If you ever want a real single player challenge on one of these games, the Adventure 2 on DKR is not "just" a mirror mode. The Silver Coin Challenges are insane and will do things like put coins on both paths of routes with alternate paths, forcing you to switch it up, and many of them are in EXTREMELY awkward places.
For me they are ALMOST equal. But DKR wins by a smidge. MK64 triumphs in multiplayer. DKR triumphs in single player. Miss couch multiplayer. Great times.
Mario Kart 64 was so good, but Diddy Kong Racing was next level! Story mode racing, Boss Races, killer sound track, crazy hard Whiz Pig final boss race, game was crazy awesome! 🍻🤘🏼🔥
I prefer Mario Kart 64, but Diddy Kong Racing is a polished, well produced game. It's also a much deeper racing game than Mario Kart 64, which is what I don't like about it. With Mario Kart 64, I can turn it on, choose my tracks, and race. There's no adventure mode, boss battles, hidden keys, or silver coin challenges to get in the way.
I may be alone, but I was never into Mario Kart 64. Something about it just seemed so bland. It never grew on me, especially when there are better Mario Kart games out there. I never played Donkey Kong Racing to see which is better, but the thought of more gameplay and track diversity sounds like it would make it better. It has the edge by being a later release.
I was expecting Diddy to eventually come out on top, but I didn't expect it to dominate so hard, nor for the initial reception at the time for Mario Kart 64 to be so... well, lukewarm is overstating it, it still had great scores, but I was expecting a bit more glowing praise. As for me? It's hard to chose, I had both growing up, and both are just ingrained into my DNA at this point. If you forced me to chose just one... well probably Diddy just because I tend to focus on single player for my game purchases, and the amount of single player content in DKR is still rarely matched in any kart game to this day
I've grown up with Mario Kart, but also had DKR on both the N64 and the DS. I love Mario Kart, but 64 is the weakest in the entire series. Diddy Kong Racing is better.
As a kid i loved Diddy Kong Racing. But then, i had been playing Mario Kart 64 for a good while. In the end i could never finish, it. Some of the bosses were too hard, and some of the coins were frustrating. In the end, even if DKR was the latest and greatest, if you account for the frustration, Mario Kart 64 still wins!
I've never played Diddy Kong Racing, so can't say for sure, but really liked playing MarioKart on dad's old N64 when I was a little girl, so I'll have to for now say that by default, but who knows, maybe if I try Diddy Kong, might change my mind.
No Nintendo Power? Did they not review both of these games? In the end, I think I agree with most critics. I love both games, but Diddy Kong Racing just did a lot more for me. Trying to finish the adventure mode actually motivated me to try to get good at it.
Believe it or not, Nintendo Power didn't review Mario Kart 64. They did review Diddy Kong, but missed Mario Kart. I thought that was weird, since it was such a high-profile first-party release.
This is a perfect matchup for this series because it highlights the idea of a forgotten gem. It's unfortunate that Mario Kart is basically the only kart racing game series anyone talks about because so many other developers tried their hands at the format and in many cases vastly improved and innovated in ways that even to this day Nintendo seem unwilling to do with Mario. As a PlayStation kid I had no experience with either of these of these games, I was more of a Crash Team Racing guy, but from the sounds of it Diddy Kong Racing was a larger inspiration for what that game was doing more than Mario Kart.
Diddy Kong is the more complete Game. Simple Pick.
If you ever want a real single player challenge on one of these games, the Adventure 2 on DKR is not "just" a mirror mode. The Silver Coin Challenges are insane and will do things like put coins on both paths of routes with alternate paths, forcing you to switch it up, and many of them are in EXTREMELY awkward places.
For me they are ALMOST equal. But DKR wins by a smidge. MK64 triumphs in multiplayer. DKR triumphs in single player. Miss couch multiplayer. Great times.
Mario Kart 64 was so good, but Diddy Kong Racing was next level! Story mode racing, Boss Races, killer sound track, crazy hard Whiz Pig final boss race, game was crazy awesome! 🍻🤘🏼🔥
I prefer Mario Kart 64, but Diddy Kong Racing is a polished, well produced game. It's also a much deeper racing game than Mario Kart 64, which is what I don't like about it. With Mario Kart 64, I can turn it on, choose my tracks, and race. There's no adventure mode, boss battles, hidden keys, or silver coin challenges to get in the way.
I may be alone, but I was never into Mario Kart 64. Something about it just seemed so bland. It never grew on me, especially when there are better Mario Kart games out there. I never played Donkey Kong Racing to see which is better, but the thought of more gameplay and track diversity sounds like it would make it better. It has the edge by being a later release.
Reality is that Diddy Kong Racing 64 is a pretty deep and complete kart racing game, Mario Kart 64 is just functional enough to be called a game.
I was expecting Diddy to eventually come out on top, but I didn't expect it to dominate so hard, nor for the initial reception at the time for Mario Kart 64 to be so... well, lukewarm is overstating it, it still had great scores, but I was expecting a bit more glowing praise.
As for me? It's hard to chose, I had both growing up, and both are just ingrained into my DNA at this point. If you forced me to chose just one... well probably Diddy just because I tend to focus on single player for my game purchases, and the amount of single player content in DKR is still rarely matched in any kart game to this day
I've grown up with Mario Kart, but also had DKR on both the N64 and the DS. I love Mario Kart, but 64 is the weakest in the entire series.
Diddy Kong Racing is better.
Honestly, I didn't play either one, so I don't have an opinion on this. But I do know that both games are beloved.
As a kid i loved Diddy Kong Racing. But then, i had been playing Mario Kart 64 for a good while.
In the end i could never finish, it. Some of the bosses were too hard, and some of the coins were frustrating.
In the end, even if DKR was the latest and greatest, if you account for the frustration, Mario Kart 64 still wins!
I've never played Diddy Kong Racing, so can't say for sure, but really liked playing MarioKart on dad's old N64 when I was a little girl, so I'll have to for now say that by default, but who knows, maybe if I try Diddy Kong, might change my mind.
No Nintendo Power? Did they not review both of these games?
In the end, I think I agree with most critics. I love both games, but Diddy Kong Racing just did a lot more for me. Trying to finish the adventure mode actually motivated me to try to get good at it.
Believe it or not, Nintendo Power didn't review Mario Kart 64. They did review Diddy Kong, but missed Mario Kart. I thought that was weird, since it was such a high-profile first-party release.
Rare beating Nintendo at their own game yet again .. MK64 still an extremely important (and fun) title of the era.
Diddy Kong was a better single player game but Mario Kart was better in multiplayer ✌️
The MarioCart game, is more like a prototype. It doesn't feel like a finished product. Ugly colors and textures. Empty and unbalanced tracks.
This is a perfect matchup for this series because it highlights the idea of a forgotten gem. It's unfortunate that Mario Kart is basically the only kart racing game series anyone talks about because so many other developers tried their hands at the format and in many cases vastly improved and innovated in ways that even to this day Nintendo seem unwilling to do with Mario. As a PlayStation kid I had no experience with either of these of these games, I was more of a Crash Team Racing guy, but from the sounds of it Diddy Kong Racing was a larger inspiration for what that game was doing more than Mario Kart.