Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

KREMLINGS
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Game Appearances: Donkey Kong Country Series
Role: Jobbers
PL 4 (23)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+0)
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+1)
Stealth 2 (+3)

Advantages:
None

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +3, Fortitude +3, Will +0

Complications:
Responsibility (King K. Rool's Will)

Total: Abilities: 16 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 4 (23)

-Kremlings are the bipedal crocodiles who make up King K. Rool's hordes in the Donkey Kong Country series. They're a perfect example of Reptiles Are Abhorrent- a trope in TV, film & gaming which indicates that reptiles are usually the bad guys in anything fictional that stars animals, because they're so cold and unemotional by mammalian standards.

-Most Kremlings are some variation of this, while others have Environmental Adaptations (like to Cold, in the case of Skiddas). Klaptraps are probably weaker, but do the same damage- their key is their immunity to the Carthwheel because their bite aims forward. Rockrocs are largely invincible, as they run back and forth under green light; switching barrels to give off red lights will stop them.

[Jabroniville]

KRUSHA
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Game Appearances: Donkey Kong Country 1-2, Donkey Kong Land 1
Role: Elite Jobbers
PL 5 (24)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+0)
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+1)
Stealth 2 (+3)

Advantages:
None

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +6, Fortitude +6, Will +0

Complications:
Responsibility (King K. Rool's Will)

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 4 (30)

-Krushas are Elite Mooks in the games, being extra-durable. Donkey Kong cannot defeat them with a slap, and requires jumping on them- Diddy Kong can't defeat them at all. In fact, they laugh off his attacks, as he just bounces off.

[Jabroniville]

DIXIE KONG
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995)
Game Appearances: Donkey Kong Country 2-3, Donkey Kong Land II-III, DK: Tropical Freeze
Role: The Most Useful One
PL 8 (111)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 13 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Singing) 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+7)
Vehicles 9 (+9) -- Flaws: Limited to Go-Karts

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Defensive Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-All-Trades, Ranged Attack 9, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 3 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision) [3]
Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
"Helicopter Twirl" Flight 1 (4 mph) (Flaws: Gliding) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Enemy (King K. Rool)
Relationship (Donkey Kong, Others)- Dixie has many friends in the Kong family. She and Diddy are a couple, as well.
Responsibility (The Banana Horde)

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 6 / Defenses: 16 (111)

-Curiously, Donkey Kong himself was absent from the sequel of the game that saved the Super Nintendo, and thus the main hero was Diddy Kong. The developers then gave him a love interest with Tertiary Sexual Characteristics (getting long blonde hair and a ponytail)- Dixie. Dixie ended up being 100 times more useful than Diddy, matching his speed but also having a "Helicopter Twirl" with her hair that let her cross large gaps. A huge bonus in a Platformer. This led to her being the hero of the THIRD DKC game, appearing with her cousin Kiddy Kong instead of DK or Diddy. Despite her popularity in the mid-90s, the character barely recurred- she's not in Diddy Kong Racing, nor playable in any of the major N64, Wii or Switch games, which use the two original male heroes instead.

-Dixie is less speedy and leap-y than Diddy is, but her Helicopter Spin is a real game-breaker considering how much of these games depend on leaping about.

[KorokoMystia]

Yeah, it took until Tropical Freeze for Dixie to reappear in a main game, where she's playable, as well as Cranky. Even Funky Kong got to be playable in the Switch version of that game, as an "Easy Mode" of sorts.

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, it took until Tropical Freeze for Dixie to reappear in a main game, where she's playable, as well as Cranky. Even Funky Kong got to be playable in the Switch version of that game, as an "Easy Mode" of sorts.

Unfortunately, the whole “Next Generation” era was full of that- game mechanics and characters taking a backseat to regressed 3D versions of the original characters, meaning that the series that defined the latter-day SNES has to wait a couple years, then get a shot with DK and Diddy again. And then, when it was time to capitalize on nostalgia with the Wii game/s, they ALSO went retro, reflecting the first game.

Sorta like how Mario World invented a crap-ton of brand-new bad guys, but then Mario 64 comes out and we’re back to the same basic villains because there’s not enough graphics for Dino Rhinos or Koopa Kids anymore. Never mind Yoshi and even LUIGI being cast aside for a generation or two.

[Jabroniville]

My niece and nephew LOVED Donkey Kong Country. I mean they played that on my SNES for YEARS long after I got bored with it.

I thought my copy may have a glitch in it, because one of the ice levels was JUST IMPOSSIBLE. I beat it once but died on the very next level. None of my friends could ever beat it. My nephew, God rest his soul, fought with that level for literally YEARS before finally beating it around 2006 and just barely getting to a save point on the map. After that he beat the game in a few hours, but that level...THAT LEVEL....man.

But yeah, they loved that game. My niece even recently took in an abandoned dog, who is just the sweetest natured dog I think I've seen, and the little guy only has one eye so she named him Winky after the frog, which was her favorite animal buddy.

THESE Ice Levels?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuEphlHK1uw

I remember the Barrel level being hard as hell to beat, but the ice ones being much worse. I never came close to finishing the game.

Damn, that music is great, though.

[Jabroniville]

KIDDY KONG ("Dinky Kong" in Japan)
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996)
Game Appearances: Donkey Kong Country 3, Donkey Kong Land III
Role: Super-Strong Toddler
PL 8 (83)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Perception 4 (+3)
Vehicles 9 (+9) -- Flaws: Limited to Go-Karts

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 9, Takedown

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 3 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision) [3]
"Bounces on Water" Movement 1 (Water-Walking) (Flaws: Limited to While Running) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Enemy (King K. Rool)
Relationship (Donkey Kong, Others)- Kiddy has many friends in the Kong family.
Responsibility (The Banana Horde)

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 14 (83)

-The sidekick to Dixie in her own signature DKC game, Kiddy is very strong and can break through things Dixie can't, making him a little bit like Donkey Kong himself. Evidently, the character did NOT go over well, because after the third generation of the series, he vanished forever.

[Jabroniville]

Huh, this list of best-selling Super NES games is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ideo_games

* Super Mario World is #1, but probably doesn't "count", as the pack-in. This makes Donkey Kong Country the #2 that people actually had to go out of their way to buy.

* Mario's dominance is, uh, notable. Four games in the top then, and three more are Donkey Kong Country. Speaking of which... JESUS! ALL THREE are in the Top Ten All-Time? I knew the first was popular, but even DKC 3 sold 3.5 million copies? The only three outside of Mario are Zelda and two SF II games.

* Street Fighter II got major diminishing returns with each variation- I guess people didn't always buy the new edition every time. 6.3 million to 4.1 million to 2 million.

* Legend of Zelda only being #7 is somewhat surprising, but Link's more niche than Mario.

* Dragon Quest is up there because of the series' huge popularity in Japan. But two Final Fantasy games between 10 & 20, and then there's Chrono Trigger just outside of that.

* Mortal Kombat II being only #27 is VERY surprising. It did worse than every version of SF II AND Killer Instinct. Also, Super Metroid is all the way down at #33. And Mega Man X is #43!

[Jabroniville]

Hey look! I finally edited my Master Power Level List to have better formatting and placement: https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/v ... p?p=52#p52

I'm not sure if anyone's ever LOOKED at this list (it's more of a quick-find for my own needs), but there it is, lol.

[Jabroniville]

SAILOR VENUS (Minako Aino, aka Sailor V)

I watched only a little of Sailor moon, mostly just enough to see Naru's evil love bite it, and enough to wonder at a series that had story progression. Admittedly not as good as some other cartoons I would learn about later, but I had access to next to no TV growing up, so it was a big deal for me.

And of the original characters I've always at least been on board with their characters except... except for Venus.

My favorite character design, she wound up just being a mirror or non-entity next to the others, being an even more airheaded version of Serena/Usagi.
Which never made sense to me. This was a girl who was doing the Superhero thing by herself for some time before the others ever did, and yet she never shows any skill or experience.

Worse there seems to have been a significant lost opportunity.
Even keeping the characterization the same I can imagine a story that would make her situation somewhat sad.
What if Venus was the Princess' decoy?
They look rather similar, and by having her activate her powers before the princess you could make an argument that people looking for the princess would go for Venus instead. And then after meeting the others adopting Serena/Usagi's personality to continue to confuse any would be assassins...

Yeah, that would be entirely too much thought for a series which ran away from the premise of teenage girls getting boyfriends ;~)

Still, Sailor Moon holds a place in my heart.

Haha, looked up old stuff and random and found this one. Oddly, I don't think I ever replied to it.

Matter of fact... Sailor Venus WAS a decoy for Sailor Moon! In the Manga, this was her exact purpose, and she was even claimed to be the "Moon Princess" they were searching for!

And once in the anime, Venus grabbed the "Disguise Pen" and turned herself into a Sailor Moon look-alike temporarily. But with shorter hair. Moon was NOT impressed.

[Jabroniville]

ZINGER
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Game Appearances: All DKCGames
Role: Flying Foes
PL 5 (57)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Athletics 9 (+12)
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+5)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 2 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent) [2]
Flight 4 (30 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [4]
"Six Legs" Extra Limbs 2 [2]
"Stingers" Damage Aura 4 [16]
Protection 2 [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Stinger Aura +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +4, Fortitude +4, Will +0

Complications:
Relationship (The Kongs)
Vulnerable (Barrels)- Thrown barrels do extra damage.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 26 / Defenses: 2 (57)

-Zingers are a clever foe in Donkey Kong Country- unkillable by regular means, you must either avoid them (even touching them is fatal), or utilize a weapon or an Animal Buddy. Red Zingers, introduced later, were even tough, and only TNT could kill them. DKC 3 replaced them with Buzzes, who are basically the same creatures, while later games omit them entirely, assuming you killed both their King and Queen.

Variant:
QUEEN B. & KING ZING- PL 8 (79): ST +4, STA +4, FIGHTING +3 [22]
-Queen B. is the mother of all the Zingers, and you face her as a Stage Boss once, throwing a barrel at her, causing her to become enraged and invincible for a short while before you can try again. King Zing is faced in DKC 2, and Squawks has to throw eggs onto his stinger to defeat him.

[squirrelly-sama]

SAILOR VENUS (Minako Aino, aka Sailor V)

I watched only a little of Sailor moon, mostly just enough to see Naru's evil love bite it, and enough to wonder at a series that had story progression. Admittedly not as good as some other cartoons I would learn about later, but I had access to next to no TV growing up, so it was a big deal for me.

And of the original characters I've always at least been on board with their characters except... except for Venus.

My favorite character design, she wound up just being a mirror or non-entity next to the others, being an even more airheaded version of Serena/Usagi.
Which never made sense to me. This was a girl who was doing the Superhero thing by herself for some time before the others ever did, and yet she never shows any skill or experience.

Worse there seems to have been a significant lost opportunity.
Even keeping the characterization the same I can imagine a story that would make her situation somewhat sad.
What if Venus was the Princess' decoy?
They look rather similar, and by having her activate her powers before the princess you could make an argument that people looking for the princess would go for Venus instead. And then after meeting the others adopting Serena/Usagi's personality to continue to confuse any would be assassins...

Yeah, that would be entirely too much thought for a series which ran away from the premise of teenage girls getting boyfriends ;~)

Still, Sailor Moon holds a place in my heart.

Haha, looked up old stuff and random and found this one. Oddly, I don't think I ever replied to it.

Matter of fact... Sailor Venus WAS a decoy for Sailor Moon! In the Manga, this was her exact purpose, and she was even claimed to be the "Moon Princess" they were searching for!

And once in the anime, Venus grabbed the "Disguise Pen" and turned herself into a Sailor Moon look-alike temporarily. But with shorter hair. Moon was NOT impressed.

Some trivia for you, Venus had her own series predating Sailor Moon entirely called Codename Sailor V, where she was the titular Sailor V. She was later brought into the more successful Sailor Moon franchise as Venus. She's actually famed in universe, unlike the other scouts, there's Sailor V video games and shit.

[HalloweenJack]

My niece and nephew LOVED Donkey Kong Country. I mean they played that on my SNES for YEARS long after I got bored with it.

I thought my copy may have a glitch in it, because one of the ice levels was JUST IMPOSSIBLE. I beat it once but died on the very next level. None of my friends could ever beat it. My nephew, God rest his soul, fought with that level for literally YEARS before finally beating it around 2006 and just barely getting to a save point on the map. After that he beat the game in a few hours, but that level...THAT LEVEL....man.

But yeah, they loved that game. My niece even recently took in an abandoned dog, who is just the sweetest natured dog I think I've seen, and the little guy only has one eye so she named him Winky after the frog, which was her favorite animal buddy.

THESE Ice Levels?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuEphlHK1uw

I remember the Barrel level being hard as hell to beat, but the ice ones being much worse. I never came close to finishing the game.

Damn, that music is great, though.

I'm wanting to say it's the one in the latter part of the video with the snow flying. The barrel one I think I handled, but I remember one with ropes that just seemed impossible for some reason. Like I said, I think it may have been a glitch in my copy.

[Jabroniville]

KING K. ROOL (aka Baron K. Roolenstein)
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Game Appearances: All DKC Games
Role: Generic Final Boss
PL 9 (93)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+8)
Deception 2 (+6)
Expertise (Pirate) 8 (+9)
Intimidation 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Crown) 2 (+10)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Crown as Boomerang- Blast 4- Ricochet & Homing), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8, Startle

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Crown +10 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8, Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (The Kongs)- Rool seems to merely hate the Kongs, and wishes to rule their island by starving them out, having stolen their banana horde.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 14 (93)

-King K. Rool is a pretty generic Boss, all things considered. It's not even clear why he steals the Kong family banana horde, short of just hating them and wanting their land for himself. The final battle against him is pretty straightforward, except for the very "meta" finale, in which he fakes his own death, the game ROLLS THE CREDITS, and then he pops back up for the REAL final battle, tricking gamers who'd put the controllers down and were just watching the ending. He is fought in all the subsequent games as well, though pretends to have been usurped by the robotic KAOS (whom he is using as a puppet ruler) in the third.

-K. Rool is a powerful, durable enemy, fighting using his Crown as a boomerang in the first game. In DKC 2 he can apparently use a blunderbuss to turn invisible, shoot Kannonballs, and reverse the game's controls using a weird gas (Affliction). In DKC 3 he has a large mechanical contraption, and must be beaten by throwing barrels into his back.

[Arkrite]

Haha, looked up old stuff and random and found this one. Oddly, I don't think I ever replied to it.

Matter of fact... Sailor Venus WAS a decoy for Sailor Moon! In the Manga, this was her exact purpose, and she was even claimed to be the "Moon Princess" they were searching for!

Yeah, I heard that her personality and purpose was significantly different in the manga.

Makes me wonder how much of the comic was out when they started making Sailor Moon.

One of the things I see happening in anime:
A new manga will come out, be a big hot property so they decide to make an anime for it. The comic has only got four to ten volumes out. The show dramatically outpaces the source material so they just start making things up willy nilly to get an ending.
(This has happened for Hellsing, Full Metal Alchemist, and Trigun to my memory)
Or they decide to stuff it full of completely derailing non-canon filler episodes. I believe the worst offender of this is Naruto which is famed to have more episodes of filler than it does of actual canon story.

Then you have the rare few who can put their foot down and say "No" when the anime producers come knocking.
I could be mistaken, but I believe for (at least) Inu Yasha the creator had enough clout to tell them that they could make episodes based off her material, and nothing else without her direct involvement.
This means everything you get is canon, and in character, but resulted in a few years where the show had to go off the air to wait for the source material to get to the end.
Probably for the best thought. Rumiko Takahashi, in my opinion, is terrible for doing the "will they, won't they" thing to death to keep people interested in stuff. I can't imagine having to slog through that and filler ;~)

And once in the anime, Venus grabbed the "Disguise Pen" and turned herself into a Sailor Moon look-alike temporarily. But with shorter hair. Moon was NOT impressed.

Up until then her silhouette could only have been one person ;~)