Dixie Kong's Barrel Of Support Spirits. Farewell Everyone, Thank You ALL For Making This Thread An Excellent Place For DK Fans!

[TheYungLink]

I finished replaying DKC1 on my SNES Classic, since the last time I played it was on the Game Boy Color when I was like 8 or 9. ChronoBound was right, I actually like it less than its two sequels. I thought I could still like it because of its simplicity compared to the collecting of DKC2 and 3, but I just found it pretty boring and bog standard as a platformer. The music still holds up, but other than that the biggest thing the game has going for it is the history behind its development and how its release turned the tide against Sega back in the day.

Guess I'll redo my ranking:

1. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
2. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns
4. Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
5. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
6. Donkey Kong Country
7. Donkey Kong 64

Hmm...the only remotely big Donkey Kong games I need to play now are Donkey Kong Land 1 (I hear 2 and 3 are more or less simplified ports, whereas DKL1 was an original game), Donkey Kong: King of Swing, and Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber. I probably won't get to those anytime soon but I'll keep them in the back of my mind.

 

[Ghostwolf35]

Quick question for all. Who do y'all plan to use in Ultimate? For me I'm going with:
Diddy
Ludwig
DK
Rosalina
Yoshi
Luigi
Link
Wario
Mega Man
Duck Hunt
Wolf
King K. Rool

That's basically my Smash 4 lineup + Wolf and K. Rool, which brings my roster of choices to 12. I'm only great with the 1st 3, and the rest are for easier matches.

Main: Mario or Dr. Mario. Mario's not my favorite character, but he's still pretty high on my list, and I just like his playstyle a lot. I'll probably use whichever one is better most often, but I'll use both.

Secondaries(Could potentially become my Main): Luigi, Diddy, Young Link, and Dixie if she makes it in.

Third options(I'll use these characters once in a while, and some of them could become secondaries.) K.Rool, Cloud, Link, Marth, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, Pichu, Richter, Little Mac. Mii Brawler(I created a Mii that looks like James Harden, and it was funny to play as it in Smash 4).

Some other characters I might use are Fox, Wolf, Falco, Roy, Donkey Kong, Ness, Snake, and Toon Link.

 

[Strong DK]

Hmm if i count Jungle Beat and DK64 in, my order would look like this:
1. DKC Tropical Freeze
2. DKC1 and Returns
3. DKC2
4. Jungle Beat
5. DK64
6. DKC3

DKCTF is just near perfect.
DKC1 has great atmosphere, music, levels and difficulty level.
Returns is on the same level in my books.
DKC2 is almost as great as DKC1. Great music, levels and more challenging than 1.Only DK as playable character keeps DKC1 ahead of DKC2.
Jungle Beat is just a great fun and truly shows DK's strength and fighting skills. Boss battles with Kongs were awesome.
DK64 is a very good game but all that collecting is frustrating. And music is not that great compared to the others.
DKC3 is the bottom of the barrel. Music is not even nearly as good as it is in DKC1-2. Atmosphere is weird and doesn't feel right. Easiest game of the bunch and Kiddy is a poor character.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

Congratulations guys! We pass 100 pages.

 

[Mariomaniac45213]

Well if we're including Jungle Beat and 64 then...my updating rankings are:

1. Tropical Freeze
2. Diddy's Kong Quest
3. Jungle Beat
4. DKC
5. DK64
6. DKC3
7. Returns

Barely played Jungle Climber and King of Swing as I couldn't stand the gameplay, graphics, art style, and music.

 

[TheYungLink]

I read a theory that Jungle Beat is a prequel to the entire DKC series and DK 64. Basically it takes place after DK (in this case, Cranky) leaves the city for good after his adventures in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, and Donkey Kong '93 for the Game Boy, and heads for the jungle where he came from. In his absence, other Kongs have terrorized various parts of the jungle, and DK decides that his place in the jungle should be a peaceful one after all his trouble in the city, so he sets off to defeat the other Kongs to "retire" from fighting once and for all and neutralize all the native threats.

After defeating the Cactus King and displaying unprecedented badassery (Jungle Beat is notable in that it's the only time Donkey Kong has portrayed any interesting abilities other than running and jumping, which is part of why I like it so much, as DK is often overshadowed ability-wise by the other Kongs), DK settles down and raises a family with another Kong, Wrinkly. His victory attracts other, more friendly Kongs that aren't strictly blood-related, like Candy and Dixie (I forget if Funky and Swanky are blood-related or just friends of the Kong clan), back to the jungle after they were forced out by the Jungle Beat Kongs, paving the way for the setting of the Donkey Kong Country series.

So Cranky is always bragging about how good he is because he's the one who made the jungle peaceful in the first place, and because that game had DK exerting himself more than any other game in the series, it's why he mostly just sits in his rocking chair while he sets his son (or grandson) who he named after himself off to save DK Isle in his stead. He'd only recently get back to being in the action after the Snomads forced him to in Tropical Freeze, showing that, in a way, he's still got it.

It's a cool theory and it gets around the complaint some fans have with it that it's "Rare erasure" by having the game predate the ones made by Rare. I liked it so I felt like sharing it, and because Jungle Beat gets too much hate, I think, so maybe this could redeem the game for some of you.

 

[Mariomaniac45213]

Oh and just to be clear when I listed Jungle Beat as my 3rd favorite I meant the New Play Control Wii version. The controls were much better, I HATED the bongos, the better camera, and the more standard life system made the original GCN game go from like a 6/10 to a 8/10 on Wii.

 

[DeniroSerafim]

I'm not sure how many of you in here are aware of DK Vine, but they recorded a podcast earlier this year entirely focused on Dixie's various appearances, and why she is such a great character. Might be a fun listen for some.

 

[Ghostwolf35]

I'm not sure how many of you in here are aware of DK Vine, but they recorded a podcast earlier this year entirely focused on Dixie's various appearances, and why she is such a great character. Might be a fun listen for some.

I watched some of it a few months ago, actually. I might have to watch the rest sometime soon. Also, DeniroSerafim, I noticed that your and my profile pictures are both from the same comic. I think it's pretty cool except for the fact that Diddy has a tooth for some reason. If anyone is wondering about it, here it is: www.flickr.com/photos/miloscat/sets/72157633500777510/ . It was originally a German only comic to promote DKC2, but somebody translated it to English.

 

[DeniroSerafim]

I watched some of it a few months ago, actually. I might have to watch the rest sometime soon. Also, DeniroSerafim, I noticed that your and my profile pictures are both from the same comic. I think it's pretty cool besides the fact that Diddy has a tooth for some reason. If anyone is wondering about it, here it is: www.flickr.com/photos/miloscat/sets/72157633500777510/ . It was originally a German only comic to promote DKC2, but somebody translated it to English.

Thanks for the link, I've wanted to read that comic for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it. I thought it would be a good choice for my profile picture since I main Diddy, Dixie is now my most wanted newcomer, and it seemed a bit more unique than using a render from the games. Guess great minds think alike. Might have to change it now though, not sure if I want to be an echo character myself lol.

 

[Takasmash]

Guess Sakurai wasn't kidding that the reveals will be slow. The echo Im calling out Dixie Kong the wait and the hype will be insane.

 

[Ghostwolf35]

Thanks for the link, I've wanted to read that comic for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it. I thought it would be a good choice for my profile picture since I main Diddy, Dixie is now my most wanted newcomer, and it seemed a bit more unique than using a render from the games. Guess great minds think alike. Might have to change it now though, not sure if I want to be an echo character myself lol.

Yeah, Diddy and Dixie are my favorite characters along with Luigi. I generally don't like "ships" but I like their playful relationship too. "not sure if I want to be an echo character myself" This genuinely made me laugh. You can change your picture if you want too, but I think it's good right now. It's not like mine and yours are the exact same, so I'd say it's more of a Lucas/Ness "clone" rather than an echo-fighter.

 

[TheYungLink]

Yeah, Diddy and Dixie are my favorite characters along with Luigi. I generally don't like "ships" but I like their playful relationship too. "not sure if I want to be an echo character myself" This genuinely made me laugh. You can change your picture if you want too, but I think it's good right now. It's not like mine and yours are the exact same, so I'd say it's more of a Lucas/Ness "clone" rather than an echo-fighter.

Which is nice cuz this is how Dixie and Diddy should relate to each other moveset-wise as well.

 

[BirthNote]

Yea I can't believe I left Jungle Beat out of the ranking, so I'll share my revised version as well:

Tropical Freeze
DKC 2
Returns
Jungle Beat
DKC
DKC3
DK64

Now I'll be honest with everyone, I didn't think of DK himself as a cool and fun character until Jungle Beat. He was outshined by Diddy in DKC, portrayed as a big slow ape in the Mario Kart/Party games for N64 and DK64, was useless to me in Smash up until Brawl, and emphasized as an idiot in DK64 who slaps to attack. Someone as big and strong as DK should be doing full on punches, not slapping. I didn't take DK seriously until Jungle Beat, and that's because he was turned into a complete badass. It's like Nintendo not only realized he was a gorilla in that game, but also that they realized what gorillas are known for: aggression and brute strength. Nintendo took that, then brought it up to 11. They gave us an adrenaline junkie who could kick *** effortlessly with amazing agility and alpha male personality who'd move mountains almost literally to get what he wants. THAT'S what I'd call the king of the Jungle, and it wasn't just the personality overhaul that I liked. The game is very fun to play; I only had the New Play Control version, but each level has a fun exercise of pulling off combos and keeping them going. It's very alluring to experiment with gameplay and break your own records; the game has a lot of quirkiness and personality, plus most of the bosses were fun to beat down. The people who made that game knew how to make it engaging, which isn't surprising since they moved on to make Mario Galaxy.

Then we have DK64. I loved it as a kid, but looking back I don't feel it's a DK game. Yes, Jungle Beat is a big departure, but it didn't feel like another game. DK64 feels like Banjo-Kazooie, or Banjo-1.5ie; Angry Aztec, Fungi Forest and Creepy Castle are similar to Gobi's Valley, Click Clock Wood and Mad Monster Mansion. The gameplay is derivative too, and while Kirkhope composed the music, it sounds like he sampled tracks that wound up in Banjo-Tooie to make DK64's. Hideout Helm was an excellent idea though, that was the most heartpounding gaming experience in my life at the time, and many bosses were fun. I don't like the K. Rool battle nowadays; it was fun then but now it's a little too silly. It doesn't hit the right balance between K. Rool's goofy but deadly and cruel personality, as it is heavily on the goofy side. Then there's the collecting, which has been said to death and I agree. Not 100%ing this game ever.

It's not a bad game overall but it doesn't completely feel like DK. Gloomy Galleon, Frantic Factory and Crystal Caves are very good; I like all the playable Kongs, and the exploration was fun.

 

[Mariomaniac45213]

Then we have DK64. I loved it as a kid, but looking back I don't feel it's a DK game. Yes, Jungle Beat is a big departure, but it didn't feel like another game. DK64 feels like Banjo-Kazooie, or Banjo-1.5ie; Angry Aztec, Fungi Forest and Creepy Castle are similar to Gobi's Valley, Click Clock Wood and Mad Monster Mansion. The gameplay is derivative too, and while Kirkhope composed the music, it sounds like he sampled tracks that wound up in Banjo-Tooie to make DK64's. Hideout Helm was an excellent idea though, that was the most heartpounding gaming experience in my life at the time, and many bosses were fun. I don't like the K. Rool battle nowadays; it was fun then but now it's a little too silly. It doesn't hit the right balance between K. Rool's goofy but deadly and cruel personality, as it is heavily on the goofy side. Then there's the collecting, which has been said to death and I agree. Not 100%ing this game ever.

It's not a bad game overall but it doesn't completely feel like DK. Gloomy Galleon, Frantic Factory and Crystal Caves are very good; I like all the playable Kongs, and the exploration was fun.

I agree and disagree about DK64. I agree with the game hasn't aged well (like at all) and is actually kinda boring nowadays. But I think DK64's music is great. Is it on the level of DKC, DKC2, and Tropical Freeze? No. But I do think the soundtrack is still excellent and better than Returns (which mostly only had DKC1 remixes), DKC3 (I know a lot of you LOVE that soundtrack but to me it's mostly forgettable), and Jungle Beat (which has some good tracks but a lot of them don't feel very "DK" to me).

Also I think the boss battles in DK64 are the best part about the game and hell I'd say some of the most fun boss battles in Nintendo's history (except that pufferfish that boss battle is trash). YES including the final K.Rool battle. Did he act silly and goofy? Yes...but as you stated that was always part of his character to me it felt more insane/delusional than just outright silly which I felt was the natural progression. Think about it, at the beginning of the game K.Rool is very stern and serious about destroying DK Island, getting the Blast-O-Matic ready, and making sure there was no failure this time. Then as you progress through the game you see K.Rool slowly losing it sanity wise. After his bosses fail him and his minions fail him he continues to lose it. Then once you unlock K.Lumsy he starts outright panicking telling the Kritters to fire the blast-o-matic before it's truly ready he flees in the Flying Kroc fearing that the Kong family has gotten the upperhand yet again. K.Lumsy crashes the ship and he goes down. Literally everything came crashing down around him so to me the final boss battle was justified he lost all sanity at that point and just wanted to destroy the Kongs himself. Yeah it came off as goofy in the process. But come on the dude is literally saying "Yeah Thank You" while being booed by the crowd after continually getting his ass handed to him by the Kongs as a desperate attempt to keep his minions from fleeing by his side (which we know the Kremling army has no respect for K.Rool to begin with because he has no respect for them). I think the only reason the Kritters kept ringing the bell was because they were either A. probably scared what K.Rool would do to them at that point if he lost to the Kongs or B. Wanted K.Rool to continue to get his ass kicked due to way he treats them. I love that final boss battle and I gotta say the best thing about DK64 is K.Rool himself. He makes that game for me nowadays honestly. Rare did such a good job showcasing his personality and actually gave him a little bit of character development. Which makes me sad when people say "he's a Bowser knock-off" which is so not the case when K.Rool has WAYY more personality than Bowser.

 

[Ghostwolf35]

Which is nice cuz this is how Dixie and Diddy should relate to each other moveset-wise as well.

I agree with the concept of Dixie being mostly unique(Or just a totally new character), but Lucas has similar special moves to Ness that have a few differences while having unique standard attacks. I think Dixie should have at least a few different specials, and then some of her regular attacks could be the same as Diddy's.

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

I agree with the concept of Dixie being mostly unique(Or just a totally new character), but Lucas has similar special moves to Ness that have a few differences while having unique standard attacks. I think Dixie should have at least a few different specials, and then some of her regular attacks could be the same as Diddy's.

I could see her using the bubble gum gun for her neutral b move and maybe the monkey flip though I like to think she would stand on her head while her ponytail is wrapped around the opponent's face. Most of her other moves could be different from Diddy(using her ponytail for most of her regular attacks and grabs) which could put her on the level of Wolf's differences between him and Fox.

 

[hustler713]

I could see her using the bubble gum gun for her neutral b move and maybe the monkey flip though I like to think she would stand on her head while her ponytail is wrapped around the opponent's face. Most of her other moves could be different from Diddy(using her ponytail for most of her regular attacks and grabs) which could put her on the level of Wolf's differences between him and Fox.

Dixie never was shown to have a gun at all. She never been into engineering as Diddy was shown to be. She doesn't have amy gadgets at all. Switching out peanuts with Bubble gum would still not stay true to her character.

Wolf is VERY losely based on Fox. Same goes for Isabelle and Villager. You could take Dixie as a semi clone into consideration but i still think she would differentiate herself too much from diddy to even call her that.

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

Dixie never was shown to have a gun at all. She never been into engineering as Diddy was shown to be. She doesn't have amy gadgets at all. Switching out peanuts with Bubble gum would still not stay true to her character.

Wolf is VERY losely based on Fox. Same goes for Isabelle and Villager. You could take Dixie as a semi clone into consideration but i still think she would differentiate herself too much from diddy to even call her that.

She has a bubble gum gun in Tropical Freeze.

 

[Strong DK]

Yea I can't believe I left Jungle Beat out of the ranking, so I'll share my revised version as well:

Tropical Freeze
DKC 2
Returns
Jungle Beat
DKC
DKC3
DK64

Now I'll be honest with everyone, I didn't think of DK himself as a cool and fun character until Jungle Beat. He was outshined by Diddy in DKC, portrayed as a big slow ape in the Mario Kart/Party games for N64 and DK64, was useless to me in Smash up until Brawl, and emphasized as an idiot in DK64 who slaps to attack. Someone as big and strong as DK should be doing full on punches, not slapping. I didn't take DK seriously until Jungle Beat, and that's because he was turned into a complete badass. It's like Nintendo not only realized he was a gorilla in that game, but also that they realized what gorillas are known for: aggression and brute strength. Nintendo took that, then brought it up to 11. They gave us an adrenaline junkie who could kick *** effortlessly with amazing agility and alpha male personality who'd move mountains almost literally to get what he wants. THAT'S what I'd call the king of the Jungle, and it wasn't just the personality overhaul that I liked. The game is very fun to play; I only had the New Play Control version, but each level has a fun exercise of pulling off combos and keeping them going. It's very alluring to experiment with gameplay and break your own records; the game has a lot of quirkiness and personality, plus most of the bosses were fun to beat down. The people who made that game knew how to make it engaging, which isn't surprising since they moved on to make Mario Galaxy.

Then we have DK64. I loved it as a kid, but looking back I don't feel it's a DK game. Yes, Jungle Beat is a big departure, but it didn't feel like another game. DK64 feels like Banjo-Kazooie, or Banjo-1.5ie; Angry Aztec, Fungi Forest and Creepy Castle are similar to Gobi's Valley, Click Clock Wood and Mad Monster Mansion. The gameplay is derivative too, and while Kirkhope composed the music, it sounds like he sampled tracks that wound up in Banjo-Tooie to make DK64's. Hideout Helm was an excellent idea though, that was the most heartpounding gaming experience in my life at the time, and many bosses were fun. I don't like the K. Rool battle nowadays; it was fun then but now it's a little too silly. It doesn't hit the right balance between K. Rool's goofy but deadly and cruel personality, as it is heavily on the goofy side. Then there's the collecting, which has been said to death and I agree. Not 100%ing this game ever.

It's not a bad game overall but it doesn't completely feel like DK. Gloomy Galleon, Frantic Factory and Crystal Caves are very good; I like all the playable Kongs, and the exploration was fun.

Couldn't agree more with you about Jungle Beat. Game was/is great and truly let DK's abilities shine. Maybe someday we will see Jungle Beat 2... Or those JB mechanics added into a future DKC game

 

[TheYungLink]

I agree with the concept of Dixie being mostly unique(Or just a totally new character), but Lucas has similar special moves to Ness that have a few differences while having unique standard attacks. I think Dixie should have at least a few different specials, and then some of her regular attacks could be the same as Diddy's.

That's very true. I like to put Luigi, Lucas, and Wolf in the same category as "clone with the most differences to their source."

Luigi better fits what I'm thinking of. Only two special attacks resemble Diddy's (neutral and side special) but her other two specials should be different. And half her normal moves are derived from Diddy but the rest are unique attacks that use Dixie's hair. I just jumped on your mentioning of Lucas and Ness cuz it fit with the clone category I was thinking of.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

I like the "strength" DK has in DK Jungle Beat. Maybe some of the mechanics could be introduced in a new DKC game. But I don't like the rest of the game. I think the aesthetics are horrible and I dislike the lack of DKC characters. I do not like bongos either. I do not like the camera distance being so far away. Dislike how DK looks in the game, think he looks like he has rabies, Lol. But I do think the beat-em up style mechanics are cool. I would want to see something implemented like that in the next DK game.

I think DK64 is very boring nowadays. I think it doesn't have enough platforming at ALL! I think the bosses are OK but they still feel a little weird because the Kongs' platforming arsenal is a little limited

K. Rool in DK64, I admit I don't think the goofiness of the battle is a bad thing. I think it works. The "cruel" side of K. Rool was the leadup to the battle through the entire game. But the cruel side is also a big show on his end -- I mean, he runs away when you get to his chambers in Hideout Helm! So I think it works. He's not a scary "badass" actually, he's an unstable bumbler trying to be a scary badass. Anyway, like a lot of DK64, it's the gameplay that really bothers me. It has the same DK64 problem of feeling like there's not enough "platforming" or "action'. Rather, you're just pulling switches, using pads on the floor, it makes the battle feel plodding and disconnected.

I think DK64's final boss battle is stronger conceptually than it is in terms of gameplay mechanics. Like, it SOUNDS fun to drop the lights on K. Rool's head. But when you actually try to do that with Diddy's horrible jetpack controls....

 

[cybersai]

Jungle Beat was ported to the Wii removing the bongo controls and plays more like a traditional platformer. You can download it on the Wii-U virtual console if you guys still have your Wii-U's set up. It's a fantastic game.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Off-topic, but what do you guys think of the hypothetical scenario where DK kept his old design?

 

[ZeroJanitor]

it would probably create a butterfly effect where the DK series and its history would be completely unrecognizable to us. maybe that simple change in character design could completely alter the design philosophies of the first dkc, causing rare to make a completely different game that happened to be a flop, and nintendo decided to drop them on the spot and rare was picked up by sony and project dream ended up being their system seller.

or everything could be exactly the same except dk's face was a little different. hard to say.

 

[Luigifan18]

it would probably create a butterfly effect where the DK series and its history would be completely unrecognizable to us. maybe that simple change in character design could completely alter the design philosophies of the first dkc, causing rare to make a completely different game that happened to be a flop, and nintendo decided to drop them on the spot and rare was picked up by sony and project dream ended up being their system seller.

or everything could be exactly the same except dk's face was a little different. hard to say.

And if the first DKC was a flop and killed off the franchise, then Dixie, Kiddy, Swanky, the Diddy Kong Racing cast (perhaps including Banjo and Conker), Tiny, Lanky, Chunky, the Tikis, the Snomads, and all the other characters in the Donkey Kong Country franchise who made their debut after the original Donkey Kong Country would, in all likelihood, never have existed. Damn, that's a depressing thought.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

She has a bubble gum gun in Tropical Freeze.

I think the reason why she got a popgun was probably because she and Cranky were to put on same mold as Diddy Kong as that game's 2nd player characters to ease the development a bit. I mean, Cranky got his own Denture Gun to mirror Diddy's and Dixie's.

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

I think the reason why she got a popgun was probably because she and Cranky were to put on same mold as Diddy Kong as that game's 2nd player characters to ease the development a bit. I mean, Cranky got his own Denture Gun to mirror Diddy's and Dixie's.

Well it could be still be part of her move set, plus it would operate differently from Diddy's peanut popgun and it never hurts to have a projectile.

 

[Klimax]

Congratulations for the 100th page guys !
I hope that we'll know what Sakurai did with Dixie really soon.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

I read a theory that Jungle Beat is a prequel to the entire DKC series and DK 64. Basically it takes place after DK (in this case, Cranky) leaves the city for good after his adventures in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, and Donkey Kong '93 for the Game Boy, and heads for the jungle where he came from. In his absence, other Kongs have terrorized various parts of the jungle, and DK decides that his place in the jungle should be a peaceful one after all his trouble in the city, so he sets off to defeat the other Kongs to "retire" from fighting once and for all and neutralize all the native threats.

After defeating the Cactus King and displaying unprecedented badassery (Jungle Beat is notable in that it's the only time Donkey Kong has portrayed any interesting abilities other than running and jumping, which is part of why I like it so much, as DK is often overshadowed ability-wise by the other Kongs), DK settles down and raises a family with another Kong, Wrinkly. His victory attracts other, more friendly Kongs that aren't strictly blood-related, like Candy and Dixie (I forget if Funky and Swanky are blood-related or just friends of the Kong clan), back to the jungle after they were forced out by the Jungle Beat Kongs, paving the way for the setting of the Donkey Kong Country series.

So Cranky is always bragging about how good he is because he's the one who made the jungle peaceful in the first place, and because that game had DK exerting himself more than any other game in the series, it's why he mostly just sits in his rocking chair while he sets his son (or grandson) who he named after himself off to save DK Isle in his stead. He'd only recently get back to being in the action after the Snomads forced him to in Tropical Freeze, showing that, in a way, he's still got it.

It's a cool theory and it gets around the complaint some fans have with it that it's "Rare erasure" by having the game predate the ones made by Rare. I liked it so I felt like sharing it, and because Jungle Beat gets too much hate, I think, so maybe this could redeem the game for some of you.

So what you're trying to tell me is at the end is... Cranky decided to teach DK his old ways of "Bizarre Kong Barrage?"

I also really like this headcanon - mostly because when I think deeper about it, the way Jungle Beat was from same developer team that makes the 3D Marios and like, the departure from Rare-styled aeshetic and worldbuilding to more cartoonier designs and vibe that'd you'd see probably from Mario-side, makes a seamless transition. Dunno on Dixie being around then though, I think she either had parents that perhaps went to disappear without us knowing, she'd be otherwise *ahem* too old for Diddy. Candy and Funky would have to be young too during Cranky's "heydays".

Finally, if one could swap Donkey Kong as you saw in Jungle Beat, to Cranky as you'd see in DK '94 back when being original DK, that'd complete the whole set.

 

[BirthNote]

I agree and disagree about DK64. I agree with the game hasn't aged well (like at all) and is actually kinda boring nowadays. But I think DK64's music is great. Is it on the level of DKC, DKC2, and Tropical Freeze? No. But I do think the soundtrack is still excellent and better than Returns (which mostly only had DKC1 remixes), DKC3 (I know a lot of you LOVE that soundtrack but to me it's mostly forgettable), and Jungle Beat (which has some good tracks but a lot of them don't feel very "DK" to me).

Also I think the boss battles in DK64 are the best part about the game and hell I'd say some of the most fun boss battles in Nintendo's history (except that pufferfish that boss battle is trash). YES including the final K.Rool battle. Did he act silly and goofy? Yes...but as you stated that was always part of his character to me it felt more insane/delusional than just outright silly which I felt was the natural progression. Think about it, at the beginning of the game K.Rool is very stern and serious about destroying DK Island, getting the Blast-O-Matic ready, and making sure there was no failure this time. Then as you progress through the game you see K.Rool slowly losing it sanity wise. After his bosses fail him and his minions fail him he continues to lose it. Then once you unlock K.Lumsy he starts outright panicking telling the Kritters to fire the blast-o-matic before it's truly ready he flees in the Flying Kroc fearing that the Kong family has gotten the upperhand yet again. K.Lumsy crashes the ship and he goes down. Literally everything came crashing down around him so to me the final boss battle was justified he lost all sanity at that point and just wanted to destroy the Kongs himself. Yeah it came off as goofy in the process. But come on the dude is literally saying "Yeah Thank You" while being booed by the crowd after continually getting his *** handed to him by the Kongs as a desperate attempt to keep his minions from fleeing by his side (which we know the Kremling army has no respect for K.Rool to begin with because he has no respect for them). I think the only reason the Kritters kept ringing the bell was because they were either A. probably scared what K.Rool would do to them at that point if he lost to the Kongs or B. Wanted K.Rool to continue to get his *** kicked due to way he treats them. I love that final boss battle and I gotta say the best thing about DK64 is K.Rool himself. He makes that game for me nowadays honestly. Rare did such a good job showcasing his personality and actually gave him a little bit of character development. Which makes me sad when people say "he's a Bowser knock-off" which is so not the case when K.Rool has WAYY more personality than Bowser.

I should've said it in the last post but I really liked the music in '64. Frantic Factory, Gloomy Galleon, Hideout Helm and many variations of K. Rool's island were amazing tracks. The ones I don't like are the ones that I could've sworn were repurposed from B-K. It's one thing to have a signature style, but something different to sample your own tracks for an unrelated series, and that's my gripe with the soundtrack.

As for the bosses, I said I liked most of them; the only ones I didn't like were King Kutout and K. Rool's. Back in the DKC days, his fights were brutal; especially DKC2's. He had his silly moments ("AUUGHH!!") but the difficulty and the absolute need to not mess up showed that he was very dangerous, plus the tricks he played emphasized his cruel side. Torturing DK spoke volumes, rifling you in the face after you got too close was hilariously mean, getting up after the fake credits showed he was clever, etc. In '64 though, it seemed like Rare was trying too hard to make his fight seem funny. You got the banana gags, so-fat-he-flattens-the-announcer moments, stubbed my toe antics and overall really silly demeanor. My problem is that it felt like I was fighting a giant clown more than this crazy, mean and sometimes silly big bad. They went too far to the silly side.

And I could've sworn the refs were giving K. Rool as much chances as possible because they wanted him to win, and the crowd was definitely booing the Kongs.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

I can see what you mean. I don't mind it because like I said, I think the "cruel" side was the entire game. I do think they could have balanced it better. You could still be very funny while being cruel. That's who he is!

And yes, you're right. The Kremlings boo the KONGS. K. Rool sucks at this so he keeps losing and only survives as long thanks to the Kritters rigging it for him.

 

[SeashoreWar]

So the talk of a DK game inspired by Sonic Heroes got me inspired. It went into a different direction, but I decided to finish it. It's Dixie using a rocket barrel with vines to carry DK and Diddy. It probably would be a speed section so it would line up more with Diddy.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

🏴‍☠️ CROCODILE CACOPHONY 🏴‍☠️
My long-overdue first attempt at doing a full fake-screenshot style Cuphead scene!
Bigger version here: https://t.co/qk96lgkFW5
I'd love to do more of these, if people like this one :) pic.twitter.com/KlXPdK8FsX

— The Elusive Courtney (@altermentality) October 21, 2018

 

[SuperJumpmon64]

Speaking of DK64, I was actually playing the game on Project 64, and tried out a GameShark code that let's you play as Krusha in the adventure mode. He kinda shares some attributes from Chunky Kong.

 

[cybersai]

It's a real shame if Dixie doesn't finally make it into Ultimate. She missed out on Brawl, she was skipped in Smash U for no real reason, but if she doesn't make it this time either....what a shame.

I mean there's nothing we can really do about it, bar another ballot, but even then I don't think Dixie's ballot votes would outnumber some others. It's obvious King K. Rool ate away a lot of Dixie's votes last time, but there's other characters too.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

It's a real shame if Dixie doesn't finally make it into Ultimate. She missed out on Brawl, she was skipped in Smash U for no real reason, but if she doesn't make it this time either....what a shame.

I mean there's nothing we can really do about it, bar another ballot, but even then I don't think Dixie's ballot votes would outnumber some others. It's obvious King K. Rool ate away a lot of Dixie's votes last time, but there's other characters too.

Getting Dixie in would make the roster feel 100% complete. Anybody else after her would just be a bonus.

 

[BirthNote]

Good news, everyone: the Community Echo thread has tallied up the votes and Dixie is not the agreed upon Echo! "No viable option" has won the day, and I'd like to thank EVERYONE who made this possible! Much appreciated!

 

[Aeon Lupin]

Good news, everyone: the Community Echo thread has tallied up the votes and Dixie is not the agreed upon Echo! "No viable option" has won the day, and I'd like to thank EVERYONE who made this possible! Much appreciated!

What was the final margin?

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

Congrats on reaching four thousand posts!

What was the final margin?

31 voted for No viable option.
23 voted for Dixie, so we won by 8 points.