Diddy Kong Pilot (2001)

Diddy Kong Pilot is a cancelled follow-up title of Diddy Kong Racing for the Game Boy Advance, which was developed by Rareware. Diddy Kong was the main and titular character of the game. The game involves Donkey Kong characters racing in Planes on -rendered courses. In 2005, the game was finalized as the Banjo-Kazooie title, Banjo-Pilot. The reason for its change was from Microsoft's acquisition of Rare in 2002. In 2002-2003, before the decision was made to design it a Banjo-Kazooie title, Diddy Kong Pilot was already being redeveloped into an entirely different game.

History
The game was first shown at E3 2001, and was also shown a few months later at Spaceworld 2001.

One of the characters, tentatively named Redneck Kong,, or "Crappy Kong" was "killed off" early in the game's development, according to Jens Christian Restemeier, one of the game's developers. Candy Kong would subsequently appear in the background for character selection menus.

One of the builds, said to be presented at a Spaceworld, consisted of a cast featuring both Donkey Kong Country and Mario characters, which would have been a first for a Donkey Kong series spinoff. This version allowed players to select between six Donkey Kong characters (Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong, King K. Rool, Funky Kong, and Dixie Kong) and six Mario characters (Princess Peach, Mario, Yoshi [sitting atop a Lakitu's Cloud], Wario [piloting a red biplane similar to the Bulldog], Bowser and Toad). Not much information is known regarding this build or its history.

In 2002, Nintendo refused to publish Diddy Kong Pilot, as they found the game "substandard". One of their criticisms was "There's no point in flying up and down on flat levels") Some Rare employees believed the company was prejudiced since it occurred in a time period just before the Microsoft acquisition. Diddy Kong Pilot was not presented at E3 2002.

On September 15, 2011, after ten years of no new information regarding the game, a former Rare employee, under the pseudonym of Transparentjinjo, posted gameplay footage of the game on YouTube. According to the video's title, the build was dated "September 7, 2001".

Gameplay
Diddy Kong Pilot featured six modes: Racing, Stories, Dogfights, Battle, Clock Race, and Options. The build is largely unfinished since most of the stages are almost empty, with some only having a backdrop and a few assets. Many of the modes, such as dogfights, are non-functional. Upon starting up the game, the player is led onto a debug menu, allowing them to select a course, a player, and a blend option.

According to Rare, the player would have been able to customize their own plane.

When Races mode is selected and the player goes on to selecting a level, he or she can choose the world, each at a different difficulty level. Like the predecessor, the player can collect bananas and weapons, which can also be upgrade like in Diddy Kong Racing.

The stories mode consists of three different stories: King of Kongs, Back to the Light, and K. Rool's Gold. Each story would center around a specific character, and each would have a boss battle at the end.

The Dogfight mode features players fighting against each other. There are four options, none of which are implemented: Classic Dogfight, a Dawn Duel, a Classic Variation, or a Focal Feud.

The Battle mode was planned as a multiplayer mode, and its icon shows a crate with miscellaneous objects. Another version of the game had a different icon showing four original Game Boy Advance models hooked up with a Link Cable.

The Clock Race mode would have presumably been the Time Trials mode. It has little difference from the "Racing" mode, aside from how the player can more easily choose the stage, like with the start-up debug menu.

Options only allows the player to choose between D-Pad or tilt control. The tilt sensor capability was shown off at E3 2001.

Controls

 * or : Move in the desired direction.
 * Acceleration
 * Use weapon
 * or : Tilt at a sharper angle
 * or (twice): aerial roll
 * and Down while accelerating (twice): U-turn
 * Pause the game

Playable characters
The character selection menu is highly incomplete, as highlighting a character would trigger a sound effect from an unrelated character. Selecting a character causes the game to choose an entirely different character instead. Donkey Kong cannot be normally selected without the use of cheats.


 * Diddy Kong
 * Dixie Kong
 * Donkey Kong
 * Cranky Kong
 * Kritter
 * King K. Rool
 * Redneck Kong (removed)
 * Candy Kong (unimplemented)

Aside from stages and stories, some unlockable characters were also planned to be included in Diddy Kong Pilot.

Items

 * Rockets: These items slow down players.
 * Rocket Boost (green and red): These can be used to speed up temporarily. The red one causes the player to accelerate the fastest and farthest.
 * Peanuts (5 and 10): These can be used to shoot opponents into the ground.
 * Magnet (green and red): These can be used to make the player pass others when close by. It occasionally doesn't work.
 * DK Balloons: These contain an item with Cranky on it. It retires the player from advancing.
 * ? Balloons: They contain regular items.

Sleepy Shores

 * Bounty Beach: A race track taking place on the beach as the name states. It has palm trees in the background along with the shore.
 * Farm Attract:
 * Jet Set Jungle:
 * Beach Race: The player races Donkey Kong in this area.

Kongo Kingdom

 * Swoop Swamp:
 * Jungle Race:
 * Magma Mainland: A lava-like area with volcanoes nearby.
 * Haunted Race:

Western Wastes

 * Lake Race:
 * Lava Race:
 * Swamp Race: Takes place in a swamp-like area.
 * Crackpot Keep:

Island of Eggs

 * Vulture Valley:
 * Keep Race:
 * Lake Race:
 * Chicken Chase: There appear to be chickens in this level and takes place near a farm.

Polar Plateau

 * Frosty Lake
 * Farm Race
 * Desert Race
 * Snow Race

King of Kongs

 * Beach Barricade
 * Hair Raising Rescue
 * Peaceful Passage
 * Cranky Panky

Back to the Light

 * Grub Grab
 * Farm Feud
 * Swamp Swoop
 * Dark Tower

K.Rool's Gold

 * Classic Dogfight
 * Fly Like The Wind
 * Snowball Snapshot
 * Flawed Genie'us

Battle stages

 * Jungle Jig
 * Sunset Scrap
 * Ice Escapades
 * Beach Brawl
 * Hatch Match
 * Ghost Grasp
 * Swamp Showdown
 * Wasteland Wipe Out

Trivia

 * The background of the Stories menu has two photographs resembling official artwork from Diddy Kong Racing.