By Jesse Scheeden
Video Games Editor
Back in the days of the N64, the software developer Rare was one of the greatest weapons in Nintendo's arsenal. The company churned out a stream of classics in the late 90's, from Goldeneye to Banjo Kazooie to Jet Force Gemini. Their crowning achievement in many gamers' eyes was Diddy Kong Racing, a more in-depth and satisfying alternative to Mario Kart 64. Nintendo later sold the company to Microsoft, where it has since struggled to replicate past success. Even when revisiting their kart-racing classic on another Nintendo platform, Rare can't quite recapture the magic of yore.
Diddy Kong Racing DS is exactly what it sounds like: a remake of the N64 classic for the Nintendo DS. Most of what gamers loved about the original title is present and accounted for. Donkey Kong's protégé Diddy Kong and a standardized cast of talking cartoon animals race against each other to prevent the fiendish Wizpig from doing whatever it is evil wizarding pigs do. Frankly, the storyline and characters aren't a big draw (particularly now that Rare favorites Banjo and Conker have been excised for legal reasons). DKR's main attraction has always been its classic kart-racing game-play.
Rather than systematically progressing through series of races as in the Mario Kart series, DKR features an island map that players must explore to find racing opportunities. The races themselves also deviate from the Mario Kart formula. In addition to karts, players can make use of planes and hovercrafts. Unfortunately, the DS runs into a snafu that is usually reserved for PSP games. Without the precise control of the N64's analog stick, DKR's vehicles are more difficult to steer.
Even worse is the addition of touch-screen controls. Clearly Rare employs the DS' touch-screen in this game for no other reason than because it's there. At the beginning of each race, players can use the stylus to rev-up their vehicle and gain a speed boost. This process is awkward, but it isn't half as annoying as the rail-shooting mini-games and boss battles controlled entirely with the stylus. Any decent racing game lives and dies by the quality of its controls. The one-two punch of twitchy steering and inane touch-screen additions goes a long way to tarnish a well-loved classic.
Not everything about DKR is bad news. Rare included plenty of online multiplayer options to toy with, enough to put nearly every other DS title to shame. In addition, the graphics and sound have been redone to take advantage of the DS hardware. Most gamers probably won't notice a huge difference, and the presentation still falls flat when compared to Mario Kart DS, but it's nice to know rare put in real effort when dealing with this remake.
10 years ago, Diddy Kong Racing was the undisputed trophy winner among the N64's racing titles. Today, with mighty contenders like Mario Kart DS dominating the track, Diddy Kong Racing DS would be lucky to place at all.
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