Diddy Kong was originally going to be Donkey Kong Junior. Nintendo felt that Rare's redesign was too different from the appearance of Donkey Kong Jr. and mandated that Rare either use Donkey Kong Jr.'s original appearance, or change the character's name. Rare decided the second option would be best. The potential names were Diet DK, DK Lite, Titchy Kong and Dinky Kong. Dinky Kong was almost the final name, but was dropped due to legal considerations.