Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing is a video game developed by Rareware and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Although it is not of the Banjo-Kazooie series, Diddy Kong Racing is the first game to include Banjo, which was done to familiarize players with him before receiving his own debut title, Banjo-Kazooie. Tiptup also makes his first appearance in the game.

Playable Characters

 * Diddy Kong is the game's namesake and all-around in terms of stats. He is a monkey from the Donkey Kong series.
 * Banjo is a honey bear that premiered in Diddy Kong Racing, a year before his own series kicked off in Banjo-Kazooie. He is the second-heaviest racer.
 * Conker is a squirrel that makes his first appearance in this game; his first appearance in his own franchise would be Conker's Pocket Tales. He acts as a middleweight racer.
 * Krunch is a Kremling from the Donkey Kong series. He acts as the fastest heavyweight, but the least agile racer.
 * Tiptup is a lightweight character that would later appear in both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.
 * Timber is the son of the owners of the island Wizpig attacks. He acts as a middleweight racer.
 * Bumper is a badger that is a semi-heavyweight but otherwise has no traits as a character. However, according to interview, he is now incarcerated.
 * Pipsy the mouse is the lightest racer, but also has no characterization and has never appeared in any other game, but was based loosely off a character from a previous canceled Rare game.
 * T.T. (unlockable)
 * Drumstick (unlockable)

Trivia

 * Banjo mentions racing a genie and a giant pig at some point in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. This is a reference to Diddy Kong Racing with Wizpig being the pig and Taj being the genie.
 * Although Banjo wears the blue backpack which Kazooie uses in the Banjo-Kazooie series, Kazooie is never mentioned nor seen in the game. She is, however, mentioned in the game's instruction manual, and music related to Banjo includes both a Banjo and a Kazoo-like instrument.