Donkey Kong 64

GameCube, Donkey Kong 64 (1999) game

I must confess, Donkey Kong was always my favourite of the Nintendo characters' family. Not because he had much of a character, but I was fond of monkeys, apes, etc, as a child, and had owned 'Donkey Kong' on the Game Boy, the remake and expansion of the original arcade game, so knew the history and had a pre-existing connection with the big lump before I really got into Nintendo gaming with the N64. It helped that DK was an ideal choice in 'Mario Kart,' with the ability to barge people out of the way and a good top speed for those who could handle it. Which is all a rather long-winded road to say that I was predisposed towards favour even before this game came out. I got my N64 in Autumn 1999, shortly before this game was released and 'Banjo-Kazooie,' Rare's previous platformer was immediately around the top of my best games list. Once I realised Rare was like the Nintendo Seal of Quality (except genuinely every game they released was excellent, rather than a generic stamp on any cartridge that actually worked for the system it was supposed to, the real meaning of the Seal!), 'DK64' was a title I planned to purchase once I'd waded through those I already had.

There was an added incentive to get this particular game, and that was the bundling of the new Expansion Pak that would double the memory of the N64 - alone it cost almost as much as a game itself (£30), so the best way was to buy 'DK,' especially as it was the first game that required it as an essential. The prospect of real-time lighting, bigger levels, etc, didn't fill me with wonder at the time as I was still new to the console scene, but it did prove fairly impressive when I got around to buying it, though it was games after this that really used it to full potential ('Perfect Dark' perhaps the best example). Playing it now, it is slightly disappointing in the technical stakes, with ridiculous levels of popup: seeing a large mushroom appear in front of you, even at a distance, was annoying, and searching for the last little bits and pieces of a level were made more of a trial by the fact that you couldn't be sure something was or wasn't there until you moved closer. Maybe I was spoiled by 'Banjo-Tooie'? I don't remember such things being an issue, though of course they'd had a bit longer to improve, it's just that it did stand out to me (or not in the mushroom case), and because of the fuss over the Expansion Pak you might have expected better.

I remember liking the game a lot back then, but 'BK' remained supreme, partly because it was so well-designed, but also because it was a new experience to me, never having played a 3D platformer before, and also due to its tighter levels and replayability - few games have I played through as much as that. In contrast, this was only the second time I'd ever played 'DK,' thanks to its sprawling, maybe even a little unfocused, levels, humungous amount of collecting, and, seeing it now, a less dimensional playing experience. What I mean by that is, while there were multiple levels in the game worlds, such as under the ocean, or a huge mushroom to climb up the inside of, in general I had the feeling of a flatter playing area. It's really difficult to describe, but, unlike 'BT' and 'BK' they felt like levels separated into miniature zones rather than being a fluid, wide-open style, like Treasure Trove Cove, for example. It didn't stop me enjoying the collecting and mini-gaming, but it was easier to look at it as a quota to fill: find each characters' items in a zone, then move onto somewhere else. Less free-flowing and exploratory?

The lighting effects were, of course, good, with shadows and colours used effectively, though the game's visual style was slightly less attractive to me than in 'BK,' and even 'BT.' It had more of a shiny, rubbery texture to it, continuing the look of the SNES games in the series (which I never played), and indeed, it was very much a continuation of those games with Rambi and Engarde, Cranky and even the ghost of his dead wife, Wrinkly. So it was nice to feel part of a larger world, and there were a host of new characters introduced with their own idiosyncrasies. The one thing that stayed with me, and has been said in my family ever since, was a line from the awful 'DK Rap' that opens the game: "This Kong has a fon-nee face" - don't ask me why, but whenever something or someone looks strange or out of place we throw that saying out. I remembered most of the levels, though had completely forgotten Creepy Castle and Hideout Helm. I never forgot the drag of swimming around in Gloomy Galleon, though it was an improvement on the swimming sections in the Banjo games as you have infinite air, so no need to keep breaking the surface for breath. But I've never enjoyed platform levels that involve floating, or flying in empty 3D space, and particularly underwater sections as the camera can be a problem and it's just plain boring (think sailing in 'The Wind Waker'). A platform game is supposed to give you absolute freedom in movement, that's the point, as 'Super Mario 64' proved.

Another issue is the stingy system of a character needing a move and you have to locate 'x' amount of coins before Cranky will give it to you, or get to a certain level. It's a little unfair to criticise, as that's how the puzzles are laid out, there have to be restrictions or else Diddy could just fly all over the place and hoover everything up. But having five characters to play, in each level all needing their colour of bananas, plus five Golden Bananas and the Blueprints, not to mention other universal collectables like Banana Fairies and Battle Crowns, the game groans under the weight of items to collect. Yet this is also quite satisfying, hearing the little pop as you pick up each little banana, or the triumphant tune as you reach seventy-five coloured bananas and are awarded a Banana Medal, and especially the happy monkey screams when you get all one hundred. Again, perhaps because I played 'BK' first, I preferred the sound effects, music and graphics of that, but it's all enjoyable and suitably rewarding. My personal favourites were Diddy (I always picked him in 'Diddy Kong Racing'), Chunky and Tiny, who were also quite good value with their moves and physicality. Fungi Forest and it's immense mushroom was always my level of choice, and I liked DK Isle, the hub over-world from which you chose which level to enter, though I wished there had been more to do there - the ocean was merely a boundary with nothing to see or do in it: space for space's sake.

I'd planned to play the game over Christmas having had such a good time with 'BK,' and I happily waited a year to do just that. It does present itself as an ideal type of game to play when you just want to bash through for an hour or two between films, food or other fun, fitting it in without losing track of any 'story' there might be, unlike other games where concentration would be required. The first time I played, it took me around sixty hours to get all 201 bananas, completing the game with 101%. I'd helped my sisters with bits and pieces over the years, so some of it remained fresh, but it was still long enough that I didn't remember every nook and cranny, though I aimed to halve my time if I could. I was all set to do so, but there were just a few things left in various levels: those last 25 coloured bananas and final Golden Banana of Chunky's on Gloomy Galleon (simple as jumping onto the pirate ship, smashing through the hatch!) - I spent ages searching and searching for hidden caves underwater, but I knew the game style was that things weren't really hidden and every area had its areas for each character, but it was complete chance I stumbled into finding Chunky was able to jump onto the ship! Tiny's last balloon was on a platform outside the giant mushroom of Fungi Forest, and Diddy's last balloon was in the coffin area at the bottom of Creepy Castle - press the 1234 code, then back to 1 again! A bit unfair, as it was unexpected, but that was about the only time I felt the game had cheated me slightly.

Chunky's last ever Banana in the game that I needed was in the top of K.Rool's tower, a platform with invisible vines to get to a barrel! Then there was what I thought the final Battle Crown in Fungi Forest's opening (shoot the roving mushroom on the ceiling with the right character for the colour), at first thinking it was to get Diddy's last Banana, but no! Then finally! The last banana barrel for Diddy and 201st banana in-game, and it was just hovering over DK Isles' quiff, rather than at the top of the head, and because of popup I hadn't been able to see it before! Relief… Sadly, just over the thirty hour time limit I'd aimed for, and I still had K.Rool to beat! I beat K.Rool first time (naturally), then realised I had only 99% completion - missing the last Battle Crown from Hideout Helm which I'd assumed I would get from beating the main villain! Aarggh! So I finally did that boosting it to 101% in 30:54, then beat K.Rrool again to see the moderately amusing 'dolphin auditions' ending (with a final time of 31:14). This was the codename for GameCube before it became that, though sadly there never was a DK game on the system after Rare were bought by Microsoft, not even the touted 'Donkey Kong Racing.' Sad. Don't know if DK ever got a game on Wii, and with that my knowledge of his history ends.

Relief was the operative word at completion, as it was a game I felt under pressure to smash through, and having succeeded again it felt like an achievement. It's a shame now as I don't have any more Rare platform games to play for next Christmas! Their stock fell with the arrival of GameCube and acquisition by Microsoft, but for a few years they were the undisputed kings (leaving aside the overlord of Nintendo), of gameplay, and this game didn't disappoint. Perhaps the cracks are there if you look hard enough: the fact that it's a lot of the same old cliched (hot, wet, mechanical, etc), level themes as 2D platformers had been banging out for years, and it could have been a sign of fading originality, but for me, despite some niggles, it was never boring and remained a solid challenge and a pleasure to revisit. We even got a taste of what classic gaming was like with the much harder and less forgiving coin-op recreations of 'Donkey Kong' and 'Jet-Pac' to remind us of how easy we had it. It's hard to believe that we're about as far from 'DK64' now as it was from those games then, as the inexorable march of time relentlessly continues. I suppose that's why I like going back to the N64, the Amiga, and other such gaming greats, because it reminds me of my formative years, the amazing experiences I had back then, experiences that will never be matched, for the intensity of feeling the freedom and magnitude of a computer game for the first times.

****

Charade

DVD, Smallville S9 (Charade)

There's one thing that has made this season stand out from others that have gone before it, and that is the Lois and Clark dynamic. It wasn't the first season they co-starred on the series (and hopefully not the last, either!), but something gelled this time and actually meant something that all those irritating circular arguments and romances with Lana Lang never did. Lois is fundamentally more likeable and less highly strung, and it may be that it's simply having more of those two characters together that worked out. Indeed, often if an episode concentrates on others in the main cast it tends more to averageness, but this episode once again proves that Lois and Clark are what make this series tick. The opening was nothing special, Lois crashing crooked former DA Ray Sacks' party dressed as a bunny, punching Clark, who's also there, and getting them both fired from the Daily Planet by yet another new Editor, Franklin Stern. To top it all, it then becomes a 'how we got to this point' episode, which is a device very much overused, not just in this series, but in films and TV in general. So not the most auspicious beginning, but things soon turn into something much more interesting than speculation on what would cause Lois to belt her boyfriend in that way: the age-old quandary over whether Clark should let her in on his secret or not.

I think she's pretty much the only person that doesn't know, so when she finally does find out (assuming they play that card eventually - I thought for a while they were going to do it here), she's going to have a lot of bones to pick with a variety of people, not just Clark! But she'll bounce back from it because she's not a holder of grudges and is pretty easygoing. A lot of the tension about Clark's secret went out the window long ago, so it's refreshing whenever it comes back in such a meaningful way, and because this is Lois Lane, not any old bod, and Superman's destiny, it does mean something. It helps that Erica Durance has done such a good job in the role as we've seen various, often uninteresting versions played on TV and big screen, so it's not an easy position to fill. But it's her inadequacies or weaknesses, her childlike trust and soldierly determination that make her someone we care about. And it's her selflessness that comes through this time: she knows that The Blur can't show himself to her because if she knew his identity she'd become a liability (although even without full disclosure she becomes a target), and yet she feels a duty and purpose to life operating under The Blur's guidance that in some ways is deeper even than her affection for Clark.

With Zod impersonating The Blur for a bit (though he doesn't appear this time), he's got her in a bit of trouble which Clark has to undo by finally ringing her in character and telling her not to accept any more instructions because he has to break communications for her own good. It's such a difficult situation, mainly for Clark, because he's painted himself into a corner where she trusts The Blur wholeheartedly, but he can't be sure that his identity isn't being misused, as it has been. Yet he can't solve it by telling her the truth because, as she knows, she'd be under threat. I loved the poetic idea that the reason she trusts The Blur is actually because he refuses to reveal himself, showing her that he cares enough about her safety not to jeopardise it at any cost. The tension and the minefield of this is the main thing that raises the episode above some of the others recently. The story stops being about getting to that point in the party again, which gets sorted out about halfway through the episode, and isn't a disappointment, Lois having punched Clark as a distraction to get closer to the guy with the phone who took a snap of The Blur (though you'd think he'd have uploaded it to the cloud, or to his email address, something that meant it wasn't just on a single device!).

Thrown into the mix are some intriguing developments that season the tasty meal: we get several names chucked out there, but rather than distracting they add interest. The whole deal with the revolving editorship of the Planet gets called out as we meet the newest, Franklin Stern, who promptly fires Lois and Clark for their antics. This could have been a silly knockabout comedy with the two reporters trying to outdo each other in their competition for one job, but that was never really an issue and doesn't take away from the emotive content. There's also the return of Sacks, a bitter enemy if ever there was one, and a potential future thorn in the side - his early release from a life sentence raises the question of how, or more specifically, who, got him released. And we meet another member of Checkmate, The Black King, Maxwell Lord who is a mutant of some kind and wants aliens taken out because he knows from firsthand what dangers they pose. He has powers, the ability to suck people's thoughts out, which is what he tries to do with various people who've seen The Blur in part, hoping to add these mental images together to create a positive ID. Spectacularly, Clark smashes through his 3D screen just as his own face appears, in an extravagant set-piece that succeeds due to its ramifications as much as for visual flair. I was wondering why Clark didn't simply zip over to Lord at speed before he had a chance to mess up Lois' mind, but interrupting Lord's probing might cause the consequences he'd threatened. Regardless, Clark does do that in the end and Lois is fine.

There were the occasional nitpicks such as why this top secret agent goes around with a black king on his pocket hankie so everyone can see, or why Clark as The Blur didn't just call Lois and tell her someone had been impersonating him, but everything gets straightened out by the end or is irrelevant, so it was a fully satisfying experience and just makes you wish, as ever when episodes that are good and solid come along, why they can't get it right like this every week. Even at its best, the series isn't incredible, but it could at least be satisfyingly good quality on a regular basis, this episode proving that good themes, character development and visuals can be achieved! We're left with a little more in the question department when Lord is picked up by a mysterious woman he knows as The Red Queen. There's still the question of whether Clark will let Lois in on his secret, but at least he finds, from her experience assisting The Blur that they have exactly the same perspective on ordinary life being selfish when they have greater things to do, like taking something from the world at someone else's expense, the true curse of the superhero (and placing Lois in the mirror of Tess who felt the same, believing Clark's small ambitions had to grow due to his ability and potential). It ends with the question of whether Clark, representing ordinary life to Lois, is enough. So you feel he's going to keep her in the dark for now.

There's a quality and a thoughtfulness to the story that could really do with being seen more often on the series, but I'm not going to bash it after such a good episode. Ironically, it's an episode that has a lot less in the action quotient, but has more depth than fights and saves. But it also features some strong heroic imagery that wouldn't be out of place in the more evocative pages of a graphic novel than can be achieved in a TV show: The Blur looking down, framed by the Moon, or reflected in the flatscreen used to show Lois' thoughts where she refuses to look round and see his face, only the white 'S' there as proof of the man she served, who puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but can't even speak for fear of revealing who he is. Powerful storytelling imagery. There are also small asides that please, such as Clark dressed in his Blur outfit in the Kent farmhouse which I don't think we've seen before, and Chloe wearing a green leather jacket as if to reassert her loyalty to the absent Green Arrow. Even Clark lifting up a tractor and working in the barn was a lovely throwback now that he's become unemployed. But now that the knowledge of Zod's false brotherhood is known to him, not to mention Tess and Zod's alliance, he's probably not going to have time for a nine to fiver any more…

***