All Purpose Donkey Kong Thread

[BirthNote]

I wish they would give us something DK related at all. Remember last year, when everyone was hyping up a new DK game being developed? Nothing happened at E3 but I was hoping we'd know something nearly 9 months after that rumor died down.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I mean, for a hypothetically active franchise, this has been one of the longest waits between new mainline entries. Metroid fans were justifiably frustrated by the drought after Other M, and that took 7 years to end with the release of Samus Returns. DK fans are sitting on over 8 years of nothing but a Switch port with bonus content since Tropical Freeze was put out in 2014.

"Insert game here being long overdue for another release" is a standard phrase for various IP's these days, but it's a status that feels quite earned by Donkey Kong Country at this point.

 

[BirthNote]

Ok I managed to post another moveset idea before the month was out!

Time for another moveset idea for Dixie Kong!

For this instance we're exploring an idea in the 5th Limb category, which covers potential attacks that have Dixie's hair function like whips or an arm. A fifth limb if you will.

Forward Air:

Dixie turns and flips her hair in midair, providing a broad stroke that smacks anyone in front of her and those above. Aerial attacks tend to be where Dixie shines, as she’s able to perform more dynamic movements and let her hair hit at wider angles. While the smack isn’t far-reaching, its broad swing is good for swatting away approaching assailants thanks to its strength and knockback potential. A straightforward and blunt attack with good power.

If anyone's interested in more ideas Dixie can potentially do, I have a Google doc with various illustrations to inspire others. There's a lot of stuff Dixie can do that the other Kongs can't and it's worth a look; digital works are at the bottom.

Dixie Kong Moveset by Andrew C

docs.google.com

It's not a flashy attack and is simply practical but powerful, hope everyone likes it. I'll try to post a Dixie Kong drawing roughly once a month, but no promises lol. The next idea will probably be Animal Buddy related if I can get the drawing to look right. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Dixie with risk based attacks huh? That's kind of opposite to her design in the DKC games, where she's always the safest character more or less, that's why I would envision Dixie as a floatier Kong than DK and Diddy, with better recovery than both, to emphasize just that. But it's a move that fits her nonetheless and one risky move doesn't make her a risky character, and it would fit in with the more aggressive styles of DK and Diddy.

In general, I think Cranky is the frontrunner at the moment in terms of DKC newcomers. Already explained why, and I still say I prefer Dixie but couldn't ever be opposed to Cranky as a newcomer, even if his entrance is at the expense of Dixie.

Also this hiatus, yeah, it suck. I try to remain hopeful, but it just gets... Hard at times.

 

[BirthNote]

Dixie with risk based attacks huh? That's kind of opposite to her design in the DKC games, where she's always the safest character more or less, that's why I would envision Dixie as a floatier Kong than DK and Diddy, with better recovery than both, to emphasize just that. But it's a move that fits her nonetheless and one risky move doesn't make her a risky character, and it would fit in with the more aggressive styles of DK and Diddy.

In general, I think Cranky is the frontrunner at the moment in terms of DKC newcomers. Already explained why, and I still say I prefer Dixie but couldn't ever be opposed to Cranky as a newcomer, even if his entrance is at the expense of Dixie.

Also this hiatus, yeah, it suck. I try to remain hopeful, but it just gets... Hard at times.

Honestly I've been in PlayStation land for a while now; haven't really interacted with my Switch since November and that was to beat Cuphead once and for all. The new Kirby looks nice and I guess the Arceus game has a lot going for it, but the 2 things that'll bring me back to Nintendo are BoTW 2 or a new DK game. I'll get around to Luigi's Mansion and Metroid Dread someday, but for now I'm not Nintendo's target audience.

Also, thanks for the feedback about the Forward Air. I meant it to be more of a Defense move than an Offense or Risky attack tbh; meant more for swatting away people coming at her head on as opposed to Diddy's dropkick FAir or DK's slam dunk FAir. I'd say DK's FAir is risky due to needing a sweetspot while Diddy's is offense cuz it's a good way to break into an enemy's hurtbox. To each their own though

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Josh of the Geek Critique has released a tremendous sequel video to his DKC3 review, critically reassessing his thoughts on the game, examining its place within the gaming environment of the time, and taking a deeper dive on its core aesthetics/theme. For someone who once had very mixed feelings on 3, he's now produced one of the best defenses of Double Trouble's real merits.

 

[BirthNote]

Josh of the Geek Critique has released a tremendous sequel video to his DKC3 review, critically reassessing his thoughts on the game, examining its place within the gaming environment of the time, and taking a deeper dive on its core aesthetics/theme. For someone who once had very mixed feelings on 3, he's now produced one of the best defenses of Double Trouble's real merits.

That character growth was beautiful, did anyone notice Dixie went through that whole game without help? That's surprising, but since the only other Kongs were missing I guess she had to solo the game. Oh well

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

That character growth was beautiful, did anyone notice Dixie went through that whole game without help? That's surprising, but since the only other Kongs were missing I guess she had to solo the game. Oh well

Double Trouble was also an odd choice for a Dixie Kong solo game, but given she's in both a new land and on her own, I guess the subtitle works symbolically.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

To help advertise Birthnote's new Dixie Kong concept, I made a new gif.

Finders, keepers.

BTW, check out this artwork and remix.

Splash Art of the Boss Battle stage Stage, Donkey Kong Country 2 I did for my new Remix on Youtube
Check it out: https://t.co/FhJniw6TNT
Buy my art: https://t.co/379OvEzfBA
IG: https://t.co/t4Lo9CbukR
Website: https://t.co/x0pSn2ssjz#DonkeyKong #art #digitalart #fanart #GameArt pic.twitter.com/DMEMGXgCD8

— Lukas_Liebhold (@LiebholdLukas) April 4, 2022

 

[BirthNote]

That art is INCREDIBLE! Imagine the Kreepy Krow version! And thanks for the gif too SnowBound!

 

[fogbadge]

i would just like to say i love DK64 and would love another one

 

[Diddy Kong]

i would just like to say i love DK64 and would love another one

The formula was great, the experience however wasn't as smooth as Banjo Kazooie unfortunately, and I wish Rare showed the Donkey Kong franchise more love back in the days. They didn't have their main team working on DK after DKC2, and shamefully to say, it shows.

If DK64 played as smooth and fast as Banjo, and fixed some of its bull****, it easily could've been one of the best N64 games for what it's worth. They just weren't as ambitious with the game as they where with their own projects.

And this is where I felt Rare didn't treat the DK franchise with proper respect either, and it's a damn shame. If they left a better footprint, it might've been easier to pick up the pieces after they left.

 

[fogbadge]

The formula was great, the experience however wasn't as smooth as Banjo Kazooie unfortunately, and I wish Rare showed the Donkey Kong franchise more love back in the days. They didn't have their main team working on DK after DKC2, and shamefully to say, it shows.

If DK64 played as smooth and fast as Banjo, and fixed some of its bull****, it easily could've been one of the best N64 games for what it's worth. They just weren't as ambitious with the game as they where with their own projects.

And this is where I felt Rare didn't treat the DK franchise with proper respect either, and it's a damn shame. If they left a better footprint, it might've been easier to pick up the pieces after they left.

DK64 seems to be, from what i gathered, one of those ones that was praised a lot at first but in time gathered criticism. not sure which one youre talking about but what i saw was the collecting stuff. in my case id say having to play the original donkey kong in a more difficult manner. so i would certainly agree you could stream line the process quite a lot but i would love another 3d platformer DK with 5 characters to play as



and id like those characters to be DK, diddy, dixie, cranky and lanky but that seems even less likely

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I've made my feelings on DK64 before, but my core issues were and are that it felt like it lost a lot of the spirit of the SNES games and that while it was bigger than Mario 64 & Banjo-Kazooie, it wasn't necessarily better. I played it at release and even at the time, I eventually hit a point where I realized I wasn't having as much fun with it as I had with the Country trilogy. Part of me does want to go back and experience it again to really give a better assessment, with the caveat that it would have to be the emulated version with the "Switch Kongs with D-Pad" patch. May not be how it was intended to be played, but it would be the best chance to really judge the title beyond just the albatross of the backtracking.

 

[Diddy Kong]

The Idea DK64 had was good, I think it's quite possible that the game being so huge had impact on its pacing, and that this Rumble Pack requirement is a testimony of this. Rare released a lot of titles on N64, if they'd give DK64 more priority, it could easily have had the polish of Banjo.

I'd redesign a game as DK64 with having less Kongs, DK, Diddy and Dixie at most, maybe throw an additional Kong as Cranky or Lanky, for gameplay purpose everything Chunky can do will be given to DK. And redesign the levels that each Kong has a whole different level, or environment to play in as the others. Make certain levels / worlds one Kong specific. But do the hub world as done in DK64, but make it bigger and somewhat more like Yooka Laylee did.

Speed up the movement, make the combat more fun and challenging, fix the mini games, and I think the formula would've been great. The minecart parts of Diddy I remember as especially great, and I wouldn't object to more of that.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Some cool soundtrack news as user Drawn&Quartered on YouTube has started to do HD Rearrangements of the Game Boy Advance DKC3 OST that David Wise composed. Definitely a series of songs that deserve better output than the GBA speakers.

 

[BirthNote]

Some cool soundtrack news as user Drawn&Quartered on YouTube has started to do HD Rearrangements of the Game Boy Advance DKC3 OST that David Wise composed. Definitely a series of songs that deserve better output than the GBA speakers.

That track is so well-made, I can picture it in Tropical Freeze, especially Autumn Heights.

 

[Quillion]

If we get another 3D Donkey Kong game, I'd say scrap the Banjo-Kazooie-esque formula and leave the "exploring for collectibles" thing to Mario.

It should be a challenging "corridor platformer" like Crash Bandicoot. The original Crash games already felt like the true successors to the Country games anyway.

 

[fogbadge]

If we get another 3D Donkey Kong game, I'd say scrap the Banjo-Kazooie-esque formula and leave the "exploring for collectibles" thing to Mario.

It should be a challenging "corridor platformer" like Crash Bandicoot. The original Crash games already felt like the true successors to the Country games anyway.

no

 

[BirthNote]

If we get another 3D Donkey Kong game, I'd say scrap the Banjo-Kazooie-esque formula and leave the "exploring for collectibles" thing to Mario.

It should be a challenging "corridor platformer" like Crash Bandicoot. The original Crash games already felt like the true successors to the Country games anyway.

I would honestly love this. Crash 4: It's About Time seemed to be inspired by DKCTF; unique setting/elements per level, unique tracks for most stages, and lengthy levels were all staples of Tropical Freeze and a 3D DK in that style would be really fun.

As long as they keep the kinetic and momentum based gameplay, and give each Kong their unique gameplay flavor I would be happy

 

[Quillion]

no

Look, I prefer exploration-based platformers too, but I would hate to see that be Nintendo's only kind of 3D platformer from this point forward. They should keep making/publishing different platformers of different flavors.

I would honestly love this. Crash 4: It's About Time seemed to be inspired by DKCTF; unique setting/elements per level, unique tracks for most stages, and lengthy levels were all staples of Tropical Freeze and a 3D DK in that style would be really fun.

As long as they keep the kinetic and momentum based gameplay, and give each Kong their unique gameplay flavor I would be happy

Here are my ideas on how the main three of Donkey, Diddy, and Dixie could play in a corridor platformer:

• Donkey has average movement and highest health.
• Diddy has the fastest movement, middling health, and his Peanut Popgun to pick off weak enemies.
• Dixie has the slowest movement and lowest health, but can glide with her ponytail twirl.

You'll have to get back to me on how Cranky will play.

 

[fogbadge]

Look, I prefer exploration-based platformers too, but I would hate to see that be Nintendo's only kind of 3D platformer from this point forward. They should keep making/publishing different platformers of different flavors.

in fairness they have made two kinds of 3D platformer in recent years. The more sandbox style with Mario odyssey and the linear levels with Kirby

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

As far as the format, to me, the key is for a DKC game to be either better or different from the Mario titles. I'd be okay with the series doing a collectathon again. However, if it can't outdo Odyssey or do that concept in another interesting way, then it just loses a lot of potential appeal.

When it comes to character differentiation, I've always felt like it should be this:

Donkey Kong - Power
He lacks the speed or jumping elements of his counterparts, but hits harder than anyone to make up for it & could have an area of effect when landing.

Diddy Kong - Speed
Essentially the risk/reward character. Diddy is remarkably fast, but you have to be careful in the air and on tight platforms to make use of him.

Dixie Kong - Control
Best jump by a mile at the expense of strength and quick movement. She also has the largest range of attack underwater to boot.

Cranky Kong (or others) - Gimmick
A bit more tricky to define, but elements like bouncing off spikes or deflecting projectiles could really differentiate him from the others.

 

[Quillion]

As far as the format, to me, the key is for a DKC game to be either better or different from the Mario titles. I'd be okay with the series doing a collectathon again. However, if it can't outdo Odyssey or do that concept in another interesting way, then it just loses a lot of potential appeal.

When it comes to character differentiation, I've always felt like it should be this:

Donkey Kong - Power
He lacks the speed or jumping elements of his counterparts, but hits harder than anyone to make up for it & could have an area of effect when landing.

Diddy Kong - Speed
Essentially the risk/reward character. Diddy is remarkably fast, but you have to be careful in the air and on tight platforms to make use of him.

Dixie Kong - Control
Best jump by a mile at the expense of strength and quick movement. She also has the largest range of attack underwater to boot.

Cranky Kong (or others) - Gimmick
A bit more tricky to define, but elements like bouncing off spikes or deflecting projectiles could really differentiate him from the others.

I don't know; I'm not really a big fan of enemies in platformers taking more than one hit to kill. That's why I said that Donkey should focus on having more health and with average movement.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I don't know; I'm not really a big fan of enemies in platformers taking more than one hit to kill. That's why I said that Donkey should focus on having more health and with average movement.

A lot of it could come down to context. It's less that DK can kill all enemies in one hit while Diddy/Dixie have to do it in two, and more that certain enemy protections are less effective against DK. Perhaps not unlike how in the original Country game where him jumping on bigger enemies worked for him while it didn't with Diddy. And that's just one example, you could also have DK with certain offense options like a ground pound that can take out weaker foes even if he doesn't land on them directly and/or have him able to take out bosses quicker with his jumps/rolls at the expense of not being able to dodge attacks as easily like the others.

I guess I'm partial more to his power being emphasized when it comes to gameplay, though I do admit that's unusual for a main platforming protagonist who is usually the jack of all trades.

 

[BirthNote]

Look, I prefer exploration-based platformers too, but I would hate to see that be Nintendo's only kind of 3D platformer from this point forward. They should keep making/publishing different platformers of different flavors.



Here are my ideas on how the main three of Donkey, Diddy, and Dixie could play in a corridor platformer:

• Donkey has average movement and highest health.
• Diddy has the fastest movement, middling health, and his Peanut Popgun to pick off weak enemies.
• Dixie has the slowest movement and lowest health, but can glide with her ponytail twirl.

You'll have to get back to me on how Cranky will play.

I'd give Cranky the lowest health due to him being past his prime compared to the others. On the fragile side but very skill oriented.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Honestly, Crash like levels could work for certain levels, but I wouldn't want a whole game like it. I imagine it would work very well for levels that concentrate around Rambi, Barrel Blasting or minecarts , but DKC is really about freedom of movement , so I want to keep that in.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind some Battletoads like beat em up mechanics in the game either, Jungle Beat sort of had them, and it fitted well.

The focus on combat would make DK the central character still, cause you'll need him to finish enemies off faster, especially Boss battles is where DK should shine.

 

[Quillion]

Honestly, Crash like levels could work for certain levels, but I wouldn't want a whole game like it. I imagine it would work very well for levels that concentrate around Rambi, Barrel Blasting or minecarts , but DKC is really about freedom of movement , so I want to keep that in.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind some Battletoads like beat em up mechanics in the game either, Jungle Beat sort of had them, and it fitted well.

The focus on combat would make DK the central character still, cause you'll need him to finish enemies off faster, especially Boss battles is where DK should shine.

How is DKC about freedom of movement? Sonic is about freedom of movement because of his speed and spin dash. Mario is too albeit to a lesser extent with his powerups that make taking to the air safer. I don't see it in DKC.

 

[Diddy Kong]

How is DKC about freedom of movement? Sonic is about freedom of movement because of his speed and spin dash. Mario is too albeit to a lesser extent with his powerups that make taking to the air safer. I don't see it in DKC.

Well, roll jumps, intense platforming, going through enemies with rolls, maybe I didn't word it quite well, but without these implemented I feel something would be missing. If they would make a platformer of the game of course.

A lot of it could come down to context. It's less that DK can kill all enemies in one hit while Diddy/Dixie have to do it in two, and more that certain enemy protections are less effective against DK. Perhaps not unlike how in the original Country game where him jumping on bigger enemies worked for him while it didn't with Diddy. And that's just one example, you could also have DK with certain offense options like a ground pound that can take out weaker foes even if he doesn't land on them directly and/or have him able to take out bosses quicker with his jumps/rolls at the expense of not being able to dodge attacks as easily like the others.

I guess I'm partial more to his power being emphasized when it comes to gameplay, though I do admit that's unusual for a main platforming protagonist who is usually the jack of all trades.

I actually want DK to have a charge punch mechanic that will allow to OHKO all enemies and deal 2 x damage to bosses, and break walls like barrels and Rambi always did. It would fit very well I think, and of course DK's jump attacks would also be stronger, but a mechanic like this for him exclusively would really make him feel powerful, and that's a thing the DKC games by Retro sometimes lack. Outside of over the top cutscenes as punching a / the moon into the island, and the finishers DK delivers to bosses.

Despite being famous for his strength, Dak's raw power hasn't been properly worked with in his core games. Yeah Jungle Beat of course, but nowhere else really.

And I'll keep mentioning Jungle Beat cause it's the same studio that's rumored to work on the next Donkey Kong game, and I do think they will take some aspects from it to whatever new game we're getting.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

News of the GBA leak for NSO has me a bit excited for all the various DK titles that could be popping up. The Land and DKC remake trilogies are the obvious titles, but getting DK94, the first Mario vs DK, & King of Swing would fun to finally replay again.

 

[Quillion]

I really wish we could get a remaster of the DKC trilogy using the SNES's graphical style and sound but with the little QoL stuff, sprite updates, and additional content of the GBA games.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Not taking the leak at face value, but if it’s real and is part of the NSO expansion, it may make it worth getting for me, unlike N64 and Genesis alone. Depends on certain factors though. It having all those mentioned DK titles would be a best case scenario, but who knows how long we’d have to wait for them to be added via the slow drip feed process.

 

[Dinoman96]

News of the GBA leak for NSO has me a bit excited for all the various DK titles that could be popping up. The Land and DKC remake trilogies are the obvious titles, but getting DK94, the first Mario vs DK, & King of Swing would fun to finally replay again.

Not sure if I'd hold my breath on the GBC/GBA DKC remakes. They weren't re-released on the Wii U/3DS eshops.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

The DK Land trilogy I still have again thanks to the 3DS virtual console, but being able to play it again with the rewind feature would give it some extra appeal for people. Same with replaying DK94 in that regard, with how brutal those kind of Game Boy games were on their own.

And yeah, the GBA version of the DKC trilogy I would probably just forget about. Nintendo had forsaken porting Super Mario 64 DS too despite all the extra content it had.

 

[Dinoman96]

And yeah, the GBA version of the DKC trilogy I would probably just forget about. Nintendo had forsaken porting Super Mario 64 DS too despite all the extra content it had.

To be fair, Mario 64 DS at least was on the DS VC on Wii U (alongside the original N64 version), if DS games somehow ever came to NSO, I'm pretty certain it'd be there.

It's worth pointing out they also had the Super Mario Advance games on Wii U VC alongside their original counterparts. I think the DKC stuff has the extra baggage of having to deal with Rare/Microsoft, considering they still own things about it. Phil Spencer has stated that Nintendo has had to keep working with them to get the DKC/DKL games on their services.

I suppose in that sense, they just don't feel the need to negiotate for the remakes, especially since they already have the SNES originals that are good enough.

 

[BirthNote]

Hey I found this soothing rendition of Forest Interlude:

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

DK Vine just had an episode of the Kongversation with Hyle and Josh (of the Geek Critique) where they agree with Reggie Fils-Aimé's belief that Donkey Konga did in fact hurt the DK brand overall; arguing that the overtly childish presentation of it turned off various fans and poisoned the well for Jungle Beat to boot.

It is hard for me to not come to the same conclusion to some degree, especially when Donkey Konga 2 underperformed enough in comparison to its predecessor that 3 never even got released in the West. Given the period after Rare was bought out, that was the time to really get a big standout title to demonstrate what the GC could do with its hardware, like the DKC trilogy did for the SNES, and DK64 with the N64.

It did get me thinking that the biggest waste might have been just not having Namco do their own DK platformer. They already had experience with Klonoa & Pac-Man, could likely do a visual aesthetic that really appealed to Japan (which partially seemed to be Nintendo's intention around this time), and could have introduced some interesting ideas to the franchise had their major releases for it not been rhythm games.

 

[Quillion]

DK Vine just had an episode of the Kongversation with Hyle and Josh (of the Geek Critique) where they agree with Reggie Fils-Aimé's belief that Donkey Konga did in fact hurt the DK brand overall; arguing that the overtly childish presentation of it turned off various fans and poisoned the well for Jungle Beat to boot.

It is hard for me to not come to the same conclusion to some degree, especially when Donkey Konga 2 underperformed enough in comparison to its predecessor that 3 never even got released in the West. Given the period after Rare was bought out, that was the time to really get a big standout title to demonstrate what the GC could do with its hardware, like the DKC trilogy did for the SNES, and DK64 with the N64.

It did get me thinking that the biggest waste might have been just not having Namco do their own DK platformer. They already had experience with Klonoa & Pac-Man, could likely do a visual aesthetic that really appealed to Japan (which partially seemed to be Nintendo's intention around this time), and could have introduced some interesting ideas to the franchise had their major releases for it not been rhythm games.

Meh, I think Namco would have done a poor job of keeping the spirit of DK alive at the time tbh. I know this is just Wikipedia, but Namco was really struggling during that time. They had to save themselves by merging with Bandai.

 

[BirthNote]

DK Vine just had an episode of the Kongversation with Hyle and Josh (of the Geek Critique) where they agree with Reggie Fils-Aimé's belief that Donkey Konga did in fact hurt the DK brand overall; arguing that the overtly childish presentation of it turned off various fans and poisoned the well for Jungle Beat to boot.

It is hard for me to not come to the same conclusion to some degree, especially when Donkey Konga 2 underperformed enough in comparison to its predecessor that 3 never even got released in the West. Given the period after Rare was bought out, that was the time to really get a big standout title to demonstrate what the GC could do with its hardware, like the DKC trilogy did for the SNES, and DK64 with the N64.

It did get me thinking that the biggest waste might have been just not having Namco do their own DK platformer. They already had experience with Klonoa & Pac-Man, could likely do a visual aesthetic that really appealed to Japan (which partially seemed to be Nintendo's intention around this time), and could have introduced some interesting ideas to the franchise had their major releases for it not been rhythm games.

I agree that Donkey Konga poisoned the well for Jungle Beat. Back when I was 11, I saw Jungle Beat at GameStop and promptly ignored it when I saw you had to play it with bongos. I literally wrote it off because I thought it was another rhythm game. Plus calling it Jungle Beat made me associate it with music, as in music beat. Jungle Beat is a good name though, it's just that I wrote it off and bought something else.

..........


Oh, I wanted to share a video series someone's making. Y'know how Jammin Sam Miller was restoring DKC tracks to studio quality? Someone else by the name of Drawn&Quartered is doing that with DKC3 GBA's music:

He did Stilt Village, Cascade Capers and more but his Mill Fever is my favorite. Check out his page if you wanna hear the others.

Also, someone interviewed David Wise recently. It's almost 2 hours long but there's some good insights on his music and how he got into video games:

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Nintendo registered a new Trademark, "咚奇刚", in China this month.
It is unknown what this trademark would be used for, although from the pronunciation, it was speculated to be a possible new translation for Donkey Kong pic.twitter.com/AvAlif1bCs

— Chinese Nintendo (@chinesenintendo) May 20, 2022

Small reminder that copyright registration is indicative of many small licensing elements, and should not be taken as a sure sign of anything significant...

...but it is interesting.