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DK Bongo Blast's bothersome controls
It was obvious that Donkey Kong Bongo Blast would abandon the bongo peripheral when it migrated from the GameCube to the Wii, but details on how the racing game will use the Wii remote weren't revealed until late last week. Players will shake their remotes and nunchucks at the same time to accelerate, rattle one of the controllers when steering to the left or right, and lift both pieces to jump. This modified control setup makes a lot of sense, but does it sound fun? In our opinion, this seems like it would have been better left on the GameCube. It'd be appreciated if developer Paon would give us the choice to use our old bongos, but with no mention of the option yet for the, it's doubtful.
Donkey Kong mural proves that office supplies can be useful
We miss college. Watching The A*Team reruns between classes, inviting everyone who came down the hall to play some Smash Bros., spending all day making giant tributes to classic games ... Well, okay. We never made a huge Donkey Kong mural in the windows of one of the college's buildings using nothing but Post-Its. Luckily, a group of UC Santa Cruz students stepped in and took the job upon themselves. The bar has officially been raised for college timewasting. This thing is really beautiful.[Via Joystiq]
Donkey Kong scales college, students search for hammers
Some extremely inventive and intrepid students at UC Santa Cruz decided to recreate a scene from Donkey Kong on the side of their E2 building on campus, using nothing but colored Post-It notes. The result is a comparitive study in awesomeness and the power of procrastination. We can only imagine that this was spawned during some late-night "we should be working on that paper ..." session.The finished product is fairly impressive. Check out more pictures here, and the Livejournal entry with even more pictures here. As one LJ commenter summed up nicely, "Pretty rad especially considering they were either in diapers or not even born when this game was popular." We're waiting on the inevitable YouTube video showing the construction of this thing, sped up and set to some popular alternative song.
One of the coolest shirts we've ever seen
Titled Also Sprach Miyamoto, this shirt is one classy piece of clothing. We can imagine it draped across our chest and feeling absolutely wonderful about life and all things in the universe. Also, the 2001 reference is pretty sweet (we're big Stanley Kubrick fans). What do you folks think?[Thanks, mundungous!]
Rare on Banjo VC: "It's possible"
In a response to a young Rare fan's letter posted in their Scribes column, Rare discussed the possibility of some of their franchises coming over to the Virtual Console. The Donkey Kong Country sequels are likely, because Donkey Kong is a Nintendo-owned property. But games starring Diddy Kong, the Rare-created pal of DK, are not as clear-cut.The main focus of the letter was Banjo-Kazooie, which is a Rare-owned property. The Rare "scribe" diplomatically said that "it's possible" for Banjo games to appear either on the VC or on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade. Our advice? Don't wait for any N64 games to come to VC, because they are slow in arriving.[Via Play-Nintendo]
Hot Nintendo cross-stitching action
We have no idea how we missed this, but better late than never. See, the above was loving cross-stitched by flickr user CrystalPowell and presents just what we look for here at DS Fanboy: a rabid love of Nintendo. Proudly displaying such games as Tetris, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, and the Mario Bros. from Super Mario Bros. 3, with the icing on the cake being a bold red Nintendo logo dead center at the top, we find ourselves wishing that we could envelope our body in warm Nintendo love every night when we go to bed. [Via Wonderland]
No bongos for new DK game on Wii?
Over at the IGN blogs, resident Nintendo dude Matt did away with rumors that Nintendo would utilize the bongos in Donkey Kong Bongo Blast (which we all know was due to go to the GameCube, yet yanked for the Wii later). Instead, Matt says we already have a pair of bongos in the Wiimote and nunchuk attachment. Makes sense ...Will the exclusion of bongo use for Donkey Kong's next game kill the fun factor? Or will the Wiimote and nunchuk be a suitable replacement?
More mash-up art: Zelda Kong
We're not going to lie: we're huge Daily Drawing fans. More importantly, we're fans of Jim Welch's gaming mash-up paintings, which usually center around Nintendo characters. See, that's our thing. So when he sent word of his latest illustration, combining the dungeon crawling goodness of The Legend of Zelda with the tense, barrel-dodging gameplay of Donkey Kong, we couldn't help but check it out. Good thing we did, as it's one of his best works yet. As always, we've embedded the video past the post break.Past illustrations: ContraVania: a gaming mash-up Metroid + Mario = Metrio? Yoshi gets reimagined
Nintendo holds key to franchise longevity, profitability
As noted earlier, a list published by UK newspaper The Independent reveals what many already assume; Nintendo's Mario is the best-selling franchise of all time. Coupled with the second best-selling franchise Pokémon (also a Nintendo property), the two series, which have sold a combined 348 million games worldwide, account for nearly 34% of the total sales of the top-twenty best-selling franchises; which include two additional Nintendo IPs ranked in the top ten, Donkey Kong and Zelda. So what's Nintendo's secret?Cross-culture appeal, spin-offs (e.g., racers, sports titles, puzzlers), brand saturation (e.g., apparel, card games, TV shows), and E-ratings all appear part of a profitable formula built for the long haul.
8-bit graphic goodness for your desktop
Freaky Fonts has a collection of retro-gaming wallpaper images up on their site which prove that simplicity can still kick butt. These work really well because they aren't so busy that your icons get lost in the background, plus they look snazzy to boot. When's the last time you had an image from H.E.R.O. on your computer? What about Super Zaxxon? Dang, time to fire up MAME for some gaming.Check out the whole set of eleven here, and decorate your desktop to your heart's content. Got a favorite video game desktop image? Tell us about it.
Playing Nintendo's Donkey Kong on Sony's PS3
Since Nintendo's Virtual Console service isn't live, we decided to do the next best thing: fire up a Flash version of Donkey Kong inside the PlayStation 3's web browser. Sites like everyvideogame.com require Java, so we had to settle for a Flash implementation. Even though the PS3 browser's Flash implementation churns though YouTube video like butter, it has some difficulty with most of the web games we tried. Take this version of Donkey Kong, where our poor Jumpman has managed to get himself stuck in the first ten seconds of gameplay. We'll wait for the VC version, thanks.
LEGO + CGI + stop motion animation + Donkey Kong
There are few certainties in life, but we're confidant that one of them is that the combination of LEGOs, CGI, stop motion animation, and Donkey Kong will always result in wonder and joy. BitFlicks is a newly formed repository of like-minded videos, released weekly, all following the same basic recipe, replacing Donkey Kong with Mario (not Jumpman, see), Space Invaders, or a funny conversation about the relative merits of the PlayStation 3 and the Wii.We bet you're wondering exactly how these are made. Mr. BitFlicks isn't about to reveal the man behind the curtain, but he has thrown us this bone: they're "a mix of stop motion animation, LEGO and CGI. We start with an effect or an idea and then determine what approach will yield the best result, so the exact method used to create individual animations will differ." We understand, secret sauce and all that.
Metareview: Mario vs. DK 2: March of the Minis
In the sequel, the roles have reversed and now the Mini Marios must save the day. With several obstacles in their path, players must guide the Mini Marios using the stylus and touch-screen. More interesting, however, is the ability for players to create custom maps and send them to other users via Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect service. Overall, the game has received favorable scores: Gamespot - 82%: "Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 may not play quite the same way the original game did, but the new take on the formula is a fun and refreshing one. The touch-screen controls are easy to get a handle on, and with more than 80 different stages to play through, as well as the construction mode, you'll find yourself with plenty to do. It's simply a great time for Mario fans and puzzle fans alike." IGN - 70%: "The original Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a far better puzzle game than March of the Minis is, but that doesn't make this game a bad one. It is a clever Lemmings-inspired, touch screen design with a great focus on user-submitted content to keep the game going on and on. Its similarities to the first game are only in looks; the concept goes in a refreshingly different -- but just not as successful, addictive or challenging -- direction for Nintendo DS gamers." Gamepro - 85%: "As a sequel, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis surpasses the original by leaps and bounds backed by the capabilities of the Nintendo DS, however the new control scheme does take some getting used to." So there we have it. While many agree it's not as good as the first game, would you be inclined to agree, fine reader? Or has Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis surpassed the greatness of the first game?
Happy Birthday Mario!
September 13 is the 'birthday' of everyone's favorite plumber, and Nintendo's not letting September pass without a little recognition. Two new DS games this month feature Mario and company: the highly anticipated Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and the offbeat Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. Salut! And many happy returns.Mario Hoops is scheduled for release next week, and March of the Minis follows two weeks later. If only every month could be September.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 site
A miniature marching army that reminds us of the ballet, The Nutcracker (insert random, silly joke here), combined with Mario himself to get temper tantrum throwing Donkey Kong off his high horse sounds like a boat load of fun to us. We can't wait to get our hands on Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Mini's and to hold us over is a web site. The site doesn't have much to it other than a trailer and a slide show of pic's but that'll do for now. Take a look for yourself and rev-up to help out Mario. [Via DS-x2]
Real life Kong: Oh, if only it were true
Over in Brooklyn, New York, there's a particular park that is situated beside the über-hipster area Williamsburg. The park, called McCarren Park, has seen some construction sprout up around it and some people ain't too pleased (you see, they want to remain low-key in their hipster ways). So in response, some lovely man, Steve Ingkavet to be more specific, has created this photo based on the construction that looms. But really, all this does for us is beg the question: How awesome would it be to be taking your daily stroll through the park and see Donkey Kong about to lay down the law on Mario with a barrel full of punishment?
80s instructional LP for conquering games
The antecedent to all those tips and tricks magazines can be found in this obscure LP from the 80s: Conquer the Video Craze: How to Beat the Hottest Games. In it, "Atari Champion finalist" Curtis Hoard reads off -- in a stultifyingly slow monotone -- the techniques he's used to earn him that honorific. Sluggo at Dinosaur Gardens has not only found this retro artifact, but he's converted it into MP3 for our enjoyment edification. Learn strategies for: Centipede, Defender, Stargate, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Tempest. Wait, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man? [Via Boing Boing]
Donkey Kong Bongo Blast release notes
What? A brand new Donkey Kong bongo game for the Nintendo Gamecube shows up, and Nintendo doesn't even bother to show it off on their show floor? We realize that the Gamecube is on its way out, but robbing us of the opportunity to play another DK bongo game is downright criminal. The new game features aerial racing, with DK and the crew tilting and turning in response to your brutal bongo bashing. It's no Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat 2 (Wii version, please), but we'll take it. From the official fact sheet:"Donkey Kong and his pals have gotten their mitts on some high-powered Barrel Jets – incredible engines that boost when struck by a pilot. By beating on the DK Bongos controller, players can make their character swoop up, bank side to side and launch attacks on rivals."Check out the video here.
The History of Gaming at E3
Kentia Hall is showcasing the history of gaming with classic arcade booths that attendees can try for free. Click below to check out our collection of photos from the display.
Nintendo help for your fantasy baseball team
While we question the ability of McSweeney's to integrate classic Nintendo characters into a major-league squad, that's just the scouting report that's been released for this truly fantasy baseball roster.For instance, you've got a young shortstop who spends way too much of his time with "fairies" in Link and the token female pitcher (albeit one with a built-in arm cannon) in Samus, but these inclusions will always be overshadowed by that of the stocky plumber stalked by rumors of steroid abuse. Way to go, Mario.
