Diddy Kong Racing DS is a racing game developed by Rare for the Nintendo DS. It is Rare's first Nintendo DS game, and was released on February 7, 2007, in North America, April 20, 2007, in Europe and April 19, 2007, in Australia. It is a remake of the critically acclaimed Diddy Kong Racing. Diddy Kong Racing DS makes use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, as well as the microphone for various features in the game, and the touch screen to create race tracks. Although some of the tracks underwent minor changes, they remained nearly identical to the N64 version. Unlike its predecessor, it was never officially released in Japan.
All the characters received new voices; the most notable is Taj, whose Indian-like voice was replaced with a more generic American voice.
New features in the DS version include collecting coins around tracks and using them to upgrade the player's vehicle so it can either have a higher top speed, better acceleration, better handling, or a custom design.
Characters Conker the Squirrel and Banjo the Bear were replaced with characters Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong due to copyright issues with Rare, Ltd. after Microsoft bought the company from Nintendo in 2002.[10]