There are many iconic video game consoles, but the Nintendo 64 is one that conjures an exceptional amount of love & nostalgia for many. There are a lot of things that the N64 did right and it has many formative titles, but the console was particularly kind to the racing genre and turned out both Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart 64.
Both titles have led to hundreds of hours of entertainment for Nintendo fans, but debate still rages on over which is the superior racer. Accordingly, here are 5 reasons why Diddy Kong Racing is the best kart racer on the Nintendo 64 and 5 reasons why it’s Mario Kart 64.
10 Diddy Kong Racing: It Puts Diddy Kong Front And Center
When Diddy Kong Racing was first announced, fans were skeptical of a title that discarded Donkey Kong entirely for the simian’s sidekick from the franchise. This turned out to be a stroke of genius an it helped give Diddy an important push into the spotlight and show audiences that the character could stand on his own.
Diddy Kong has gone on to gain an even greater following, but it’s titles like Diddy Kong Racing that helped make this possible and show that prioritizing the underdog can sometimes lead to big success.
9 Mario Kart 64: Its Battle Mode
Something that helps Mario Kart 64 stand out from not just other kart racers, but some of the other entries in its own series, is its concise, yet refined, battle mode. It’s so much fun to race through levels against friends, and Mario Kart 64’s multiplayer alternative is an underrated gem.
The game’s battle mode has become iconic, due to its basic levels and streamlined structure. Even the small touch of how defeated players can become a controllable bob-omb speaks to the creativity in this mode.
8 Diddy Kong Racing: It Features Aerial And Water Vehicles
Mario Kart 64 is a great racer, but it keeps its focus on karts, which is pretty characteristic of the time. Part of what made Diddy Kong Racing such an unusual racing title is that it offers three modes to go through tracks: traditional karts, airplanes, and hovercrafts. This adds so much variety to races and features a scope that’s just grander than anything present in Mario Kart 64. It’s amazing to do an air versus sea race and push the game to its limit.
7 Mario Kart 64: Its Roster Of Characters
Mario Kart 64’s roster of racers is quite lean in comparison to how bloated the amount of characters becomes in the subsequent titles. That being said, Mario Kart 64 doesn’t leave any room for waste and only includes a satisfying selection of Mario’s finest supporting characters. In comparison to Diddy Kong Racing, it’s really no contest. The other racing game has plenty of creative characters, but they all mostly lack the recognition and fun that comes from playing as any of these Nintendo characters. They’re what make this game stand out in the first place.
6 Diddy Kong Racing: It Has Boss Battles
Another crazy innovation that Diddy Kong Racing adds to the racing genre is that it incorporates bosses into the mix. It’s a brilliant idea to take the individualized challenge of boss fights from adventure games and then turn that into a race. There are plenty of difficult tracks in Mario Kart 64, but Diddy Kong Racing’s use of boss races to punctuate each world is such a smart idea and tests players in a different kind of way than a standard race. It’s a great distillation of how the title so elegantly mashes together concepts.
5 Mario Kart 64: The Iconic Tracks
Each new game in the Mario Kart series works hard to add challenging tracks to the repertoire of courses that have appeared in the franchise’s history. Despite how entertaining it is to experience fresh tracks, many of the courses in Mario Kart 64 have since become the most beloved and requested in Mario Kart history. The courses in Super Mario Kart are lots of fun, but it’s such a jump in quality with every single level in Mario Kart 64 and they’re mostly classics. Diddy Kong Racing has impressive level design, but is hasn’t become as iconic over time.
4 Diddy Kong Racing: It Introduces Some Iconic Characters
A difficult thing that original racing titles face is how to make new characters catch on without the benefit of a whole franchise to fall back on. Diddy Kong Racing doesn’t lean into a roster of Kongs and instead brings a bunch of new possible mascots into the mix. Most notably among these characters is Banjo and Conker, who would later get their own franchises. Diddy Kong Racing even has secret characters to unlock as rewards, which is a perk that Mario Kart 64 doesn’t offer.
3 Mario Kart 64: Its Many Cups
Mario Kart 64 isn’t the longest racing game, but it’s still a fulfilling experience that doesn’t drain the player. Mario Kart 64 finds the perfect balance between just enough content and challenge where there’s a lot to unlock ^ work through, but not to an overwhelming degree (which is sometimes the case with Diddy Kong Racing). Mario Kart 64 has different cups, additional CCs, and even an entire mirror mode that really tests how skilled players are at the classic kart game.
2 Diddy Kong Racing: It Has A Story Mode
It’s an idea that’s not as groundbreaking now, but back during the Nintendo 64’s lifespan, it was a very ambitious concept to ostensibly turn a racing game into an adventure title. There’s just so much more on the table in Diddy Kong Racing than Mario Kart 64 or any other racer on the console. There’s a huge open world hub that connects all of the races, a litany of hidden balloons to uncover, and a wealth of extra modes available upon completion of the core game.
1 Mario Kart 64: It’s Aged Incredibly Well
There are video games that are winners upon their release, only to slowly become less perfect once hindsight has been able to set in and the gaming industry gets a chance to evolve. Mario Kart 64 is a beautiful example of a game that’s just as fun now as it was when it first came out. It’s aged exceptionally well and it’s a testament to how the racer’s simple design is the right strategy. Diddy Kong Racing is still an oaky experience, but it definitely has some clumsiness due to an ambition that’s not present in Mario Kart 64.