Diddy Kong Racing was one of the last games Rare developed for the Donkey Kong franchise. Because of this, they couldn’t bring it to a Microsoft console, despite Rare being owned by Microsoft today. However, Microsoft did allow Rare to create a version of the game for the Nintendo DS.

Development for Diddy Kong Racing began after the completion of Killer Instinct 2. Interestingly, the game was originally intended to be an adventure title called Wild Cartoon Kingdom. Eventually, Rare decided to build the game around Diddy Kong instead.

The reason Donkey Kong himself is absent from Diddy Kong Racing is that Rare felt Donkey Kong was always “Nintendo’s baby,” whereas Diddy Kong was their own creation.

Diddy Kong Racing was actually almost released before Mario Kart 64 in Europe.

Banjo from Banjo-Kazooie made his first appearance in Diddy Kong Racing, even before Banjo-Kazooie was released.

Conker the Squirrel also made his first appearance in this game. However, in Diddy Kong Racing, Conker is portrayed as a cheerful, family-friendly character—quite different from the version seen later in Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

Most of the characters in the game feature full voice acting, which was rare for any Nintendo 64 title.

Rare also had plans to develop a GameCube game called Diddy Kong Racing Adventure, but those plans were canceled after Nintendo sold Rare to Microsoft.