Despite already having Mario Kart on the N64, Nintendo obviously felt that there was sufficient demand for colourful racing games to warrant spinning off the Donkey Kong franchise as well. The result was a racing game that is similar to Mario Kart in style and in different ways is both superior and inferior to that game. Not being a big fan of the N64 Mario Kart (but in love with the SNES version) I ended up giving DKR a try to see how it compared.
Immediately I was hit by how childish and average the graphics were not just by today's standards but also back then. Considering the power of the N64, they were surprisingly sketchy. It didn't help that they tried to have a lot of stuff moving around or that the colours and characters were aimed so squarely at an age-bracket than just wanted to drive round as a monkey or a tiger, but generally I wasn't impressed. It scrolled well enough but it just didn't impress or interest me. The characters were equally annoying and I would have happily gutted all those cutesy and cheerful animals in return for the lean, green Koopa.
The races themselves are annoyingly cute and look too colourful and slow for my tastes. However in some ways they are better than Mario Kart. They are more skillful for example and you can actually pull away from people if you are driving really well. The items are mostly a lot harder to use as well and the computer characters use them less as well, again meaning that a skillful driver will not just get pelted because the computer wants to keep the race tight. The choice of vehicles is a nice touch as well, with the ability to fly around the same tracks that you drive round being fun (not sure about the slow and annoying hovercrafts though might have been a nice idea on paper). The races feel a bit slow as well, again like it is aimed at children although conversely some parts of it are annoyingly difficult to get passed and, although more skillful than MK64, it isn't skill-based to the point where you can grow past them, it is really just a case of plugging away and hoping. The little games between the races are quite fun though and long after I'd given up on it as a racing game I was still coming back to steal vulture eggs from 3 other players! Overall this is an OK racing game and younger players who liked Mario Kart will probably like it as well. However for me it was a bit too colourful and childish not only in looks and characters but also in terms of the races and the game as a whole. It may have strengths over MK64 (not a great game itself) but generally it only comes out as a so-so game and certainly not one that too many adults will have given more than a passing glance to.
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