Diddy Kong Pilot (2001): Difference between revisions

'''''Diddy Kong Pilot''''' is a canceled follow-up title of ''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]], which was developed by [[Rare Ltd.]] [[Diddy Kong]] was the main and titular character of the game. The game involves ''[[Donkey Kong (series)|Donkey Kong]]'' characters racing in [[Plane]]s on {{wp|Mode 7}}-rendered courses. It was initially planned for early 2002, but [[Nintendo]] sold their share of Rare Ltd. to {{wp|Microsoft Corporation|Microsoft}} and opted out of their publishing contract. Around the same time, in 2002-2003, before the decision was made to design it into a ''Banjo-Kazooie'' game, ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' was being redeveloped into an entirely [[Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)|different game]]. In 2005, the game was finalized as a ''{{wp|Banjo-Kazooie (series)|Banjo-Kazooie}}'' game, ''{{wp|Banjo-Pilot}}'' due to Microsoft's acquisition of Rare in 2002.

One of the characters, tentatively named Redneck Kong,<ref name="DK Vine"/> or "Crappy Kong",<ref>http://nintendoeverything.com/diddy-kong-pilot-screenshots-videos-details-and-more/</ref> was "killed off" early in the game's development, according to the September 3, 2001 edition of Scribes from Rareware<ref>"''4. Oh, let's see... Since Diddy Kong Pilot is scheduled to come out by year's end, maybe the release is close enough to merit a response to this... who's the hillbilly Kong from the character select screen? Can we at least have a name? <br/>4) Don't worry about it - he's been killed off now anyway.''" <br/>[https://web.archive.org/web/20020805043822/http://rareware.com/the_site/talk_to_us/scribes/sep3_01/sep3_01.html September 3, 2001 edition of Scribes on Rareware]</ref> and Jens Christian Restemeier, one of the game's developers.<ref>[https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,182799/ Jens Christian Restemeier - MobyGames profile]</ref> [[Candy Kong]] would subsequently appear in the background for character selection menus.<ref>[http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/07/diddy-kong-pilot-banjo-pilot-beta Unseen64]</ref>

One of the builds, said to be presented at a Space World 2000, consisted of a cast featuring both ''[[Donkey Kong Country (series)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' and ''[[Mario (franchise)|Mario]]'' characters, which would have been a first for a ''Donkey Kong'' 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]]). A tilt control idea that was present in the debug mode of a very early build<ref name="sw2000"/> was dropped in this build, but was retained in the Options mode. Not much information is known regarding this build or its history.<ref name="sw2000">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DRAqj__5eA "Diddy Kong Pilot - Very Early Beta Spaceworld" on YouTube]</ref>

Rare's other two ''Donkey Kong'' installments from E3 2001, ''[[Donkey Kong Racing]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers]]'', were canceled in August 2002,<ref>[https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/7645/changes-to-rares-website Changes to Rare's Website]</ref> one month before Microsoft's acquisition of Rare, while ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' received no official announcement of the cancelation.

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.<ref>[https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm18144367 Niconico reupload]</ref> According to the video's title, the build was dated "September 7, 2001".<ref>[https://www.neogaf.com/threads/new-diddy-kong-pilot-footage-appears.447203/ NeoGAF thread]</ref>

Upon starting up the game, the player is instantly led onto a debug menu, and it has three options: Level, Player, and Blend. The first option allows them to choose a course, and the second one allows them to select a character (Cranky). The "level" options include:

{| class="dktable-brown" style="text-align:

The second option, "Player" has six numerical values, labeled 0-5. Each of them represent a playable character:

*7-11: No data (only selectable by using cheats;{{footnote|main|2}} Krunch, K. Rool, Dixie, Cranky, Diddy in order)

{|class="dktable-brown"width=50%

{|class="dktable-brown"

{|class="dktable-brown"

{|align=center class="dktable-brown"style="text-align:center;margin:0 auto 1em auto"

|colspan="3"style="background:#FFF8DC"|[[File:Crystal Coast DKP 2001 preview.png]]{{br}}{{hover|Beach Race|The actual title is Crystal Coast, although Beach Race serves as the placeholder title on the Clock Race menu}}{{br}}Beach 01

|colspan="3"style="background:#FFF8DC"|[[File:Question Mark DKP 2001 preview.png]]

|colspan="3"style="background:wheat"|[[File:Question Mark DKP 2001 preview.png]]

|colspan="3"style="background:#FFF8DC"|[[File:Question Mark DKP 2001 preview.png]]

{|align=center class="dktable-brown"style="text-align:center;margin:0 auto 1em auto"

{|class="dktable-brown"

DKP13.jpg|Diddy racing against K. Rool and Krunch in Crystal Coast

''Mario'' characters would have originally made an appearance. While the idea had already been scrapped at E3 2001 in development, the graphics still remain in the ROM. The playable characters included:

K. Rool's Gold was a functional story in the build. It is inaccessible in the September 2001 build, although its graphics and story remain inside of the ROM:

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150203034323/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/event/sw2001/softlist/gba/diddy/index.html Nintendo of Japan Space World 2001 page] (Wayback Machine)