Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)

Diddy Kong Pilot
Developer	Rareware
Publisher	None
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date	Canceled
Genre	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer (inaccessible)

It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information.

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 build was entirely redone from the original version, before finally becoming Banjo-Pilot in 2005.

History

No information regarding this build 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". About a month later, the game leaked onto an unrelated Rare fansite.

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 Trials, or even the Cranky's Challenge mode, in which the player's goal is to obtain Banana Coins placed around the course. 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 Kritter (consisting of Kritter, Klaptrap, 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.

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. 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

Team Kong - Beginner
Description and members								Title screen	Select screen	Victory screen
This team consists of four of the Kongs: Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, and Funky. Every member of Team Kong is playable since the start. They are the main rivals of Team Krem. Prior to starting a cup, Cranky encourages the player to win against the Kremlings.
Diddy Kong		Speed:		Dixie Kong		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:
Funky Kong		Speed:		Donkey Kong		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:
Team Krem - Intermediate
Description and members								Title screen	Select screen	Victory screen
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 honeycomb background (likely a reference to Zinger hives). Before starting a cup as a Kremling, Cranky talks in a disgruntled manner toward them.
Kritter		Speed:		Klap Trap		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:
Klump		Speed:		K. Rool		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:
Team Cranky - Expert
Description and members								Title screen	Select screen	Victory screen
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 oddly 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.
Cranky		Speed:		Cranky		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:
Cranky		Speed:		Cranky		Speed:
		Accel.:				Accel.:
		Weight:				Weight:

Items

Track items and objects

Name and image	Description
Balloon	A single 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.
Barrel	Barrels give usable items when broken.
KONG Letters	Collectibles that were later replaced with Musical Notes in Banjo-Pilot. They seem to serve no purpose in the unfinished Diddy Kong Pilot.
Zipper	Zippers boost speed for a short period. The special pink Zippers spawn chains of them in a row if gone through, and the special yellow ones activate a "Monkey Madness" effect that autopilots the player to the finish line.

Barrel items

Name and image	Description
File:DKP Pink Buzz.png Pink Buzz	Homes onto the nearest opponent. They are either featured alone or in a set of three.
File:DKP Blue Buzz.png Blue Buzz	Homes in on the pilot in first place, but can be escaped with a Zinger item or a zipper boost.
File:DKPRambiInvincibilitySprite.png Rambi	Grants temporary invincibility to everything except hazards such as trees, like a Star from the Mario Kart series.
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.
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.
Zinger	Can be dropped behind by racers as an obstacle for other racers to crash into. They fly up and down after being placed, but not left or right.

Race courses

Klap Trap Cup	Steamy Swoop	Plain Pursuit	Chilly Length	Magma Spurt
A jungle-themed stage with Donkey Kong's Treehouse in the background.	A flats-themed stage where Expresso makes a cameo.	An ice-themed stage with orcas and a ship in the background.	A temple-themed stage with golden K. Rools statue in the background.
Kritter Cup	Shore Strife	Jungle Jostle	Temple Heat	Wild Wilderness
A beach-themed stage with DK Isle in the background, and Enguardes as an Easter egg.	A more complex rendition of Steamy Swoop.	A dark temple-themed stage with large amounts of lava.	A more complex rendition of Plain Pursuit with varyingly sized Expressos as obstacles.
Klump Cup	Frosty Feud	Vine Rush	Speedy Show	Reef Encounter
A basic ice-themed stage with lines of slowing rocks and a lighthouse in the background.	A dark jungle-themed stage with many tree obstacles.	A variation of Magma Spurt with a large Kritter-like dragon in the lava.	A more complex rendition of Shore Strife with beach tent obstacles.
K. Rool Cup	Lava Dispute	Frantic Beach	Prairie Dash	Icy Passage
A variation of Temple Heat.	A sunset beach-themed stage.	An even more complex rendition of Plain Pursuit.	A more complex rendition of Chilly Length.

When playing as Team Krem, differently titled reverse variants are used instead. All can be accessed by any character for time trial.

Dixie Kong Cup	Monkey Rift	Plateau Patrol	Arctic Rumble	Ember Trouble
Diddy Kong Cup	Rapid Sands	Simian Fields	Cinder Slam	Savannah Air
Funky Kong Cup	Snow Business	Gibbons Gate	Fiery Divide	Monkey Bay
Donkey Kong Cup	Sanctum Shoot	Coastal Chaos	Sunset Shindig	Tundra Trouble

Glitches

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.

Gallery

Screenshots

• DKP - Cranky Kong Screenshot.png

  Cranky Kong sitting outside his cabin

• DKP - Kong Letters Screenshot.png

  K-O-N-G Letters

• 

  Klap Trap defeating himself in a dogfight

Sprites

• 

  Buzz

• 

  Buzz

• DKP Donkey Kong Island.png

  Donkey Kong Island

• 

  Dragon

• 

  Enguarde

• 

  Expresso

• 

  Orca

• 

  TNT Barrel

• 

  Zinger

Other

• 

  Team/mode select background

Quotes

Cranky Kong

• "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"
• "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..."
• "See how easy this is? Just two more to go and we will put paid to those stupid Kremlings..."
• "This is it, we are nearly there. When I first saw you I thought you were a terrible Pilot... You Know^[sic] what? I was right, it's just that these dumb Kremlings are even worse!.. One more to go.."
• "Four out of four? Well, look at you... thinking you're a fancy pilot. Frankly that was just too easy... If you want a real challenge, try racing as those dumb Kremlings... Then we will see how good you really are.."
• "What's going on? This is a disgrace! This is a Kong game, not a Kremling game... I don't see your name on the title page. My boys will put a stop to this insolence.."
• "What! How did that happen? That must have been a fluke... You Kremlings are all the same... Let's see you try that again..."

Dixie Kong

• "I'm the best!"

Funky Kong

• "Sorry, dude!"
• "C'mon, dude!"

Kritter

• "I can do better!"
• "See ya!"
• "Hey you!"
• "That's bad."
• "Take that, ape!"
• "Watch it, monkey!"
• "Sorry partner."
• "C'mon, partner!!"
• "Yahoo!"
• "Whoa!!"
• "Whee!!"
• "Shake it."
• "Bah."
• 'Let's get it on."
• "Go, Kritter!"

Klaptrap

• "Yeah yeah, hehehehe!"
• "No no no!"
• "I rock, hehehehe!"
• "Stupid dumb lad!"
• "Take that ape! Hehehehe!"
• "Oh dear!"
• "Watch it, ape!"
• "WATCH IT!"
• "Whee!"
• "Whoa!!"
• "Hey!!"
• "Oh yeah!!"
• "Oh no!!"
• "Let's do this, hehehehe!!"

Klump

• "Yes, siree!"
• "No, sir!"
• "Sorry, soldier!"

King K. Rool

• "Okay, then!"
• "Wrong choice!"
• "Get outta here!"

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.
• 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.