My Top 5 Donkey Kong Country Animal Buddies!

Hey everyone and welcome back... Or if it is your first time here... Welcome to Hydra Gaming. Tonight I will be showing off my top 5 favorite Animal Buddies from the Donkey Kong Country series. I know originally I planned on doing a top 7, but honestly I think a top 5 is all I need. Please note that this list only encompasses the original three games on the Super Nintendo and not the Game Boy Advance ports or the newer Donkey Kong Country games on the Wii, 3DS, or Wii-U. My reason for this is largely due to the lack of Animal Buddies in Donkey Kong Country Returns and me having yet to actually play Tropical Freeze (currently being played through for the first time). So With that being said, let's get this mini countdown going!

Number 5: Ellie the Elephant

Ellie the Elephant is considered by many to be the replacement for Rambi in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. Ellie is also viewed by many to be very lackluster compared to the fan favorite rhino. Personally speaking I actually like Ellie a lot. I like that she has the ability to pull far away barrels to her which can save a world of headaches from happening. No, she is no Rambi, but I personally found her ability to shoot water to be quite useful in the levels where you can use it and overall one of the better abilities of all the animal buddies.

Number 4: Squawks the Parrot

Now I know a lot of you are probably wondering how I could rank Squawks the Parrot at number 4. After all, Squawks was in all three Donkey Kong Country games on the Super Nintendo with various abilities. In the first game he simply carried a light as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong forged their way through dark caves. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Squawks lost the light and gained the ability to shoot nuts at enemies. Also featured in the second game was a purple Squawks that couldn't spit nuts, but rather guided Diddy and Dixie in a downward direction. Purple Squawks would gain the ability to fly in various directions and pick up and drop barrels on enemies in the third game in the series. Squawks plays a pretty major part in all three games and he is a lot of fun to play with to boot. Just watch out for his section in Animal Antics in Donkey Kong Country 2... That is probably one of if not the hardest parts of the series.

Number 3: Rambi the Rhino

Rambi, Rambi, Rambi. Easily the most iconic of the animal buddies, Rambi the Rhino was first seen in the first level of Donkey Kong Country. Rambi is one baaaaad Rhino whose capable of busting walls down, taking out the toughest of enemies, and even in Donkey Kong Country 2, charging full force clear through levels. Rambi for whatever reason was forced to take a back seat in Donkey Kong Country 3 to Ellie the Elephant in a move that irritated many fans. He did make it into the newer Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze though, so Rambi once again proves that he is the beast of the animal buddies. I love Rambi. He's a ton of fun to use and when you become him or ride him, you get that feeling that you are going to literally wreck anything you can in your path. 

Number 2: Enguarde the Swordfish

To those of you who personally know me, this should come as no surprise. For those who don't know me, Enguarde the Swordfish is essentially Rambi in the water. He can be seen in all three games and in all three of these games he makes water levels a ton easier. Enguarde is a great swimmer with the ability in the second and third games to charge through the water just like Rambi does on the land. Enguarde does have a major drawback. If he gets stranded on land he really doesn't go anywhere fast at all. Kind swims like a fish out of water... Also known as not good. Despite that though I love playing with Enguarde. It could be the fish lover in me but I just think that riding a massive swordfish and literally stabbing many fishlike enemies is one of the coolest things in the series.

Sooooooo.... There is one Animal Buddy left. One animal on my top 5 list. One animal that I can say I have had by the far the most fun with and probably have spent the most time playing with despite him not being in every game. So without further adeu....

Number 1: Squitter the Spider

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you Squitter the Spider. Squitter debuted in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and was also in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. First of all check out the spider. He wears some pretty legit sneakers. That and his color is pretty freaking cool. So what can Squitter do? He can shoot webs at enemies and actually aim those webs in different directions. He can also use webs to create platforms wherever he wants. Even those webs he can guide in different directions. If you really want you can use Squitter to make a web highway throughout entire levels. For whatever reason Squitter and the other animal buddies besides Squawks and Rambi have been left out of the newer games which I have maintained as a big mistake. When I think of the Donkey Kong Country on SNES series, the first animal that comes to mind is Rambi, but then the best one I point at Squitter on many levels. 

Well there you have it. My top 5 Donkey Kong Country Animal Buddies. Stay tuned for lots more as always and I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving if I don't happen to get another blog up before then. The next blog will probably be a look at Super Mario Land on Game Boy!

The Kirby Series Episode V: Kirby's Avalanche

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Kirby series! Following the release of Kirby's Adventure on the NES, Kirby certainly took some time off from his traditional games. So far we've seen him as both a pinball and a golf ball. What else can Kirby become? We'll find that out later because in this spin-off game, Kirby takes no different forms and in fact you don't really control Kirby at all because this boys and girls is a puzzle game!

The game was co-developed by HAL Labratory, Compile, and Banpresto. It was released by Nintendo on February 1, 1995 and is the Western version of a game known as Super Puyo Puyo.

The story for this game is quite simple. King Dedede challenges the citizens of Dream Land to a tournament of a game called Avalanche or Ghost Trap (Ghost Trap in Europe). Kirby decides to take the challenge and battles his way through many of the series reoccurring characters to reach Dedede for a showdown at the Fountain of Dreams. Just some of the familiar faces Kirby will have to face includes Whispy Woods, Kracko, Meta Knight, and of course King Dedede. *Fun Fact: This is the first game where Meta Knight is actually called Meta Knight. In Kirby's Adventure you never learn his name.*

That's literally it for the story. It's a puzzle game what do you expect? Anyway this game is actually a lot of fun and the gameplay is simple. Two blobs will fall from the top of each player's screen. Once a player lines up four blobs in a row they will vanish and any blobs above them will fall into their place. If the four vanishing blobs happen to set off a chain reaction in which more blobs vanish, rocks will fall onto the other players screen. The rocks cause major issues and can only be cleared if four blobs are lined up while touching the rock. 

So the game does have a bit of strategy going for it and it also has it's fair share of luck as well I suppose. Between each round you will see a short conversation between Kirby and his opponents. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but this is the first time we actually see Kirby really talk to his enemies. We've seen him dance around them in previous games and what not, but in this game he almost comes off as sarcastic and kind of confrontational. Must be in the spirit of competition right? I mean how can Kirby be a mean little guy? Anyway... 

The graphics for this game are beautiful. Kirby's Avalanche was released later in the SNES's life and the graphics and sound for that matter show how far the creators were able to push the system. As with the other colored Kirby games, Avalanche is very bright and beautiful. The soundtrack consists of remixed versions of songs heard in both Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dream Course. The only original song is the panic music that is actually from the Eastern version of the game, Super Puyo Puyo. 

There really isn't too much more to say about this game. It's a great puzzle game that can get pretty intense especially when playing against friends. On a scale of 1 to 10 I can easily give it a solid 8. It does a ton of things right as a puzzle game while being basically a clone of it's Eastern counterpart with Kirby characters. *Another Fun Fact: There is another clone of Puyo Puyo out there. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine released on the Sega Genesis.* 

Final Verdict: 8 out of 10. Kirby's Avalanche is a great take on a classic puzzle game... With a little bit of attitude!

As always thanks for reading. The Kirby Series will continue soon with Episode VI: Kirby's Dream Land 2 where Kirby returns to his roots on the Game Boy. My next blog though will be a quick top 5 list featuring my top 7 Donkey Kong Country Animal Buddies! Till next time... 

Disney's The Lion King Review

Hello everyone and welcome back to Hydra Gaming. Before we get started on reviewing The Lion King, I want to take a quick look back at Disney's and Nintendo's gaming past. For those of you who never played a classic Disney game, you are really missing out. The Nintendo Entertainment System brought some of the best Disney games that were ever seen to life such as Duck Tales and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. Countless other Disney games were also made with varying success such as Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, but the ones that in my books always played the best and felt the best were those that Capcom was involved in. Even The Little Mermaid on the NES I found to be a lot of fun. Sure some games were geared for younger crowds, but even those had their challenges. That's really something that I feel is lacking in Disney games of today, a challenge. Speaking of challenges, some of the most challenging Disney games I feel can be found on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Games such as Aladdin, The Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse, and The Lion King all stand up today as great and often difficult games. Even Sega had a great exclusive Disney game in the form of Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse. Out of all of those great games, one of them I find stands out as the most difficult and is certainly one of the best made, and that game ladies and gentlemen is The Lion King.

Before going any further, this review will be for the Super Nintendo version of the game. The game was also released on the Sega Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Gear, but I will not be basing my review of the game off of those systems. So... The game was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive. It was released on the SNES on December 8th, 1994. The game follows the same plot as the movie which goes by the same name.

You start out playing as Simba, a young lion cub destined to be king. You run around the pride lands, get tossed around by monkeys and rhinos to the tune of "I Just Can't Wait to be King", explore the elephant graveyard to the tune of "Be Prepared", experience the stampede that thanks to you're own personal mistrust in you're evil uncle, Scar, and a herd of wildebeest, killed your father and caused you to run into a massive thorn forest. Be rescued by Timon and Pumbaa, grow up in the jungle, and return to Pride Rock to defeat you're now king evil uncle, Scar. Sounds simple right? Well for a Disney game, this is anything and I mean anything but easy.

Now that we have the plot out of the way let's look at the gameplay! The game is largely a platformer with a couple levels that stray a bit from the classic platform formula. The controls are I would say okay for the most part. There are several areas in the game where you have to make literally a split second move or face an instant death. Speaking of death, Simba does have a health bar that will deplete as enemies hit him... Unless he falls into the water, or hit's a random object like a tree branch while riding an ostrich, then he's just dead. Not much else to say really, it's a classic style game that for the most part handles well.

Graphically though this game looks like a movie. In fact Walt Disney Animators actually had a hand in creating the sprites and backgrounds for the game. Added to the movie looks is the movie sounds. As I mentioned earlier, if you couldn't figure it out, the game's music is actually remade music from the movie. So fans of the movie can certainly say they know the tunes I'm referring to. If you've lived under a rock and never have seen The Lion King, then go watch it. I don't know what else to tell you!

  

As you can see from the screenshot above, the game really is a very pretty one. 

Now for the big deal here... This game is very difficult, even on the easiest setting. However, the boss fights, or mostly lack there of are nothing to write home about. Basically jump on the hyena or whatever a few times. Later in the game when you grow up you gain the ability to claw enemies and bosses as well with your massive lion claws. Another ability that Simba, both young and old has is his roar which affects a variety of enemies. 

The real difficulty comes in the platforming and scenarios where you can be killed in one hit. I can't stress enough that this adds a great deal of difficulty because you have to be literally 100% perfect with certain jumps or you are d e a d.  Through all the difficulties though, defeating Scar is not really that difficult, but to get to him you need to do some perfect swinging and platforming. I found that harder than the actual fight against Scar.

Overall I give The Lion King a pretty solid 8 out of 10. The game is pretty well put together, but the sometimes awkward controls and seemingly impossible to survive jumps (till you actually survive one) hurts the game a tad, but it doesn't take much away as far as overall enjoyment is concerned. Other issues are again minor such as the length of the game. In my opinion it's a bit short, but the challenge more or less makes up for that. I would have also liked to have seen some between level text or something so that people who have never seen The Lion King can figure out what's going on in the game. 

Final Verdict: 8 out of 10. The Lion King on the SNES is a real challenge, but an enjoyable one with a few minor flaws and nothing more. 

Thank's for reading as always! The next blog will be a return to the Kirby Series in the form of Kirby's Avalance!

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Review

Hello again everyone and welcome back to Hydra Gaming. People all over the country are going crazy over the final Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens trailer and it's safe to say the hype is real. All the buzz about the movie really made me want to play one of my all time favorite Star Wars games, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, on the Nintendo 64. In my opinion Rogue Squadron is one of the better Star Wars games.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron was co created by Factor 5 and LucasArts and released on the Nintendo 64 on December 7th, 1998. Before this game was released however, another Star Wars game had already rooted itself on the Nintendo 64, Star Wars: Shadow's of the Empire. While Shadows is a good and very challenging game I still find the very first level to be the most exciting. For those of you who have never played the game, I am talking about The Battle of Hoth. Piloting the Snowspeeder left me craving more and when Rogue Squadron myself was seen in stores, myself and many others got their wish... An entire game like that first mission in Shadows!

The game centers around the creation of the group known as Rogue Squadron, The leaders of this squadron are Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles and their objective is to defend the galaxy from the Empire. The game has 16 main missions and a few unlockable levels as well. The time period for you Star Wars fans of this game takes place pretty much through and in-between episodes V and VI and concludes after The Battle of Endor in episode VI. I'm not going to any further into the story as that is for you, the player, to discover and enjoy. Yes many reviews, myself included will go more into the story normally, buuuuuuuut I'm choosing not to do so for this review. 

In the game you will be able to pilot many of your favorite Rebel Alliance spacecraft. The ships that you can fly include the X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, Speeder (pretty much the Snowspeeders seen in The Battle of Hoth), and the new V-Wing. Each ship handles differently, has different setting for attacking, and secondary weapons. Also included in the game are a few unlockable ships as well. What those ships area and how you unlock them I'll leave up to you to figure out. All I can say is no two ships really even feel similar. For example the horrendous speed of the Y-Wing in my opinion is far and away okay on most missions given the sheer amount of hits it can take.Then you've got the V-Wing with it's insane boosters and rapid fire mode, At first you can only use certain ships per mission, but eventually you'll be pretty much able to use what you want when you want with the exception of missions involving AT-ATs as only the Speeder can take them down.

I'd have to say that the controls are pretty good in this game. First time players may find them a little odd, especially given that each craft handles a little differently, but once you are used to them they are actually pretty good. You can play the game in 3rd person (best), first person cockpit (causes a noticeable slow down), or first person. There are also times when the game will slow down a bit regardless of your view. Basically this is caused by the sheer amount of detail that they put into the game. When too much is happening at a time it slows down for a bit. I noticed this mostly on heavily populated levels, but again, it's not like it lasts long or anything. Now I am never one to say that graphics make the game, but the graphics in Rogue Squadron are simply put, awesome. I mentioned the detail that can sometimes cause slowdowns, well check this out.

See what I mean? There's so much going on here. You've got an extremely good looking X-Wing along with several TIE Bombers, a city in which you can see the doors and windows, the canyons off in the distance, people running on the ground, and even dirt roads. That's a ton of stuff going on given what the Nintendo 64 was capable of doing. Not to mention the fact that among all of what's on screen, the TIE bombers are also shooting lasers and often times dropping bombs as well. So much stuff, it's understandable that the game may slow a tick during it. It's not just during gameplay though that things look so gosh darn beautiful! 

Even selecting which level and craft you want to play/fly is a beautiful and detailed experience. Now if you've read any of my previous blogs you know I like music in video games and that I think music does a ton to help a game be something great. Here is no exception. From the moment you load this game up you are immersed in the Star Wars universe at the main menu thanks to the music. The classic Star Wars theme is of course in the game, but most of the music is new or remixed versions of songs you may have heard before in the Star Wars movies. The music will also often change slightly based on what's going on around you. When engaged in battles, the level's music will often shift. Other times, such as flying over the farm on Tatooine, will also cause the music to slightly change. It's such a small thing to have in the game, but it adds so much to it. I still remember the first time I played this game and I was wowed by the musical changes throughout that I would literally just fly around certain areas to hear the music. (Yeah when I was younger I would aimlessly fly around in this game when bored)

Speaking of sounds, the sound effects themselves are also extremely good. The lasers sound straight out of the movies, the explosions sounds like small explosions for the most part, there is a ton of speaking that can be heard in the game, which for a Nintendo 64 title, was not all that common, and surround sound allowed things like shooting down a TIE fighter to become as if the thing was passing you while it crashed. It all sounds brilliant, and hey it looks brilliant to boot too.

Now there is a ton of good to me seen in Rogue Squadron, but there are also a couple issues that I have with the game. One of them I've already mentioned, that being the random slowing down of the game. Another minor issue I have with this game is how it ranks you. The rankings are in the form of medals and they are bronze, silver, and gold as you may have expected, but the requirements for obtaining these medals are sometimes quite frustrating. Your completion time, enemies destroyed, friendly saves, bonuses collected, and accuracy determine which medal you receive. My biggest issue with this is the accuracy as I can't count how many times I've missed out on a gold medal by missing 1% accuracy. In a game where you have unlimited ammo and have many crafts that basically have a slow rapid fire, in my opinion having accuracy as a requirement to unlock things is just a little bit, well, unneeded. Honestly I love just firing as many shots as I can into a mass of TIE fighters as opposed to trying to focus on one and basically fire one laser at a time so I don't have to worry about my accuracy. I will say though that there are fewer satisfying things in the game than seeing this...

Other than that I really can't find much wrong with the game. Some people say that the lack of multiplayer is a huge problem. I disagree with this as yes it would have been great to fly alongside a friend, but given that the game has that slowing down issue, I feel that it would only cause that to become more frequent. Would a battle mode have been nice? Sure it would have been cool to be able to take your favorite Rebel Alliance crafts and pilot them against your friends in 4 player combat, but hey at least we have Star Fox 64's battle mode to pilot against eachother right???? RIGHT??? Sadly though that mode does not exist in this game, but the lack of it I don't think hurts the game at all. 

I am happy to say that I can give Star Wars: Rogue Squadron a 9 out of 10. The tiny issues of occasional slow downs and the frustration with the medal system are such minor things in the grand scheme of this game. If you are a Star Wars fan and have never played this game, I highly suggest you check it out. Don't have a Nintendo 64? Give Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D a shot on PC then! 

Final Verdict: 9 out of 10!

Thanks as always for reading! Coming up next I will be taking a look at Disney's The Lion King for the Super Nintendo followed by returning to the Kirby Series for Episode V: Kirby's Avalanche!