Kalypso

Another game that made use of the bongo controllers was the racing game Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. Rather than cars, the characters raced each other with twin rockets, each rocket controlled by a different side of the bongos. The game featured a number of returning faces, with a few brand-new faces filling out the Kremling side of the roster.

The most memorable of these was Kalypso, a tall female Kremling with a bright purple afro. As the most unique new racer to the game, she works best as the game’s representative and embody its unique mechanics.

As a fighter, she will be fast and almost solely reliant on aerials, zipping around on her twin barrel rockets. Her moveset will pull from the game, including the various items available to the racers.

Likelihood rating: Probably not

Super Smash Bros. Universe (Donkey Kong Country) Roster, Updated

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

1. Donkey Kong
2. Diddy Kong
3. Dixie Kong
4. King K. Rool
5. Cranky Kong
6. Funky Kong
7. Wrinkly Kong
8. Tiny Kong
9. Lanky Kong
10. Chunky Kong
11. Kiddy Kong
12. Donkey Kong Jr.
13. Stanley the Bugman
14. Timber
15. Xananab
16. Kritter
17. Krusha
18. Klump
19. Kalypso
20. Tucks
21. Wizpig
22. The Evil Kings
23. Tiki Tong
24. Lord Fredrik

A Mario Series Roster Navigation would follow immediately after Lord Fredrik.

And, that's it, pretty much. There will still be a few "Donkey Kong" games to be covered, mostly remakes and such, but as far as I can project right now, there will not be any further characters to be added to the roster. The only real possibility that I can see is the television series finally giving Candy the push she needs, and maybe a couple other characters from said series, but as far as games go, I think we've pretty much covered it all.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we start in on the Yoshi series, starting with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

I now have a patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/prastarkeepers

Character Sheet: Kalypso (DK Miscellaneous)

KALYPSO

Let's kick off this final round of DK revisions. We have a few old ones to go over, mostly for thoroughness's sake, alongside four new additions to the roster. Let's see what we've got!

1. Donkey Kong (Revision)
2. Diddy Kong (Revision)
3. Dixie Kong (Revision)
4. King K. Rool (Revision)
5. Cranky Kong (Revision)
6. Funky Kong (Revision)
7. Wrinkly Kong (Revision)
8. Tiny Kong (Revision)
9. Lanky Kong (Revision)
10. Kritter (Revision)
11. Krusha (Revision)
12. Klump (Revision)
13. Timber
14. Kalypso
15. Wizpig
16. The Evil Kings

Today, we are basically covering Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast the character, much like our last character for Diddy Kong Racing. The difference here is that while Diddy Kong Racing had a plethora of unique characters, with only one pre-existing character and two that would go on to do other things, this game is made up of mostly pre-existing Donkey Kong characters with a handful of unique characters. The three truly unique characters are Kalypso, a tall female Kremling with an afro, and Kip and Kass, a pair of younger Kremlings with smaller body types. (You can also could Kludge here too, but he's basically Kudgel or Krusha with a new name, so . . . ). I chose Kalypso to represent the game primarily because she is easily the most unique and iconic new character of the bunch. Her body type is quite a bit different than, say, Kip or Kass, and they don't ride around in karts, so you do have to factor in the whole body, but if you'd like to think that her color swaps are the other characters, be my guest. If you'd prefer it to be just Kalypso, also be my guest. It's the same basic character model either way.

In the game, you fly around with a pair of rockets attached to your waist. This means the character will likely be very floaty, hovering an inch or two off the ground at all times like Dark Samus or Mewtwo. The games mechanics also included boosts, and wild moves which let you ricochet forward wildly for a time. You also had use of items obtained along the track, including a prop monkey that throws bananas, Squawks and Quawks who bother the other players, banana fairies who gather bananas, a fiery banana, a melon that makes you invincible, a mini-Necky that rams into players, a miniature tornado, a barrel you can throw behind you, Zingers that swarm part of the track, Chunky Kong's pineapple launcher, and an elixir that gives you wild moves. Alright, now that that's all squared away, let's see what we've got.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Mini-Necky
Kalypso will produce a mini-Necky that will rush out and ram into another opponent, knocking them over. This also gives some representation to the Necky enemy, so that's a bonus.

Side B: Wild Move
Kalypso will blast forward wildly, knocking aside opponents willy-nilly. This may be a little difficult to control, so watch out.

Up B: Whirlwind
Kalypso will create a whirlwind around her feet that will spin her around and launch her skyward. Other characters may get caught in this as well.

Down B: Mini-Zingers
Kalypso will produce a swarm of mini-Zingers that will hover in one area of the stage, attacking any that pass through it. This will function similarly to Piranha Plant's poison cloud. Also gives some representation to Zingers, so also bonus.

Final Smash: Ultra Barrel
This represents Ultra Barrel DK, the game's secret character, where DK glows and gets all of his stats maxed out. Imagine pretty much that, but on Kalypso. Kalypso will start to glow and she will proceed to race back and forth across the track like Super Sonic.

Entrance: Hovering into place

Taunts: any number of spins or flashy moves pulled from the game. Since she has a disco vibe, she could also pull off a few disco moves.

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow, we'll tackle Timber's nemesis Wizpig!

Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast

DONKEY KONG: BARREL BLAST

Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast is a racing game that seems to be kind of an attempt to recreate Diddy Kong Racing, or Mario Kart even, for the Donkey Kong franchise. It doesn't seem to have done very well, all things considered, but it could be fun nonetheless. The game was built on the idea of racing in the sky rather than on the ground, with barrel rockets strapped to the racers. Again, if a character comes from this, it will be mostly built around the mechanics of the game rather than the specific characters.

As for the characters, the racers are divided into eight Kongs and eight Kremlings, each one having a respective rival. The Kongs included Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, Funky Kong, Wrinkly Kong, and Cranky Kong. Their rivals included Kritter, Kip and Kass (two small-sized Kremlings matching Diddy and Dixie), Kopter, Kalypso (a female Kremling with a giant pink afro and easily the most memorable newcomer), Kludge (basically a Krusha or Kudgel type), Klump, and King K. Rool. Candy Kong also appears, but mostly hosting minigames, so probably effectively sinking any chances for her for the last time (unless the cartoon gives us something to work with).

The game is played racing along an aerial course lined by markers, using barrel rockets instead of vehicles. Like most racing games of this kind, items can be obtained, from balloons just like Diddy Kong Racing. These items include: a prop monkey, who throws bananas in front of another player; Squawks and Quawks, two parrots who attack other players; Banana Fairies, who collect bananas for you; Blazing Bananas, that burn other opponents; Tasty Melons and Crystal Coconuts, that make you invincible; Mini-Neckies, who ram into opponents; Whirlwinds, which act like whirlwinds of course; Backwards Barrels, that clog up the track; Mini-Zingers, who swarm opponents; Pineapple Launchers, that fire pineapples; and TNT Barrels that explode. The racers can also perform wild moves, which give them a speed boost, and the animal buddies Rambi and Enguarde help you out on occasion.

The game covers numerous stages, though most fall into only a few specific biomes rather than every one being unique. These include DK Jungle stages, which are mostly general jungle levels; Salty Sea stages, which are water levels; Mt. Dynamite stages, volcano levels; Scorching Canyon stages, desert levels; Mammoth Glacier stages, snow levels; and Cranky's Temple stages, ancient ruins levels. Across these, we see a few returning enemies acting as obstacles, including Flipflaps, Zingers, Neckies, Chomps, Hurleys, and Lockjaws, alongside a giant centipede, squid, and frog.

We've already covered the items as they are used by the racers in the game. Other than that we have various types of barrels along the tracks and bananas that give you boosts.

Let's see what we've got:

Characters:
Diddy Kong Racers (Diddy, Timber, Pipsy, Banjo, Conker, Bumper, Tiptup, Krunch, Drumstick, T.T.): drive, fly, boat, boosts, missiles, oil slick, mine, bubble, shield, magnet
Barrel Blast Racers (probably Kalypso): fly, boost, wild move, prop monkey, parrots, banana fairy, blazing banana, melons, coconuts, mini-necky, mini-zinger, whirlwind, backwards barrel, TNT barrel, pineapple launcher.
Wizpig: fly, run fast, lightning, teleport, lasers, missile, spaceship

Bosses:
Tricky
Bluey
Bubbler
Smokey

Stages:
Dino Domain
Snowflake Mountain
Sherbet Island
Dragon Forest
Future Fun Land
DK Jungle
Salty Sea
Mt. Dynamite
Scorching Canyon
Mammoth Glacier
Cranky's Temple

Items:
Balloons
Barrels
Bananas

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow, we'll cover another racing title, Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast!