Diddy Kong Racing #7 It is pure fun

Far away from the prying eyes of civilization, a tropical island paradise known as Timber Island is thrown into dystopia when an intergalactic wizard hog descends from the dark recesses of space to gatecrash and throws the inhabitants of the island out in the cold. Challenging anyone in attendance to win the island back by racing him on the Islands renowned Tracks creates little competition and Wizpig soon finds himself on an unbeatable winning streak.

Lone tiger cub, Timber; heir and unfortunate guardian to the island while his parents are out garners the support of his many animal friends to take on Wizpig, including Bumper the Badger, Pipsy the Mouse, TipTup the Turtle, and starring in their first Rare debut, Banjo the Honeybear and Conker the Red Squirrel. With a team of skilled racers to their roster, Timber and his pals attempt to take back the island by force, racing through its 25 unique and exciting race courses in plane, car or hovercraft that will lead them to an inevitable showdown with Wizpig himself. Will Timber and friends manage to kick Wizpig out and return the island to its former glory before his parents return?

DIDDY KONG RACING is pure fun, with Technicolor backgrounds and amazingly cute characters (like Pipsy and Taj, as well as Diddy Kong). These guys are being forced to race like crazy to defeat boss characters and collect goodies in a mind twisting land of coins, balloons, bananas and other icons. Experienced drivers will appreciate features like the power drifts, an innovative Sharp Turn Technique, and various weapons. Offering up a habit-forming combination of adventure and racing, DIDDY KONG RACING delivers challenges, races and evil bosses in the magic Overworld.

Story

Diddy Kong sat on the porch of his tree house and curiously tore open the letter. It wasn't often that a message arrived from so far away that it had to be brought in by carrier pigeon! Eager to find out what it contained, he tugged out the note impatiently and started to read.

“Dear Diddy,” it began. “Help!!!” Now this sounds promising, he thought. Things had been all too quiet since those old family friends of Tigers had arrived to spend the summer. And as it turned out, the message was from his old friend Timber, son of the Kongs’ guests, the Tigers. The young Tiger had found himself in quite a bit of trouble that, for once, was not even his fault. After Diddy Kong read the note through a couple more times, he sat back and gnawed on his finger, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the early jungle mist.

The question that preoccupied him now was whether or not he should draft some extra help, just in case...after all, this Wizpig sounded like a pretty mean foe.

He decided that his friends Banjo and Conker would still enjoy an adventure, even if it turned out that their services were not needed. So, the young ape dug out a pencil stub from the mess of his bedroom and hopped back into his seat. Whistling for Squawks - his own makeshift carrier pigeon he began to scribble out a couple of messages of his own.

A few hours later, Diddy Kong was on the first leg of his journey, tearing off at high speed through the jungle. A pair of Kremling spies lurking behind a boulder watched him with suspicion.

“Hey - where you think he go?” asked Krunch. His crony frowned.

“Why?” he asked.

“What if he go fetch others? Fight Kremlings?” The second Kremling thought about this and then realized what Krunch was about to suggest.

“No way. I not go,” he said, and turned and bolted into the undergrowth. Krunch rolled his eyes.

“Hopeless,” he snorted. “I go after him,” he bellowed to his cowardly colleague. “You go tell the boss - see what he think of that, huh?” And with that, Krunch lumbered off through the trees, grumpily swatting aside vines as he went.

Meanwhile, Timber was trying to calm the excitable Pipsy so that he could understand at least part of what she was saying.

“He said he would help us!” she squealed, making Bumper and TipTup wince as the pitch of her voice soared in and out of audible range. “He said he wanted to find a champion to go after that horrible pig once and for all!”

“Slow down, Pipsy,” Timber urged, trying to make sense of her words without upsetting her. After all, this whole business had been harder on the little mouse than and of them. Wizpig's unwanted intrusion left her family homeless.

“Who are you talking about?” Bumper asked curiously.

“Taj! The Genie! Pipsy babbled. “He said he would help! Really, Bumper, he did! I just saw him!”

TipTup blinked. “The G-Genie? B-but nobody's seen him for f-fifty years,” he protested.

“I know, I know! But I just did, I promise!”

Timber frowned, thinking this through. “That means he must have been kicked out of the mountain too,” he reasoned. “After all, we have seen what that pig's spells can do.”

They all thought of the huge, leering Wizpig face that had been carved into the mountainside overnight. Then they thought of the race courses, the island's pride and joy, which had been magically sealed off. That made them think of Drumstick, their friend and the island's champion racer, who had gone to challenge the intruder to an honorable race and hadn't been seen since.

“We could really do with Taj's help,” Pipsy prompted.

“N-No argument there,” agreed TipTup, nodding nervously.

Timber scratched his head. “Well, I guess you are right,” he sighed, “especially if we are going to get this mess sorted out before my parents get back.”

“Well, if that Genie wants a champion, I say we all get practicing,” Bumper grunted, getting to his feet and snapping down his goggles.

“Good plan,” Timber agreed. “Come on everyone - yeah, TipTup, even you. Help should be on its way soon, but we cannot just sit around waiting - let us get out there and do what we can! And let us hope that Diddy Kong does not mention any of this to my parents.”

Gameplay

Diddy Kong Racing features ten playable characters — eight of which are available by default, and two unlock-able — and three different types of vehicles for different terrain: cars for land, hovercrafts for water or land, and planes for air. Each character and vehicle has different strengths and weaknesses, sometimes in combination. For example, Krunch normally has low steering, but his steering is higher in a hovercraft due to that vehicle's emphasis on weight.

In the Adventure mode, the player is placed on Timber's Island and tasked with collecting Golden Balloons to access various challenges. There is a total of five worlds that can be accessed from the main Timber's Island hub, and each has four main racetracks, a trophy championship, a boss track, and—aside from the last one—a special battle minigame. Different vehicles are sometimes required for different tracks, and the player can change them at any time by speaking with Taj the Genie, located in the center of the Timber's Island map. Each of the smaller worlds, meanwhile, instead has T.T. walking around the hub, and he tells the player's progress when approached.

In races, bananas can be picked up to increase speed, while Weapon Balloons provide items to use in the race. The color of the Weapon Balloon determines what item it will be, and collecting multiple of the same color in sequence improves the item's effects by up to a total of three levels. Collecting a balloon of another color cancels it out and replaces it with the new item.

Golden Balloons can be found scattered on Timber's Island or won from races, either from tracks or from Taj on the island. All of the standard tracks have two Golden Balloons available: one from a standard race, and one from completing a Silver Coin collection challenge. The standard races must be completed first to race the world's boss, who then challenges the player to complete the Silver Coin races; after they are completed as well, the player can rematch the boss for a piece of the Wizpig amulet. The boss then challenges the player to complete the Trophy Race championship. Each of the first four worlds has a key hidden in one track that opens a gate to the respective world's battle minigame, which awards a piece of the T.T. amulet.

When all four pieces of the Wizpig amulet are gathered, the player is able to race Wizpig himself to banish him from the island. Upon losing, he throws a tantrum and retreats to his own planet (the final world), and the player must have all four trophies to reach it. To race him again, the player must complete all races and Silver Coin challenges in this last world (itself requiring every Golden Balloon in the game) and collect all four pieces of the T.T. amulet from the battle stages. The adventure is complete once Wizpig is defeated here.

The game also has a time trial mode, where the player needs to race to beat T.T.'s best times. This is optional in the main game, but it is required to unlock T.T. himself. Additionally, "magic codes" can be used to affect the game in various ways, with one being told to the player after they complete the adventure.

Items and Objects

Bananas

Bananas are scattered in every course. By collecting them, the player is able to increase the top-speed of his or her vehicle until the banana counter reaches ten (with the exception of the VITAMINB magic code that enables bananas to infinitely boost any character's top speed). After that, the bananas do not affect the vehicle any further. If players get hit (by a level 1-3 red balloon or level 2-3 green balloon), they lose some bananas. Additionally, bananas play a key role in the battle games of Icicle Pyramid and Darkwater Beach, where they act as the player's life gauge, and in Smokey Castle, where they need to be collected and stored in a treasure chest. If the BOGUSBANANAS magic code is in use, bananas will reduce speed rather than increase it.

Egg

Eggs only appear in the Fire Mountain battle course, where the goal is to gather and hatch three in one's own nest as quickly as possible.

Golden Balloons

Golden Balloons are the key items in the game. The player must collect a specified amount access each course and world. After the player's character wins at a race, Taj gives them a Golden Balloon. A total of 47 Golden Balloons appear in the game.

Key

The game features four keys. One is hidden in a race course of each world. Their purpose is to unlock the door to the Challenge Level in the corresponding world's hub, where the racer can compete against CPUs or other players. A key appears in Ancient Lake of Dino Domain, Snowball Valley of Snowflake Mountain, Crescent Island of Sherbet Island, and lastly, Boulder Canyon of Dragon Forest.

Zippers

Zippers can be used to give the player an extra speed boost. They are found in every track. Letting go of the button before hitting one will make the player go slightly faster. There are three Zipper variants, one for each vehicle: Cars, Hovercrafts, and Planes.

Balloon Weapons

Red - Missiles

Missile -> Homing Missile -> 10-Missile Pack

Try to use regular missiles at close range. They travel in a straight line. Do not use them on top of a hill or you miss high. If you can, face down when you use one; then they will track the ground. It is best, when you use a homing missile, if the target is in sight, even though it has unlimited turning capability. You will hear an alarming sound when you are being targeted by this kind of missile. Finally, never use up all 10 shots in a missile pack. No matter how many you have left (even 1), when you get another red balloon, the pack if reloaded to 10 shots. Also, if you use one on turns, do not forget to lead your shot through the turn.

Blue - Speed Boost

Orange Boost -> Blue Boost -> Purple Boost

These are like portable Zippers. Do not forget to release the accelerator just before and during the boost period. I think that a blue boost is the equivalent of a Zipper and the purple boost is about 2 Zippers. Any kind of boost is trickiest in the hovercraft. Do not use one just before or during a turn. Before boosting, wait until the very end of the turn.

Yellow - Shields

Alpha Shield -> Star Shield -> Lightning Shield.

Shields protect you from weapons as well as course hazards like lasers, snowballs, and even dragon breath. Also, shields will spin out anyone who touches you. The better the upgrade, the longer the shield lasts. In some races, like Greenwood Village, there is a shield right after the start. The racers are cramped at this time, so get the shield and spin everyone out.

ERROR in the NP Player's Guide: It states that all shields have the same effect. The better the shield, the longer the other driver will spin on contact with your shield. The lightning shield lasts for 30 seconds.

Green - Droppers

Oil Slick -> Mine -> Snare Bubble

Drop these on the course somewhere, preferably next to a balloon, Zipper, in a shortcut, or in a tight, narrow turn. Your opponent will see the dropper, but it will be too late. Droppers can be placed anywhere, even in midair. In the hovercraft, hitting oil will cause you to lose 2 bananas. In the plane, an oil slick is represented by a cloud similar to dragon breath, but green. Hitting it will also cause you to lose 2 bananas. Hitting one in the car causes you to spin out, but no loss of bananas. All others work the same in any vehicle and cause you to lose 2 bananas. Especially in multiplayer mode, if you can put droppers near every Zipper on the course, the other drivers will have trouble catching up to you.

Rainbow - Special

Yellow Magnet -> Red Magnet -> Green Magnet

The first two pull you toward your rival (the red one has better range), and the green one pulls your rival back to you and has almost unlimited range! Do not use these near turns or other obstacles or you will likely get hung up on something and lose position.

Strategies

Smoke

After any boost, your vehicle will start smoking black for a normal boost and colors for a super boost. This is a signal that the boost it wearing off. When you see it, hit the accelerator again. With the hovercraft, hit the accelerator early.

Jump Start

There is also a Rocket Boost in this game, like Mario Kart 64. When the words "GET READY" fade, hit the gas. Depending on the timing, you get a boost. The more faded the words, the better the boost. Try to get the blue "Super Boost" timing every time.

Inside Line

This technique applies to all racing games. No matter what character/vehicle you use or what course you are racing, you should always take the "inside line," which is the shortest route possible. Generally, if you go wide on turns, you cover more ground and you take longer to get through the turn. Unfortunately, this is where many of the coins are on the Silver Coin Challenges.

Braking/Tilt Turn

Until you master the tilt turn (A + B + R + turn), you power slide through turns. The technique is very different from Mario Kart, and because tilt turns are so much easier.

Shortcuts

Look for alternate routes on every course and figure out which ones offer the best balloon selection/save the most time.

A Zipper is a Zipper is a Zipper

As long as the vehicle can reach the Zipper, it can use it. Making your plane's fuselage hit a road Zipper, you get the boost. You can also hop (R, with the hovercraft) into air Zippers to get the boost. Be creative.

Unlock the fastest driver

Unlocking T.T. as a playable character requires two things. Beat a certain time on Time Trial. Listed these as the "Silver" times. These are the times needed to "race" T.T.'s best ghosts. The "ghost" times are the "Gold" times listed. Beat these times on EVERY track and you unlock the fastest driver in the game.

Playable Characters

There are 10 playable characters in Diddy Kong Racing, with eight available from the start and two being unlockable. All of these characters except Diddy Kong debut in this game. Some characters have discrepancies depending on the vehicle they use; TipTup and Pipsy have the same speed as Diddy on a car when they have 4 to 10 bananas and have the same speed as Diddy on a hovercraft and a plane, while T.T. has the same speed and acceleration as Krunch on a plane. This is the first game to introduce Banjo, TipTup (later renamed Tiptup), and Conker, three characters who appear in other Rare games with Banjo being one of the main characters in Banjo-Kazooie and Tiptup appearing as a minor character in Bubblegloop Swamp inside Tanktup's shell. Conker would appear in Conker's Pocket Tales and would've appeared in Twelve Tales: Conker 64 until it was reworked into the adult-oriented title, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Banjo and Conker would be removed in Diddy Kong Racing DS, replaced by Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong respectively. However, Tiptup still appears in both versions.

Non-Playable Characters

Taj is the only non-playable ally character in the game.

A magical elephant and the legendary guardian of Timber's Island, he was last seen 50 years before. Wizpig evicted him from his home (and with it, his lamp), so he helps Diddy and friends in various ways, such as changing the vehicle type on request and presenting Golden Balloons the player has earned. He also has a race against him around the hub world for each vehicle type.

Bosses

Diddy Kong Racing has five bosses, all of which are raced twice. The first four, the Island Guardians, have been enchanted by the final boss, Wizpig, into racing on his behalf. For the Island Guardians, the only difference between the first and second race is a slight increase in difficulty, though Wizpig's races are completely different from each other. Each boss cheats by beginning before the starting countdown ends, with this becoming more and more obvious the further into the game it happens.

Vehicles/Controls

• Car
• Hovercraft
• Plane

Car

The car is a simple-to-control vehicle, and it can drift. It is affected by off-road, however, and water slows it to a crawl.

• Accelerate
• Brake
• Turn
• Horn/Power Up
• + Sharp Turn
• + + Power-Slide Turn

⤴ ↳ ⇡

Hovercraft

The hovercraft has slippery controls, requiring players to hop to turn. The hovercraft, however, is not affected by off-road, and it can ride on water and lava without losing speed.

• Accelerate
• Brake
• Turn
• Horn/Power Up
• Hop
• + Sharp Turn
• + + Power-Slide Turn

⤴ ↳ ⇡

Plane

Planes can fly over any terrain. They can turn the most sharply and players can perform stunts with them. If players are hit by items or bump into obstacles, however, the plane crashes into the ground, losing speed and altitude, making them more costly than hits on a car or hovercraft.

• Accelerate
• Brake
• Turn
• Horn/Power Up
• Hop
• + Sharp Turn
• + + Power-Slide Turn
• + + or + + Barrel Role
• + + or + + Loop

⤴ ↳ ⇡

Game Modes

Adventure Mode

If you have played Super Mario 64, then you know about how the star system works. You start out, gain a star or two, then all of the sudden you can open up doors to new worlds. From these worlds, you get more stars, and with the more stars you get, you can go even further into the game. Diddy Kong Racing is very similar to this, but instead of gathering stars, you collect gold balloons. You get the balloons by winning races, or just finding them in the huge outter world that you start out in.

In each of the 4 worlds, this is what happens. First, you race against the computer players, and you must get first place in every race in order to get another gold balloon. Once you finish first in every race (you can try them over and over as many times as you wish), you get to race against the boss of the levels.

All the bosses are very similar — you race them, and they are usually quite a bit faster than you, but by using weapons that are found on the track, you can keep up with them, and defeat them. After you beat the boss, you are still not finished. You then have to do all the levels again, but this time race and collect all 8 of the silver coins on the track. They are usually pretty easy to find, none are really hidden so you cannot find them. After doing this, you race the boss again, and this time the boss is a quite a bit harder.

There is still one more thing left to do. You must find the key which TT has hidden in one of the levels of that main area. The key is always hidden VERY well, and it can be very hard to find them. Once you do find the key you can just exit out of the level by pausing and returning to the lobby, then you will do the challenge for that world.

Adventure 2 Mode

Adventure Two is played the same as the standard Adventure Mode, but harder. The balloons are silver, the tracks are flipped (very similar to Mirror Mode in the Mario Kart series), and the locations of the silver coins are different, often in hard to reach places. It is unlocked by defeating Wizpig at Future Fun Land in Adventure Mode.

Tracks Mode

Players can freely play all the race tracks unlocked. Tracks with a Taj symbol are completed tracks, and players can choose any vehicle that is compatible with the track. Tracks with a Wizpig symbol have not been cleared, and players will be unable to play that track at all.

Trophy Races and Battle Stages are also accessible through Tracks mode, however players will always use each track's default vehicle, regardless if a Taj symbol is present.

Races and Challenges

Normal Races

During standard races, eight characters travel three laps around the track in the same type of vehicle as each other. Each world has four standard race tracks, and a Golden Balloon is the prize for winning.

Boss races

Races against bosses are always one-on-one, and depending on the track layout may be three laps or a single end-to-end run. The four Island Guardians must be raced twice, once after each normal race and once after each Silver Coin challenge in their world is completed; winning the second race earns a piece of the amulet needed to reach the first Wizpig race. Both Wizpig races lead to endings when completed.

Silver Coin challenges

Silver Coin challenges are much like normal races, except that the eight Silver Coins scattered across the track must be collected before winning. For the first four worlds, they are recommended after the boss is defeated the first time and are necessary to rematch them. In Future Fun Land, they are simply done after all the normal races with no boss race in between. As with normal races, a Golden Balloon is earned by beating them.

Trophy races

Trophy Races are a grand prix-style challenge where the player goes through all four of a world's normal tracks back-to-back (sometimes in an order different from unlocking), trying to get a higher ranking than the opponents. Winning within the top three earns a different trophy for each placement. Collecting a trophy in each of the first four worlds is necessary to reach the final world.

Challenge Levels

Challenge Levels are challenges that appear in each of the four main worlds. Each world has a single Challenge Level that matches the world's theme, and has a unique objective and layout. Each Challenge Level's door can be unlocked by a key located a specific course of that world. The player obtains a part of the T.T. amulet when they win at a challenge.

Fire Mountain

In Fire Mountain, the players, using planes, complete to be the first to gather three dinosaur eggs from the center of the arena into their respective nest.

Icicle Pyramid

In Icicle Pyramid, players, using cars, battle each other directly using items, with each player getting four hit points (represented by a total of eight bananas). It is functionally equivalent to the Balloon Battle from the Mario Kart games.

Darkwater Beach

The gameplay in Darkwater Beach is identical to Icicle Pyramid, but uses hovercrafts instead of cars.

Smokey Castle

In Smokey Castle, players, using cars, complete to gather ten bananas into their respective treasure chest, with only two at a time being able to be carried.

Taj's challenges

After the player collects enough Golden Balloons in Adventure Mode, Taj will appear and challenge the player to a race in a specific vehicle. The player has to race Taj, who rides a flying carpet. The racetrack is marked with red flags showing the Nintendo 64 logo and the player has to follow them. If they leave the set track by too far a margin, they will be disqualified. After Taj is beaten, he will reward the player with another Golden Balloon. There are three different challenges and each of them can be repeated at any time after they have been unlocked (the player will only obtain one Golden Balloon per challenge however).

Car Challenge is a relatively easy race done in a car. This race goes around a dirt road right in front of Dino Domain and reaches into a tunnel. This should be very easy for the player because of Taj's slow movement.

Hovercraft Challenge is the second of Taj's races and is somewhat more difficult than the Car Challenge. The track is mostly in water and begins next to the bridge which leads to Dino Domain. In the race the player will hover into a waterfall that is on the far east of the river. Here, they will be in a cave leading to Snowflake Mountain and eventually fall down two small waterfalls taking them to the ocean. Going east will take the player back on shore where they need to go through a small tunnel leading to the finish line.

Plane Challenge is considered to be the hardest of Taj's three races and a plane is used in it. This race begins at the same place where the Car Challenge begins. From the start the player must fly up to the tunnel leading to Snowflake Mountain and then move east, going over a long river. From there, the player must glide to the beach and go east again. After going through a small tunnel, the player should end up at the finish line.

Worlds

• Dino Domain
  • 1. Ancient Lake
  • 2. Fossil Canyon
  • 3. Jungle Falls
  • 4. Hot Top Volcano
  • 5. Fire Mountain (T.T. Trial)
  • 6. Tricky's Coursed
• Snowflake Mountain
  • 1. Everfrost Peak
  • 2. Walrus Cove
  • 3. Snowball Valley
  • 4. Frosty Village
  • 5. Icicle Pyramid (T.T. Trial)
  • 6. Bluey's Course
• Sherbet Island
  • 1. Whale Bay
  • 2. Crescent Island
  • 3. Pirate Lagoon
  • 4. Treasure Caves
  • 5. Darkwater Beach (T.T. Trial)
  • 6. Bubbler's Course
• Dragon Forest
  • 1. Windmill Plains
  • 2. Greenwood Village
  • 3. Boulder Canyon
  • 4. Haunted Woods
  • 5. Smokey Castle (T.T. Trial)
  • 6. Smokey's Course
• Future Fun Land
  • 1. Spacedust Alley
  • 2. Darkmoon Caverns
  • 3. Spaceport Alpha
  • 4. Star City

Single-player mode

In single-player mode, before a player starts the game, a character, difficulty level, and number of lives is selected. The difficulty levels range from Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, to Very Hard. The number of lives can be set anywhere from one to five lives. The number of lives carries over from the previous match, which means any lost lives are not restored each level. Once the player loses all lives, they can choose to continue, but has their current score cut in half. Alternatively, they can quit, which results in a Game Over.

All stages work with the stock system and opponents and allies have one life each. There is a time limit of five minutes per match, but players can choose to disable it. If in the case the player runs out of time in a level with the exception of Bonus Stages, they go to the Continue screen (as if they had lost all of their lives), regardless of the number of lives the player had remaining.

One-player Game Stages

• Stage 1 The player fights Link at Hyrule Castle.
• Stage 2 The player fights a team of 18 Yoshis in Yoshi's Island. The player fights three Yoshis at a time. When one is defeated, another one takes its place, until all are defeated.
• Stage 3 The player fights Fox in Sector Z.
• Bonus Stage 1 Break the Targets! The player has to hit the 10 targets within a time limit of 2 minutes. Each character has a different arena for his target test. Getting KO'd in the target test causes the failure of the test, but not the loss of a life.
• Stage 4 The player fights Mario and Luigi on Peach's Castle. The player also gets a randomly chosen ally.
• Stage 5 The player fights Pikachu in Saffron City.
• Stage 6 The player fights a Giant Donkey Kong in Kongo Jungle. The player gets two randomly chosen allies.
• Bonus Stage 2 Board the Platforms! The player has to land on all 10 platforms within 2 minutes. It is similar to Break the Targets!!; the player can get KO'd and fail the test, but it doesn't constitute towards the loss of a life.
• Stage 7 The player fights a team of 8 Kirbys in Dream Land. Seven of them already have abilities from the other 7 default characters. The last one is either the regular Kirby or one with an ability of one unlockable character. The player fights two at a time.
• Stage 8 The player fights Samus on Planet Zebes.
• Stage 9 The player fights Metal Mario at Meta Crystal.
• Bonus Stage 3 Race to the Finish! The player has to reach the white door at the end while avoiding three Fighting Polygons, bombs, and bumpers within one minute. Like the two previous bonus stages, failure does not result in the loss of a life.
• Stage 10 The player fights a team of 30 Fighting Polygons on the Battlefield stage. The polygons are fought three at a time.
• Final Stage The player fights Master Hand. Unlike the player, the Master Hand does not have a percentage of damage, but 300 hit points. The battle takes place on Final Destination.

Training mode

Training mode is, as the name suggests, a mode primarily used to practice and simulate battles for improving skills or for beginners to learn controls and moves. There is no time limit or a set number of lives, and whatever happens in Training mode is not recorded.

There are multiple adjustable factors within this mode that are not available in regular VS. mode. Primarily, the computer player's actions can be set to either Stand, Walk, Evade, Jump, or Attack. In any case, if the computer player is about to get knocked off the stage, they make an effort to recover. Another ability available from the pause menu is to be able to make any item spawn. Up to four items can be on the stage at once. The speed of the game is also adjustable. Besides normal speed, it can be set to 2/3, 1/2, or 1/4 speed. Lastly, the camera view can also be changed from normal to close-up; close-up view follows the player at a close angle.

Unlike later Super Smash Bros. games, the computer player cannot be controlled using a controller, and only one computer player can be present at a time.

Bonus Practice

The final mode in single-player mode is Bonus Practice. There are two games, "Board the Platforms" and "Break the Targets". Both games appear as bonus stages in the One-player mode. Unlike other modes, if the player waits after selecting a character, the game automatically starts.

Board the Platforms!

Each character has a unique stage that has ten platforms of various sizes. The objective is to land on each of the ten platforms in the least amount of time possible. Some platforms move while others must be jumped on with the correct timing or the player gets damaged. If the player falls from the stage, it is a Failure, and the player is sent back to the character selection screen.

Break the Targets!

Similarly to Board the Platforms, Break the Targets has a unique stage for each player. The objective in this game is to break ten targets placed throughout the stage by hitting them with an attack. Like Board the Platforms, some targets move, while others are stationary. There are no extra lives, so once a player falls, the trial is a failure, and the player is brought back to the character selection screen.

Versus mode

In VS. mode, the player can pick up to four fighters to fight in a battle. A fighter selection screen is seen, and the players are able to pick which fighter they want. They can also select the costume color for each character. The player is also able to set rules for this match; in a time match, the player can pick the amount of time that can be played, and in a stock match, the players can pick the amount of the lives they and the computers have. Also, after playing a certain number of VS. matches, players can choose which items appear during matches (not in an order, as they are picked randomly). There's also a handicap setting, which allows human players to adjust their attack power and knockback resistance. The damage setting allows players to adjust how quickly fighters can get KO'd at low damage; ranging from a minimum of 50%, to a maximum of 200%.

The next screen is the stage selection screen, where players pick the stage to play on before the battle starts.

Besides the default Free-for-all mode in which players fight each other, there are also team battles. Players can divide into up to three teams and fight against the other team(s). Also, lives are shared, so if one player is eliminated from a team, given that another team mate has 2 or more lives remaining, the eliminated player can recover by borrowing one ally's life by pressing the START Button. Teams are distinguished by costume color of each player, which is either red, green, or blue.

In Super Smash Bros., VS. mode is notably the only multi-player mode in the game.

Options

In the options mode, players can adjust a few game settings. They can adjust the sound to be mono or stereo. Super Smash Bros. is currently the only game in the series where players cannot adjust the music or sound effects volume. The next option is screen adjusting. Super Smash Bros. is also the only game in the series to have this option. The next option is the backup clear, which removes the game's data, which cannot be restored. The European version has an additional option for changing the game's language to English, French or German.

Data

The last menu, the records, shows the profile of each character (and any unlocked characters), which is very similar to trophies in later games in the Super Smash Bros. series. The next part is the VS. Records, where players can see how many KOs, TKOs, and SD's are recorded. By pressing A Button, the player can see how each character is ranked by KOs, SDs, Win Percentage, etc. By pressing the button again, players can view the character's record in detail, showing how much damage was given or taken and the ratio of KOs to TKOs to a certain character. It also shows the character's share of total playtime by percentage.

The last of the records is the unlockable Sound Test. Players can hear sound effects, voices, and/or music from the game. Players can unlock the Sound Test by completing both Break the Targets and Board the Platforms with all characters.

Development and Release

Super Smash Brothers was developed by Hal Laboratory, Inc. in 1998. The game was originally developed by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata as a prototype called “Dragon King: The Fighting Game”, but it was changed when Sakurai prompted the change to Nintendo-based characters to provide some familiarity. After this was approved, Super Smash Brothers came into being.

Nintendo formally announced the title in 1998, but only for release in Japan. Nintendo of America was worried about the pugilist nature of the game and about how audiences would react to the franchise characters fighting with each other. To allay those worries, the game was altered for US release, with the fighting sounds for punches and kicks replaced by more cartoonish "bowling" sounds. At the same time, the Star Wars-like lightsaber hum present in the Japanese version was replaced by a more generic audio sample.

Although announced as a playable character early on, neither version featured Wario -- only a costume color scheme based on him. Through GameShark codes, two debug beta stages have been found in the game code, Kirby Beta Stage 1 and Kirby Beta Stage 2.

The game was released in Japan on January 21, 1999; in North America on April 26, 1999 and Australia soon after; and finally in Europe on November 19, 1999.

Masahiro Sakurai was interested in making a fighting game for four players. His initial design for the game was called Kakuto-Geemu Ryuoh (Dragon King: The Fighting Game), which featured simple characters. After presenting the game to co-worker Satoru Iwata, he helped Sakurai continue on with the project. Sakurai understood that many fighting games did not sell well, so he tried to make his game original. His first idea was to include famous Nintendo characters and send them into the fray. Knowing full well that he would not receive permission to do so, Sakurai created a prototype of the game without sanction from Nintendo and did not inform them until he was sure the game was well-balanced. The prototype he presented featured Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus Aran, and Fox McCloud as playable characters. The idea was later approved. Although never acknowledged by Sakurai or any developers behind Super Smash Bros., third party sources have identified Namco's 1995 fighting game The Outfoxies as a possible inspiration, with Sakurai also crediting the idea of making a beginner-friendly fighting game to an experience in which he handily defeated a couple of casual gamers on The King of Fighters '95 in an arcade.

Super Smash Bros. features music from Nintendo's most popular gaming franchises. While many tracks are new arrangements for the game, some songs attempt to directly emulate their sources. The music for Super Smash Bros. was composed by Hirokazu Ando, who later returned as sound and music director for Super Smash Bros. Melee. A complete soundtrack was released on CD in Japan through Teichiku Records in 2001.