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

[pupNapoleon]

Back up and running!

Happy #DonkeyKong40! 🙌👍👏🍌 pic.twitter.com/Gn1IqatKOT

— Dixie Kong for Smash (@DixieforSmash) July 9, 2021

This may or may not be as creepy as the DK CGI cartoon.

I want a banana cake like this one day at Super Nintendo World.

I want that Banana Shake!

 

[Mushroomguy12]

2nd part of Proton Jon's DKC1 LP is out, featuring an NES bootleg version of DKC!

 

[Phoenix Douchebag]

I just wanna say happy 40th anniversary to our favorite Big Ape from Nintendo.

As a Gorillaz enthusiast, we Gorilla-lovers must kept our pals in Check.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Celebrating in style!

Forty years ago today, one of the most important video games ever was released for the arcade! The first game in the Donkey Kong series! Happy Birthday, DK, Mario, and Pauline!! #DonkeyKong40 pic.twitter.com/fdZLIwBr10

— Michael Julius (@juliusaurus) July 9, 2021

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

This may or may not be as creepy as the DK CGI cartoon.

Excuse me. That is Dixie's model from Donkey Konga 3. You will show her -- and based on her appearance, the various mites/parasites she is a host for -- respect!



It does look a little weird, doesn't it? And Donkey Konga's 2 Dixie, which only had pre-rendered sprites, looked so nice. I don't know what happened there.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

More DK 40 art!

Happy 40th Donkey Kong! #dk40th 🍌 pic.twitter.com/5e4JusxnY3

— VERSY (@Versiris) July 9, 2021

There was a problem fetching the tweet

🍌🎶It's time to CELEBRATE!! 🎶🍌
Donkey Kong was released 40 years ago, and helped shape the course of Nintendo's history into what it is today! And so it has with me and many others too.

Happy Birthday, ya big ape~ 💖#DonkeyKong #DonkeyKong40 #DonkeyKongCountry pic.twitter.com/HkahD22iRt

— 🎄CaptainQuack🏴‍☠️ (COMMS CLOSED) (@CaptainQuack64) July 9, 2021

Happy 40th anniversary to Donkey Kong!#pixelart #DonkeyKong40 pic.twitter.com/HgGZFwEPOT

— Sam the Salmon (@SamThe_Salmon) July 10, 2021

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I've been kicking myself for downloading this a few days ago and not yet playing it, but given that its DK's 40th anniversary in just a few hours and the beginning of the weekend soon enough, tomorrow will be a fitting time to start it up.

I'm two worlds into this and I'll admit there are some stage designs choices I don't entirely agree with, the backgrounds (while great) feel like they're doing a lot of the leg work in terms of aesthetics, and there is some jank to be found.

But man oh man its just wonderful to see the clear love for the franchise put into this game. I've been someone that's played their share of Sonic and Mario fan titles, and the lack of notable ones for DK was always a downer. Something like this goes a long way in showing not only the continual value of the Country series overall, but also that there's still interesting things to be done with those SNES titles, even just in this remixed form. There's been uses of of DKC3 settings that immediately had more appeal here because they were paired with better backgrounds and/or fitting elements from 1 and 2.

Is this is full of the typical fan game cheese one often sees in these types of releases? Most certainly. Does it have little things that might frustrate veteran players. Indeed it does. Is it also amazing to have that those old school DKC physics and overall feel back again with new content for the first time in 25 years?

Absolutely.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Yes, I have played a little bit. And I am impressed by how many things they implemented, like so many animal buddies. And of course all the playable Kongs.

 

[BravadoMan_13]

Happy 40th Anniversary to Donkey Kong! Without him (plus Cranky) and the original arcade game, Nintendo would not be where they are today if it weren't for Donkey Kong. How does Nintendo not acknowledge DK is beyond me especially that it's been 40 YEARS.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Sakurai posted multiple Anniversary Pics today.

And not one was for DK.

 

[zipzapsparkle]

It hurts me that they didn’t acknowledge DK.

 

[Diddy Kong]

It's weird they didn't acknowledge it yeah..... Didn't expect it, but still.

 

[ZeroJanitor]

I'd be shocked if they did acknowledge a DK anniversary at this point.

 

[pupNapoleon]

And they say bias doesn't exist

...is today a worldwide anniversary, or just a Western anniversary?

 

[Mushroomguy12]

And they say bias doesn't exist

...is today a worldwide anniversary, or just a Western anniversary?

It's the Japanese Anniversary, which is the region the Arcade first came out in, so if anything it would be the date for the POTD to acknowledge as per usual.

 

[pupNapoleon]

It's the Japanese Anniversary, which is the region the Arcade first came out in, so if anything it would be the date for the POTD to acknowledge as per usual.

Then my only advice is for DK to invite Marth.

 

[Gobliiin]

I'm doubling down even more so now that things are happening. The way DK Vine put it we are further away now from Donkey Kongs debut than it was from the end of World War II when it released. Donkey Kong's anniversary isn't just a celebration for us or Nintendo, its a celebration for gaming.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I'm doubling down even more so now that things are happening. The way DK Vine put it we are further away now from Donkey Kongs debut than it was from the end of World War II when it released. Donkey Kong's anniversary isn't just a celebration for us or Nintendo, its a celebration for gaming.

These sound like contrary thoughts.
The 40th Anniversary of DK goes without any statement (while others are given spotlight), and it's been a long time for DK..
Therefore, it must soon be a blowout?

 

[Vector Victor]

I'm just shocked that not even Sakurai acknowledged DK's anniversary, especially with how much he has been celebrating almost every anniversary that's been popping up, even random years. But Fates gets a call out? Please.

 

[Gobliiin]

These sound like contrary thoughts.
The 40th Anniversary of DK goes without any statement (while others are given spotlight), and it's been a long time for DK..
Therefore, it must soon be a blowout?

I'm just shocked that not even Sakurai acknowledged DK's anniversary, especially with how much he has been celebrating almost every anniversary that's been popping up, even random years. But Fates gets a call out? Please.

Well that's the thing. Retro seeming wanted K. Rool but they were denied by Sakurai claiming him first for Smash as the story goes. He himself can't comment on anything now really without it being related to anything so maybe he was told not to because something is happening. (Plus he saved K. Rool he doesnt need to do anything more for DK).

 

[pupNapoleon]

Well that's the thing. Retro seeming wanted K. Rool but they were denied by Sakurai claiming him first for Smash as the story goes. He himself can't comment on anything now really without it being related to anything so maybe he was told not to because something is happening. (Plus he saved K. Rool he doesnt need to do anything more for DK).

I'm confused... how can Sakurai deny the use of a Kharacter for the DK series?

 

[Handy Man]

I'm confused... how can Sakurai deny the use of a Kharacter for the DK series?

This post was made on the King K. Rool subforum a long time ago:

To shed further light, per Hyle, per his sources (Mr. Throat or otherwise), K. Rool's hiatus boiled down to "internal apathy and factional disagreements." I have since been able to independently confirm through two sources that one of the parties that wanted to bring back K. Rool sooner was none other than Retro Studios. They were interested in putting K. Rool in the Tropical Freeze Switch port as an extra boss, but were denied with no reasoning given. This reportedly was because by that point, after the ballot, Sakurai already was planning on reviving the character himself.

 

[pupNapoleon]

This post was made on the King K. Rool subforum a long time ago:

Uh... I'm not sure how much I believe that.
Retro is the studio that wanted to leave their own mark on the series, and seemingly decided he wasn't worth putting into the first game.

Regardless, even if true, that statement doesn't say Sakurai denied K Rool to Retro, it says Retro was denied K Rool, due to Sakurai already planning to use him.

 

[BirthNote]

BKupa666 would you like to step in and provide clarity and insight regarding K.Rool, Retro, Smash and his hiatus?

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

As far as Retro, its not that out there hypothetically that for their first game they didn't want to rely on elements from the SNES trilogy so they could forge a new identity for the series, but that by the time they were developing Tropical Freeze they felt that a shout out like including K Rool was something they were comfortable including without being thought of as relying on the 90s titles.

I mean given the plan for the game meant bringing back David Wise and having a remix of Aquatic Ambience in TF, someone like K Rool returning hardly seems off the table in that respect. I'm not necessarily saying that the information relayed to Hyle is outright true, just that it is plausible given what we saw.

 

[Vector Victor]

I kinda took that information about K Rool and Sakurai in terms of the Batman embargo (it happens with other characters but it was most common with Batman) where a character couldn't be used for one thing because it's license was currently being used by another source (for instance, there was a Batman cartoon where they couldn't use Robin as he was licensed out for another cartoon, so they used Batgirl instead). Maybe that's how Nintendo handled K Rool.

OR

It's possible after seeing the massive support for K Rool for Smash, they decided that his grand return would be more impactful in Smash over Tropical Freeze. Honestly, if it was the option between Smash or TF for K Rool, I'd go with Smash.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I kinda took that information about K Rool and Sakurai in terms of the Batman embargo (it happens with other characters but it was most common with Batman) where a character couldn't be used for one thing because it's license was currently being used by another source (for instance, there was a Batman cartoon where they couldn't use Robin as he was licensed out for another cartoon, so they used Batgirl instead). Maybe that's how Nintendo handled K Rool.

OR

It's possible after seeing the massive support for K Rool for Smash, they decided that his grand return would be more impactful in Smash over Tropical Freeze. Honestly, if it was the option between Smash or TF for K Rool, I'd go with Smash.

I mean its worth noting on the DK Vine podcast Hyle and Josh (from Geek Critique), both huge Donkey Kong fans that have praised Tropical Freeze up and down both agreed that K Rool making a return on a grand stage like Smash Bros did more good for him and the DK brand overall than if he would have just shown up as a secret boss in TF.

 

[BKupa666]

BKupa666 would you like to step in and provide clarity and insight regarding K.Rool, Retro, Smash and his hiatus?

Sure. The bulk of my insights about K. Rool as a potential Tropical Freeze Switch addition already are in that thread. The main piece I’ve tried clarifying in footnotes, and that people unfortunately still incorrectly repeat, is that Sakurai blocked or denied K. Rool from being a bonus boss in the TF port. That was Nintendo, for reasons I am led to believe have to do with letting his return happen on the bigger stage of Smash. Though one person suggested that Nintendo simply did not want Retro to bring back characters in the port who weren’t already in the original game, so…

I do want to underscore that Retro was never the obstacle toward Kremlings returning. Given all the other fan requests Retro granted in the jump from Returns to Tropical Freeze, it’s curious that, according to these sources, one of the first things they tried to do with the TF port — for which Kensuke Tanabe is credited just with a “special thanks,” rather than as the producer, as with the main game — is to try to bring back K. Rool. Retro was always in our corner, they just had to play with the hand they were dealt as a Western studio under Nintendo’s purview.

 

[BirthNote]

Sure. The bulk of my insights about K. Rool as a potential Tropical Freeze Switch addition already are in that thread. The main piece I’ve tried clarifying in footnotes, and that people unfortunately still incorrectly repeat, is that Sakurai blocked or denied K. Rool from being a bonus boss in the TF port. That was Nintendo, for reasons I am led to believe have to do with letting his return happen on the bigger stage of Smash. Though one person suggested that Nintendo simply did not want Retro to bring back characters in the port who weren’t already in the original game, so…

I do want to underscore that Retro was never the obstacle toward Kremlings returning. Given all the other fan requests Retro granted in the jump from Returns to Tropical Freeze, it’s curious that, according to these sources, one of the first things they tried to do with the TF port — for which Kensuke Tanabe is credited just with a “special thanks,” rather than as the producer, as with the main game — is to try to bring back K. Rool. Retro was always in our corner, they just had to play with the hand they were dealt as a Western studio under Nintendo’s purview.

Thanks. Just as a heads up though, the link you shared doesn't work.

EDIT: It's working now

 

[Vector Victor]

Retro: "We are bringing back K Rool."
Nintendo: "No, someone already called dibs."
Fans: "Who dares!?!
Sakurai: "Me."
Fans:" Understandable. Have a nice day."

 

[pupNapoleon]

Tropical Freeze came out in 2014. That means it was in development many years before 2014.
K Rool didn't make his debut until Ultimate in 2018.
The Smash ballot wasn't until 2015.

This timetable doesn't line up with K Rool being denied for Tropical Freeze due to Smash, unless K Rool was supposed to be in Sm4sh, and before the ballot even happened. Which I don't buy.

EDIT:
BKupa666
I am seeing your message now.
So... yes. Your points of clarification definitely got lost in translation with the user who was telling me the information.
1 Clearly Sakurai cannot 'block' a character from another game
2 K Rool was only supposed to be on the port. Meaning, Retro did NOT plan to use him for the base game, and likely only even considered it for the port due to the obscene amount of fan demand voiced moving forward from the ballot and the subsequent vocalizalization.

In short, Retro, at best, tried to steal the thunder of Smash in the first place, and were told 'nah, you missed your chance, bro.'
On the assumption that all of such is true.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Stealing thunder is an odd way to framing a developer wanting to essentially bring back a well known character that was in previous games of the series they were working on. Moreover the willingness to put K Rool in could have nothing to do with any knowledge of fan demand of the ballot and more that with two games under their belt, they felt they had built up credibility with their own DK games that including a previous villain in a port of TF wouldn't feel like leaning on the IP's previous entries for content.

 

[Vector Victor]

Anyway, K Rool in Smash was one step. Dixie in Smash is the next step.





With Funky as a DK echo.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Yes, I wouldn't say stealing thunder. The CEO of Retro Studios even followed the Kremling Kampaign way back then when K. Rool's future seemed more uncertain (at least on the outside). They wanted to do something nice for DK fans who missed King K Rool and his crew!

 

[Justin Little]

One of my biggest gripes with Retro's games was how disconnected it is to the series in terms of lore. Metroid Prime trilogy didn't have this problem, oftentimes referencing past games. I don't mind them putting their own mark on the series with new villains and the like, but it would've been nice to see some throwbacks to the Kremlings through easter eggs. While K. Rool returning in Smash is a better idea than him returning as a secret boss in Tropical Freeze, I still think it's a shame Nintendo seemingly restricted Retro from even referencing them.

There was that pareidolia rock formation in Grassland Groove. Perhaps that was the best thing they could do.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

And we love him for it.

pic.twitter.com/B2UFGubzdw

— the Well-Red Mage (@theWellRedMage) July 11, 2021

 

[Justin Little]

What if there is an alternate reality where the composer of this song did DKC?

I'm not being funny here but this is the worst music I've heard in a game for years #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/wOu1klIwot

— Chris Scullion (@scully1888) April 13, 2021

Would we still be DK fans? Or would we just have terrible taste in music and this would be the gold standard?

 

[pupNapoleon]

Stealing thunder is an odd way to framing a developer wanting to essentially bring back a well known character that was in previous games of the series they were working on. Moreover the willingness to put K Rool in could have nothing to do with any knowledge of fan demand of the ballot and more that with two games under their belt, they felt they had built up credibility with their own DK games that including a previous villain in a port of TF wouldn't feel like leaning on the IP's previous entries for content.

It could have to do with that.
I doubt the premise is even true.
But after all the time they had the potential option to use K Rool, they either wanted to use him since the beginning, or they decided at the same time. Coincidence? Possibly. Likely it actually happened at the same time? If it DID happen, I question it.

Regardless, I really appreciate the work of Retro studios, I have no complaints towards them.

With Funky as a DK echo.

I am a huge proponent of DK Jr as an echo. Let's return to the Pichu-Young Link idea and have a smaller, faster DK. One that actually honors the games that launched Mario, and the character who started it. Much more iconic to gaming, much less the DK series, than Funky Kong.

 

[Vector Victor]

It could have to do with that.
I doubt the premise is even true.
But after all the time they had the potential option to use K Rool, they either wanted to use him since the beginning, or they decided at the same time. Coincidence? Possibly. Likely it actually happened at the same time? If it DID happen, I question it.

Regardless, I really appreciate the work of Retro studios, I have no complaints towards them.


I am a huge proponent of DK Jr as an echo. Let's return to the Pichu-Young Link idea and have a smaller, faster DK. One that actually honors the games that launched Mario, and the character who started it. Much more iconic to gaming, much less the DK series, than Funky Kong.

But....Funky has snazzy shades.

I'm sorry, but I think that obliterates your argument somehow.

 

[pupNapoleon]

But....Funky has snazzy shades.

I'm sorry, but I think that obliterates your argument somehow.

I'd be tempted to agree...except that DK jr can pull off the Donald Duck look.