Pros: The story mode is an incredible adventure game, like, the hub world itself rivals Super Mario 64's and Banjo-Kazooie's, and this is a "racing" game. But it's so much fun to explore and discover secrets in, as you're either driving around in a go-kart, zoomin' over the waves in the hovercraft, or flying the skies in the air plane! The races are pretty fantastic too! Colorful detailed worlds with some pretty zippy track design, crafted around different vehicles, some all at once! It's not only fun, it's also very impressive! There are boss fights, lots of neat weapons and items, hidden minigames, and tons of Golden Balloons to collect. This game in many ways, surpasses Mario Kart 64!

Cons: It's a bit... cutesy? Also, Diddy Kong himself feels shoehorned in here, nothing about this game or universe feels like it's Donkey Kong Country. It feels that way, because Diddy literally was added last minute to this game... Well, I like Diddy, so it's not all that bad, but it also kinda feels cheap, and these characters would feel out of place in the world of DKC, in my opinion. Additionally, some of the later challenges are a tad annoying, silver coin and T.T. races and such. And lastly, the multiplayer isn't nearly as fun as Mario Kart 64's, especially the battle mode. It's the one area where MK64 has it beat, imo.

What it means to me: This was the first game I ever found out about online!! Before this, it was always some video game magazine like Nintendo Power. But yeah, logged onto Nintendo.com one day, saw Diddy flying an air plane, and my form of consuming gaming media was forever changed! Got this game later that year for Christmas, and had a great time playing it for weeks on end with my brothers.

It is debated whether this or Mario Kart 64 is the definitive Kart racer for the N64. Diddy Kong Racing has the edge in single-player, the adventure mode is frustrating towards the end as you have to be basically perfect, but it is still a lot of fun for the most part. Having planes and hovercraft brings some variety to the courses, though I think on average the courses are a little less interesting than Mario Kart 64 -- too many of them feel kind of empty.
The music is fun and catchy, the character sounds are charming, and the controls are intuitive but a little slippery.
Multiplayer is fun as well, but I prefer MK64 for playing with friends; the items are more fun and the battle courses in Mario Kart are top-notch. Overall anyone who likes kart racers and doesn't mind aged graphics should give this a try

Probably the best single-player design for a mascot racing game

Most racing games give you a list of tracks to play on and you do it till your bored. This game gives you courses, collectable progression, then replayability to each one with added challenges to keep it fresh. The challenges are a good teacher for alternate paths but since you can’t watch someone else grab the coins, you kinda have to learn some mechanics on your own and back in the day, you just had that 10 page paper manual if your mom didn’t throw it out.

Unpopular opinion but I never found the greatness that many other gamers have found in this game. With that being said, this game is fun and offers a ton of content and variety starting with the obvious addition of other types of vehicles with boats and planes. Being a kart racing game at its core, I found the kart levels more fun, followed by airplane levels, and last boat levels which were a bit on the clunky side in terms of controlling and overall level design.

Graphics were great for the time, and the story-driven single-player mode added more weight to the game. There were a bunch of forgettable things in this game such as the "rest" of the characters (with the obvious exception of Banjo and Conker). Non-playable characters like TT and Taj also felt like run of the mill additions.

Overall, DKR is a fun kart racing game with a very ambitious setup but it does fall short in certain areas such as characters and some track designs.

i MIGHT be slightly biased because this game is very sentimental to me but nonetheless, i personally feel its one of the more unique racing games out there. i find it to be more entertaining and worth more my time than mario kart for sure, probably because its partially story driven, with charming npcs, (even if they dont have much screen time), several game modes, and 3 different vehicles to use around the tracks which already gives it a big boost above some other racing games. it might not be as impressive or as packed as some other games in its era, but its casual, fun, and friendly for everyone