8.4 out of 10

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Diddy Kong Racing is Nintendo's biggest winter holiday release for '97. The game beams with bright primary colors and cute characters, and it screams to be compared with the game from which it originated, Mario Kart 64. Everyone with their head screwed on will do just that, and frankly we're glad. Diddy Kong Racing is an excellent follow-up to the somewhat controversial Mario Kart, improving on all of the game's weaknesses and inventing a few new additions of its own.

Diddy Kong's main drawback is that it's numbingly cute, certainly too cute for its own damn good. It feels almost cynically calculated in its look, feel, delivery, and even, ironically, in its timing. It's Rare's version of Disneyland, just in time for the winter holiday. The game lacks the originality of Rare's Blast Corps, and is deep down, a Mario Kart 64 clone. That said, it's the best kart game we've ever seen.

[INFO PROVIDED BY IGN64.COM]

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In the end, Diddy Kong Racing is a calculated, copy of a game that Nintendo, not Rare, originated. But as is the case with Rare, the company has that amazing knack for taking an idea and crafting it into something beautiful. Diddy Kong Racing is a deep, colorful game with an overly kiddy feel and look. But after a few minutes, you'll be compelled with subtle details, blissful gameplay and graphics, and the full, rich world that makes Diddy Kong Racing an even better game than Mario Kart.
~IGN.COM



from Matt Casamassina
To say that Diddy Kong Racing has not been greatly influenced by Nintendo's Mario Kart 64 would be a flat-out lie. Diddy looks and plays so similar to Kart that one begins to wonder why this game wasn't billed as a sequel. But Rare has improved upon and not simply borrowed from the genre with hugely enhanced graphics, tight play control and new land, water and air races. The game's multiplayer mode, however, cannot compete with Mario Kart's. A well-rounded, commendable attempt that just falls short of classic status.

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