This page explains in detail the interactions between the Diddy Kong Racing series and the Donkey Kong series.
Diddy Kong Racing[]
November 21, 1997
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong
Character select screen with Diddy Kong selected and Krunch next to him.
As its title indicates, Diddy Kong Racing is a racing game starring Diddy Kong, originally Donkey Kong's sidekick in Donkey Kong Country, so it's considered a spin-off of the Donkey Kong series.
The game also features a crocodile character, Krunch, that is stated in the game's manual to be a Kremling, and that he followed Diddy to make sure that he wasn't preparing any anti-Kremling plan.
The manual also cites Diddy Kong's treehouse in the story section, and names Squawks, the Animal Buddy from Donkey Kong Country games, as "his own makeshift carrier pigeon".
Finally, the game features bananas as collectable items to increase the vehicles top speed, possibly based on the collectable bananas from Donkey Kong Country games. They're also used in battle stages as lives (Icicle Pyramid, Darkwater Beach) or treasures (Smokey Castle).
Donkey Kong 64[]
Kritters in the introduction of Donkey Kong 64.
November 6, 1999
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong
Kritters, the most common Kremling enemies, wear a leather jacket with the same skull-and-crossbones on the back as Krunch had in Diddy Kong Racing, so they're probably based on him.
Donkey Kong Racing[]
Donkey Kong Racing GameCube 2001 Tech Demo UNRELEASED!
The game's trailer shown at E3 2001.
UNRELEASED LINK
2001
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong
The unreleased GameCube game Donkey Kong Racing, of which a trailer was shown at E3 2001, was going to be a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, as the style of its title implies. The gameplay however was going to be different, with the characters riding animals rather than driving vehicles. The characters shown in the trailer are mostly from the Donkey Kong series, with Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong and Kiddy Kong playable, but there would also be Taj the Genie, the blue elephant from Diddy Kong Racing, in his first playable appearance.
Diddy Kong Racing DS[]
February 5, 2007
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong
Character select screen. Dixie is in the upper right spot, while Tiny is in the second column of the second row.
In this Nintendo DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel were removed and replaced by Dixie Kong, originally from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Country 3 and by Tiny Kong, originally from Donkey Kong 64. Note however that they were given the same stats as Diddy Kong, with average acceleration, handling and top speed, so their role in the game is different than Banjo and Conker, that had high top speed with low handling and acceleration (the stats for all characters had some minor changes though).
This marks the first time the two sisters appear together in the same game, altough Tiny Kong was heavily redesigned for this game, being given an older teenage look.
The game also features an animated introduction based on the story originally only written in the game's manual, so Diddy Kong's treehouse on Donkey Kong Island as well as Squawks make an actual appearance in-game.
Another change is the Bananas not being in the game anymore and being replaced by collectable coins, used to buy unlockables, rather than to speed up the vehicles.
Additionally the game features four new unlockable jungle-themed tracks, that seem to be based on Donkey Kong Country. Each one of them can be bought from Taj for 80 coins, and are:
- Thunder Cove: a regular jungle with several trees and a short, bridged area of water.
- Meandering Mount: featuring mostly jungle with two mine shaft, likely based on the mine levels from Donkey Kong Country.
- Splashdown Pass: featuring caves and waterfalls.
- Strangled Shrine: featuring ancient temples, it seems to be based on temple levels from Donkey Kong Country. Most of the track is flooded, so the car can't be used in this track.
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast[]
Tiny Kong in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.
June 28, 2007
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong
Tiny Kong returns in this game with her redesigned look from Diddy Kong Racing DS. Apparently, this is assumed as her current final appearance, since she also uses it in her next appearance in Mario Super Sluggers.
License[]
Copyrights for both series are held by Nintendo.