Diddy Kong Pilot was a Mode-7 racer developed by Rare Ltd. and meant to be published by Nintendo. Originally announced in 2001, the game featured various characters from the Donkey Kong universe and could be controlled with a tilt sensor that was integrated into the game’s cart. In 2002, Nintendo sold their share of Rare Ltd. and opted out of their publishing contract. The game was later reskinned with Banjo characters and released as Banjo-Pilot.
Description from Rare’s website:
Relive the classic gameplay style of Diddy Kong Racing as you take to the skies again in one of Rare’s very first titles for the Game Boy Advance! Pick out your favourite from an unlikely squadron of Kongs and Kremlings, each bringing along their own distinctive (and customizable) flying machine, then launch yourself headlong into the striking 3D courses. Within minutes you’ll be diving low over sandy beaches and climbing high above bubbling lava en route to the chequered flag and victory…
All sorts of play options are yours for the tinkering, including single-player and multiplayer tournaments, a classic time trial and detailed story modes for each character (ending in climactic one-on-one boss duels). You can even link up with three of your mates, competing for the title of squadron leader or simply blast each other out of the sky in frantic dogfights.
Other features of the game include interactive background scenery, rolling and looping manouevres, upgradable weapons and power-ups, secret features to unlock and of course the rarely-seen Tilt Technology, where, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can set aside your D-Pad in favour of controlling the plane by actually tilting the Game Boy Advance.
Diddy Kong Pilot’s Hillbilly Kong’s name! Just goes to http://www.dkvine.com/?p=1082
[Thanks to Matt Gander, Lucas Araujo & Vaettur for the contributions!
Images:
Videos:
U64 is an archive with articles, screens and videos for cancelled, beta & unseen videogames. Every change & cut creates a different gaming experience: we would like to save some documents about this evolution for curiosity, historic and artistic preservation.
11 Responses to Diddy Kong Pilot [GBA - Beta]
Celine
October 24th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
The voxel engine is simply astounishing and the 3D one is quite good for a gba.
I wonder why Rare decided to go with a bland mode 7-esque engine in the end.
monokoma
October 26th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Maybe for cost-reasons, it could be possible that the 3D one took too much space in the cart
Celine
October 26th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I doubt it took too much space.
Framerate is probably the cause althought the 3D engine seems pretty solid and with all the gameplay elements.
————-
Rarewareexperimented with an impressive Mode 7 Voxel Engine for a short duration during the change from Diddy Kong Pilotto Banjo Pilot. The hardware-pressurising graphics engine rendered realistic but slightly jagged 3D environments by analysing the level’s height-map and extruding the now-flat Mode-7 terrain upwards, creating the illusion of valleys, etc. It was an incredible feat of game engineering, considering the power of the Gameboy Advance. However, after releasing a batch of screenshots featuring the engine, Rarewaredecided to revert to the previous flat landscapes, as once they had added the various level elements, the frame rate took a considerable nose-dive.
monokoma
October 27th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Thanks as always Celine, i’ll add that info when i’ll have time to write the english description for this game :)
someone
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:32 am
is there a rom for diddy kong pilot and if so can you post it some how
someone
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:36 am
or can you just comment back for the rom
Bret
July 27th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
When I first heard of this back in 2001 on some sort of Donkey Kong site (fan-related probably), I went in awe. So I’ve waited and waited for this game to come out, until several years later I’ve heard that Rare was purchased by Microsoft in 2002. So all my years of waiting were thrown out of the window.
Dayum…
mariofanatic64
October 2nd, 2011 at 8:12 am
Just pointing out a mistake – in the first sentence it says Diddy Kong Racing when it should say Diddy Kong Pilot.
monokoma
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Thanks mariofanatic64! I have fixed it :)
Refurs
November 7th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I think this article needs to be updated now… ;)
Here’s another very old video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DRAqj__5eA
Stephen
July 11th, 2012 at 1:32 am
A Released Rom For, Diddy Kong Pilot Can Be Found Hear
http://www.mediafire.com/?bj1bfl46nzbzs4h Enjoy.