Diddy Kong Pilot (2001)

Diddy Kong Pilot is a canceled follow-up title of Diddy Kong Racing for the Game Boy Advance, which was developed by Rare. Diddy Kong was the main and titular character of the game. The game involves Donkey Kong characters racing in Planes on Mode 7-rendered courses. It was initially planned for early 2002, but Nintendo sold their share of Rare Ltd. to 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 title, Diddy Kong Pilot was being redeveloped into an entirely different game. In 2005, the game was finalized as a Banjo-Kazooie title, Banjo-Pilot due to Microsoft's acquisition of Rare in 2002.
== 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"http://nintendoeverything.com/diddy-kong-pilot-screenshots-videos-details-and-more/ was "killed off" early in the game's development, according to the September 3, 2001 edition of Scribes from Rareware"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? 4) Don't worry about it - he's been killed off now anyway." September 3, 2001 edition of Scribes on Rareware and Jens Christian Restemeier, one of the game's developers.Jens Christian Restemeier - MobyGames profile Candy Kong would subsequently appear in the background for character selection menus.Unseen64 The tilt pack idea was dropped during development.
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."Diddy Kong Pilot - Very Early Beta Spaceworld" on YouTube
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")DK Vine Some Rare employees believed the company was prejudiced since it occurred in a time period just before the Microsoft acquisition. Despite being featured in the DVD of the May 2002 issue of G-Force magazine, Diddy Kong Pilot was not presented at E3 2002. In fact, none of the Rare games except Star Fox Adventures were showcased at E3 2002.
Rare's other Donkey Kong titles from E3 2001 were delisted from Rare website in August 2002,Changes to Rare's Website one month before Microsoft's acquisition of Rare, while Diddy Kong Pilot received no official announcement of the cancelation. Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was planned for release on December 7, 2001,GBX Magazine Game Boy Xtreme issues 4 (October 2001), page 10. but end up unpublished.
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.YouTube video According to the video's title, the build was dated "September 7, 2001",NeoGAF thread but since Rare is from the UK and uses the day/month format, it may also be "July 9, 2001".
On January 14, 2013, this prototype build was released online.Diddy Kong Pilot Alpha 2001 (ROM release right here!)
==Gameplay==
Diddy Kong Pilot featured six modes: Racing, Stories, Dog Fights, Battle, Clock Race, and Options. The build is largely unfinished as most of the stages are nearly empty, some only having a backdrop and a few assets laid out on the stage. Many of the modes, such as Dog Fights, are non-functional. The gameplay essentially only consists of flying around on a course. Some features were never implemented such as plane customization,Rareware.com (Wayback Machine) or unlockable characters, stories, and stages.
===Debug menu===
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:
Beach 00 	Beach 01 	Beach 02 	Beach 03 	
Lava 00 	Lava 01 	Lava 02 	 	
Snow 00 	Snow 01 	Snow 02 	Snow 03 	
Keep 00 	Keep 01 	Keep 02 	Keep 03 	
Lake 00 	Lake 01 	Lake 02 	Lake 03 	
Farm 00 	Farm 01 	Farm 02 	Farm 03 	Farm 04
Haunted 00	Haunted 01	Haunted 02	Haunted 03	
Jungle 00 	Jungle 01 	Jungle 02 	Jungle 03 	
Swamp 00 	Swamp 01 	Swamp 02 	Swamp 03 	
Desert 00 	Desert 01 	Desert 02 	Desert 03 	
The second option, "Player" has six numerical values, labeled 0-5. Each of them represent a playable character:
*0: Cranky Kong
*1: Diddy Kong
*2: Kritter
*3: K. Rool
*4: Dixie Kong
*5: Donkey Kong (Select him causes Cranky Kong instead)
*6: Diddy Kong instead Candy Kong (only selectable by using cheats; same functional as selecting Dixie Kong in the select character)
The final option, Blend, does not appear to have a function. It has four options: Off, Alpha, Up, and Down.
===Modes===
The player can exiting to the main menu by opening the pause menu. It has three options which are self-explanatory: Continue, Restart, and Quit. Few of the further developed courses also redirect the player to the main menu after they complete all three laps.
The main menu has six modes: Racing, Stories, Dog Fights, Battle, Clock Race, and Options. It is also the only part of the game to have a music track.
Before starting a mode, the player must select a character. The selection menu is very buggy, and choosing a character causes a different one to be playable, except for Cranky Kong. For instance, selecting Diddy Kong causes Kritter to be playable instead. The sound that each character makes when highlighted does not correspond to the correct character as well. When a character is highlighted, they are not aligned with their sepia shadow; additionally, the sepia backdrop has Candy Kong but highlighting her shows Redneck Kong instead.
The Racing mode allows the player to select a world, each with an associated level difficulty. Unlike its predecessor, Diddy Kong Pilot only features four characters racing on a course at a time; the main goal remains the same: racing three laps around a course and getting first place. Many of the core features are similar to Diddy Kong Racing, for instance how the player can collect bananas and pick up an item from item balloons appearing around the course. Zippers also return in the courses, and they give racers a speed boost.
The Stories mode has three different stories: King of Kongs, Back to the Light, and K. Rool's Gold. This mode is almost entirely nonfunctional, but it was intended to have a unique story for a certain character and a final boss at the end.New Tidbits on Various Rare Titles - Nintendo World Report
The Dogfight mode features players fighting against each other. There are four options and none can be accessed: Classic Dogfight, a Dawn Duel, a Classic Variation, or a Focal Feud.
The Battle mode was planned to be a multiplayer mode, and its icon shows a crate containing miscellaneous objects. Another version has a different icon showing four original Game Boy Advance units hooked to each other via a Link Cable.
The Clock Race mode was presumably planned as the Time Trials mode. It has little to no difference from the Racing mode, but it allows the player to easily select a stage, similar to the debug menu. Unlike the debug menu, most of the stages crash in this option.
Options only gives the option to use either D-Pad or tilt control to steer the plane.
==Controls==
* or : Move in the desired direction.
*: Acceleration
*: Use weapon
* or : Tilt at a sharper angle
* or (twice): aerial roll
* and Down (twice while accelerating): 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. The game was planned to include more than seven characters.IGN Selecting a character causes the game to choose an entirely different character instead. Redneck Kong was playable in earlier builds, such as E3 2001, and was a very short-lived idea from the designer of the project. He was replaced by Candy Kong in a later build. Despite her appearing on the character selection screen, she was not implemented in the September 7, 2001 build. She also appeared on the main menu, in the "Dog Fights" animated icon and battle mode portrait.
*Diddy Kong
*Dixie Kong
*Cranky Kong
*Krunch
*Kamikaze K. Rool
*Donkey Kong (only by using cheats)DKC Atlas thread
*Candy Kong (unimplemented, replacement of the removed Redneck Kong)
List of swapped characters
Character selectedHighlighted	Character played asSelected
Cranky Kong (0)Leftmost 	Cranky Kong (0)
Redneck Kong (6) 	Diddy Kong (1)
Diddy Kong (1) 	Krunch (2)
Donkey Kong (5) 	K. Rool (3)
Krash (2) 	Dixie Kong (4)
K. Rool (3) 	Donkey Kong (5) → Cranky Kong (0)
Dixie Kong (4)Rightmost 	Corrupted (6) → Diddy Kong (1)
==Items==
Most of the items reappeared from Diddy Kong Racing except for peanuts, watermelons, and eggs. The player can carry up to a few items at a time. Most of the items can be obtained from sky blue-colored item balloons with a yellow question mark on them. Item balloons also have a green and DK variant, and both have unfinished functionality. Both provide an item, either with an icon of Cranky or Diddy, and neither are functional.
Image	Name 	Description
 	Rockets 	These items can lock on to a nearby opponent and temporarily slow them down.
 	Rocket boost	Like zippers, these give a speed boost to the racers. The red rocket boost provides a higher speed boost.
 	Magnet 	When used, the player is magnetized to another nearby racer. The red magnets are stronger than the green ones.
 	Peanuts 	Peanuts can be fired at other opponents; based on the count, the player can either shoot out five or ten at a time. Unlike rockets, these items do not have lock-on capabilites.
 	Watermelon 	This item drops behind a watermelon. When a racer crashes into the item, it splatters and temporarily slows them down.
 	Egg 	The egg functions similarly to the watermelon except that it also moves around in a circular pattern.
==Courses==
===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 volcanic area with rising lava obstacles that boost racers upward. 
*Haunted Race (Haunted 03)
===Western Wastes===
*Lake Race
*Lava Race
*Swamp Race
*Crackpot Keep
===Island of Eggs===
*Vulture Valley
*Keep Race
*Lake Race
*Chicken Chase: This race takes place in the farmlands; there are flapping chickens for obstacles during one part. 
===Polar Plateau===
*Frosty Lake
*Farm Race
*Desert Race
*Snow Race
===World 6===
*Whisper Woods (Haunted 00)
*Keep Race (unimplemented)
*Crystal Coast (unimplemented)
*Jungle Race (unimplemented)
== Stories ==
=== 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 ==
* Hatch Match
* Ghost Grasp
* Swamp Showdown
* Wasteland Wipe Out
==Gallery==
Diddy Kong Pilot logo.jpg|Logo
DKP Title screen.png|Title screen
Diddy and K. Rool - Beach Race - Diddy Kong Pilot Space World 2001.png|Diddy racing against K. Rool and Krunch in a beach course
Diddy Model - Diddy Kong Pilot 2001.png|Diddy Kong sprite
Bounty Beach DKP 2001 preview.png|Bounty Beach preview image
==Names in other languages==
*Japanese: ディディーコングパイロット（仮称） (Diddy Kong Pilot (tentative) )
==Trivia==
*The background of the Stories menu has two photographs resembling official artwork from Diddy Kong Racing.
*The map of Magma Mainland would be reused in Banjo-Pilot as the lower background layer of the dogfight against Bottles in the Feather Cup, but the track itself cannot be raced on. Differences include: a darker layer consisting of both the lava and the track; a big hole in the center; the removal of the finish line and boosts; and the removal of the cracks in the center island.
==References==
==External links==
*Nintendo of America E3 2001 page (Wayback Machine)
*Nintendo of Japan Space World 2001 page (Wayback Machine)
==References==
Category:Games in Donkey Kong franchise
Category:Game Boy Advance games