According to DK Vine, Diddy Kong Pilot was cancelled by Nintendo, who found no point in a Diddy Kong game where the Kongs and Kremlings would "fly in a flat landscape". Rareware employees believed that the Big N was being prejudiced against them, as it was around the Microsoft buyout. Even though M$ did not cancel it, the game was 85% likely to have been scrapped because of Nintendo's feelings toward Rare & the buyout. The only game they oddly worked on was Star Fox Adventures. This means the buyout likely affected me from not playing that game in my childhood. If only my parents knew about Banjo back then...
As for Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, its planned release date before cancellation was November 2001. Was Nintendo starting to dislike them by late 2001? It might take ages for an answer.
I remember getting a GameCube some time after a GBA and a good amount of titles for it, including DK Jungle Beat (I REALLY liked DK back then, and still now ). Oddly, my parents got it for me a year before a GameCube. They didn't let me play it for its E10+ rating But on topic: there is no exception that I would have not had Donkey Kong Racing, had it not been cancelled. At least DK Barrel Blast compensated for it, but it just isn't quite the same... (and I never got the game, even now; it can change)
Oh, and there was a high chance for a DK platformer on the GameCube. Spoiler:
Oddly enough, Microsoft only wanted Rareware for the widely charismatic and successful Donkey Kong: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/microsoft_execs_thought_they_owned_donkey_kong_after_acquiring_rare. Because they didn't receive the rights to Donkey Kong, they had no point in having Rare, because they didn't care about their original games (e.g. Banjo-Kazooie or Perfect Dark). Why didn't Rare or Nintendo explain to them that DK's IP belonged to Nintendo...
Qyzbud
Blaziken257