Nintendo Wii: Rolling with the monkeys

Now he's revving up for a double-screened comeback on the go with the whole world as his playground - and while Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support alone warrants the game a renewed racing license, Diddy's return to the circuits of Timber's Island packs a bevy of brand-new parts under its hood that lift this latest model far above port status.

Let's take a look at what was already there, and made the game so popular in the first place. Apart from the different worlds to be explored around the island's main hub, where hidden keys could be collected and devious bosses needed beating, Diddy's neatest trick was that you weren't just resigned to driving karts, given the choice to pilot a plane or cruise along in a hovercraft instead. Featuring the N64's four-player action, the courses that allowed each player to control a craft of choice paved the way for some unique multiplayer confrontations!

Of course, that was ten years ago. Nowadays, a single Game Card allows eight players to sample all the game's tracks via local wireless play, while up to five can compete over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Other DS features like the Touch Screen and microphone grant this game a great deal of customisation options. Get creative with racing emblems and design roadside billboards, record personal sound samples to stand out in the crowd and even draw your own tracks for you and your mates to race on. There are also hundreds of tokens to collect that pay upgrades for your vehicle to tune it to your taste, as well as unlock dozens more secrets and extra features in the process.

With extra playable characters, upgraded graphics, four all-new tracks to race on and the brand-new Balloon Touch Challenges, Diddy Kong Racing DS is like an extended DVD of a classic film: packed with nostalgia and totally attuned to its new platform - Nintendo.