EES

The Ys series comprises a number of JRPGs with interesting combat and memorable boss fights. Ys: Origins and Ys: The Oath in Felghana have both found their way onto my backlog, but before I play either I've decided to play Ys: Books I & II on my Wii's VirtualWare.

Books I & II is a top-down JRPGs with an average story and very basic gameplay. You're the swordsman Adol who is gathering the Books of Ys which will prevent the destruction of Esteria, according to a fortuneteller who has seen the tragedy in her crystal ball. The fortuneteller turned doomsday prophet, Sara, doesn't let you begin your journey until you get yourself a shield, armor, and a sword. Unfortunately, you only have enough gold to afford two of the three items from the local shops and are forced to venture from the city to gather more.

Once in the field and after fumbling around with the controller a bit, it becomes apparent that there's no attack button in Books 1 & 2. The only way to fight the rogues and knaves outside the city walls is the run straight into them. Combat is not as simple as it sounds though, as enemies push back and will damage you if you are standing still or hit at certain angles.

As you kill enemies you level up, raising your Hit Points and damage, and receive gold, which you can use to buy items and upgrade your weapons. Even so, clearing enemies becomes dull bouts of poking, backing off, and poking again until you outlevel enemies by enough of a margin to one-shot them. Luckily, the game is paced pretty well and there isn't too much of this sort of fighting between boss fights.

So far, boss fights are what keep me playing this game, and they have always been my favorite part of video games.  They force the player to use their problem solving and technical skills in order to defeat an enemy of equal, or even greater, power. These strange combinations of logic puzzles and obstacle courses known as "bosses" come in wide variety of types. In Ys: Books I & II, bosses are more basic than most (yet, still more complex than the quick time events which pass as "bosses" in a number of modern day games), but they manage to have a lot of charm while providing straightforward examples of boss archetypes still used today.

The first boss is a Spooky Ghost Man who isn't as much of a danger as the erratic rows of fire which he disappears and reappears between. His is a boss fight which revolves entirely around "keeping out of the fire" while getting hits in whenever you can. It's simple enough, but it's important to time your hits right as his vulnerability time is quite short before he vanishes and you may very well end up singed without scratching him at all.

Boss two guards the first book of Ys an is a giant centipede. Like most worm-like bosses, the centipede's weakness is its hindquarters. Trying to face it head on will only result in damage, but keeping behind the beast is easy enough.

Book Ys is protected by the third and last boss I've faced so far: some weird bat demon thing. He spends most of the fight separated into a number of bats who are fast-moving, numerous, and damage you on hit. He's only vulnerable when the bats group back together, but positioning is important as it's easy to get damaged by him yourself while attacking him.

The strange combat system and poorly defined hitboxes made this boss more trouble than I'd like to have had with him, but I was able to defeat him in the end.

Next is the Tower of Darm, also known as "The Devil's Tower." Hopefully more fun and interesting boss fights await within. I'll leave you with Ys: Books I & II's boss music, which is pretty rockin, much like the music in many other TurboGrafx games (Lords of Thunder comes to mind).

  

Kongquistadors! Donkey Kong Country Rundown, Kongtinued.

No need for a lengthy introduction this time. Let's do this!

After finally plaything through it, I'm really embarrassed at how long it had taken me to finally play Donkey Kong Country 2. The overall formula of the game remains relatively the same, but, since Donkey Kong has been kidnapped by Kaptain K. Rool, you play as Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie. Along with Dixie and her ability to glide by whirling her ponytail comes the ability for the Kongs to climb up on one another's backs and be thrown as a weapon or to hard to reach places.

Animal buddies return and are more numerous than in the first game. Rambi and Enguarde make a comeback, but are basically unchanged except for the ability to do a "supercharge" by holding down the attack button (this supercharge allows Enguarde to break walls as well). Squawks makes a reappearance as well, now able to carry the Kongs through the air and shoot nuts/eggs/ballsofsomesort out of his mouth. Newcomers include Rattly the Rattlesnake who acts as a replacement for Winky with the added ability to do a "superjump," Squitter the Spider who can shoot webs offensively or to create platforms, and the less notable animals, Clapper the Seal and Glimmer the Anglerfish who essential act as level gimmicks the way Squawks did in the first game.

These changes are important as there are now barrels in certain levels which completely change you into the five major animal helpers. These barrels, along with a variety of other new barrels and platforming gimmicks including wind, horizontal ropes, invincibility barrels, and so on, provide for fun and interesting levels which can end up more engaging than the ones in DKC2's predecessor. Overall, the game is a little more streamlined as levels are made more linear in a certain sense and the addition of bonus barrels and specific barrels making finding secrets a little less all over the place. I know seeing the word "streamlining" sets off a lot of video game enthusiasts these days, akin to feared terms such as "casualization" and "garnering a larger audience," myself included, but it really works for DKC2 and makes for a better game and less anxiety for those going for secrets and collectibles.

On the topic of collectibles, bonus levels now reward players with Kremkoins which can be given to a Kremlin, Klubba, in order to gain access to The Lost World. Banana coins are also strewn about levels and act as currency. Players can give them to Wrinkly Kong in order to save and get some hints, Skwanky Kong in order to play some trivia for lives, Funky Kong to get around the world map, and Cranky Kong for hints about where DK Coins may be found. DK Coins serve as merely collectibles used to appease Cranky Kong and truly beat the game once all collected.

I know I didn't mention NPCs in my first post about DKC, but there was only three of them in that game (Cranky, Funky, and Candy) and they served pretty basic functions (vague advice, world map travel, and saving).

Bosses are a lot more unique and make for some really fun and memorable fights compared to Donkey Kong Country's bosses. The Kaptain K. Rool fight may even surpass King K. Rool. Shouts out to King Zing Sting too, as well as the beehive-based levels.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble isn't as radically different from DKC2 as DKC2 is from the original DKC. Both DK and Diddy are kidnapped this time, so it's Dixie and the newcomer Kiddy Kong's turn to save the day. Dixie's gameplay stays the same, while Kiddy plays a lot more like DK with the strange ability to skip on water using his roll. The duo can "team up" similar to the way Dixie and Diddy could in Kong Quest, but, due to their difference in size, Kiddy can throw Dixie quite far and Dixie can use Kiddy's heavy weight to break through cracks in ground.

Double Trouble features an expansive world map which Kiddy and Dixie can explore using Funky Kong's varied vehicles.Collectibles are taken to a new level as well, adding: Bear Coins, which act similarly to DKC2's Banana Coins and are named so because of the friendly bears which often accept them, Bonus Coins used to unlock levels on the Lost World of Krematoa, and Banana Birds which help the player reach that 103% completion. DK Coins return as well, but, instead of being hidden, are used as shields by Koin Kremlins who must be defeated with a steel keg to the back. Most Koins are defeated by simply throwing the keg against a wall behind them, but some take a little more thinking and skill to defeat.

Ellie the Elephant replaces Rambi the Rhino in Double Trouble and I believe is the first female animal buddy (down with the pachyderm patriarchy!) and can use her trunk to suck barrel towards her or shoot out water she collects. Parry the Parallel Bird is another new animal friend who flies above the Kongs in order to get out-of-reach collectibles and bonuses. Unfortunately, he is easily killed so players must be careful where they walk (and, thus, force him to fly) when he's around.

Bosses are taken up another notch in DKC3 and make for some interesting fights, but, to my dismay, I found the Baron K. Roolenstein to be the weakest of the K. Rool fights. Overall, I found progress collectible-wise to be the easiest in Double Trouble and my overall percent completion went 3 > 2 > 1 for the three games. I did not 100/102/103/whatever% any of the games as I'd like to move onto the next game asap, but these are definitely games I'd like to go back to and completely Kongquer when I have the chance.

I realize this wasn't very short at all, but I really enjoyed my time with this games and hopefully any readers will take the time to enjoy them to. I have yet to play Donkey Kong Country Returns even though I have a Wii, because I'm holding out until I get a 3DS and can play DKCR3D, though I am hyped to finally play it and hopefully Tropical Freeze as well in the future. I'll leave you off with one of the most relaxing tracks in the series:

Monkeyin' Around

As I mentioned in my last post, Donkey Kong Country may have been the first video game I have ever own myself and, now that I look back on it, was most likely the bud from which my love of platformers blossomed. Funnily enough, it was a game I really took for granted and didn't come to appreciate in the fullest until recently.

I beat the game once as a kid only to lazily replay it halfway through a couple of times in my college years and hadn't even touched its sequels until my recent run-through of the games over this past month. In fact, "platformer" was a genre I didn't really think about until the "retro indie platformer" boom of 2008-2010 which started with Braid (a game I have yet to finish and may appear on this blog in the long run) and was highlighted, for me at least, by Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV.

Sure, I'd play a Kirby game here and there, but most of my video game playing time was spent with World of Warcraft (and, before that, Warcraft III), Pokemon, Halo and other big-named console games. Granted, that's probably a huge generalization and I'm in no way trying to dis these series, but you get the picture. My video game taste started to mature into something more like it is today during my first few semesters at university, during which I modded my Wii, put together a gaming PC, and, alongside the aforementioned platformer boom, acquired the Mega Man Anniversary Collection.

Anyway, Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Country is very much a game of its time: a platformer starring campy, yet iconic, characters trying to return their small world to a comfortable status quo by jumping on the heads of equally memorable villains. Donkey Kong just wanted his damn bananas back from King K. Rool, a big baddie who, unfortunately, hasn't garnered the sort of popularity or number of game appearances similar villains, such as Bowser, Dr. Wily, and King DeDeDe, have (K. Rool for Smash 4!).

Both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are playable in the game and can be switched between on a whim. The duo must each die in order for the player to lose a life as well (that is, unless you end up sending both plummeting to their deaths at once). The heroes have their own distinct feels and playstyles with DK being heavier, but able to take out the games bulkier enemies while Diddy is lighter and faster than the game's namesake.

It's a game featuring your basic, platforming controls with "run" and "jump" buttons, but there are some cool technical things thrown into the mix for variety. Tapping the run button allows for a roll attack which, along with jumping on enemy heads, makes for a sort of strangely satisfying and bouncy "combat" that adds to the game's overall flow instead of hindering it the way combat does in some other platformers. Players can also roll off ledges and jump afterwards in order to give Diddy or DK a little more horizontal distance in the air.

There are a lot of things other than just controls which Donkey Kong Country did in order to make itself stand out among a myriad of platformers. Barrels, an iconic part of any Donkey Kong game, can be found throughout the game and come in a variety of types. Some can be picked up and used to demolish enemies or break walls to secret areas while others can be jumped into, blasting players to out of reach players or, more usually than not, other blast barrels. "Barrel segments" of various levels make for some real intense and unique platforming, especially when players are forced to time their shots into moving barrels while simultaneously dodging pesky flying enemies.

Our Kongs don't fight alone, though, and have five animal friends helping them take down K. Rool. Players can ride Rambi the Rhino in order to charge down enemies or break through walls to secret areas. Winky the Frog allows players to jump much higher and safely onto normal dangerous enemies' heads. Expresso the Ostrich's long legs let the Kongs evade low-to-the-ground enemies at high speeds and his small wings allow for gliding. Enguarde the Swordfish has tighter controls underwater than the Kongs do and also has the ability to stab aquatic foes, allowing the Kongs to attack underwater. Lastly is the Parrot, Squawks, who only appears as a baby in one level in order to carry a lantern in a dark cave. Squawks plays a larger role in the next few games.

Secrets and collectibles litter Donkey Kong Island, so much so that total completion of the game rewards the player with a 101% rather than a 100%. K-O-N-G letters in each level act as both a collectible and a way for players to earn a life if they find all four. Golden animal figurines can also be found, which open the way to bonus mini-games where players collect tinier golden figurines for extra lives as their animal friends when three of a kind are collected. As mentioned before, well placed barrels and animal companions will allow the player to find secret areas usually containing a short mini-game rewarding the players with a letter, extra lives, or animal figures.

These secrets and trinkets make up the "Collect-a-thon" aspect of Donkey Kong Country and really form the back-bone of the game, in my opinion. It's immensely satisfying to find one of these areas without a guide or any sort of help and they usually appear in order to reward the player for good gameplay and decision making (barrels and animals which let you find/reach many secret areas can be lost before the time is right due to poor platforming or collision with an enemy). There are also a number of boss battles in the game, but, aside from King K. Rool, they end up being pretty repetitive, uninteresting, and too short. Fortunately, this is fixed in later installments and they aren't without their charm (the boss theme, like most of the music in the game, is really good).

Well, this post already ended up much longer than expected, so I suppose I'll end here and make a shorter follow-up post on DKC2 and 3, which both largely keep the same formula, but build upon the already strong foundation in their own way. If you haven't give Dokney Kong Country a try, please do. The series could use some more love and it seems like DK may finally be making a bit of a comeback in a sea of Mario platformers.

I'd like to leave you with the theme to your encounter with King K. Rool, one of the more memorable parts of the game, if not the most memorable. The platforming in the game is solid throughout and each level provides unique challenge which slowly evolve as you progress through the game, but I'm always a sucker for a good boss fight.

    

In Medias Res...

If asked what my first console and game were, my knee-jerk answer would be a Super Nintendo and Donkey Kong Country, but, now that I think about it, my blue Game Boy Pocket and Kirby's Dreamland 2 may have come before that. Whichever it had been, it was all downhill from there.

My insatiable drive to play video games seems to only be outmatched by my need to buy and/or prospectively play video games (I have a similar problem with books, but I wont bore you with the details). In an era of widespread emulation, Steam sales, and me having disposable income (haha, not really, but I spend it anyway!) the games have piled up and my backlog has become a sort of  hydra: when I beat one game, it seems like two or more new ones pop up in its place.

Unfortunately, I am no Heracles and my backlog shall most likely outlive me as something even more monstrous than it is now. I still struggle with the angst and despair which stems from this existential crisis, but, nevertheless, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon (though the responsibility that comes along with a post-undergraduate life may have something to say about that).

The title for this post come from the popular literary term meaning "in the middle of things" in Latin. Similar to Homer, who began his Illiad years into the Trojan War, my story begins years into my struggle with my latest challenges being the three SNES Donkey Kong Countries.

Just to give any possible readers a heads up, I'd like to go over how I usually go about my video gaming. My war is usually fought on three fronts at a time: one game on a particular console, one game on PC, and one game on handheld. This may change if I just can't get wait to play a game and doesn't include any games I may be playing just to bide my time (e.g. The Binding of Isaac) or games based solely on their multiplayer (e.g. DotA 2).

As for my tastes, I usually like my game arcadey or, for lack of a better term, video gamey. My favorite genre would have to be platformers and my least favorite would have to be turn-based RPGs (except Pokemon. I fucking love Pokemon). Still, I play games in both those genres and everything in between them whether they're new or old, though I usually lean towards old.

I hope that's an adequate introduction for any readers. And, if you are reading this, thank you for your time. My next post will probably be a quick rundown of the aforementioned DKC games and Age of Mythology plus its expansion, which were my last two tussles (I'm way behind on my handheld games and have been slowly trudging through Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on my DS for what feels like, and may actually be, years.