#enguarde the swordfish
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thattscherry · 1 year ago
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Donkey Kong Country animal buddies, Sonic-ified!
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lady-zephyrine · 1 year ago
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Animal Buddies...Animal Friends...
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ninebaalart · 1 year ago
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Animal Tokens
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satoshi-mochida · 1 day ago
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Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online adds Donkey Kong Land 2 - Gematsu
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Following the addition of Donkey Kong Land last week, the Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online app has added Donkey Kong Land 2, Nintendo announced.
Here is an overview of the game, via the back of its box:
About
Wage battle against Kaptain K. Rool and his vast army of Kremlings! K. Rool kidnapped Donkey Kong and he’s demanding the entire Banana Hoard as ransom. It’s up to Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong to rescue their kidnapped pal. A wild assortment of friendly animals like Rambi the Rhino, Squitter the Spider, Squawks the Parrot, Rattly the Rattlesnake, and Enguarde the Swordfish help the two little monkeys in their adventurous mission. Each exciting level is filled with special traps, hidden items, and dastardly Kremlings! Prepare yourself for the biggest Game Boy adventure yet!
Key Features
The smash-hit series continues with this incredible Game Boy sequel!
Play as Diddy Kong or Dixie Kong and take advantage of their unique abilities!
Incredible ACM graphics have been specially optimized for Game Boy!
Fully compatible with Super Game Boy for enhanced colors and special border graphics!
Battery-backed memory saves your progress.
Watch a trailer below.
November 2024 Game Updates
English
youtube
Japanese
youtube
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raindingrandom · 2 months ago
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Art: Shantae as Enguarde the Swordfish
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An art piece I did earlier this year.
References used:
Enguarde's renders from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
The sprites for Shantae's transformations from Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
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theslamsociety · 2 years ago
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Jooseyboy is joined in Episode 4 again by his biggest fan and harshest critic, Karlifornia, as he continues his first solo series, where he deals with a whole lot of monkeying around and rages on the #SuperNintendo with #DonkeyKongCountry - with his pals #DonkeyKong, #DiddyKong, Rambi the Rhino, Winky the Frog, Enguarde the Swordfish and more; on his quest to banana bonanza immortality. Check it out here! 👇 https://youtu.be/_n51WZybE08 . . . #SNES
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willmelon · 4 years ago
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the donkey kong country 2 team rlly knew what they were doin when they named their swordfish enguarde......
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imagetellstories · 3 years ago
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Donkey Kong &  Enguarde
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rumwik · 5 years ago
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(Ko-fi doodle) Enguarde from the Donkey Kong Country series for MozzarellaCheez!
You can get a drawing too, for just $12! Check out my ko-fi page!
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cwgames · 4 years ago
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Kongo Jungle: Coral Capers
Donkey kong and Diddy Kong swim in the deep sea. They can attack under water but one friend can. Enguarde the Swordfishm
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almightyrayzilla · 7 years ago
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Inktober 17.6 - Sword; Donkey Kong & Enguarde
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thattscherry · 1 year ago
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heres both parts of DKC animal buddies Sonic-ified + a bonus Quawks!
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earthnashes · 3 years ago
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2 questions: whats the wildlife like on the dk island?(is it as crazy as Dk country returns?) And can Dk speak in your au?
Wildlife on Donkey Kong Isle is varied but I wouldn't say it holds the same array of animals the likes of Africa would,so things like Giraffes and Zebras and Elephants don't live on the island. In fact, I don't actually think many real-life animals exist the same way in this world as they do in the real world; for example I can't for the life of me remember seeing an actual dog aside from the Nintendog, and the only dog I remember seeing and being called a "dog" is Poochie.... which uh. That thing, cute as he is, isn't quite a "dog".
Tangent aside, notable animals that DO exist on Donkey Kong Isle include:
Rambi Rhinos: otherwise known simply as "Rambis", these critters are small rhinos but pack quite the punch. They're friendly and generally approachable, but quite easy to spook.
Expresso: Tall, thin ostriches that lack the ability to fly, but can run super fast. Unlike the real ostrich though, they also have the ability to glide. They get their names from their hyperactive energy and inability to sit still for too long. They often wear some killer shoes for some reason.
Froggy: Huge toads that make their homes near the rivers and swamps of the island. They're large enough to ride like a miniature horse and pack a lot of power in their hind legs; being kicked by one can be devastating.
Squawkers: Huge parrots that are known to be friendly. They are stronger than what their size would hint toward, able to carry even the heavy Donkey Kong with ease while they fly.
Enguardes: A species of swordfish who are freshwater based instead of saltwater. As such, they can't live in the ocean. They are extremely fast and powerful swimmers, so much so they can swim against a waterfall and even "climb" them. In DK Isle, they are often used instead of actual boats for water-travel.
Squitters: Giant spiders that are large enough to ride like a mount. They're known for their near-permanent, toothy grins and huge, wide eyes. Despite how creepy their somewhat goofy appearance might be, they're very friendly and sustain on a fruit diet. Like Expressos they sport some cool kicks: its theorized that they make them out of their durable webs and share with their ostrich friends.
Rattlers: Goofy-lookin rattlesnakes best known for their giant noses and their ability to spring like a pogo-stick. They have rather large fangs and rattles on their tails, but despite their relation to the venomous Rattlesnake they themselves don't have venom. Almost dog-like in behavior, they share the Kongs love for bananas.
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And to answer your other question: No, Donkey Kong can't speak. In fact, none of the Kongs can, at least not verbally. They can’t speak the common language of this world and their vocalizations is what you'd expect from a gorilla, so they typically use sign language to communicate.
Any help they may get with verbal communication comes from the Kremling inhabitants of their island. Kremings do have the ability to speak.
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supernova1us · 2 years ago
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My new DKC game outline
yeah, i kinda went crazy with this one. started when i did a topic on reddit about what others wanted in a new DKC game and it got me thinking a lot on it and I just went all out with this over a few days. 
The gameplay and game controls/look/ setup would be identical to DKC returns and tropical freeze, acting as a third to the trilogy as either a sequel or prequel to the other two, recreating the story of the original DKC; the kremlings invasion of Kong island.
Typical co-op play with Donkey and Diddy; each region would be the same and in the same sequence as “Returns”. That would understandably make it almost the same as “Returns” outside of enemies and bosses but I personally don’t mind that; it was an amazing game. Collectables would be of course be bananas, gold coins, KONG letters and fragments of tiki idols. Also a lot of use of giraffes as aides/boosts/mechanisms in stages (similar to cannon barrels); just cause it seems fun.
A friendly Tiki Doom(but a smaller one) to the kongs would be encountered consistently for tips and be the one representing the save progress for gameplay and during stages. Each region will have a Kong family rep that can be visited for some benefit or mini-game and if every achievement/unlockable for that region is completed, that kong can be unlocked to replay their region with(each kong having their own unique play style). Each region is under the control of a kremling lieutenant who is or sends out the actual boss to be faced. Each region also has one full stage involving a specific animal buddy, with some additional stages and mini-games being unlockable.
Typical enemies would be Kritters(all green colored); they’d have the shoulder pads of the classics but also the wrist bands and shorts of their newer designs. Other common kremling enemies would be Kludge, Klobber, Re-Koils, Krossbones, Kaboing, Koptor & klap traps. Other typical enemies would be bats, feral parrots, snapping turtles, leopards, porcupines, rams, skunks, frilled lizards, flamingos, wildebeests, Zingers, giant beetles.  
 Jungle: Cranky Kong would be this regions kong rep(along with wrinkly kongs ghost hanging about) and Rambi its animal buddy. The mini-game cranky offers would be a recreation of the classic DK v Mario barrel rolling battle. Klump(based on his 64 look) would be the kremling controlling the region and the boss he sends out would be a large force of giant Army’s.
Beach: Funky Kong would be this regions kong rep and Enguarde its animal buddy. Kip & Kass(K Rool’s niece and nephew) would be controlling this region and also be the boss’, controlling the kremlings dangerous submarine. As a reference to DKC 2, one stage would be set on a pirate ship of pirate themed kremlings(klomp, klinger, Krook,Kruncha, Kutlass, Skidda )ending with a mini-boss who’s a hybrid of kannon, captain scurvy and kaptain k rool. Unique enemies to this region would also be crabs, sharks, swordfish, and octopuses.
Ruins: Dixie Kong & Tini Kong would be this regions kong reps and Expresso its animal buddy. Kalypso controls this region and the boss is a colossal klap trap and its smaller brethren. A mini-game of this region would also have dixie/tini in race against the kremling Krunch.
Cave: Chunky Kong would be this regions kong rep(while also babysitting Kiddy Kong) and Winky its animal buddy. Also a lot of presence of moles here much like in “returns” as I really that they also live on the island and are the primary inhabitants of the region and rock kroks & Krash Kritters would be common enemies. A Rock Krok would be the boss, fusing with other rock kroks to become a larger version. A section of the boss fight would see the giant rock krok engulfed and merged with magma and molten rock.
Forest: Candy Kong would be this regions kong rep and Ellie its animal buddy. Krusha would control this region and the boss would be a large, monstrous deforestation vehicle he pilots.
Cliffs: Lanky Kong would be this regions kong rep(manky kong would be revealed as his mad brother) and Rattly its animal buddy. Kudgel would be controlling this region and be its boss(aided by some Koins).
Factory: Swanky Kong would be this regions kong rep( a few traits from bluster kong would be mixed in with him) and Squawks its animal buddy. Kasplat would control this region and the boss would be a giant robot kremling(who resembles Kerozene); it’s actually filled with and being puppeted by dozens of kritters who fall out when it takes damage.
Volcano: Yeti Kong(eddie the mean old yeti) would be this regions kong rep(the boarder of the volcano would now have some snowy terrain) and Squitter its animal buddy. K Lumsy would control this region and is its boss but is less antagonistic to the kongs and thus treats the battle like it’s a game.
Golden Temple: this would be where king k rool has settled into his throne(with all the stolen bananas as well) and the site of the final boss fight. His defeat would gain possession of the crystal coconut. The beaten K Rool is sent flying down to the beach, where his defeated minions begin dragging him in retreat, but he shares a glare with DK showing their feud is far from over.
Additional stages in the golden temple can be unlocked as playable if all the tiki idol fragments are collected. After the stages would be a mini-boss of Kong Fu, who guards/worships the temple, then the secret final boss (a malevolent false idol partly based on inka dinka doo). In the finale, using the crystal coconut unlocks the shrine of the ancient Kongazuma(based sorta on the statue in the DK themed field in mario super sluggers) whose statue bestows DK with the giant golden banana it held. The ending shows the whole kong family celebrating the defeat of the kremlings as DK adds the giant gold banana to his banana hoard.
please give feedback on if it would be something you'd enjoy playing.
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smallmariofindings · 4 years ago
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Officially licensed Donkey Kong Country plush of Enguarde the Swordfish from Japan.
Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source
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mysmashplaythroughs · 5 years ago
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Donkey Kong Playthrough
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Fighter: Donkey Kong.
Game: Donkey Kong Country, Wii U Virtual Console (SNES). First released November 21st 1994.
Fighter Bio.
He’s the leader of the bunch, you know him well, he’s finally back, to kick some tail. Donkey Kong is a gorilla (although it might be more correct to say he’s of the Kong species which we’ll go into later) who lives on and is the leader of Donkey Kong Island. He is not the first Donkey Kong as the original DK was the one who fought Mario in the arcade game of the same name, however that Donkey Kong is now an elderly ape known as Cranky Kong. When it comes to the current Donkey Kong’s relation to Cranky Kong it has not always been entirely clear, with DK being called in the past Cranky Kong’s son and more commonly now his Grandson. Compounding this is that the original Donkey Kong had a son called Donkey Kong Jr, who initially was believed to be the current Donkey Kong, but now it’s said that the current DK is actually Jr’s son. As with most Nintendo characters, it’s not entirely important and the main point is that the Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country onward is the current DK.
Donkey Kong can be a hero, but more often than not is motivated by fairly simple means into action, one of the most common of which is his banana hoard being stolen and him going on a journey to take it back. He is more laid back than the original Donkey Kong, preferring to just laze about eating bananas, however he has inherited Cranky’s temper when it comes to people taking what he wants. In most cases this is justified such as when it comes to his banana hoard or having his Island taken over, but there have been some occasions where he has gone on a rampage for more selfish reasons, such as the new Mini Mario toy he wanted going out of stock, causing him to steal them from the factory. Despite this, he has often been shown to care about his friends and family, and help out others when he feels in the mood such as in various Mario series spin-off games.
He has great strength and despite not being the absolute strongest Kong, is also faster than the few who are more powerful than him such as Chunky Kong. One of his trademark skills is throwing barrels, something Cranky Kong did back during his rivalry with Mario, and something the current Donkey Kong does in various adventures he goes on when he can get his hands on them. Although his ‘nephew’ Diddy Kong and others are much faster, DK can still move pretty well both on land, jumping from platform to platform and swimming in the sea. He’s more intelligent than most animals being able to use tools such as a coconut gun and having his own treehouse, however there are other Kongs who are more industrious than him making him of fairly average intelligence in comparison. He has sometimes been shown able to speak, although it seems more often he can only communicate with other creatures from his island rather than humans such as Mario.
Friends: Donkey Kong’s best friend is Diddy Kong, who at times has been called DK’s nephew, although in other cases a “nephew-wannabe”. Another friend of his also considered his best friend besides Diddy is Funky Kong who despite the last name has no known relation to DK beyond being a friend. Kong seems to be more of a species of ape which the various characters on DK Island belong to than a family name. His implied love interest is Candy Kong although their true relationship remains a mystery. Cranky Kong as stated before is said to be Donkey Kong’s grandfather and as his name implies tends to be grouchy often going on about how much better games were back in his day before all these fancy graphics and gimmicks. Wrinkly Kong is DK’s grandmother who is married to Cranky Kong. She passed away following Donkey Kong Country 3, however she still returns as a ghost to help out the various Kongs from time to time. DK is mostly friendly with the other various Kongs in the series, however he has not often interacted as much with them, with often Diddy being more related to characters such as Swanky Kong. DK has teamed up with Diddy’s girlfriend Dixie Kong recently however, Dixie having saved Donkey Kong in the past when he had been kidnapped a couple of times.
DK also has various animal friends, often referred to as Animal Buddies who he can ride to help him through levels. The most famous and long running of these is Rambi the Rhino. Expresso the Ostrich, Winky the Frog and Enguarde the Swordfish have also let DK ride them in the past to help him in his adventure. Squawks the Parrot is unable to carry DK, but has helped him in other ways such as carrying a torch for him in dark places, delivering messages to him and helping DK spot rare collectables in a level. There are also the various Mario characters DK has interacted with in spin-off Mario games. These include characters such as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi and many others. DK has been shown to get along well with most of them, although he has a competitive spirit for many of the sports and other competitions he takes part in. He has also been a helpful character in games such as Mario Party often giving characters bonuses for landing on his spot on the board. Finally, it’s important to mention the character who the original Donkey Kong knew and kidnapped in his feud with Mario, Pauline. The current Donkey Kong has met Pauline a couple of times in the Mario vs Donkey Kong series, and often when he’s gotten upset he’s kidnapped her, however he often is calmed down by her and reconciles with her and Mario in the end, even working together one time to test Mario’s new Mini Mario toys.
Enemies/Rivals: DK’s main enemy is King K Rool, the leader of the Kremlings who has stolen his Banana Hoard multiple times. K Rool has also however managed to kidnap DK a couple of times, often by catching him off-guard, which makes him arguably the most dangerous villain he’s ever faced. Other enemies DK has faced over the years include the instrument themed Tiki Tak Tribe, the Viking Snowmads who took over his island and fairly rare run ins with Bowser in a couple of Mario Spin-off games where he’s playable. DK doesn’t have the same antagonistic relationship with Mario as Cranky Kong once did, however he has been at odds with him before, such as with the previously mentioned Mini Mario toy incident. Often this is due to DK’s temper however and afterwards he will calm down and reconcile with Mario. Finally, in one unusual case, Donkey Kong travelled to various Kingdoms fighting their kings in order to conquer their islands, which brought him into conflict with various Kongs and other large beasts, finally culminating with him battling the evil Cactus King. Following his defeat of the Cactus King he celebrated with the other Kongs which seemed to suggest they had become allies in the end. Personally I prefer to think of the somewhat unusual events of this game as actually being the original Donkey Kong as it would fit his more rage fuelled rampages than the current DK, but there’s no word really on it either way and the game’s too obscure for it to likely be clarified.
Crossovers with other Smash characters: Donkey Kong himself has had a few crossovers over the years with other Smash Bros characters. In Mario Kart 8, DK crossed over with Link (his Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild incarnations), Inklings, Isabelle and some human Animal Crossing Villagers. Samus herself didn’t appear in Tropical Freeze, however her gunship can be seen in the background of Busted Bayou seemingly crash landed in the vines. Metroids also make a cameo appearance underwater in Amiss Abyss, appearing in the background floating up to the surface. Mr Game & Watch similarly to Mario crossed over with DK in the Game & Watch Gallery series, however it seems this version of DK is actually the original aka Cranky Kong, as he was often accompanied in this game by DK Jr rather than Diddy Kong. Mr Game & Watch also appeared in Donkey Kong Country Returns as a cameo in the background of the stage Foggy Fumes hammering a pipe. DK appeared as part of the group in the NES version of Tetris playing instruments, this being the original version of DK also. He was playing the drum alongside Pit, Samus, Link and Mario. DK was in all but the original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series, first appearing in the first Olympic Winter Games, as such crossing over with Sonic and many characters from his series, often interacting most with other power-based characters such as Knuckles and Vector the Crocodile. 
Although I do not want to go into other media too often, Donkey Kong technically appeared in Captain N the Games Master cartoon. In this he was based on the original DK and more like King Kong being a giant angry antagonistic ape. Through this show, DK crossed over with Megaman, Simon Belmont and Pit once again. Perhaps the biggest crossover for DK was his appearance in Punch-out on the Wii as a secret boss. DK would sometimes appear in the audience for matches watching as Little Mac made his way to become the champ. During Little Mac’s Last Stand, a mode where Little Mac will retire from boxing after three losses, he decides to take on the champ himself in the ring, making him the final new opponent faced in the game. The original DK and DK Jr also appeared in the crowd in the arcade Punch-out games. DK appeared in all of the Mario Kart GP arcade games, crossing over with Pac-Man, interestingly their only game crossover despite both being famous for starting as arcade games. Finally, despite a lot of association between the series, DK himself never crossed over with Banjo and Kazooie, although in an early beta version of DK64 there was a shower stall with their faces on it in DK’s Treehouse which was later removed. Whether this would have involved a crossover with the games such as the Stop N Swap features planned for Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie is unknown at this point.
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Why this game?
Donkey Kong is known best as a character who is typically one of the most powerful in the games he’s in, including Smash Bros. Over the years he has had various games where he’s been playable, with his own series, Donkey Kong Country. What’s interesting with this series is that in the original three games DK himself was only playable in the very first, having been kidnapped by K Rool in the second and third games. He returned to being playable in DK64 where he was the first of 5 characters that were unlockable in the game being second only to Chunky Kong in strength. After Rareware, the developers of the Donkey Kong Country games and DK64 were sold to Microsoft, Nintendo came out with a new game, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. In this game DK was probably the most violent and powerful he’d been shown in a platformer, with his moves often involving beating his enemies repeatedly with powerful attacks. After this and a long break, the Donkey Kong Country series finally returned in a game called fittingly Donkey Kong Country Returns, a new 2.5D platformer in which DK had to go across his island to reclaim his banana hoard again. This time however, he had to take it back from the Tiki Tak Tribe rather than the Kremlings as in the original series. This game managed to make DK feel more powerful as he did in Jungle Beat but also keep the same platforming style of the original games with one of the most notable features being how the environments DK would travel through would often change based on his actions, with him smashing his way through various locations.
So, with many of the later games focusing more on DK’s power, why did I choose Donkey Kong Country rather than the later games to represent DK? Well, simply put because those games all build off of the foundation Donkey Kong Country set down. Before Donkey Kong Country, DK had only appeared in games where he was an enemy of Mario or in one case a pest exterminator called Stanley. With a remake of the original arcade game on Gameboy having come out within the same year, only a few months before DKC, it’s easy to compare the two to see just how different the original DK was to the one who’s used today. Donkey Kong in this new game was made into a new character from the original, with the original now becoming Cranky Kong, a grouchy old ape past his prime. Donkey Kong Country introduced DK’s new home of DK Island, a new cast who helped him on his adventure along with a new set of enemies in the Kremlings and their leader King K Rool. DK’s design was also changed, one which has stuck pretty much to this day with the odd sort of hairstyle the fur on his head makes. It’s for this reason I feel when looking at DK’s origins, this game is the best place to start, as it was the game that essentially redefined DK into the form he has to this day.
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My past with this game.
This game and series as a whole are very important to me and a huge part of my gaming history. This series along with Mario were the games I grew up with, with this and Super Mario Bros 3 I believe being probably the first videogames I ever played. As such, I admit to having a massive nostalgia bias to the series, however, I still to this day feel this is a fantastic game, amongst some of my personal favourite games of all time. This game specifically isn’t my favourite of the series. In comparison to the other two Donkey Kong Country games, this game was shorter with less secrets, such as the secret worlds and secret final bosses the other two games had to offer. However, I definitely wouldn’t pass it up in favour of the other two games and I have enjoyed replaying it many times over the years. One aspect I have fond memories of personally is that this was one of the few games my parents would play with me, with my Dad in particular being a big fan of it. It was probably one of the only games where I had the experience of starting off being far worse at the game than my Father but gradually getting better until finally, I could beat the game, something he’d not been able to do. As such I suppose I could consider this game as sort of a benchmark for me with regards to finally starting to actually finish games. I have other personal memories from my childhood relating to this game, such as only really being able to play when my parents would allow me to set up the SNES as I was around 4-5 years old and having my Cousins over to play the game with me, but I don’t feel going into that much more would really add a lot to this.
With regards to the gameplay itself etc, the game was fairly simple to the point I could play it as my first game, but even now there are definitely a fair few challenges later down the line, granted nothing on the level of other games around at the time and earlier that I’d never played such as Megaman and Castlevania, but definitely parts that I had to play a lot of times to get past. I remember one specific stage I had trouble with to the point that I actually asked my parents if I could phone the Nintendo Helpline. The level in question was Slipslide Ride, a level where there were ropes you would climb, with the purple ones constantly sliding you down and the blue ones constantly sliding you up. The part I got stuck on was where the only option to proceed was to climb up two purple ropes, however trying to climb up wouldn’t work due to the constant slipping with you only at best being able to stay in place. I remember when I managed to get through on the Nintendo Helpline the operator on the other end gave me the solution, which was to jump between the two purple ropes which would let you gradually get higher until you could jump off them onto the platform above. So what’s the moral of the story? Well, I’d say it’s that I’ve always been a stinky cheater even before looking up solutions on the internet was a thing. Although really, I’m only mentioning this because I find it sort of an interesting example of one of the possible ways to get help with games before you could just look up a walkthrough on the internet. Of course, I believe book guides and game magazines were probably around at the time that I could have used, but being a fairly young kid then and not really seeing many other kids beyond my Cousins sometimes meant that I wasn’t really aware of most of these options. I forget now if the Nintendo Helpline was meant to be one for people with actual issues with their systems or games etc or was advertised as a service for help with “game tips” also, either way I was probably one of those kids who would lead to Nintendo’s attempts to put help features into games down the line, i.e. a true hero.
Something not particularly good for the subject of this post, Donkey Kong himself is he tended to be shown up in this game by his new friend Diddy, with his only real advantage being he could defeat a specific enemy Diddy couldn’t. DK could defeat Krusha a muscle-bound Kremling, and could defeat two other enemies Diddy couldn’t as easily, being Klump a Kremling with a hardhat that Diddy had to cartwheel into, and Army an Armadillo who Diddy would have to jump on once to bring him out of his ball form and then jump on again to defeat. DK could defeat both of these enemies with just a single jump. Diddy on the other hand, would move faster and was nimbler with his jumps, although DK could still manage to jump as far as was needed in the game, everyone I knew who played the game would always prefer to keep Diddy in reserve when playing. This brings me onto another aspect that at the time and even now I quite liked about the game, how the Kongs would team up. Instead of playing through stages as either DK or Diddy alone, you would play as one of the Kongs with the other following you. When you got hit by an enemy, the Kong who was hit would run away and you’d take control of the Kong who was following. The Kong who was following you wouldn’t be able to do anything, being more of a ghost really in actual gameplay, just following you along not being affected by enemies or obstacles. This I feel really added to the atmosphere of the game as you didn’t feel as alone as in other games unless you’d lost one of the Kongs, and with DK and Diddy often being on-screen together it helped make them feel more of a duo than other game characters at the time such as Mario and Luigi, who in most of their games then would take turns going through levels on their own rather than together. The game also did a good job of avoiding the screen becoming too cluttered or confusing the Kong you were controlling for the one you weren’t by making the one following have a slightly more faded look, making it easier to focus on the character you were specifically controlling at the time. In order to bring back one of the Kongs you’d lost when you were down to just one you would have to find a DK barrel to break them out of, which you might recognise in Smash as being DK and Diddy’s entrance animation.
Atmosphere is probably why this game has always been so nostalgic to me. I’ve never cared overly much for graphics (although I definitely can appreciate when something looks good) and whilst this game at the time was fairly breath-taking graphically, the music and the art style were probably the bigger aspect of why I loved the game, with me often as a kid enjoying drawing all the different characters and enemies and reading the instruction manual to look at the various artwork in it. The series would get even better from here, but there are a lot of visual aspects unique to this game that stand out even now. Probably one of the most cited examples at the time was in the very first stage where just before you reached the end of it the sun would set and the place would turn from day to night. It’s hard really to describe atmosphere much more as it’s something you get just from playing or seeing the game itself, so I think it’s best to leave it at saying simply I’ve always liked it in this game.
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My Smash Playthrough.
As I’ve stated before, this is a game I’ve played through a few times before, and I was looking forward to doing so again. Although this is the second post I’m making, at the time this was probably the fifth game I played roughly. The reason why is that I made this list before Smash Bros Ultimate was announced and gave an order to the fighters, so rather than having DK as fighter 2 I had the characters more often shown in various trailers, such as the first trailer for Smash Wii U with Mario, Link, Kirby and Pikachu as the first ones on my list. It was due to this therefore I was on a roll and moved pretty quickly onto this game seeing as the previous game I’d played for Kirby wasn’t very long or difficult. Replaying this game from what I remember I didn’t run into many problems and it was overall the same fun experience I’ve always found it to be replaying it.
So when it comes to remembering this run again as it was some time ago there aren’t many things that stick out in my mind. Stages I remember having issues with were mostly ones I’ve always found difficult, and I think most people do. One of them, Tanked up Trouble was a level I’d always found irritating as you are on a platform with five lights on it which gradually go out. You have to collect fuel barrels in order to bring the lights back on, and if the lights all go out the platform would fall with you on it. Of course, you also had to stay on the moving platform the whole time or else you would fall off the stage, and enemies would be waiting to block your way requiring you to either avoid them or jump on them if you could all while not losing track of and landing back on the platform. I believe overall I didn’t find this level as difficult as I had in the past, although I definitely had a couple of deaths on it. Probably the hardest level overall was Platform Perils, the final regular level in the game which has you jumping between various small moving platforms. The biggest issue on this stage however was the grey Krushas, exclusive to this stage. These variations of Krusha enemies were strong enough that even DK couldn’t beat them by jumping on them, requiring a barrel to be thrown at them as the only way of defeating them. Due to this, often the stage would require you to carry a barrel on small moving platforms and not drop or accidentally break it before you reached the Krusha who is on another small platform you need to get onto. If you lost the barrel there was no way to defeat the Krusha meaning you’d end up dying and having to try the level again. This level took me many attempts I remember and was probably the biggest challenge I had, but eventually I beat it, leading on to me beating the final bosses not too much longer after.
When replaying this game, I’ll admit there was one negative that stood out to me more now than I remember when playing it as a kid, which is objects in the foreground. I think this is more a problem I’ve found myself than one that many people commonly find, but I’d sometimes find myself getting irritated in stages where there would be decorations in the foreground that go past. I would not find them big enough to actually block the view of gameplay, but moving quickly through a stage and having them go by would on some occasions be something I’d find irritating to look at, with some examples being the stalactites and stalagmites in the cave levels that would appear in the foreground as you went along. Another irritating visual effect I’ve found is the blizzard effect in the snow stages. The point of it of course is to make it more difficult to see, however I would find it somewhat taxing on my eyes at times, and with the stages often requiring either precise jumping on platforms or timing when to blast from one barrel cannon to another it could get very irritating. One improvement I’d say in the virtual console release is the removal of a specific effect in the stage Torchlight Trouble. In this stage you are going through a dark cave and require Squawks the Parrot to follow you with a torchlight so you could see where you’re going. In the original version of the game, every time you’d turn Squawks would turn and shine the torchlight directly at the screen creating a bright flash for a fraction of a second. This would happen every time you turned and I remember finding it could be very irritating, so I was glad to see the Virtual Console release had gotten rid of the flash.
The bosses are fairly average when it comes down to it, and out of the three games in the series probably the least interesting. This isn’t helped by two of them being basically recoloured harder versions of earlier bosses later in the game, although this game was hardly the first to do this. This does get a funny reference in the GBA remake of this game where Cranky Kong will appear to talk with DK after each boss, and on the first recolour boss he appears to basically complain about how lazy the designers are just reusing an earlier boss. Probably one of the few aspects of the remakes I liked. Most of the bosses simply require you to jump on them when you get the chance, with the others requiring you either to simply avoid them and kill the enemies they spawn, or throw barrels at them when they’re not invincible. The bosses consist of larger versions of regular enemies such as the giant beaver Very Gnawty which is a bigger version of the regular Gnawty enemies. The final boss King K Rool however is easily the best boss in the game. He’s fairly challenging and has a lot of fun attacks. I don’t want to spoil too much of the boss fight against him as a lot of it relates to his portrayal in Smash so I will simply say he makes a great conclusion to the game.
The game’s ending isn’t particularly special, but of course personally it holds a lot of nostalgia for me, especially being one of the first ever endings I actually got to in a game. The music for it is a really nice ending track and it has a nice cast call with every character, enemy and boss in the game walking through DK’s Treehouse with their name being displayed below. I tend to like these endings in games as it’s a fun recap of what you’ve gone through in the game. I didn’t 100% (or as this is a Rareware game 101%) the game, mostly as the only real reward is Cranky Kong’s dialogue changes from saying ‘if I’d been playing I’d have found everything’ to congratulating you. Also, I tend to leave some things in the games I’ve been playing through so I have something that if I feel like coming back to the game later down the line I can still do. Overall, despite the few complaints I brought up, this is still an amazing game and one that will always be very important to me personally which I enjoyed playing through again.
Specific aspects about the game relating to Donkey Kong in Smash.
Donkey Kong is another character who doesn’t really have equipment he uses in the game, nor any really customisable aspects. Unlike Mario in Super Mario 64 however, he also doesn’t have a lot of moves he really draws from this game. The only moves he has in Smash Bros that come from this game specifically are his forward roll, which was added in his later Smash Bros appearances, and his Hand Slap move. This move involves DK slapping the ground with his hands, often defeating enemies who are right in front of him when he does it, producing a single banana when they’re defeated and being usable sometimes to find hidden items in the floor. It is fairly difficult to use on enemies not having a very far reach and is fairly slow making it not very useful, especially in comparison to just jumping on or rolling into enemies. Later games such as Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze would make this ability far more powerful and useful, but this is where it originated and as such is what the move in Smash Bros is based on. One final aspect from this game that DK uses in Smash Bros is his ability to lift barrels and move around with them. In Smash Bros DK was one of the only characters in the original game who could lift heavy objects such as barrels and walk around with them. Later games would have other big characters such as Bowser also be able to do this, however DK has another ability unique to him. When grabbing another character, DK can lift them similar to how he lifts heavy objects such as barrels and he can carry them around before throwing them or they escape from his grasp, which is most likely based on his carrying abilities with barrels in this game. The only other thing of note which I mentioned earlier is DK’s stage entrance involves him breaking out of a DK barrel, similarly to how he will be trapped in one when playing as Diddy alone in this game and will have to be broken out of it.
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Credits.
Information such as release dates were found through Super Mario Wiki and Donkey Kong Wiki.
Screenshots taken by me using Miiverse.
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