OMGJeremy

Humpday Gaming: Diddy Kong Racing (N64)

Well apparently it’s Christmas time or something. I suppose I should do a Holiday themed Humpday Gaming. If for nothing else other than to not be labeled some horrible Scrooge by people that actually like this pile of shit holiday. Yes, it’s no secret that Christmas as a whole makes me want to drink a big ol’ gallon of bleach until sweet mercy takes me away by melting the majority of my internal organs. I can’t quite put my finger on a single reason. I suppose it may have to do with the years that I have worked in retail (protip: Retail will make you hate the majority of everything and everyone). Or maybe it is the nonstop shoving it down my throat for two straight months. Who knows. But that’s not why we’re here today. No, today we’ll speak of a bygone time when I actually enjoyed being a part of Christmas. Sitting around with family, eating tons of food, and waiting impatiently to open presents. It’s still hard for me to believe those days existed. And this little gem of a game made it all even better:

Yeah I’m not entirely sure why Diddy Kong Racing became the default game for Christmas. But since its release on the N64, it became some sort of tradition to rent it over the Christmas break. And hey, it didn’t hurt that it was the best damn kart racer on the N64. Yeah, you heard me Mario Kart 64 people. Diddy Kong did everything that Mario Kart 64 failed to do, and then some. Not only was it an amazing kart racer with tons of personality, but Rare went the extra mile and made an entire hub world for you to explore, and open new tracks. Not only that, but they actually added BOSSES too. Bosses in a kart racer? Yeah, and it was actually really fun.

Now make no mistake that Diddy Kong was copying Super Mario 64’s blueprint to a T. It was with little to no apology. But the difference being that no one would have ever thought this would work with a kart racer. Rare thought differently, though, and turned what would have been a pretty OK kart racer into a huge singleplayer experience that had no rival. And to this day, no one has duplicated it. Some may say that’s a good thing. Those people can go to Hell.

For reasons I can’t quite understand though, many of the Rare games released on the N64, while lauded at the time of release, are now victims of weird hate circles. Even mentioning a lot of the N64 Rare games will draw groans and crooked faces from people who couldn’t get enough of them at the time. Citing endless collection, blatant copycat gameplay, or even just for the fact that it wasn’t made by Nintendo. Me though? I have no ill will against a game that brought me countless hours of Holiday fun, long after the Holiday itself stopped providing any.