Adventure Racing.

DKR absolutely destroys MK64.

Slightly off topic but still ON topic. My first Mario Kart was the OG SNES one. I was in 6th grade when the N64 came out and it was a HUGE LEAP in technology back then. So although I hold deep love for the SNES Mario Kart, the N64 version lined up perfectly with my early teen years, so all the crew would gather at my house after school. 4 player split screen on old TV's ahh those were the days (omg I remember memorizing certain Golden Eye maps so I could just strafe while looking at walls so my friends couldn't look at my tiny box on the TV to figure out where I was LOL).

@RareFan @Giancarlothomaz A sequel would be possible because Nintendo owns the copyright to the game and the copyright to Diddy Kong but they’d have to replace the characters they don’t own the copyright for. But a sequel doesn’t make sense cause Nintendo already makes Mario Kart unless Retro or Next Level makes the sequel

@romanista Oh how I wish that be true, a DKR-style Adventure Mode for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be so much fun but likely won't happen.

It was a solid game. But until you posted about it, I forgot about it. There are multiple racers on the N64 alone that are better than it (Star Wars Racer, Mario Kart, Crusin' USA off the top of my head).

We do not need a million remakes. I'd rather have new games.

Thank goodness for emulation! Plays perfectly on my series x. (If nintendo released games like this and allowed us to buy, I would!)

Okay. Yeah, Diddy Kong Racing is certainly up there with like, my top 3 kart racers.
A remake would be awesome! I never played the DS version, though the track creator interested me some.

Also, unlike Mario Kart 64, which uses sprite billboarding for the players, the characters are full 3D models!

I still love the hovercraft gameplay of this game, wish Mario Kart had that instead of sinking to the bottom.

NSO port is definitely possible, but a remake I'd think is harder.
Nintendo still own the IP, I would be happy to see a sequel maybe developed by Retro since they have some racing experience from MK7 already. Almost all of the cast would be new except for Diddy and the Kremlin.

@GrailUK
Yeah rare replay has always been one of my most wanted ports, and while i enjoyed the likes of Nuts and bolts and other 360 games i would be more than happy with a version including more Nintendo exclusive ones such as DK64/DKC trilogy and DKR (though with games such as Kazooie/tooie i would be happy with them using the remastered versions due to some of the additions and how they run a lot better, especially tooie)

@Member_the_game That's a very valid point.

DKR,CTR, S&ASRT: All these games took the formula from MK and improved upon it in terms of track design, character rosters and music imo, but yet MK still gets heralded as the best kart racer among them and I honestly can't understand why other than nostalgia.

Would easily throw this in a top 5 n64 games. It’s soooo good. Superior to Mario kart 64, and that says a lot. Rare managed to make a racing game that’s also an engaging adventure collectathon. Incredible music, really interesting courses, secrets, bosses. Whole package

Both Diddy and F Zero are better than Mario Kart. I mean DS (besides the Diddy Kong Racing DS version/port/remake I think) was the last time they offered a mission mode in Mario Kart. And each singleplayer offering has been cups since wow.

I get it's a party game like many other multiplayer Nintendo games but still.

I mean I don't buy racing games on Nintendo platforms as much. If I see an arcade racer (not a kart racer) I'll pick it up for sure as that's the best I can get and want to play. Fast Racing, Wreckfest, Gear Club Unlimited 2. Grid Autosport besides it's quality is intriguing on Switch. It's why Project Cars on Wii U would have been awesome but nope. Not into NFS Most Wanted 2012 at all. Fast Racing was good on it though.

It's the reason I did play a bit of Sonic Allstars Racing the mission mode (not played the other 2 entries).

But then again every kart racer can have more features/mechanics/charm and most people don't care because recognisable, Mario is always a good fun safe bet (gateway to other genres as well), nostalgia, the way it feels/party based nonsense going on fun and characters matters more (even if could add more and 'better' character choices to MK8 Deluxe but no the skins in there is just stupid). I get why they sell but I mean eh.

I just look elsewhere because I don't really find them that fun but I'm not a kart racer person even though yes I grew up with CTR (not other Crash games just CTR) and yet it's fine but eh. I preferred arcade/sim racers not because of the cars but the career modes and physics.

Even though DS and Double Dash are the only two I'd actually care about due to their features.

I wonder if a possible reason that’s preventing this from appearing on the NSO service is Conker’s appearance as a family-friendly cutesy squirrel, which greatly opposes the more mature characterisation that he’s more famously known for?

Diddy Kong 64 and DS were so much fun and felt quite rewarding as games. I would like a Switch Diddy Kong Racing as well. We haven't had Diddy as a character in MK8DX yet, I wonder why!

As many have said, there are two solutions there. It's either they figure out a deal to get all Nintendo related rare releases on NSO, or they release a Rare Replay Nintendo edition with everything DK in it and without the post 64 stuff.