Climbing grass
Climbing grass[1], also known as cling patches[2] or a green surface[3] is a special coating on the surfaces of some terrain. It appears in Donkey Kong Country Returns, its Nintendo 3DS port, its Nintendo Switch port, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It can exist on the ground, up walls, and across ceilings. Donkey Kong and the other playable characters can cling to climbing grass to move along it no matter how it is oriented. Often, this is used to cross pits or access areas not unconnected to an area by normal terrain. Some of the later cases lead to secret areas with items such as Puzzle Pieces. Much of the time these paths are obscured by foreground elements, such as leaves, making the climbing grass leading into the area the primary hint to the secret. Terrain with climbing grass can rotate or move around, just as with any other platform. This can carry the Kongs across a level. Some platforms specifically respond to the player clinging in certain areas.
In Donkey Kong Country Returns and its ports, green surfaces take on various forms to match the level they are in. All of them have the same properties in gameplay. The most common of them is green grass,[3], resembling generic grass. Green chains,[3] appear in the Factory. These have also been referred to without the "green" adjective. The Volcano has yellow grass which presumably is green grass dried out by the heat.
The boss of Factory, Colonel Pluck, pilots the a large mech named the Stompybot 3000. Its underside is normally spiky, but when it lands from a jump with its legs spread the spiky panel temporarily flips over to a side with green chains. This is the boss's weakness, as the green chains enable the player to cling on and ground-pound upward to inflict damage.
In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, green surfaces are renamed climbing grass. Climbing grass resembles ivy, grows from terrain, and does not come in level specific variations.
References[edit]
- ^ von Esmarch, Nick, and Cory van Grier (February 21, 2014). Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-804-16252-4. Page 23.
- ^ "Press and hold to grab barrels, vines and cling patches. Release to throw barrels and let go of vines and cling patches." – 2010. Donkey Kong Country Returns PAL instruction manual (PDF). Nintendo of Europe (British English). Page 8.
- ^ a b c "Throughout the levels, there are green surfaces to which Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can cling and even climb. They often look like green grass or green chains, depending on the level." – Knight, Michael (November 21, 2010). Donkey Kong Country Returns Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games. ISBN 978-0-307-47102-4. Page 10.
