(Note: This blog was originally on February 21st, 2014, but I deleted that blog and regretted it so edited the contents into this older blog post that I was deleting. Good enough.)

Today's Quick Look of DKC Tropical Freeze is a great reminder for those of us who know DKC well that not everyone knows how to roll jump. Straight up always be roll jumping. It's the best. Rolling is a lot faster than running and, when you jump out of a roll, you have a lot of extra momentum that takes you farther. Air control being what it is in DKCR and DKCTF it's a lot easier to overshoot where you want to land than in the original SNES games but with a little practice it can be pretty reliable especially if you have Diddy or Dixie and can use their power to kill your momentum before landing. Also try rolling off a ledge! You can jump out of a roll at any time even in midair. This is super key.

Outside of roll jumping rolling is just super useful. If you have a buddy on your back it's infinite and you can do it as long as you like. Otherwise you can use it to take out one dude (be careful if it's a string of dudes) or just use it exclusively for roll jumps which are faster than just running anyway. (Note: In the SNES games rolling works different. Momentum is not higher for a roll jump than a regular jump. It's easier to stop though because you have more air control. Additionally you roll as long as you're hitting dudes and get a speed boost for each one you hit.)

Watch this guy do the first level of a speed run of DKCR. He's always roll jumping because, without the infinite roll, that's the fastest way to move. Look how far he goes with each jump. Remember the gaps that Jeff and Brad struggled to cross. They're trivial with a roll jump! You don't need any space to start it, it comes out instantly pretty much. It's great.

So yeah, always be rolling and roll jumping. That's sort of rule #1 while playing DKC games. Playing DKC without rolling is like... playing Sonic without realizing he can turn into a ball. It's essential and the key to going fast and doing tricky jumps. Good luck and don't stop for nothing!

I've been thinking about what the main issues of Mass Effect 3 are. Not just the ending, bu the greater mechanical and structural issues which keep ME3 from being anywhere as great as ME2. Besides nit picks about the roll mechanic, the lack of hubs other than the citadel and the pointlessly dull side quests I realized that a major issue with ME3 is that the Companions have no place in the story. Let me go back to ME2 to illustrate what I mean, ME2 is about Squad Members. Through the game you meet them, get to know them, fight with them, and eventually gain their loyalty in a mission where you see their inner demons and get to help them resolve their issues. ME3 lacks that entirely. Instead of loyalty missions and big personal issues which could jeopardize the mission you have petty interactions with each of your squad members that have no bearing on the end of the game. What's that EDI? You want to fuck Joker? Alright than. If you ask me the issue is that whether companions are loyal or not has nothing to do with the resolution of the story. They're not important. How would I address that you ask? I'd suggest forgoing the route of taking ME1's cast minus Wrex and instead make one rule: Everyone on your squad's loyalty effects the end game by way of them being Thought Leaders.

What would the squad look like with that rule? Let me tell you. A note, I'm going to refrain from inventing characters here and will use existing characters from the game who could've easily become squad members. Ready? Here goes.

• Anderson. I know he wanted to be on Earth, but I don't care. Dude is the most sensible human squad mate. He was once on track to become a Spectre, he's a leader of his people, and he's not some random soldier that becomes a squad mate because of coincidences. Only issues would be why he'd take a secondary role aboard the Normandy and what possible loyalty mission could encourage more humans to fight the Reapers.
• Primarch Victus. He's a capable and clever soldier with new ideas in a role he never imaged he would have to fill. Simple story, would be a good set up for a squad mate. Loyalty mission would be the one where you go down and find his son, would be more personal than existing mission. More about him than the son, and him dealing with accusations that he's no good for commanding roles, which he takes hard considering he's in a role he doesn't think he's suitable for.
• Wrex. Simple, obvious, Wrex is the leader of the Krogans. He's a natural fit for a companion since he was already one.
• Legion. Again, obvious.
• Zaal'Koris vas Quib Quib. This one is a bit of a stretch, Tali might be equally suitable for the role of Quarian Admiral Companion (since she's now a companion) but she appears to hold no sway so I'd say Koris would be a better choice as the most credible dissenter to the war. What of Tali then? I'd say let her get injured in the war for the homeworld, have her dying of illness. We haven't seen any Quarians die of illness and Tali is the one we care most about!
• Ka'hairal Balak the Batarian Terrorist from that Citadel Side Mission. The end of that mission was really neat and I feel it would've been really neat if he had been an optional Squad Mate similar to Legion or Grunt. It could give you options to "Turn him into the Citadel", "Just kill him" or "Convince him to serve on the Normandy." I think that his perspective and what he'd have to say about terrorism, the hegemony, and whatever else would be really interesting. Plus you could have a loyalty mission where someone he was once close to defects since he's cooperating with Shepard and you'd have to go sort it out.

That's not the longest list admittedly, and there are some large oversights. There's no one representing Salarian interests, there's no one representing Asari interests and only one human (I'd suggest inventing a Human who represents the colonies who trust Cerebus after ME2 or, alternatively, just have Ex Cerebus guys straight up). Additionally, depending on what choices you make you could lose squad members left and right. If you choose to side with the Dalatrass in curing the genophage you'd lose Wrex. If the Quarians or the Geth die Legion or Quib Quib would be right out. Victus would be pretty dependable but that's about it. However, I'd argue that could be a good thing. It'd mean that it'd be literally impossible to make everyone happy, and make the major choices of the game about the companions as well as their races. If you side with the Krogans you in effect choose Wrex over whatever Salarian option exists. If you turn Balak in maybe Samara (or some other Asari law enforcement officer) joins you since you're serious about upholding galactic law.

I'm not entirely sure if people would like it if it was like this, maybe they prefer the nostalgia of hanging out with familiar faces to having to meet, get to know, and do loyalty missions of new ones, but I think it'd be a step in the right direction.

I've just dropped 650 points of work into the Donkey Kong wiki article since it was pretty poor for one of the most frequent video game characters there is. I think my article goes into the characterization of Donkey Kong more than some people will expect, explaining his character flaws and how he differs in some of the more recent games, but I think it's pretty solid anyway.

Still a couple things to do I suppose. For instance, the original page was largely random trivia put into a few sentences posing as paragraphs, I simply deleted a lot of stuff. It'd be a good idea to drop in some needless trivia at the end concerning the character's creation, his resurgence, and any other random facts that you feel isn't relevant but you might as well mention.

Also, I don't like the default picture as it characterizes him as a dimwitted grinning moron, while the DKC games all characterized that specific character as a laid back and likable. Since DKC is returning I think it makes sense to slot in the much better looking DK render from the Brawl site. I'd do it, but that's for folk with 5000 points. Finally if anyone wants to write a paragraph or two talking the character through the Donkey Kong franchise before DKC, go ahead and put it right after the overview and before DKC. I wrote a decent paragraph in the overview summarizing the early games, but that's not much really.

Oh, and someone who can add aliases needs to add "DK" as an alias because he's called that half the time he's referred to.

I've been doing some work with pages relating from the Donkey Kong series, like the Extra Life Balloon pagefor instance, but there's just so much that needs to be done. Even the basics need a ton of work. Diddy's page is hardly a paragraph, Dixies is 4 of 5 pieces of trivia. Some pages, like Donkey Kong Island, are just completely blank. It's just terrible. I'm gonna try to do my part, but there's a lot of DKC related entries out there and I can't right 300 points for every one of them.

I'm really looking forward to DKCR. It looks like it handles as well as a DKC should. It appears to have both the responsive controls I demand and the speed and beauty that I feel has always put Donkey Kong Country above its competition. But then I'd like just a little more. Something about the game doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's the dopey name, maybe it's the odd changes to the HUD that appear to be the exact opposite changes they made to Metroid, maybe it's the utter lack of Kremlings, but something about that game needs a bit more magic. I'd like to run through a few things that would propel this game to be one of my favorite games of all time.

Squitter

Animal Buddies are probably a given looking at how much they're banking on familiarity, so I'm looking for Squitter in particular. He was really the best animal buddy, whose web generation made him somewhat of a half step between flying and running. As I said in a prior blog that no one read, Squitter doesn't fly, he falls with style, and that is why he is completely awesome.

Kremlings

I understand why they decided to use new enemies. Actually, no wait, I lied, I have no idea why they decided to use new enemies. Especially ones that seem so similar to Jungle Beat's enemies. Maybe Nintendo told them they had to because Kremlings weren't fresh? Doesn't matter, point is I want Kremlings in at some capacity. Maybe there are camps of allied Kremlings on the map at which you, I dunno, play a dumb minigame? Get hints for secrets? Maybe turn in collectibles for Concept Art? Retro does love it some Concept Art come to think of it, not exactly unlikely that. Point is, I want the fact that Kremlings are not the enemy to be something that is given serious attention, not glossed over like the Kremlings never existed ala Jungle Beat.

Edit: According to IGN's interview, there are no crocodiles in the game.

K. Rool and some Ridiculous Vehicle

K. Rool seems a bit unlikely now considering that there are no Kremlings in the game, but really I think that makes it all the more likely. Think about it. K. Rool has been did up as a mystery before. Go and dig up your DKC2 manual, it tried to drum up some false mystery of who the final boss was the same way the first did. DKC3 did the same thing except integrated it into the story, suggesting that KAOS was the new boss of the Kremlings. K. Rool could very well be behind the Tiki men's attack while acting as a Shaman. Fits his MO, stealing Bananas for no reason. Plus explains the lack of Kremlings. This is the result of Kremlings finally saying "We're done waging pointless war on the Kongs. Later" ala DKC3.

Second thing I want from him is a ridiculous vehicle. Not like him riding the hovercraft ala DKC3 or in the Flying Eggman Chair ala KoS, that's not really what I mean by ridiculous vehicles. What I mean is the flagship vehicle. The one fit for a King. The Gangplank Galleon, the Flying Krock, the Knautilus. Where ever he is, he better have a big ass ship. And it's gotta be a lot bigger than all the other ships we've already seen.

One more thing, should K. Rool show up here he might have enough weight to show up in Fisticuffs in a few years time, which would be fantastic.

Edit: According to this, K. Rool is not making an appearance. Well, there goes that.

David Wise

I always thought the prerendered graphics were only half of the DKC series' beauty. Since he's free from Rare and apparently not doing anything, I hope they managed to get him in to do the music.

Edit: apparently David Wise is not in on it. Don't ask me where I saw this, probably the IGN interview.

Hero Diddy Mode

Diddy Kong is awesome. Always has been really. He had the best game in the series, the best development over the course of the franchise, and a really nice hat. That's why Hero Diddy mode was awesome, aside from the challenge of a perfect run. Also, yellow hat is a plus. I forget if that was always part of Hero Diddy Mode or only in the GBA version. While I'm at it, competitive multiplayer please! If only for different color ties and hats.

(Edit 1) Options for Motion Controls

Shaking has been used successfully in other platformers for critical moves, however I hate that they're using it for rolling in this. It's terrible not because a shake is useless, as it worked in the SMG series, but because of the way a roll is supposed to work in a DKC game. You see, the shaking is a jarring experience, and one you don't have complete control over timing. It can disrupt accurate and timely use of the A button or even the Numchuck. This is okay in SMG because the spin it triggers kills your momentum, leaving you free not to worry about hitting the jump button or fiddling with the stick while you're shaking like a madman.

However, Donkey Kong Country is different. A roll adds to your momentum, and gives you the opportunity to get through a level a lot faster by rolling right through obstacles, even off cliffs, while being in complete control. Being distracted while making this move could mean missing your chance to midair jump, rolling right into a toothy enemy, or missing the actions of a very jumpy boss that's coming for you. That may cause players to be reserved with their rolls, which is the worst possible thing that can happen as, really, you should always be rolling.

Edit: I have been told that it has Wiimote on its side support. Fantastic, I've already got one of my wishes confirmed.

(Edit 2) New HUD

Let me tell you how the HUD was in the original DKC series. Your bananas were in your upper left. Your lives were in your upper right. Your K O N G letters were right up top. And, if you were transformed, your health was in the lower left hand corner. Now let me tell you how DKC Returns has it. Everything's in the upper left hand corner in an ugly box. It's just fucking terrible. They need to put everything back where it belongs before the game is released. Seriously.

(Edit 3) Kick Ass Manual

The Donkey Kong Country games has always had fantastic manuals, and this game should be no exception. It has to feature Cranky bitching about modern gaming and denying the quality of the game. It has to show pretty pictures of the places you will go as well as the animal buddies you will ride and barrels you will use. Odds are slim with the status of the modern manual, but it could happen.

I fucking love what they've done with Mario's Cloud Suit not only because it looks like it works really well, but more that it reminds me of one of the greatest animal buddies of all time, Squitter the Spider from the DKC series. He was one of the more interesting Animal Buddies, as really, fas I know, up until Mario Galaxy 2 there's never been another character quite like Squitter. Able to create platforms were ever he pleased, Squitter played like a cross between flying and walking. Not tied to the ground but still beholden to gravity. There was a finesse to using Squitter, jumping from web to web, shooting a mini-necky out of the sky in mid jump. Like Espresso he couldn't really jump on dudes, but thanks to his maneuverability and the effectiveness of his webshots, he never had to.

There was a time where I thought about how one might've improved DK64, and the first thing on my list would've been put Squitter in it. Bringing that sort of gameplay, where you're not quite flying but not quite falling while also being in complete control into 3D would've been far more interesting than experimenting with what you can do with 5 different apes with slightly different moves. But then, when thinking about that, I never quite pieced together how exactly it should work. Seeing Cloud Mario fills me with joy because it looks like a lot of those ideas have been brought forward into the 3D perfectly. While I think that it's a bit of a downgrade having it just form beneigth your feet, and of course no projectile attack, I figure that's probably what it takes to actually bring the ideas into 3D.

I'm more excited that I was yesterday for Mario Galaxy 2, but then that's what Squitter does to a game. It makes it awesome.