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Donkey Kong Country
Xenogears of Bore
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my friend comes over tonight and has an interesting white box in his hands. Ye olde Wii. Why did he bring the Wii you say? He had just put 5000 points on, that's why and was a fairly new school gamer. So what do we get? Well besides F-Zero X (which he is the biggest idiot savant at) and Mario Kart 64 (We had a bit of fun at this) and a few choice single player games (LTTP, Paper Mario, Shining Force) he happens to get Donkey Kong Country. So at around 10 o'clock he says he is tired, but maybe a bit of DKC is in order. So we play, figuring out how to run somewhere in the second world, noting how this would be better on a Classic, etc. Then we get to the Ice World sometime around midnight. We get to the save point? Sometime after FOUR.
This game shows how Rare is retarded and amazing at platformers. The levels were designed by the same satanic forces that brought you water levels in Sonic, and multitudes of jumps and dangers off screen like another Rare "classic" Battletoads. It shares a lot of the charm of the Marios and Sonics out there, but its lacking in fairness. Also the save system can eat a dick, especially on that god damned Ice world.
Both of us have completely beaten the game before, full percentage runs. Time, sleepiness, and interesting to say the least controls have brought us back to this state. I hope to god he doesn't bring the box back over, and pray he doesn't do that and download DKC 2 while he is at it. I've never cleared two.
Things that were starting to bug me.
Celebrations after clearing minigames, minigames that open other minigames, which give you about the same number of lives it takes you to unlock said minigames back. Creating an endless loop of PAIN.
Blind jumps. Sure, some secrets can only be found by jumping to certain death. Sometimes they even give you hints. Not most of the time though. This game is all about leaping blindly.
Ropes in the ice cave that only go one way. These do not make any sense and will lead to some deaths. Possibly many.
This game shows how Rare is retarded and amazing at platformers. The levels were designed by the same satanic forces that brought you water levels in Sonic, and multitudes of jumps and dangers off screen like another Rare "classic" Battletoads. It shares a lot of the charm of the Marios and Sonics out there, but its lacking in fairness. Also the save system can eat a dick, especially on that god damned Ice world.
Both of us have completely beaten the game before, full percentage runs. Time, sleepiness, and interesting to say the least controls have brought us back to this state. I hope to god he doesn't bring the box back over, and pray he doesn't do that and download DKC 2 while he is at it. I've never cleared two.
Things that were starting to bug me.
Celebrations after clearing minigames, minigames that open other minigames, which give you about the same number of lives it takes you to unlock said minigames back. Creating an endless loop of PAIN.
Blind jumps. Sure, some secrets can only be found by jumping to certain death. Sometimes they even give you hints. Not most of the time though. This game is all about leaping blindly.
Ropes in the ice cave that only go one way. These do not make any sense and will lead to some deaths. Possibly many.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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Rare seemed to be in love with blind jumps in the DKC series; it's been a while since I've played the second one, but there are also a few of them in the third game (which also loses points for Kiddie Kong. Does anybody anywhere actually like Kiddie Kong? I never use him if I can help it). Some of the other things were polished up a bit in number 2, though; it's definitely the best game in the series, and not just because it has pirates. Although the pirates help a lot.
Least favorite DKC level: Snow Barrel Blast. Urgh. I think the only other level in the whole series that I hate nearly as much is that stupid rocket level in DKC 3, and at least that level was optional (unless you wanted max percentage).
Why the fuck does every water level in platform games suck balls? Mario, Sonic etc.
Water is evil.
We almost needed a continue, and we were gaining 4 lifes every 3-4 turns. That stupid level.
Coming up to the world I got a chill down my spine. I haven't touched the game in over a decade, yet somehow I knew. I remembered. The water level in that one is no picnic.
About the water level situation. I think Mario has overall the best track record of hard yet passible water levels, while sonic is probably the worst. Zelda would be down there near the bottom if not for the unmitigated fun of using Zora Link in MM.
I think the real saving grace of DKC is the co-op mode. The design would be terrifying if you always lost a life on one hit. Sadly, it also gives them an excuse for absolutely grueling set piece encounters with kremlins and the terrifying bees.
I like the third one better than the first one too, if only because Dixie is playable in it.
Quoting myself seems kinda egotistical, but:
The easier levels lull you, and then Snow Barrel Blast eats some, most, or all your lives because you were expecting it to stay easy.
Anyway, I'm not disagreeing--I think that's a factor in why so many people get stuck in certain areas. Actually, I think that's part of the brilliance of Rare's level designs in these games. They're just exceptionally well-made platformers.
Oh I used the 50 lives cheat for the first level of Kremlin Industries and LOST ALL OF THEM on it.
There was a DKC2 level in a castle (I think) where green lava would keep rising. That and the damn parrot race level.
Then for DKC3 pretty much any of the levels in the pipes was some kind of special hell. I recall one where it was low gravity and one where the left/right controls were reversed, the horror. And those pipe levels always seemed to go on forever as well.
This is my exact experience. (Minus the ex)
I L.O.V.E. all the DKC games, 3 being one of the only games I've ever bothered to 100% (above 100% if I remember correctly)...upon which in my excitement I immediately yanked the cartridge out without turning off the SNES to bring to my friends house and show him. I get there and...poof.
Most of the parrot (Bramble freaking Scramble) levels were insanely hard, and the one with polluted water that reversed you...but it doesn't get much better than the mine kart ones.
This is madness. I've been hearing it since day one. Leaps of faith, hard ass barrel chains in blinding snow, ropes that go in one direction, water levels with nowhere to move. That is just one world of the first level of the first game. The level design gets cheaper as the series progresses.
Sure, it might not be as hard as Ninja Gaiden for the NES, but it is around as cheap.
Oh god I loved him.
You mean that piece of shit En Garde? Fuck him.
En Garde is awesome you shut up now.
That's strange - I never considered DKC to be such an unfair game. If anything, I'd call it a showpiece at how to make a fun and flawless platformer. I'm not even one of those type of gamers who enjoy trying to beat a level again and again only because the designers decided to be cheap. If I get stuck at some point of a game and cannot move on, I'd normaly just stop playing, like I did when I couldn't beat the graveyard stage in Lion King on the GB, or this stupid fucking first extra level in Yoshi's Island DS. Hell, one of my greatest archievments as a gamer was beating Metroid Prime on normal difficulty.
But maybe I should just give itanother playthrough to see what you're talking about. If my skills haven't rusted yet, I should blow through this game in no time
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you remove a SNES cartridge with the power on? Doesn't the power button lock the cart in place so it can't be removed?
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
No, it does not. Another fun trick for deleting games. Insert the ac adapter while the power is switched on. Instant battery kill.
Didn't the first gen SNES systems have a similar locking mechanism? Hence the little slot area on the front of the carts. Granted, I could be wrong, as it has been a while, and I never did try to yank a cart out of the system. I always used the eject button.
The original DKC is one of my favorite SNES games, and I always preferred it to the sequels. It just felt more pure and simple, whereas to me the sequels seemed like they just shoved in needless extra stuff.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
there's a little arm which slides into place in the front of the SNES to hold the cartridge, which gets moved up when you press the eject button (thus forcing the cart out). However, it's not a lock like on the gameboy, and pulling on a cartridge will cause it to give way.
I loved the DKC series. Some seriously fun platforming. If anyone is hungry for more DKC, I suggest looking to the Donkey Kong Land series. They're just as great.
Man I loved my gameboy back then. DKL, Mario Land 2, Wario Land, tetris, Killer Instinct... some great times were had.
Thanks for the clarification on the locking mechanism. DKL and KI were amazing on Gameboy. I put tons of time into those. I remember thinking that portable graphics would probably not look better for a really long time. I mean, Advanced Computer Modeling on a portable!
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
I played the GB port of KI more than the SNES port. I thought it was more fun and felt better (I hated hitting shoulder buttons for attacks).
The cart is held in because they're made to tightly hug the connectors. All the eject button does is raise two little prongs on the bottom, one on each side, to essentially pop the cart out. You could actually send it flying if you mashed down on eject real hard.
As for DKC, it's funny because I also downloaded it yesterday. I made it all the way to right before the Factory world boss, and I pretty much blew through every level, instinctively finding every single bonus on the way. See, back in the day, I spent every other week-end at my dad's, and the SNES was there, and the only games I had were Mario World, All-Stars, DKC, Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger. So I finished all of those a LOT of times. I think I have the complete maps of each of those games implanted in my subconscious, and I'll just remember where everything is while playing it, even though I couldn't tell you by heart.
Even Snow Barrel Blast was a piece of cake... though I distinctly remember having a hell of a tough time on it back in the day.
Something I noticed is that in Torchlight Trouble, Squawks doesn't give off a blinding flash of light each time you turn around anymore. I guess that's Nintendo trying to limit the epileptic seizures, but I'm wondering if that's something that was only changed for the VC or if there was a second SNES version that came out with the flash removed?
Here, have a blinding flash of light each time you need to turn around in this dark water maze stage!
Also, apparently my eyes are starting to go, because I felt like crying tears of blood after playing through that that eye-rending snow effect.
Funny story: While playing through it on the VC with my wife (who adores the game), she found the hidden barrel midway through that automatically scooted you past the entire second half of the level.
I had no knowledge of that barrel's presence until that moment. Years of my life flashed before my eyes.
DKC 2 on the other hand is still completely awesome, and DKC 3 was never good so meh.
And damn you all to hell for mentioning that snow barrel level from 1!
Also, that dark cave level in the Ice world can go die in a fire.