(Vs. is a feature where two games that are considered competition are put against each other. Alex chooses one, Shawn chooses the other, and they let their words do the battling. So which one is better? Read on to find out.)

Alex’s Pick: Mario Kart 64

I sit here to write this article with my mind somewhat thrown at the notion I would have to write an article to defend Mario Kart 64 from Diddy Kong Racing. That’s like asking someone to write an article to defend why Coca-Cola is better than a generic store brand cola. Just because they are both cola beverages does not mean they are the same, and the same logic can be applied to these two games. Also like the cola example, the original is clearly the best.

Every time I play Diddy Kong Racing I can’t help but feel it is all a rip off of Mario Kart. You don’t get any further than the character select screen before that begins. In Mario Kart 64 you get character portraits lined up and when you select them they make a noise to indicate they have a personality. In Diddy Kong Racing you get…characters lined up in a row, making a noise when they get selected. I know some might be thinking, “How else are you supposed to lay out a driver select menu” at which point I smack you with my Logitech steering wheel and point out games such as Jet Moto, F1 Pole Position, Sega Rally, and so on. They had methods to give you information about the selection you are making without just lining all the choices up and having them make a noise. That is something pulled right out of Mario Kart 64. Get to the racing interface and it looks very same-y. Time and items are in the same spot, and even the course map looks the same.

Red shell. The item that has divided many a friendship.

Now look, I’m well aware Diddy Kong features adventure storylines, hovercrafts and airplanes which are things that Mario Kart 64 doesn’t even touch. I say good. Pick one thing and do it right. Don’t pick a bunch of different game modes and wedge them into one game to make it seem like you have more choices and the game is better, it’s not. What you get instead is a game that can’t quite decide what it wants to be – a car racing game with an adventure element that features airplane races, an air racing game with adventure and some car racing elements, an adventure game with car races…and I think you get the picture. Mario Kart 64 gives you some tracks, gives you some karts and says, “Right, here it is, now the plot is to just race and win. Want a change in pace? Get some friends and play some battle mode,” and leaves you alone to get on with it.

Shifting (ha. ha. shut up) from that let’s take a few moments to talk about a couple places where Mario Kart 64 just plain excels. First, we have the characters. Mario Kart 64 has Mario, Luigi (my favorite), Bowser, Yoshi and the other standard Nintendo staples; all characters we know and love and want to fight over racing as. Diddy Kong Racing features the title character (okay fine, I like Diddy Kong), followed by a bunch of characters that, at the time, I didn’t really have that much of a feel for. Sure, these days I think Banjo-Kazooie (and Tooie) are great games and Conker’s Bad Fur Day is one of my all time favorites… but back in 1997 when this game came out? Yeah, no feel for them whatsoever. By the way, in those days, Conker was nothing terribly interesting, the game would have been fun if you got some special power for being drunk and peeing on the competitors… but I digress.

On the left: Characters I know and grew up with. On the right: WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!

As well as better characters, the graphics are considerably better in Mario Kart. Mario Kart features rounded characters that look carefully put together. Diddy Kong Racing looks like some designers ran the game play mechanics through their photocopier and then said “Oh no! We have to make character models!” and quickly set about making square, blocky characters in poorly rendered karts. That sort of laziness is really a big issue for me. You spend so much time staring at the characters, so they should at least be okay on the eyes – but they aren’t. Rare should have taken the resources for those stupid hovercrafts and directed them towards some decent graphics.

Taking the good characters, the graphics, the originality, and team those with spectacular maps and simple controls and you get a game that is just plain fun. Playing alone or with friends speeding around a course shooting shells, flying over jumps and power sliding your way around, you feel a simple and happy joy that a good racing game can bring out. Diddy Kong Racing never feels like a “bad game”; it’s perfectly adequate. The thing is, why play a game that is adequate when you can have something that is truly good? Like my very initial metaphor for this whole thing, why drink the adequate generic cola when you can have the real Coca-Cola? Might taste similar…but which one really satisfies?

The answer: Mario Kart 64.

Shawn’s Pick: Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing is better than Mario Kart 64. There. I finally said it, and guess what? It feels good. This is an argument I’ve only brought up with close friends, a couple of who completely agree with me. I’ve never had this discussion with a die-hard Mario Kart 64 fan, so it feels good to finally get the opportunity to shut down the notion that MK64 is a better game. Bringing up Alex’s metaphor about generic colas, I feel that this war is more Pepsi vs. Coke than any generic brand.

I have long been a supporter of original ideas. I am generally extremely harsh on games that act like they have their own identity, but are really just carbon copies of another idea. I suppose Alex is right that Diddy Kong Racing is a little me-too in a lot of aspects, but there is one characteristic I put above all else – how fun it is. Sure, DKR is a kart racing game with similar start-up screens, similar play mechanics, and similar weaponry. However, the things DKR does to expand upon this is what makes it a better, and in my opinion, a more fun game.

First, I love the fact that it’s also an adventure game. While it’s nice to just race on some tracks, I prefer the exploration Rare gave players with the hub world. Having hidden balloons to collect (these are how you progress, for those that haven’t played), secret characters to find, and hidden levels to discover make it much more exciting. If you take the time to collect all the balloons, you have much more freedom in the tracks you play later on in the game. You aren’t forced to a set of levels that you have to complete in a given order. This opens up the gameplay greatly, especially regarding the double-edged sword that is the hovercraft and airplane racing.

Not kart racing. Bold step or backwards step?

The fact that DKR expands beyond karts was a bold step, one Rare most likely made to avoid complete comparison and backlash for being exactly like Mario Kart 64. The hovercraft controls are suspect, but completely learnable and enjoyable once you do so. I personally hate the airplane races, but the reason they don’t completely fail for me is another reason I consider Diddy Kong Racing a stronger game – it has better track design. There aren’t many levels in DKR that I would call bad (except for Frosty Village. UGH.), but there are handfuls I can remember almost perfectly for how much fun they are to play. I felt like the levels in Mario Kart 64 were much inferior to the ones in Super Mario Kart; actually, I feel like most of the game is inferior to Super Mart Kart, so maybe that’s the root of the whole problem right there. Anyways, that’s a topic for another day, so let me get back on track (ha!).

The strongest push I can make for Diddy Kong Racing goes back to the adventure game idea. Expanding beyond exploration and a hub-world, Rare set forth to expand upon that even further with the inclusion of unlockable mini-games (hidden keys in each world!) and boss battles. The boss battles are one of the best features in the game, which also add to my second favorite feature – the silver coin challenges. Throwing eight silver coins on each track and having you play them again isn’t a cheap tactic, nor is it a pain to replay the levels. The silver coin challenges require skill and mastery of the levels, and are a reason to keep going back for more. This goes without mentioning the extra unlockables, including a second adventure. The content found on Diddy Kong Racing is not only better, but there’s more of it.

Also, the music. No competition.

This isn’t to say that Mario Kart 64 is a bad game. Just because I find Diddy Kong Racing to be a stronger game in most regards doesn’t mean I dislike MK64. I can admit the battle mode is an incredible amount of fun (but still better in Super Mario Kart), and I love how smooth of an experience it is in the racing department, maybe even more so than DKR. However, I consider gameplay to be the only real important aspect of any game, and Diddy Kong Racing laps Mario Kart 64 in that area. Calling DKR generic is a disservice to the great game that it is, and this is why I expanded Alex’s metaphor to Pepsi vs. Coke above. Who prefers which game will all come down to their personal taste – and I’ll be damned if Pipsi Pepsi isn’t better.