onsdag 13 januari 2021

Donkey Kong 64 (Wii U)

 

Here, here, here we go!

So I'm finally here, writing for you, if you know the words you can join in to. Put your hands together as if you want to clap as I take you through this monkey post... what do you expect, I'm not a lyricist. Donkey Kong 64 came out in 1999 and it gotta have been close to Christmas since me and my sisters got to share it as a Christmas present. It was also the first present we were allowed to open on Christmas eve together with N64 controllers for the sisters that hadn't gotten a controller yet. So we sat most of Christmas eve playing the battle mode of this game so our parents could prepare the Christmas dinner or whatever they did. Of course, the battle mode didn't get fun until we unlocked Krusha with his explosive projectiles that blew everyone away. Either everyone played as Krusha or no one played as Krusha. Again, that was probably a couple of months after Christmas.

Basically the story is that king K. Rool has built a new super weapon and is about to blow Kong Island out of the water. And stolen the Kongs banana hoard as well, and trapped most of the members of the Kong family. So it's up to Donkey Kong to rescue his relatives and destroys K. Rools plan. Nothing more to the story really. We never finished the games as kids due to the facts we couldn't get hold of all collectibles to unlock the way to the final boss. And this I heard was a major complaint against the game, too much stuff to collect and all the time switch back and forth between the Kongs since most things are bound to a certain Kong. And that gets annoying at times. Especially in places like Creepy Castle where enemies can throw you off the ledge and force you to restart from the beginning of the stage and you gotta trek all over the place. So playing it now, rereleased on the Virtual Console on Wii U, I at least can alleviate some headache with the trusty quick save alternative. 

You gotta get golden bananas to open new worlds, you also gotta collect 100 coloured bananas with each kong in every world to open the door to the boss that you gotta defeat to get a key to unlock the cage of this giant Kremling so that he can open yet another world for you. You also gotta get coloured coins so that you can pay for upgrades to your weapon, your musical instrument and your moves. The weapon and instruments have their own unique ammo counters, you got explosive oranges and then there is crystal coconuts that power special abilities and attacks. Also, in each world there is this special enemy coloured after the different Kongs that carry blueprints that you exchange for a golden banana, but also gives you time on the final level to finish it before K. Rool fires his secret weapon. And banana fairies you need to catch with a camera you restock with film (which is how you unlock secrets like Krusha), battle crowns won from battle tournament stages and two special coins hidden in to classic games, the original Donkey Kong and JetPac. The Nintendo coin from the Donkey Kong game was the thing that was missing as a child. We weren't that good at that game. And as mentioned, you gotta run around each level with 5 different Kongs. 

That's a lot of things to keep track of, Mario 64 just had stars, sure you could get coins, but they still gave you a star collecting it (addendum since I've played through Mario 64 again, I forgot the keys you get after fighting Bowser, but those are just 2). And the special coins and battle crowns isn't mentioned until the final stage, and the Nintendo coin you just gotta guess I think since I don't think they mentioned it anywhere? And if that wasn't frustrating enough you got the boss fights that gives me heart attacks on some real bullshit they pull. At least K Rool gave each Kong full life for each stage of the final battle. As you might read between the lines, I'm not loving this game 100 %. It has it's moments and I got huge nostalgia googles for it with the Christmas present and the co-op with my sisters, but playing it again... I won't miss several of the bonus stages or extra frustrating bosses. Also, just navigating the levels are troublesome since I would love a map so I know where to go. Also, yes, thanks for keeping track on every collectible, but couldn't you have named them so I know which golden banana I'm missing? Also, I miss the N64 controller. Since the left stick acts as the c-buttons more often than not you pull of the wrong move, the buttons were much more precise. So this game is probably good enough for die-hards and nostalgia seekers. Would I play it again? Well, me and my sisters thought on getting together and play the multiplayer some time, and if they release a N64 Classic Mini, maybe, but 101 % it? No, never, unless they would remake it and fix certain things, it's really slow at times, especially opening the boss doors or getting the bananas for the blue prints since they gotta play out the animations, and they take time. Total time playing through the main adventure was around 24 hours so maybe just a way to extend play time.

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