Diddy Kong Racing DS Hands-On

January 24th, 2007, 23:38 Posted By: wraggster

via ign

The first time we heard that a Diddy Kong Racing DS project was in the works was in a quick split-second blip of video footage during Nintendo's Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference. And beyond that...not a whole heck of a lot. Nintendo and Rare both kept a tight lid on the product since last May, but the game's all done and ready to ship for its February release date. Nintendo sent along an early copy of the game so we can get some playtime in before its launch.

Diddy Kong Racing DS is, essentially, a "port" of the game Rare created on the Nintendo 64 more than a half decade ago. But it's a port in the sense that Super Mario 64 DS is a "port" of the N64 game -- sure, the core game design's the foundation, but there's so much more added to the portable product.

Just as the original Diddy Kong Racing game shipped after Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64, so does the version on the Nintendo DS. And it presents the same dilemma: Mario Kart DS is already a fantastic, multiplayer-focused, online-supported racing game on the handheld, so Diddy Kong Racing steps into that strange role of trying to fill a void that honestly isn't there. How can Rare convince an army of die-hard Mario Kart racers to drop the familiar Mario line-up in favor of the company's generic grouping of furry critters?

Well, the game's hook is that along with the kart racing, you'll also skid around on hovercrafts and zoom through the air in planes. It's a traditional eight-player racing design, and players can only earn the necessary token to move forward by coming in first. Thrown into the mix is the weapon mechanics where players can scoop up rockets and oil slicks via balloons strategically placed over the track, and the collected weapon can be held and upgraded if you snag the same colored balloon while still possessing the weaker weapon. The rocket, for example, can be upgraded to a multiple rocket launcher, which can then be upgraded to a guided missile.

Diddy Kong Racing DS is yet another racing game that awards players a "rocket start" at the beginning of the race if they manage to pull off a specific task before the start of the race. But unlike other games where it's all about timing the acceleration before the flag drops, Diddy Kong Racing requires a little bit of skill -- in the car, you'll have to slide a finger/stylus rapidly down the touch screen to build up the charge. In the plane, you'll need to spin the finger/stylus in a circle. And in the hovercraft, you'll have to blow into the microphone. Gimmicky? Sure. But it's a nice diversion and slightly more creative than the usual "press the A button three ticks after the second green light" style of rocket boosting.

Though we've only played through about an hour of Diddy Kong Racing DS's racing progression, we'll note that the early portion doesn't quite offer the same sense of speed as Mario Kart DS does. This might be attributed to the fact that Diddy Kong Racing DS's engine runs at a casual 30 frames per second rate while Mario Kart DS flows at twice that. Diddy Kong Racing does, however, give players the ability to upgrade their vehicles, so we're expecting that as we get through many of the easier challenges that the faster crafts will make themselves available.

We still have much more to play in Diddy Kong Racing, so we'll be updating our impressions over the next few days, including our experience with some of the mini-games as well as the multiplayer functions. Diddy Kong Racing DS features five-player internet play, one more than Mario Kart DS.

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