Mario Kart, only in midair and with Donkey Kong characters--the gist of Rare's Diddy Kong Pilot isn't overly complex. However, everyone loves racing games, and what's more fun than racing airplanes? Perhaps more than eight flyers and 24 tracks isn't enough, which is precisely why Rare has a few surprises in store. Indeed, the final version of Diddy Kong Pilot will have the option to control it with tilt technology--the same control scheme featured in Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble. Graphically, the game uses the same style of 3D visuals as Mario Kart Super Circuit, but with added glitz in the form of 3D camera rotation, multiple layers of background scrolling, and oodles of wacky cartoon animation.

Swerve for your life!

Stockpile power-ups.

Since the game supports four-player linked battle and race modes, it's a good thing that Diddy Kong Pilot is also chock-full of weapons. Watermelons, peanuts, and homing missiles can knock competitors out of the air, while magnets and glue items can give you a leg up on the competition. Zip tubes, jump ramps, shortcuts, and turbo boosts are located in hard-to-reach areas, but they can send you to the front of the pack in a hurry. In the end, though, your success depends upon hard cornering and avoiding contact with the ground at all costs. Can ya fly, Bobby? Diddy Kong Pilot will crash-land in late 2002.

Grand Theft Auto III
Developer: DMA Design
Publisher: Destination Software
Release Date: Q4 2002
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You've escaped from police custody with a bombs expert named "8-Ball." What's next? In Destination Software's Grand Theft Auto III, it's time to go to work for the mob, heisting cars, capping rival gangsters, and turning the city into a war zone. GTAIII for the GBA clings to the same top-down viewpoint as other vehicle-based games, but with a violent twist. As you complete missions for mob bosses, you decide whether you're going to do it on foot or hijack a car. On foot, you can acquire weapons in order to destroy property and people, access hidden areas with useful power-up items, and interact with various in-game characters. In a car, however, you can run over pedestrians, trash buildings, deliver contraband, and participate in high-speed police chases. Oh yeah, the streetwalkers from the PlayStation 2 version are here too.

Sadly, the release of Grand Theft Auto III for the GBA has been pushed back to the end of the year. On the other hand, this gives developer DMA Design plenty of time to conjure up a worthwhile handheld companion to the PlayStation 2 game. Graphically, although the action is seen from above, the game will have tons of particle, damage, smoke, and flame effects. Overall, the building designs and car sprites lend a great deal of definition to the game's cities, though they're a little on the cartoonish side. The GBA's speedy visuals will also allow storefront windows to erupt just as extravagantly as sprays of bullets from a machine gun or gushes of blood from crushed pedestrians. Grand Theft Auto III is definitely rated M.