Games - Diddy Kong

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	Games - Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong is a talking monkey with an attitude, in the Donkey Kong series of video games. He lives on the fictional Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identifiable in his red hat and shirt.

Origins: 1994-1997

Created by Rareware, he first appeared in 1994's Super Nintendo platform video game Donkey Kong Country as Donkey Kong's sidekick. Diddy looked up to Donkey Kong and wanted to be a video game hero just like him. To humor him, DK put him in charge of guarding his banana hoard at night. However, DK didn't expect a siege by King K. Rool's Kremling Krew. The banana hoard was stolen, and he and Diddy went on an adventure across DK Island to get it back. Diddy's second appearance was on the Game Boy title Donkey Kong Land. In this game, Cranky Kong made a challenge that DK and Diddy couldn't retrieve the banana hoard on an 8-bit system, so they once again set out to retrieve it.

It wasn't until 1995's Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest where Diddy Kong stepped into the starring role. With Donkey Kong kidnapped by K. Rool and taken to the Kremling home of Crocodile Isle, Diddy set out with his new girlfriend Dixie Kong to get his big buddy back. For this game Diddy's look was slightly updated. He gained the now permanent star pattern for his shirt, updated fur, nostrils and even a belly button. At the conclusion of the game, Diddy finally became a full-fledged video game hero. A follow-up was released in September of 1996 for the Game Boy called Donkey Kong Land 2. It featured roughly the same plot as DKC2.

When Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! came out two months later, Diddy wasn't playable for the first time. Instead, the storyline revolved around he and Donkey Kong disappearing while on vacation in the Northern Kremisphere. Meanwhile, an army of Kremlings have appeared in the area under the command of a new leader, the cyborg KAOS. Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong went on a mission to find them. As it turned out, K. Rool was manipulating things behind the scenes, with KAOS feeding off the brain power of Diddy and DK (who were inside of the mechanical monster). In 1997's Donkey Kong Land III, Diddy never even put in an appearance, although he was part of the storyline. He and DK took off in a previously unseen part of the Northern Kremisphere in a contest to find the fabled Lost World. Dixie, furious that she wasn't asked along, decided to join forces with Kiddy and find it herself. Of course, K. Rool and the Kremlings also got involved, and while KAOS appeared again, he wasn't being powered by Diddy or DK (presumably, it was two Kremling grunts who had the job).

The Nintendo 64 years: 1997-2000

Two months later, Diddy made his Nintendo 64 debut, and got his first starring role without any other Kong characters appearing. Diddy Kong Racing took the kart racing genre in a new direction with go-karts, planes, and hovercraft as available vehicles. Even more remarkable, instead of a straight-forward racing game like the Mario Kart
series, Diddy Kong Racing was a "racing adventure," a mixture between Mario Kart and Super Mario 64. Diddy Kong Racing was the first self-published title by Rare, and marked the first appearance of such characters as Banjo (who would go on to star in the Banjo-Kazooie series), Conker (who would go from kid-friendly titles to the mature-rated hijinx of Conker's Bad Fur Day and the Xbox's Conker: Live & Reloaded), Tiptup, and Tricky the triceratops (whose origins were later explored in the GameCube game Star Fox Adventures). The storyline revolved around an intergalactic genie by the name of Wizpig attempting to take over Timber's Island, a neighbor to DK Island. Diddy's childhood friend Timber sends him a letter to help liberate the island, and he answers the call in secret while Timber's parents are visiting his own family. Diddy Kong Racing broke records when first released for having the highest number of pre-orders of any video game to date.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Diddy Kong ]

Games - Diddy Kong

Origins: 1994-1997

The Nintendo 64 years: 1997-2000

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