I'm Going to Go Bananas! (Thoughts on the Donkey Kong Country expansion of Super Nintendo World)

 Hey friends! Have you seen the video that Nintendo put out the other day? Shigeru Miyamoto showed around the new expansion for Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan, after several years in development, which followed quite a few years of rumors and hopes for what a new expansion would look like. The new area is based on Donkey Kong Country, which is having a really nice period of nostalgia for it, after the most recent game came out back in 2014 with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Wii U, and unless you count the Switch Port, the DKC series has been dormant since then. We are getting a port of Donkey Kong Country Returns, which was a Wii game, but that hardly counts for a new game either. At the very least, we're getting what looks to be a really cool amusement park land out of the property. Today I'd like to talk just a little bit about this area, and how excited I am for it, even though I still haven't been able to go to either of the versions of Super Nintendo World. At least Epic Universe is planning to be opened sometime next year, which will have the Orlando version of Super Nintendo World. I'll assume that that version of the land will be roughly similar to its Japanese counterpart, so let's go ahead and talk a little bit about what the video showed.

Welcome to The Jungle!

    The first thing that we were shown was the entrance to the Donkey Kong area from the Mario area, essentially being a brick tunnel that gives way to rocks. As you first enter, you hear the Congas beating to what sounds like the beginning of the track DK Island Swing, from the original Donkey Kong Country on SNES. Sounds like a perfect opening area to me, since that's basically the first tune you hear when you boot the game up. Ahead are lots of palm trees, along with Donkey Kong's tree house. Really there isn't a ton to speak of from the land itself, just a lot of jungle land, but it looks good. We're shown a little minigame along the lines of what they have in the Super Mario area, where three people have to beat Conga Drums to the rhythm shown next to a big crate. After a few seconds of the little rhythm game, Rambi the Rhino pops his head out of the crate and roars. It's a really good looking animatronic, and I love that they included at least one of DK's animal friends. We're shown a K on a rock, and Miyamoto shows that scanning the rock with your Power-Up Band will collect it, just like in the game. This means that ideally, something will happen when you scan all four letters of "KONG," though it's unclear what that something might be. In the Mario area of the park, there's a similar mechanic where you have to collect a certain number of keys, which unlocks a "boss fight" of sorts with Bowser Jr. I can only hope that there is something similar to that included, maybe with King K. Rool, though it's unclear if the Kremlings will be involved at all. The description of the ride in this area refers to the Tiki Tak Tribe, so it's entirely possibly that the timeline for this whole area reflects Donkey Kong Country Returns as opposed to the Kremlings from the original three games, or the Snowmads from the most recent entry. 

    Next, Miyamoto goes to Jungle Beat Shakes, to show off some of the food offerings from this area of the park. I just want to point out the nice nod to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat here, which is a 2D Platformer for the Gamecube that you played with the DK Bongo Drums. The DK Crush Sundae is shown off, presented in a DK Barrel mug, and it looks really great to go beyond the dessert that is served in it, as far as merchandise is concerned. The DK Wild hot dog is the special food option that's presented here, it looks like a hot dog and has avocado sauce on it as well as what looks like Doritos and some sort of peppers. Miyamoto goes to Donkey Kong's tree house after this, complete with his Banana Hoard right under it, and meets with DK for a nice photo op. The DK costume looks really great, and is definitely on par with how well put together the Toad costume is in the Mario area. The merchandise shop is Funky's Fly n' Buy, which operates out of a crashed plane, just like in the games. I love this little touch, and even though I typically am not one to buy merch in parks like this, I would have to at the very least go in there. Lots of good things on the shelves, including DK and Diddy Kong stuffed animals, a DK hat, and some other things of the like.

    Finally, Miyamoto heads to the attraction for this area, Mine-Cart Madness. If you've played a Donkey Kong Country game, chances are that you remember at least one "Mine Cart level" where you're riding a mine cart at a certain speed and have to know when to jump at just the right time or fall to your death. The main conceit of this ride is that you're basically going through one of those levels. The building itself that hosts the ride is designed like the Golden Temple from Donkey Kong Country Returns, which looks really impressive. The story of the ride involves you helping Donkey Kong and Diddy as they protect the Golden Banana from the Tiki Tak Tribe who are trying to steal it. In the queue for the ride, there are impressive looking animatronics of Cranky Kong and Squawks the Parrot talking to the riders about the importance of their mission, and I really hope that Cranky is super sassy like he is in the games. We don't see a ton from this ride, but we do see the beginning. The mine cart rolls past Dixie Kong and up a hill into a Barrel Cannon, and then the video fades out. Just the fact that Dixie is there is pretty exciting, and I love that a Barrel Cannon is being implemented, but we'll have to wait until the land is open before we can truly see what this ride is all about. Even though I'm not a big roller coaster guy, I am really excited for this one.

    The area will be opening on December 11 of this year, so we really don't have very long to wait before the impressions and videos are able to come out about this pretty awesome looking area! Are you excited? I know I am! Even though I won't be able to visit this area for a good long while, I'm just happy that we have real life amusement park areas based on the different worlds of Nintendo. It of course begs the  question, what's coming next? I would love to see so many games get areas or even just rides or activities eventually, for instance, Kirby, Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, or Kid Icarus all come to mind as having some pretty amazing backdrops that would work perfectly for rides. Who knows if they'll actually do that, but I hope we'll see more spectacular stuff from these great teams at work.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! It's been a while since I've been able to talk about amusement parks, but I had to say something about this one. I have loved Nintendo games since I was a little kid, and I'm so happy that the games have come to life in such an incredible way in the past few years. I've told friends that I'm not someone who cries very often in theme parks, but I feel like I would almost certainly do it here. Thanks again for all of your support and I hope you're having a good week. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Donkey Kong Fan, and I'll talk to you again soon!