DKC Atlas Forum

[Jomingo]

I am wondering if anyone has any good ideas for animal buddies? I have several and will post them after some other people reply.
Well?

[cfh]

I really like Mattdog's idea for Nectar, and I think Ram Bunkshus and the giraffe should be used.

[Jomingo]

Definately, I think that Nectar the Hummingbird and Canopy the Giraffe should be in a real game.
I have a couple ideas
1) Sticky the Gecko (working title)- A gecko that I thought should be in Jungle Beat 2 if they ever make one. He'd be able to climb on walls as well as the ceiling, and also spit his tounge out to hit enemies out in front of him.

2) Skittish the Sheep- a sheep that operates similar to Ellie in Stampede Sprint, in the fact that she runs almost constantly. The levels would be set up so you would play through a certain segment without running, just jumping and moving in whatever direction you want, but you can't touch any enemies. Then there would be something that would set him off, and he'd start running with a frantic expression on his face. He'd have to jump or duck under obstacles, plus he can jump higher than the kongs normally can.

3) Some sort of baby animal, possibly a bear cub that would be more of a chore than a buddy. He'd keep moving forward in a certain pattern, and you'd have to keep up with him and keep him safe from enemies, with barrels being positioned in places needed. I'm unsure if he should be mandatory in certain levels, or like parry where you can lose him if you want, but he gives you a great reward if you save him.

[cfh]

Sticky is a perfect Rare-esque animal buddy name

[Jomingo]

Thanks, if you have any better names for the other two, please tell me. I'm thinking maybe Cubby for the last one. Or maybe I'll make him something other than a bear, like a baby hippo, or a lion cub. Or maybe a zebra.

[Tiptup Jr.]

I've already mentioned this some time ago, but...

Jonie the Whale. Just imagine Phantom Hourglass' ship segments, only you're on a whale. It could provide for some very complex situations... I'm thinking that Jonie can blow you out with her spout (is that what it's called, on the top of their heads?) And still be moving under a spike-filled rock, and you have to maneuver your Kong so you can land back on Jonie without falling. And for no reason, you can make her do tricks, like Enguarde from Donkey Kong 64.

[cfh]

That's cool, DK needs another water animal buddy.

[Jomingo]

Good idea, I remember that one. I always though that Nibbla should become a full fledged animal buddy.

[cfh]

How? I always thought he was more of an enemy.

[Jomingo]

Well, he basically is, I just always thought he should become a fully ridable animal buddy. He even had an anti animal sign, like most other animal buddies do.

[cfh]

Would you have to go over fish while riding him? His kind of homing in feature would get annoying....

[Jomingo]

You would ride on him, and his bite would work like Enguarde's attack, you just move into an enemy to eat them, and you can bite forward bite pressing Y. You'd have to keep him fed, or you'd lose a Kong.

[Kowbrainz]

It'd be cool if he could eat his way through walls of seaweed or something to find bonus levels; something that Enguarde can't do. However, he would have to be blue when doing so, else the stuff would upset his stomach and you'd lose a Kong.

[cfh]

Eat a wall of seaweed, now that's a cool idea. You would have to have him to get in... which reminds me, how do you lose him? Maybe when he gets angry he swims away?

[Kowbrainz]

I think it would be cool if he was both stronger and faster than Enguarde, but the downside would be that if you got hit or let him get hungry, he'd take a bite out of one of your kongs before swimming off for good.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, that'd be cool.

It has also been suggested that Clapper become a full animal buddy and operate like squawks underwater.

[cfh]

How would you use his ice? Like Squitter underwater? Not sure how that'd be useful, though.

[Jomingo]

Well, the idea was that he'd flap like Squawks to go up, and he slowly sinks down when he doesn't flap. The character would grap onto his tail, like Squawks' talons. He would should out chunks of ice that would be essentially the same thing as Squawks' eggs.

[cfh]

Oh, good idea. I think the ice should also be used for some platformer puzzles.

[Jomingo]

Yeah, it wasn't my idea though. I think that he should be a land animal buddy, and he'd hop to move, and be able to do some sort of cool thing with his ice. And he could clap to attack enemies.

[Kiddy14]

I thought of a Kangaroo animal buddy a long time ago, except instead of riding on it's back, you jump in the pouch. And it had punching gloves.

That really would fit DKC3 since it has a more cartoony theme, and mechanical. DKC3 doesn't have any kind of high jumping animal buddy, and Jomingo's idea sounds cool!

With Y you would perform his main attack, like punching with his punching gloves. And holding it you would jump further (as in running). And that would be all =P

[Teeth]

It's been done. Ever play Yoshi's Island DS?

Anyway, I've had ideas for the animal buddies teaming up. Something like this could be good:

-Rambi and Ellie
-Squawks and the purple parrot (Quawks?)
-Winky and Rattly
-Squitter and Expresso (they both have methods of crossing large gaps and get harmed by jumping on most enemies)
-Enguarde and ... Nibbla? Clapper? Glimmer? A pallete swap with different abilities?

[Jomingo]

No. Explain.

[Teeth]

There's a giant Kangaroo in Yoshi's Island DS, and you jump in the pouch and she jumps really high. You use her to collect coins. I can't remember her name, but when you first meet her, the info box says "THERE SHE IS!!!" :p

[Diddy_Gal]

I got an idea of a Zebra animal buddy named Stripes. His powers are "Super Kick" (If you hold the x button) And the normal kick. (Pressing "X" once.)

[Phyreburnz]

I had an epiphany today related to the scrapped giraffe animal buddy idea that Rareware had. I know it was scrapped early, but I JUST thought of a way that the character could be revived and made useful, for a very fun level idea, and that would fit well with the DKC games.

So remember Stampede Sprint in DKC3? Well, a level like that, where you're constantly running would be perfect for a giraffe character. Not only would the level function similarly to Forest Frenzy where you're on an object moving forward where you have to move up and down to avoid enemies, but also like Stampede Sprint where the character can jump to avoid falling through holes and to reach things that are just too high up for the giraffe's neck. So not only do you have to move up and down on the giraffe's neck to avoid enemies, but you also have to jump to avoid falling down holes. I think that would make for a super fun level!

A way that the box could work for this character is a long box, not a tall one. The giraffe could be curled up inside like this:


That way, the box isn't too tall for a Kong to jump on it and the long box could fit a tall giraffe well. After you jump on the box, the giraffe could move his head forward and still lie down. When you dismount the giraffe, she (I think it would be better to have another female character since the DKC trilogy is definitely lacking them) could lie back down. Although, I don't know if you would even need her to be able to be dismounted, because maybe as soon as you jump on her, she starts to run... then maybe have a no animal buddy sign as the only way to get rid of her... Because the only problem about her would be if she were to get hit by an enemy and starts to run away, I don't think you could jump on her again...

I know that this isn't super useful, as I can't really make it happen... I suck at 3D modeling and I really suck at trying to animate 3D models. Maybe I'll give it another try... but hey, if anybody else wants to try and thinks it would be a neat addition, that would be cool, too!

[Phyreburnz]

Please pardon the very bad and very quick photoshop job on the giraffe...

I'm just playing around to try to figure out if a giraffe would actually work or not. The neck would have to be elongated and the legs shortened, probably more than what I have now.

giraffe example test 1.png (50.83 KiB) Viewed 48287 times

What do you guys think? Does the giraffe seem plausible, or does it just not seem like a good idea?

I would love to see this happen, but I just don't think that I can do it myself. I'm just not good with 3D. I even thought about going the long way rather than trying 3D again... I seriously thought about doing hand drawn animations for this and maybe even trying fake renders for each frame and then making it into sprites... but I really don't see it ever getting done if I do that... If I had enough clay, I would maybe make a model of it that way... I just hate how impersonal computers are (which is weird, because I love photoshop).

I really do hate to ask for favors, but if anybody is so inclined, it would be wonderful to see this guy come to life. If somebody is willing to do it, I'll be more than happy to do character sketches.

[spaceman2028]

I once posted the idea for a pink enguarde on the DKC4 topic, which is faster than blue enguarde but attacks a lot slower. To compensate, by charging up her dash attack, she would look up and dash upwards. Whilst this sounds like a totally dumbfound idea, using it near the water's surface alows her to shoot herself in an arc to attack land foes unawares!

Why pink enguarde? Because there was one in a DK-related trailer to either Diddy Kong Racing or DK Barrel Blast.

As for the giraffe idea i think it's alright. Needs to look more cartoony and be shorter than life like Ellie, but other than that it seems alright.