Although Diddy Kong Racing has never had a direct sequel or even a proper rerelease, it's a game which created ripples which are still felt to this day. I wanted to take a moment to look at its legacy. 1/28

#DiddyKongRacing #DiddyKong

Firstly, there's the fact that this game was the debut of Banjo the Bear, a character we all know and love who went on to star in the iconic Banjo-Kazooie series. 2/28

#BanjoKazooie #BanjoTooie #BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts

In addition to Banjo, Conker the Squirrel also made his first appearance. His series would take him very far from his origins, but this is where it all started. 3/28

#ConkersPocketTales #ConkersBadFurDay #ConkerLiveAndReloaded

TipTup may not have gone on to have his own game, but he became a recurring character in the Banjo-Kazooie series. 4/28

#BanjoKazooie #BanjoTooie #DiddyKongRacing

While Krunch has never made a return, the Kremlings in Donkey Kong 64 were designed to look similar to him. This Kremling design was also used in Mario Power Tennis. 5/28

#Kremlings #DonkeyKong #DonkeyKong64 #MarioPowerTennis

Tricky is another character who never went on to have his own game, but who appeared in another franchise. Interestingly, he became a character in the Star Fox series. 6/28

#DiddyKongRacing #StarFox #StarFoxAdventures #StarFoxAssault

Why did Tricky become a Star Fox character? It's because he would have been in Dinosaur Planet, which started life as a Diddy Kong Racing sequel for the N64 and ultimately became Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube. 7/28

#DinosaurPlanet #StarFoxAdventures

Dinosaur Planet wasn't the only follow up which was changed or unreleased. Before Microsoft bought Rare, Diddy Kong Pilot was in production for the Game Boy Advance. 8/28

#DiddyKongPilot #DonkeyKong #GameBoyAdvance

Similarly, Donkey Kong Racing was also in production. Though it didn't have vehicle-based racing, it saw returning characters from Diddy Kong Racing riding on the Animal Buddies from Donkey Kong Country. Unfortunately, it was never finished. 9/28

#DonkeyKongRacing

Donkey Kong Racing was almost reworked into Sabreman Stampede for Xbox consoles, which would have kept the animal-riding gameplay, but used the characters and setting of the Sabre Wulf series. 10/28

#SabremanStampede #SabreWulf

Rare also worked on a vehicle-based racing game which would have been a sort of spiritual successor and featured Banjo racing alongside other Rare icons. It was titled The Fast and the Furriest. This, too, was cancelled. 11/28

#TheFastAndTheFurriest #RareReplay

One follow up which did see the light of day was Banjo-Pilot, which was a reworking of Diddy Kong Pilot. Interestingly, it features cameos from a Donkey Kong character and a Sabre Wulf character, plus a creature who looks a lot like Krunch the Kremling. 12/28

#BanjoPilot

A couple of years later, Diddy Kong Racing DS was released. This was a remake of the original, but also a kind of sequel. Banjo and Conker were gone, but there were new tracks and Dixie and Tiny Kong were added as playable characters. 13/28

#DiddyKongRacingDS #DixieKong

As an aside, Tiny Kong was redesigned for Diddy Kong Racing DS to make her look older and less similar to Dixie Kong. Following this, Tiny has always used this new design. 14/28

#TinyKong #DonkeyKongJetRace #MarioSuperSluggers #SuperSmashBros

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts can also be seen as a sort of successor to Diddy Kong Racing in that Banjo races on land, in the air and on water, much as he did in his debut. Banjo also mentions the events of Diddy Kong Racing in the game. 15/28

#BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts #Xbox360

While Rare seemed to want to do more with Diddy Kong Racing than Nintendo did, they didn't forget it. You can still find it listed in the Chronicle in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. 16/28

#SuperSmashBrosBrawl #DiddyKongRacing

As an aside, it is worth mentioning that Diddy Kong also had a significant racing career in the Mario Kart series after Diddy Kong Racing. 17/28

#DiddyKong #MarioKartDoubleDash #MarioKartWii #MarioKartTour

The race track Dino Dino Jungle from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has been interpreted as a Diddy Kong Racing tribute by some fans. It's a jungle full of dinosaurs and old ruins and Diddy is often associated with it. 18/28

#MarioKartDoubleDash #DiddyKong

Banjo's racing career also continued into Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (with Banjo-Kazooie) where he appeared as a guest racer alongside Kazooie. His profile in the game acknowledges that he made his debut in Diddy Kong Racing. 19/28

#SonicAndSegaAllStarsRacing #BanjoKazooie

While Banjo is not present in the sequel Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the game does build upon many gameplay aspects of Diddy Kong Racing (namely racing by air and sea) and Sumo Digital may have used it as a source of inspiration. 20/28

Sea of Thieves, also contains two Diddy Kong Racing connections. Firstly, a pre-release screen shot of the game featured TT, although he is not in the final game. Secondly, an island called Crescent Island could be a reference to the race track of the same name. 21/28

Playtonic Games have also included a possible Diddy Kong Racing reference in Yooka-Laylee. The retro dinosaur, Retro-Sixtyfourus mentions waiting for his friends since 1997, the year Diddy Kong Racing was released. 22/28

#YookaLaylee

When Banjo and Kazooie were finally added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, their reveal trailer made it clear that this was a significant reunion, highlighting that it had been so long since Banjo and Diddy had been together in Diddy Kong Racing. 23/28

#SmashUltimate #BanjoKazooie

However, Diddy, Banjo and Conker had all been in a game together a few years earlier. With cross-platform play, it was possible to have Diddy, Banjo and Conker together in Minecraft. 24/28

#Minecraft

Finally, there were also several manga and comic tie-ins to Diddy Kong Racing. These involved the cast interacting with characters from the broader Nintendo universe. 25/28

#DiddyKongRacing #SuperMario

Bonus Point 1: Though never intended originally, Rare and Yacht Club Games both joked on Twitter about how Drumstick and Shovel Knight's Air Ship Enthusiast (a.k.a. Cooper) could be the same person. 26/28

#ShovelKnight

Bonus Point 2: In a promo for Conker: Live & Reloaded, Conker was interviewed in character. During the interview, he mentioned that a Diddy Kong Racing co-star was now in jail. The general fan consensus is that this was Bumper. 27/28

I can't wait to see how the huge legacy of Diddy Kong Racing continues to grow. It's a wonderful game. I love it and everything that came afterwards. Thanks for reading! 28/28