Plot IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NITE... Storms lashed the
rugged terrain of Donkey Kong Island, home of the famous
video game ape and his family and friends. Near Donkey
Kong's tree house, a small monkey named Diddy cowered in
fear of the savage lightning which periodically
illuminated the lush, dark jungle that covered most of
the island. Donkey Kong had assigned Diddy to guard duty
on this awful night, and he was not happy about his fate.
Donkey Kong's earlier pep talk kept creeping back into
Diddy's mind. "Ok, little buddy," Donkey had
said in his patronizing voice. "As part of your hero
training, you've got to stand guard tonight over my
bananas... I'll relive you at midnight, so try and stay
awake until then!" Buddy? Yeah, right. Now he was
alone. Alone unless you counted the unknown threats which
lurked behind every tree that he glimpsed during the
lightning flashes. The Kremlings were out there, this
much was certain. They coveted Donkey Kong's banana
stockpile, the largest on the island, and probably in the
world. A treasure in potassium and Vitamin A. The perfect
food. "Ahhh... delicious bananas..." The
thought of DK's golden horde almost made Diddy forget his
uncomfortable situation. But a rustling in the
undergrowth and the sound of several snapping twigs
brought him out of his reverie. "W-w-who goes there?!"
Diddy challenged the sounds in the darkened, dripping
foliage. There was no answer but the flashing of claws
and teeth, followed by a fleeting vision of many
reptilian eyes and a crack of thunder. Diddy somersaulted
into the fray with his signature cartwheel attack, but he
was quickly overcome by the weight of many scaly
assailants. The enormous bulk of Klump the Kremling
landed on top of Diddy, knocking him senseless. His last
memory was of a hissing voice..."It'ssss the sssmall
one... Ssseal him inssside thisss barrel and tosss it
into the bussshesss... Donkey Kong'sss bananasss are
ourssss!" The barrel lid closed on Diddy, blotting
out even the fleeting light of the storm. Seconds later,
the barrel flew through the air, courtesy of Klump's army
boot-assisted punt, and landed roughly in the jungle
foliage. Diddy Kong knew no more. The entire Donkey Kong
clan was oblivious as the Kremlings then loaded the
banana horde into their Kremling karts and wheeled them
off through the jungle, leaving an obvious trail of
dropped fruit from their overloaded conveyances. The next
morning, Donkey Kong was awakened by frantic shouting of
his name. "Keep it down!!" he growled. He
suddenly realized what time it was. "Morning already...
I slept through my watch!" Falling out of bed and
through his tree house door, Donkey Kong slid down the
tree house ladder without using any of the rungs, and
assumed his characteristic fighting pose, with sun-blinded,
squinting eyes! One swift blow was all that was needed to
leave him sprawled on the floor, face down! he groggily
rolled over to see the familiar wrinkled, white-bearded,
grouchy face of his old granddad "Cranky Kong"
peering down at him. In his heyday, Cranky was the
original Donkey Kong who battled Mario in several of his
own games. "What 'cha do that for?!" Donkey
Kong asked, knowing full well that Cranky was prone to
cuffing him at every whim. "Take a look inside your
banana cave. You're in for a big surprise!" Cranky
crackled. Donkey's mind raced as he vaulted to the cave
and peered inside. Instead of the dull golden glow of
thousands of bananas, there were only a few discarded
peels. These had been trampled into the dirt by hundreds
of reptilian feet, judging from the many three-toed
footprints that covered the damp cavern floor. But what
about... "Diddy's gone, too!" Cranky laughed.
"That's what you get for shirking your
responsibility, you good-for-nothing bum! In my days we
would have been happy to stand guard in the rain, 'cause
that might have meant having an extra frame of animation!
Of course, having rain would have been impossible, given
our pitiful processing power, but..." Donkey Kon
stood there in stunned disbelief and hadn't heard most of
what Cranky said. "Diddy... gone... My little buddy..."
he murmured to himself. Donkey Kong was suddenly filled
with conviction. "The Kremlings will pay!" he
raged. "I'll hunt them down through every corner of
my island, until I have every last banana from my horde
back!!" Overview The graphics were very surprising. These were the best
graphics at the time and everything looked great. The
whole 3D effect just made the game more fulfilling. The
music was okay, but after a while it can just get on
someones nerve. The gameplay itself for 1994 was
top of the line. You had small but challenging levels to
beat. I also feel that the idea of having animals in the
game to help you was also an ingenious idea. You just
couldn't beat the game unless you used the animals in
someway or another. My favorite would have to be the
swordfish. Being able to swim under water with a
swordfish just made the water levels more enjoyable for
me. The ending boss was, for me, a little difficult, but
in the end worth it. I can say without a doubt that this
is one of Nintendos greatest games ever made and
will still be played by many kids throughout the world. -Blueyoshye |
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