Diddy Kong Racing on Classic Game Room

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7Er0HtwQM

Here Mark reviews Diddy Kong Racing. Great to see it featured because I love the game so much. He's wrong about it not being the best kart racer ever (though it's generally accepted that Mario Kart 64 has better multi-player) and he completely forgets to talk about the bosses, the silver coin challenge and doesn't see the appeal in the Adventure mode unfortunately.

Also, hold R when flying the plane and let go of the accelerator before getting a speed boost!

Cranky Kong in Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze!

We've seen boxart already but he was just now featured in a gameplay demonstration at the um... event... that uh... I forget but it's not important.

But we get to play as Cranky Kong! He has a pogo stick jump move too like Scrooge McDuck.

He was always known for talking in the games so I have no idea what his personality is going to be like this time round. I do know that he's less cranky in Jungle Climber and DKC Returns so we'll just wait and see if it follows that pattern or not.

21st of February for North America release, now to listen for the Irish release!

Brian Blessed voices the ads for Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D! :D

Granted he can be heard in many ads but this one just seems so appropriate!

It also gets me more excited about the game.

Wish I had a YouTube link for the ad. It also goes on about the promotion where you buy 3 and download 1 free.

Grant Kirkhope on Game Grumps!

A brand new segment called Guest Grumps along with a new intro theme by (and starring) Grant Kirkhope! He of course is the guy who did all the music for the N64 games featured in this episode which include Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong 64!

They all play the games together, have a laugh and Grant points out here and there what he did and what's what and what the story was behind them... for example, an enemy would grunt or something and he says "that was me!".

Needless to say, this episode is something very special indeed! :)

It's an hour long too and I'm still watching bits and pieces between buffer pauses. I love Banjo-Kazooie and DK64 of course so that makes him one of my childhood(well, teenagehood) heroes! Seriously, something like this gives Retro Gamer magazine a run for their money and that is no faint praise!

Why not make Donkey Kong Land Returns?

Yeah, why not do this instead of putting the Wii game on the 3DS? Donkey Kong Country Returns doesn't even live up to the DKC legacy.

Next thing you know they'll be doing the same thing with Metroid: Other M.

How do you get the K in world 3 level 4 of Donkey Kong Land 1? I finally know.

When I was a kid this frustrated me to no end. Even TOTAL! magazine's walkthrough had an apology in the middle of it where they couldn't find it. Now thanks to YouTube walkthroughs of the game I finally know:

Immediately when the level starts jump up to the left. There's a barrel there that shoots you above to where you can find the K.

I remember wasting so many hours and batteries trying to get it from the other side because there was a trail of bananas and thought that the spiky tyre had something to do with it. But that was only for when you were coming down from above. Unbelievable.

You'll see it in this video at 7:17:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpu-4Z_ug8&feature=relmfu

Food for thought: someone wants to make a DK64 sequel

Some guy from Camelot recently said he'd be interested in making a sequel to DK64. I find that very interesting. Would it be successful? Would it capture the spirit of N64 adventure 3D platformers? Will there be arcade games like DK Arcade and Jetpac from the original?

I am fond of DK64 but I wouldn't have guessed for a second that someone would want to make a sequel to it.

Wii U's Nintendo Land

There are loads and loads of videos featuring the various aspects of Nintendo Land on YouTube so I won't go into them. I am quite interested in the Donkey Kong and Zelda themed games and I'd love to try them.

The Zelda one for example reminds me of Dragon Quest Swords. I liked that game even though there were control issues. I'm expecting a better experience from Zelda; Skyward Sword had great controls after all.

Imagining a remake of Donkey Kong 64

Just thinking about it hypothetically. This game is famous for having more things to collect than players could actually cope with. Because of that I was wondering what if a remake had an extra feature like having the Banjo-Kazooie pair as an unlockable. Just think about whizzing through the levels with the Talon Trot and of course they would be able to collect and utilise every Kong's items and abilities on top of having their own. That would be cool in a bizarre kind of way.

Imagine the banter between Kazooie and Cranky! That would be fun too.

I also say keep Jetpac and Donkey Kong arcade intact.

Listening to Donkey Kong Country Trilogy music

Routine has changed a little nowadays but I still get to listen to lots of game music! Lately I'm listening to the music from Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 & 3. People constantly champion Stickerbrush Symphony from 2 or Jungle Japes & Aquatic Ambience from 1 but noone ever goes on about music in the third game.

The third game is my favourite. In terms of music though I think they're all equally deserving of great acclaim. Don't leave out the third one!

Just listen to Bonus Time! for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsP2EdoYO8A

Hmm... I just remembered that the GBA version of this game completely different music. I'll have to investigate that too.

As for the Wii game? It only stands as a tribute of course but it's just not as good as the original trilogy in any regard at all. I think everyone knows that.

#2 of 10: Donkey Kong Jr. (3DS NES Ambassador)

Another great old arcade title with 4 levels that loops every time you beat the set. Lots of jumping and strategic vine climbing is involved.

Sizewise it doesn't feel oppressive at all, in fact it feels nice to be able to play it on a handheld on the go. The circle pad feels great to play as DK Jr with as well.

Donkey Kong Land III's placenames

Oh I put off playing this game for wayyy to long! What happened was I was an avid follower of the DKL series because I only had a Game Boy at the time and sometime after DKL2 I got a SNES and eventually got DKC3 for it. I kind of ended up putting DKL3 off which I really shouldn't have done. Take the following screenshot for example:

RARE had all these clever placenames put into it including this one. Now, American readers probably won't get this but we have a dessert over here called "Black Forest Gateau" and this is a fun play on words. This is the kind of typical RARE stuff that would make you smile :)