I have to hand it to the guys at Rare, they managed to create a kart racing game with a plot, something I didn’t think was necessary. Does it make a whole lot of sense? No, not really. But it’s reasonably fun, so that’s what matters.
It turns out that there’s this giant sorcerer-pig on the loose on Diddy’s island. There’s a giant blue elephant-genie that can help Diddy defeat him, but not without making him do a ludicrous amount of work. So Diddy calls his friends and they have a series of races. There are several areas of the island, each with a theme. Each time you win a race, you get a balloon. Get enough balloons and you race the boss of the area (a giant creature of some sort). Keep on winning and you get to go to the next area where you get to do it all over again. I should mention that you don’t just race karts, depending on the stage you can also race airplanes or hovercraft.
Diddy Kong apparently has a lot of friends, friends who are in other games (like Conker the Squirrel and Banjo the Honey Bear) and friends who make their sole appearance here (Pipsy the Mouse, Bumper the Badger, and Timber the Tiger? Anyone?). I have a feeling some of them were all put in there because they’re totally marketable, I’d probably spring for a Tiptup action figure.
Eventually you will race the big bad Wizpig himself. He cheats (he is a villain, after all). If you win the race, you defeat him for good. How does that work? I’m supposing you somehow use the power of the balloons you collected, but my supposition skill needs work.