First there was Donkey Kong, but then there was Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Lanky Kong, Dixie Kong. It continues. This month, we get Super Kong. He's like Donkey Kong but with silver fur and a blue tie.
He's here to help.
This month's Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns, which lets players control Donkey and Diddy Kong, will feature special appearances by Super Kong. The new Kong arrives as part of a help system designed to enable struggling players get through the game's toughest levels.
That's a good thing, because the new game a side-scrolling throwback to the Donkey Kong Country series from the Super Nintendo era, is not easy.
The help system in the new Kong game, dubbed the Super Guide, is similar to the one introduced in last November's New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The Super Guide in that side-scrolling Mario adventure became available whenever a player died in a level at least eight times. After the eighth death, players received the option to have a computer-controlled character run and jump through the level for them, though the player would have the option to resume control at any time. The Donkey Kong super guide follows the same rules, though the helper character in this game is Super Kong, relation to Donkey Kong unknown.
Nintendo has consistently tried to make the Super Guide a help without making it a cheat. The Super Kong run-throughs of the game's levels will show efficient pathways, but Super Kong won't use all of a level's shortcuts nor unearth all of its secrets. Any scoring items collected in a level where Super Kong is activated won't count toward the player's overall collection tally. Levels in which Super Kong is used will also show up as red dots on the game's map, showing that they weren't completed without help.
Super Kong's Super Guide can only be used in Donkey Kong Country Returns' single-player mode. It is unavailable when two players are going through a level cooperatively.
No Super Kong images were available at the time of this posting. He's not showing up yet, because obviously his help was not needed to publish this story.