So a new hero was needed, one who would free the original hero and actually drive the intruders back. And one such individual arose, striking terror into the enemy as he rushed at them. His name... was Diddy Kong.
So, in 1995 Nintendo published Donkey Cong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Funny, I'd always thought it was 'Diddy Kong's Quest'. Go figure. But anyway, the story was about a red-capped monkey and his pink-clothed lady-friend (we know she's a girl because she has hair, of course). Together they must go on a quest to save their larger, dim-witted ape friend from two-legged pirate reptiles (and some four-legged examples) and various other assorted things that go from left to right repeatedly, who had managed to capture said ape and now want all the bananas that the simians have. And it's a good thing I never paid attention to the story as a kid because that would've confused the hell out of me.
As I said, the game was released in '95, but it wasn't until at least the early 2000's that I had gotten it. The SNES was the first console we had and this one was one of the very few games available at the time. But it wasn't easy getting to actually play it, and for two reasons.
The first one was, well, fear. Or something of the sort. I was very young when I first saw a video game and it freaked me out. There were all these colors moving, enemies coming at me with large teeth and claws, freaking barrels that charged at my monkey (that may have sounded a bit dirty)... it wasn't a pleasant experience, at all. So it took me a year or two to get use to it enough to actually try to play the game. And now, many, many, many years later nobody would think it was ever difficult for me to pick up a controller.
The other reason was completely unrelated to the first, and it had to do with occupation. Or rather, usurpation. My father had picked up the game and set it on himself the entire game. And I do mean entire. That was, in fact, where I'd gotten my completionist streak. So it was very fun at first just watch him play. But, when the time got for me to actually try I had to wrestle the damn controller out of him.
Either way, when I first jumped on an alligator's head, instantly knocking him overboard to his probable death I was hooked. And especially when I found out about this little surprise.
In case you missed it, that was a monkey being shot cannon-like out of a floating barrel several feet up in the air. It's that kind of game.
But I didn't realize at the time this was a sequel. I never really paid much attention to the title after the 'Donkey Kong Country' part so I thought the red one was Donkey Kong. I just remember there being a lot of talk about some ape or another being kidnapped by the reptilian rogues. It was only a few years later, when we managed to acquire the first game, that I actually got that part.
So this was the first game I ever played, and still to this day my favorite console game. Mario who? A little Italian man that liked jumping into green pipes and grows higher with the power of mushrooms?
Seriously?
But this was my start. The start of a life of gaming and generally being a geek. It's had its ups and its downs but, overall, it was worth it. It's brought me to this point, and somehow I'll manage in the future. Thanks for listening, and I will see you next time on the Day of Frige.
And now for something completely different: the end of the post.
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