"Diddy Kong Racing" has gameplay that is similar to "Mario Kart 64". It has an adventure mode with several worlds that have several race tracks, a battle stage, and a race against a boss. Players can choose to use a car, a hovercraft, or a plane, although some tracks make the player use one of those. Each track has boosters that make the player go faster, and balloons that give the player an item that they can use during the race. Players can choose from 10 characters. Two of the game's characters, Conker and Banjo, would later star in their own games. Conker went on to star in "Conker's Bad Fur Day", while Banjo went on to star in "Banjo-Kazooie".