The Diddy Kong Legacy
After the release of Diddy Kong Racing, Rare began development on a sequel named Donkey Kong Racing for the GameCube, which featured Donkey Kong as the titular character. A pre-rendered CG video of the game was shown at E3 2001, which displayed a parody of the speederbike scene from Return of the Jedi. According to Lee Musgrave, the game featured a unique mechanic which involved riding on animals rather than driving vehicles. The player could switch between different types of animals mid-race; larger animals could destroy obstacles, whereas smaller ones allowed more manoeuvrability. Development of Donkey Kong Racing was cancelled when Nintendo turned down the opportunity to purchase its remaining 51 percent stake in Rare, and the developer was bought out by Microsoft for 375 million in 2002
After the buyout, Rare took what had been done with Donkey Kong Racing and created a prototype for the Xbox which expanded into an adventure game similar to the original setup of Diddy Kong Racing. Musgrave stated that the concept was essentially "built from scratch" and featured a limited multiplayer version at one point. The concept was in development over 18 months and evolved from being an animal-orientated racing game to an open-world game with Tamagotchi-style features, in which nurturing animals was a "key mechanic". By this point, Donkey Kong Racing had evolved into Sabreman Stampede, part of Rare's Sabreman series. Sabreman Stampede was set for release on the Xbox 360, but was cancelled due to a lack of focus and Rare's unfamiliarity with the hardware.
GameBoy's planned Donkey Kong Games
Aside from Donkey Kong Racing, two other sequels to Diddy Kong Racing were in development. One, named Diddy Kong Pilot, with planes as the only vehicle, was planned for a release on the Game Boy Advance. Originally announced alongside Donkey Kong Racing at E3 2001, the game became Banjo-Pilot after Nintendo sold their share of Rare to Microsoft. At the time of its announcement, the game featured the ability to play using a tilt function as well as a D-pad, and contained at least five tracks. The other, titled Diddy Kong Racing Adventure, was a rejected pitch made by Climax Studios for the Nintendo GameCube around 2004. The project was never announced to the public in any capacity, and only became known after a video game archivist acquired the prototype and published a video about it in November 2016.
GameBoy's planned Donkey Kong Games
As Timber was bypassed as the main character in Diddy Kong Racing, Rare's next game was planned to keep Timber as the main character, according to Kev Bayliss. This game was originally planned as Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64, with Timber as a time traveller to a prehistoric period and gameplay similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but over time, they found it better to replace Timber with wholly new characters. This game became Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube at the suggestion of Nintendo.
Diddy Kong Racing DS is a Nintendo DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing. Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, it was released in February 2007 in North America, and April in Europe and Australia. This version received enhanced visuals and framerate in addition to touchscreen functions and Rumble Pak support for force feedback. Four new Donkey Kong themed racetracks were included in the remake, along with several modifications to the soundtrack. Banjo and Conker were replaced by Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong, while new playable characters Taj and Wizpig were also added. The DS version also features new modes which allow the player to create their own racetracks, customise their game through recording character voices and drawing player icons, and an online multiplayer function. The battle modes were restricted to multiplayer only, with the custom racetracks replacing them in Adventure Mode. The game was met with mixed reviews upon release, with critics asserting that the new additions were "gimmicky" and the touchscreen controls felt "horribly sensitive".
In the game's opening sequence, the sound of children laughing can be heard when the Rare logo is displayed. This stock sound effect is part of a library called The Premiere Edition Volume 1 released by sound producer and distributor The Hollywood Edge for use of stock sounds in media. Although it had been used previously in various films and television shows, this sound effect has come to be commonly referred to as "the Diddy laugh"
Due to its association with the game. According to Kevin Bayliss, the team got the idea to include a laughing sound effect in the opening after seeing Teletubbies, which had just begun airing at the time. They asked Tim Stamper's children, Joe Stamper Jr. and Kimberly Stamper, to laugh and sing in their new sound booth. The Stamper children's laughter was used alongside the original sound effect.