Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)

Diddy Kong Pilot
Developer	Rareware
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date	Canceled November 5, 2011 (ROM)
Genre	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (accessible when linked; glitched)
Input	Game Boy Advance: Gamepad
Serial code(s)	N/A RARE (ROM code)

Diddy Kong Pilot is the name of a canceled Game Boy Advance racing title starring Diddy Kong and other Donkey Kong characters racing against each other in planes. This iteration was entirely redone from the original version, before finally being redesigned into Banjo-Pilot in 2005.

History

No information regarding this iteration of Diddy Kong Pilot was publicly known until October 3, 2011, when a former Rare employee, with the pseudonym "Transparentjinjo", posted a gameplay video on YouTube. According to its title, the game's build date was "February 19, 2003", approximately 5 months prior to Microsoft trademarking "Banjo-Pilot" on July 3, 2003.

Gameplay

Gameplay of Funky racing in the Steamy Swoop course

Diddy Kong Pilot has a few modes, including the Grand Prix-type mode "Cups", a Time Trial mode which has no default scores, or even the Cranky Challenge mode, in which the player's goal is to obtain six coins placed around the course while beating Cranky in a race. The multiplayer option is crossed out and cannot be accessed. Diddy Kong Pilot features three different teams: Team Kong (consisting of Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Donkey Kong, and Funky), Team Krem (consisting of Kritter, Klap Trap, Klump, and K. Rool), and Team Cranky, whose only member is Cranky Kong; he even appears in all four character slots. The player can unlock the Kremlings by finishing every cup, and Cranky if the player beats all the Cranky Challenges.

Gameplay progression is as follows:

1. Team Kong beats Team Krem in all four cups and boss fights, after which Cranky bets the player couldn't do it while playing as a Kremling.
2. Team Krem beats Team Kong in all four cups and boss fights, after which Cranky laments the fact that the Kremlings have earned the rights to claim the title screen as Kremling Pilot, showing a lava temple area.
3. Player beats all Cranky Challenges with any character, after which Cranky allows himself to be played.
4. Cranky beats Team Krem in all four cups and boss fights, claiming the title screen in his own name. The title screen is restyled to Cranky Kong Pilot, which shows a scenery of the open sea and Enguarde jumping out on occasion.

Aside from basic gameplay, few elements return directly from Diddy Kong Racing. T.T.'s voice is still used as the announcer despite him never visually appearing, and air-based Zippers reappear with the same design and functionality as before. Additionally, waiting to press the accelerator at the beginning of the race until the space between T.T.'s "Get ready" and "Go" results in a large speed boost.

The character selection is restricted to a specific difficulty in this build. Team Kong, Team Krem, and Team Cranky were replaced with Bottles GP, Grunty GP, and Endurance GP respectively in Banjo-Pilot.

The animation of characters flying across the screen on the title screen does not repeat in this build. In Banjo-Pilot, either one or all characters take turns flying across the screen.

Modes

Cups

Cups mode is divided between two sub-modes, Race and Boss.

Cups
Race	Boss

Race

The player needs to complete each of the four cups by first completing the four races to win a trophy, which allows them to fight the boss. Team Kong and Team Cranky have the same cups and tracks, while the tracks in Team Krem's cups are reversed and have different names. In each race, the player must place between first and fourth to qualify for the next race. Three retries are allotted if they fail to qualify, represented by flag icons on the retry screen. More retries can be earned by collecting all the KONG Letters in a course. At the end of a cup, the player must place third or higher overall. Otherwise, the player is simply returned to the cup select screen.

There is a slightly different ending sequence where different racers form the number of the player's final placement with smoke trails: first place involves Diddy, Funky, and Kritter; second place involves Kritter and Klump; and third place involves Kritter, Funky, and Donkey Kong.

Trophies
The Bronze Cup	The Silver Cup	The Gold Cup	The Platinum Cup
Place third overall	Place second overall	Place first overall	Place first in every race

Boss

After placing in the top three positions in a cup, the player gets to dogfight the boss, which is the character the cup is named for. Each take place above the clouds over the ocean, a vast forest, or the "Speedy Show" course. The fights alternate between having the player shoot at the boss from behind while avoiding their weapons, and having the player in front of the boss while avoiding their bullets. In both segments, item barrels appear and can be used by the player. Each cup's boss in the order they appear in the menu is more powerful and aggressive than the previous one, with four named difficulty levels shared by each team; however, the Kong bosses fought while playing as Team Krem are in general more dangerous than when the Kremlings are faced while playing as Team Krem, and when fighting the Kremlings as Team Cranky, they have their original behavior, but are much more durable. Each boss character has their own weapon which they drop in a chain behind them, making it dangerous to pursue them directly much of the time. After one of the participants loses all their health, a brief scene shows the winner shooting down the loser; unlike gameplay, this is shown from the side.

Time Trial

In Time Trial, the player can set their own high score on any track, including the reverse Kremling versions, with any character. Zippers and target balloons are present in this mode as in Cups, though barrels and the items within are not.

Cranky Challenge

In Cranky Challenge, the player must race Cranky Kong while collecting six coins he has hidden around the tracks. There is a Cranky Challenge for each of the 16 Team Kong courses, and they can be performed by any character. This was later replaced with Jiggy Challenge in Banjo-Pilot.

Options menu

The options menu has six selectable options, most of which are related to debugging: "Language", "Sound", "Secret", "Multiplayer Weapons", "Ghost", and "Clear Scores". The Language option is highly unfinished, and is shown to have four other options, aside from English: French, Spanish, German, and Italian. The only text translated into German are the options from the title screen and options menu. The other languages use the same, default English text for a placeholder.

Despite having no relevance to sound, the Sound option redirects the player to an incomplete initials menu. After entering three characters, the rotating character input goes to the number 5. If the player presses while the number is highlighted, they are sent back to the options menu.

The Secret option unlocks everything in the game. The Multiplayer Weapons option shows a replay of the cutscene from the most recent defeat in a dogfight match - if none have been played yet, it shows both players as Klap Trap. Despite its title, the Ghost mode has no relevance to Time Trial ghosts, and instead displays the victory photo of a team. The team displayed in the photo corresponds to the current title screen. The last option is Clear Scores, which erases all of the game data.

Teams and characters

There are three campaigns, each given to a team, which correspond to a difficulty level. For Banjo-Pilot, these are translated to different Grand Prixes where any of the nine characters can be played as, likely in part due to that franchise's relative lack of iconic "villain" characters for a team. In addition to the three stages in this game, Banjo-Pilot has an additional bonus Grand Prix called the Jinjo GP, racing against seven differently colored Jinjos.

Team Kong - Beginner

This team consists of four of the Kongs: Diddy, Dixie, Funky, and Donkey. Every member of Team Kong is playable since the start. They are the main rivals of Team Krem. Prior to starting a cup, Cranky passive-aggressively encourages the player to win against the Kremlings.

Banjo-Pilot counterpart: Bottles GP

Team Kong
Diddy Kong Speed: ★★★☆☆ Accel.: ★★★☆☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Kazooie	Dixie Kong Speed: ★★★☆☆ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★☆☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Jinjo	Funky Kong Speed: ★★★★☆ Accel.: ★★☆☆☆ Weight: ★★★☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Banjo	Donkey Kong Speed: ★★★★☆ Accel.: ★★★☆☆ Weight: ★★★★☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Bottles

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  Title screen

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  Menu background

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  Character select

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  Victory screen

Team Krem - Intermediate

Team Krem consists of four of the Kremlings: Kritter, Klap Trap, Klump, and K. Rool. The whole team is unlocked when the Kongs win against them in every cup and dogfight challenge. After the player beats every cup and wins against all four Kongs in dogfights while playing as a Kremling, the title screen and the selection menus are reskinned from the original jungle theme to have a Kremling theme. The title screen reads "Kremling Pilot", and it takes place in a ruins area with lava. The options and selection menus are replaced with a scaly red and yellow background. Before starting a cup as a Kremling, Cranky talks in a disgruntled manner toward them.

Banjo-Pilot counterpart: Grunty GP

Team Krem
Kritter Speed: ★★★☆☆ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Jolly Roger	Klap Trap Speed: ★★☆☆☆ Accel.: ★★★★★ Weight: ★☆☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Humba Wumba	Klump Speed: ★★★★☆ Accel.: ★★☆☆☆ Weight: ★★★★☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Klungo	K. Rool Speed: ★★★★★ Accel.: ★☆☆☆☆ Weight: ★★★★★ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Grunty

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  Title screen

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  Menu background

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  Character select

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  Victory screen

Team Cranky - Expert

Cranky is the only member of Team Cranky, the only team specifically named after another character. Team Cranky can be unlocked after the player beats every Cranky challenge in 1st place with all coins collected. Despite Cranky being the only team member, Team Cranky still has its own character select screen, which features four identical slots to select Cranky.

After the player beats every cup and wins against all four Kremlings in dogfights while playing as Cranky, the Cranky Kong Pilot title screen is unlocked, which shows a cobwebbed, wooden logo of "Cranky Kong Pilot", and shows an ocean in the background scenery. From the title screen, Enguarde occasionally jumps out of the water. The options and selection menu show construction girders from the Donkey Kong arcade game. At this point, the game is complete, and Cranky Kong informs the player that it seems like the "end of an era," possibly referencing Rare's time with the Donkey Kong franchise coming to an end.

Banjo-Pilot counterpart: Endurance GP

Team Cranky
Cranky Speed: ★★★★★ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Mumbo Jumbo	Cranky Speed: ★★★★★ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Mumbo Jumbo	Cranky Speed: ★★★★★ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Mumbo Jumbo	Cranky Speed: ★★★★★ Accel.: ★★★★☆ Weight: ★★☆☆☆ Banjo-Pilot analogue: Mumbo Jumbo

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  Title screen

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  Menu background

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  Character select

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  Victory screen

Items

General items and objects

Name and image	Description	Banjo-Pilot counterpart
Barrel	Barrels give usable items when broken.	Honeycomb
Bullet	The planes' main weapon, used by default when the player has no barrel items. They are used most extensively in dogfights.	Bullet
Coin	Six of these are found in each of the Cranky Challenges. To succeed, all must be collected and Cranky beaten in a race.	Jiggy
KONG Letters	Collectibles that grant an extra retry if collected entirely.	Musical Notes
Target Balloon	A single Target Balloon appears on each track, floating out of the way when approached. If it is successfully shot, it spawns the respectively colored Zipper for a short period, though it does not respawn until the next race.	Glowbo
Zipper	Zippers boost speed for a short period, boosting extra if the player releases the acceleration before hitting them. The special pink Zippers spawn chains of them in a row if gone through with the final leading to a faster and longer "Monkey Power" boost, and the special yellow ones activate a "Monkey Madness" effect that autopilots the player to the finish line.	Zipper "Go Glowbo Go"

Barrel items

Name and image	Description	Banjo-Pilot counterpart
Pink Buzz	Homes onto the nearest opponent. They are either featured alone or in a set of three.	Fire Egg
Blue Buzz	Homes in on the pilot in first place like a Spiny Shell, but can be escaped with a Zinger item or a zipper boost.	Saucer 'O Peril
Rambi	Grants temporary invincibility to everything except hazards such as trees, like a Star from the Mario Kart series.	Gold Feather
TNT Barrel	Boosts the user while damaging other pilots nearby. In a boss fight, the boss is automatically damaged if the player uses it, regardless of positioning.	Turbo Trainer
Wrench Barrel	Strikes other racers with lightning and makes them dizzy, or damages the opponent during a boss fight. CPU opponents cannot use this item.	Mingy Jongo
Zinger	Can be dropped behind by racers as an obstacle for other racers to crash into. They may fly in place, up and down, left or right, or wind around a small area.	Ice Egg

Courses

Race courses

All race courses have three laps, regardless of mode. There are five background environments and 16 race tracks. Both teams have the same layouts and environments but with different names.

Team Kong and Team Cranky

Cups	Map	Description	Banjo-Pilot counterpart
Klap Trap Kup	Steamy Swoop	A jungle-themed stage with Donkey Kong's Treehouse in the background.	Honeycomb Cup	Spiral Mountain	Donkey Kong's Treehouse and the jungle are replaced by Spiral Mountain and its surrounding trees.
	Plain Pursuit	A flats-themed stage where Expresso makes a cameo.		Jinxy's Dunes	No difference.
	Chilly Length	An ice-themed stage with orcas and a ship in the background.		Freezeezy Peak	The cruiser is replaced by the snowman from Freezeezy Peak.
	Magma Spurt	A temple-themed stage with golden K. Rool statues in the background.		Hailfire Peaks	The temple is replaced with volcanoes.
Kritter Kup	Shore Strife	A beach-themed stage with Donkey Kong Island in the background, and Enguardes as an Easter egg.	Jiggy Cup	Treasure Trove Cove	Donkey Kong Island is replaced by the Treasure Trove Cove island. Enguarde is replaced with dolphins from Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge.
	Jungle Jostle	A more complex rendition of Steamy Swoop.		Clanker's River	The background is based on Clanker's Cavern and uses the trees from Spiral Mountain.
	Temple Heat	A dark temple-themed stage with large amounts of lava.		Grunty Industries	The temple is replaced by a background of Grunty Industries, while the pillars are replaced with lattice towers.
	Wild Wilderness	A more complex rendition of Plain Pursuit with varyingly sized Expressos as obstacles.		Gobi's Valley	The plateau is replaced by Gobi's Valley. Expresso is replaced with Gobi.
Klump Kup	Frosty Feud	A basic ice-themed stage with lines of slowing rocks and a lighthouse in the background.	Beehive Cup	Freezing Furnace	Part of the ice in the background has been recolored from white to pink.
	Vine Rush	A dark jungle-themed stage with many tree obstacles.		Mayahem Temple	The background is replaced by Mayahem Temple.
	Speedy Show	A variation of Magma Spurt with a large Kritter-like dragon in the lava.		Steamy Vents	The temple is replaced with volcanoes.
	Reef Encounter	A more complex rendition of Shore Strife with beach tent obstacles. A nonfunctional Enguarde object appears, stuck on the last frame of its jumping animation.		Jolly Roger's Lagoon	The background is replaced by Jolly Roger's Lagoon. One of the tents is based on Sabreman's tent, while the easternmost tent is replaced by Sabreman himself.
K. Rool Kup	Lava Dispute	A variation of Temple Heat.	Feather Cup	Witchyworld	The background is replaced by Witchyworld, and the lava is replaced by a swamp. The music is also different.
	Frantic Beach	A sunset beach-themed stage.		Breegull Beach	Donkey Kong Island is replaced by the Treasure Trove Cove island.
	Prairie Dash	An even more complex rendition of Plain Pursuit.		Terrydactyland	The plateau is replaced by Terrydactyland. The Expresso obstacles were removed.
	Icy Passage	A more complex rendition of Chilly Length with many tight turns.		Cauldron Keep	The cruiser was replaced by the tower from Cauldron Keep. An ice plateau is flipped horizontally and is more blue.

Team Krem

Cups	Map	Banjo-Pilot counterpart
Dixie Cup	Monkey Rift	Pumpkin Cup	Spiral Mountain R
	Plateau Patrol		Jinxy's Dunes R
	Arctic Rumble		Freezeezy Peak R
	Ember Trouble		Hailfire Peaks R
Diddy Cup	Rapid Sands	Cauldron Cup	Treasure Trove Cove R
	Simian Fields		Clanker's River R
	Cinder Slam		Grunty Industries R
	Savannah Air		Gobi's Valley R
Funky Cup	Snow Business	Skull Cup	Freezing Furnace R
	Gibbons Gate		Mayahem Temple R
	Fiery Divide		Steamy Vents R
	Monkey Bay		Jolly Roger's Lagoon R
Donkey Cup	Sanctum Shoot	Broomstick Cup	Witchyworld R
	Coastal Chaos		Breegull Beach R
	Sunset Shindig		Terrydactyland R
	Tundra Trouble		Cauldron Keep R

Boss courses

	Boss Bop		Boss Bash		Boss Brawl		Boss Bother
Boss
Weapon
Banjo-Pilot counterpart	Kazooie Klash	Jolly Roger Joust	Humba Horror	Mumbo Maul	Banjo Brawl	Klungo Karnage	Bottles Bother	Grunty Gallop

Battle courses

	Map	Banjo-Pilot counterpart
Battle Tracks	Jungle Jig	Mumbo's Mountain
	Sunset Scrap	Temple Tussle
	Ice Escapades	Arctic Blast
	Beach Brawl	Rusty Bucket Bay

Audio

Chris Seavor provided the voice of all playable characters (Diddy, Dixie, Funky, Donkey, Klap Trap, Kritter, Klump, K. Rool, and Cranky), while Dean Smith served as the announcer, using the exact same voice as T.T. All of the voices were recorded in late 2002 and were placeholders, later being replaced by voices from Banjo-Kazooie in Banjo-Pilot. All of the music from this build was brought over to Banjo-Pilot with the addition of a few music tracks including the multiplayer theme, while "Monkey Madness!" was replaced by "Go Glowbo Go!" The original title theme eventually went unused in the final game, though it was changed to replace the monkey screech at the beginning with a Glowbo noise and remains in the game's files.

Music list

ID	Music	ID	Music
00	Forest	01	Wasteland
02	Lava	03	Race results
04	Menus (unused in Banjo-Pilot)	05 Proto	Title screen (unused in Banjo-Pilot)
06	Forest (final lap)	07	Race track intro
08	Race start	09	Finish (1st place)
0A	Finish (2nd-4th place)	0B	Finish (5th-8th place)
0C	Wasteland (final lap)	0D	Lava (final lap)
0E	Beach	0F	Beach (final lap)
10	Invincibility	11	Ice
12	Ice (final lap)	13	Cranky Kong's Cabin (unused in Banjo-Pilot)
14	Using Thunder item	15	Boss fight
16	Boss fight, speedup	17	Using Thunder item, reverse
18	Title screen (Kremling Pilot) Cheato	19	Title screen (Cranky Kong Pilot) Jinjo GP
1A	Trophy ceremony	1B Proto	"Monkey Madness!" "Go Glowbo Go!"
Banjo-Pilot additionals
1C	Title (Banjo-Pilot)	1D	Bottles
1E	Gruntilda/Witchyworld	1F	Final Lap Alert (Witchyworld)
20	Witchyworld (final lap)	21	Multiplayer

Glitches

A glitch found from the background

Diddy Kong Pilot went considerably far in development, although it remains somewhat unpolished. The most notable bug is the continuous loop of a loud sound effect, which occurs when the player goes through a zipper just before a Buzz crashes into them. Another bug always shows a "22" in the top-left corner of the Options menu. All of these glitches were fixed in Banjo-Pilot.

Gallery

Screenshots

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  Cranky Kong sitting outside his cabin

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  K-O-N-G Letters

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  Klap Trap defeating himself in a dogfight

Sprites

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  Logo

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  Buzz

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  Buzz

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  Cranky

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  Donkey Kong Island

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  Donkey Kong's Treehouse

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  Enguarde

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  Enguarde's dorsal and tail fin

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  Medal (gold)

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  Medal (platinum)

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  Tent

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  Tree

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  Tree

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  Tree

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  Zinger

Non-unique

These sprites would later be used for Banjo-Pilot.

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  Column

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  Column

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  Column

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  Column

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  Dragon

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  Expresso

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  Ice formation

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  Orca

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  Rock formation

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  Rock formation

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  Tree

Backgrounds

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  Team/mode select

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  Team Kong theme

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  Team Krem theme

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  Team Cranky theme

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  Cranky's Cabin

Quotes

Main article: List of Diddy Kong Pilot (2003) quotes

Cranky

• "Before we start, lets^[sic] get a few things straight... you are racing for the pride of Team Kong, don't let us down... I did not suffer those interminable amounts of monotonous gameplay for you to blow it all now. Each cup is made up of four races... If you win that then you need to go head to head against a Kremling to show them who is boss.. Look out for the Target Balloons... shoot them and a secret boost will appear... fly through it and something special will happen.. Think you can handle it? I very much doubt it." - when beginning a cup race the first time
• "C'mon, that was terrible, you're letting the whole team down... You need to finish in the top four places if you are going to qualify for the next race.." - after losing a race
• "Pathetic! I've never seen such bad flying! Head for the barrels and use the weapons... That should make it easy... even for someone as terrible as you.." - after losing a second race
• "Having trouble are we? If you collect all of the KONG letters then you get an extra retry... The way you are flying, you're going to need it." - after losing a third race
• "Pah! That was awful... Shameful... you can't let them get the better of you... Get back out there and show them what you're made of" - after losing a boss fight
• "That wasn't too difficult was it? Get on and race the rest of them, nothing is going to happen until you beat all four..." - after beating a Kremling boss

Trivia

• A spelling error appears when the player loses at a boss fight: the text reads "YOU LOOSE" instead of "YOU LOSE".
• All playable characters have voiced dialogue. Klump notably sounds like his cartoon counterpart; similarly, Funky has a Jamaican accent in the game.
• The generic Kritter in the game bears far more resemblance to Krunch than a typical Kritter. He also speaks in a Southern accent.
• In the Cups mode, the point spread matches those of the first three Mario Kart games; Mario Kart: Super Circuit was the most recent Mario Kart game as of the prototype build. In Banjo-Pilot, the point spread was changed to match that of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, which was released after the Diddy Kong Pilot prototype, and was the most recent Mario Kart game as of the final release.
• Unlike Banjo-Pilot, it is not possible to have characters race or fight themselves with the exception of Cranky being able to race himself if he is chosen for the Cranky Challenges.
• Dialogue from Team Kong directed to Cranky if he is on Team Krem will treat him as if he is on Team Kong; for example, Funky Kong will say, "Come on, dude!" if Cranky attacks him.

External links

• TCRF article