Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kongs Quest #26 - The Flying Krock

1. Screech's Sprint, The Flying Krock

Screech's Sprint is the thirty-fourth level of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. It is the only regular level of The Flying Krock and the last regular level if not counting the Lost World's. It takes place in between a series of brambles. The first half of Screech's Sprint is similar to other bramble levels, as Diddy and Dixie Kong must climb vines and avoid touching any brambles along the way. A few Cat O' 9 Tails attempt to throw the Kongs up into the brambles, and near the start is a Kloak that throws a Kaboom, just before the group of four Klingers, each sliding down a vine near the start. There are also seven Mini-Neckys that try to swoop into the Kongs. Zingers are the most common enemy, and appear in both their yellow and red varieties throughout both parts of the level. In the second half, just below the Star Barrel, is a Squawks Animal Barrel. Right after Squawks is transformed into, he must participate in a race against Screech for the rest of the level. While racing, Squawks must carefully navigate through the brambles and Zingers, and there are a few shortcuts along the way. Squawks is required to win the race, otherwise he loses a life.

WARNING: If you do not beat Screech the evil parrot to the Banana-indicated finish line, it is one less life for you. Remember that although Screech may seem slow and easy to get ahead of on the straightaways, he never makes any mistakes in his flight plan, and thus does way better in narrow vertical passages. do not get cocky or touch thorns below you, or he will win for sure! If Screech is right behind you on the last straightaway after the giant stationary Red Zinger swarm and you have both monkeys, you can crash into one of the last two Zingers and charge through the finish line before Screech can sneak a victory right out from under you. Be wary: when you seek to collect every "KONG" Letter in this stage, it is VERY hard to win the race with both Diddy and Dixie lasting until the end.

KONG Letters

"K": Placed between the first two Red Zingers (ain't Screech such a cheater with those bugs?).

"O": Upon obtaining the "K," flap left and downwards, into the narrow passage, to be propelled by two invisible Auto-Fire Barrels straight up. Once you are past the upcoming vertical shaft of Zingers (Yellow and Red), fly up and left for another hidden Auto-Fire Barrel which will launch you through the "O" and to yet another cloaked Auto-Fire Barrel which blasts you back into the race again. Never try to get the "O" without these Barrel Cannons, or you are likely to get spiked on the thorns.

"N": After the diagonal zig-zagging passage, flap up and right for the "N," then immediately dive down and left to get back on the raceway.

"G": Instead of following the last arrow of Bananas, fly left, under the narrow passage, and take the upper passage out upon collecting the letter.

DK COIN: Instead of going down through the first downward-pointing arrow of Bananas, sneak up and right into a secret passageway! After passing through the DK Barrel, head up and left to the Hero Coin, but watch out for thorns everywhere as you leave the alcove and fly down to a visible pair of Auto-Fire Barrels which send you hurtling back onto the main track.

BONUS AREA

Yikes, this is perhaps one of the hardest Bonus Areas in the game to get, as you need both monkeys to reach its Bonus Kannon without landing on any thorns after a Team Toss. Once you are past the Mini-Necky vine assault, Cartwheel Jump or Helicopter Spin to the next platform ahead. Using a very careful jumping Team Throw from here, chuck your partner up and over to the Kannonball. Kannonball in hand, hop up to the higher board platform and hurl the Kannonball into the Bonus Kannon. Jump to the right directly into the Bonus Kannon (a Helicopter Spin works wonders here, if you are nervous). TO COMPLETE: It takes teamwork to find this Kremkoin. If you lost your partner trying to get in here, break the DK Barrel to get that monkey back. Start with a skilled Helicopter Spin descent to the lower board platform, then Cartwheel Jump to the next one. Repeat this pattern once more to win the Bonus Area. As you glide down the first and third straight (not diagonal) vertical shafts while Helicoptering (both are at the end of each Dixie route), drop straight down the vertical Banana lines just as you enter the passages to save time.

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2. K. Rool Duel, The Flying Krock

Kaptain K. Rool: Once you are on board “The Flying Krock” airship itself, prepare to fight this game's big bad guy — Kaptain K. Rool, who's really King K. Rool dressed in a pirate outfit and wielding his most dangerous weapon of all — a colossal hand cannon that can fire various projectiles, blast him around the room like a rocket, or even suck you up and throw you!

You must damage him by throwing Kannonballs into this giant gun when his vacuum mode is briefly engaged. But be warned: after the confused K. Rool swings his head away from the Kongs and toward you yourself, the Kannonball will be shot back at you afterwards, hurting you with a single touch, and being launched faster with each blow dealt to K. Rool. Also, his suction power increases with each consecutive hit, so watch out later on. Take too long to hit him, and he will repeat his current salvo, sometimes accompanied by a blitzing rocket burst to the other side of the room. When his suction time is about to run out, any Kannonballs on-screen will start to flicker on and off, then break apart soon afterwards. The general rule of thumb is: as K. Rool is about to fire his first shot of every single one of his many salvoes, get as far away from him as possible so you can anticipate the sound and sight of each shot as it flies toward you. This approach works for every one of his shooting attacks, and gives you enough time and room to react and dodge every shot he fires at you.

At Phase One, you must avoid K. Rool as he charges across the floor. Watch out for any spiked Kannonballs the Kaptain places on the floor to make dodging him much harder. To escape them, jump over the Kaptain when he is in the middle of the spiked Kannonball you want to jump over (Dixie is best for this, obviously). One of the spiked metal balls will retract its outer defenses, letting you throw it at K. Rool when he tries to suck you into his gun (done with the only Kannonball with which to score Hit 2 and one of the ones used to score Hit 3). Clogging K.Rool's gun with three Kannonballs in succession gives you a DK Barrel to reclaim any lost partner as your old nemesis finally falls in defeat.

NOPE! He gets back up again? Any hope of an easy victory over him just jumped out the window in Phase Two, as he totally changes tactics. No longer does he leave spiked Kannonballs on the floor — he SHOOTS them at you! The first salvo of spiked Kannonballs is fired at three different heights (low, medium, and high, respectively), so, as Diddy, jump over the low and medium ones and duck (or jump over if you are good enough) the high ones to survive the first Kannonball assault. (Dixie can Helicopter Spin over shots of any of the three heights if she is careful.) When the Kaptain fires a Barrel, jump on it to break it and reveal a Kannonball to lob into his weapon's suction barrel. When you do this, and you have ignored the DK Barrel, the neglected Barrel will shatter into splinters, with or without your partner inside (if you do not touch the DK Barrel, it is impossible to retrieve your buddy when it breaks by itself). Now jump over him as he blasts to the other side, and duck and jump over the second salvo, which consists of spiked Kannonballs bouncing at three different heights — low, medium, and high.

To evade the Kannonballs successfully, vault over the low ones, run under the high ones, and jump over the medium ones after they reach the highest point of their bounces. Diddy's superior agility is phenomenal at dodging the bouncing balls of iron. Withstand this arsenal until you see a bouncing Barrel. Break it, take the Kannonball, and give the Kaptain a taste of his own medicine. Leap over the blitzing Kaptain, then evade the entire arsenal of swirling spiked Kannonballs in the third attack. Do this by carefully jumping over each shot as it comes toward you. Like the salvoes that came before, three different patterns can be found for every shot, this time in different circumferences. The pattern of orbit size is short, medium, then long. When the swirling, spiked Kannonballs propel toward you in pairs, be sure to give them room to breathe so you can successfully leap over the higher Kannonball as it passes the height of its orbit. With every jump, you must allow for room between the Kannonball and K. Rool (or between Kannonballs) so you can land safely.

All three pairs of double projectiles follow the same circumference pattern exactly, with the addition of an extra orbiting Kannonball to make it more difficult to hurtle over without getting spiked. The third and final pair is the hardest to avoid, so give its two Kannonballs plenty of space and prepare to spring over them. After the Kannonball above its twin at this time starts leaving the apex of its swirling trajectory, allow yourself plenty of room to land on the other side of the prickly orbs without crashing into K. Rool by mistake. Dixie's famous Helicopter Spin works wonders in this part of the battle, as this tricky jump requires precise timing. With a jump attack, carefully shatter the swirling Barrel after this last spiky pair, grab your metal projectile, and throw it into K. Rool's ape-slurping firearm, letting you release your lost partner. (YOU MUST GET YOUR PARTNER, do not GIVE IN TO PRIDE AND DO IT ALL ALONE!) Congrats! It looks like you just beat K. Rool once and for…

OH COME ON! he is UP AGAIN! REPEAT: he is UP AGAIN! Now we come to Phase Three, the hardest phase yet! Jump over the cunning croc as he surfs to the other side of the chamber without much warning, then vault over the Kaptain's triple Blue Cloud shots, which will each freeze you instantly for a few seconds on contact. With Dixie, you MUST employ her Helicopter Spin to bypass the Blue Clouds or you are dead in the water as Diddy. After the Clouds, evade K. Rool as he slowly turns invisible whilst trying to mow you down with his rocket gun mode. If you hit a Blue Cloud, mash B repeatedly to eventually unfreeze before a slow-moving K. Rool bowls you over like a bulldozer. Depending on how far away from the Kaptain you were when you were frozen, escape from Smashville is most likely when you are as far away from the enemy as possible when smacked by the Blue Clouds. (You can even escape when all three Blue Clouds touch you in succession, if you are both fast enough and far enough away).

When K. Rool's cloaked, listen for his rocket sound, watch the dust clouds he leaves behind as he charges, then jump over them. he will then decloak and try to vacuum you up. Counter him immediately with the Kannonball that appears, but you will lose the DK Barrel if you didn't hit it already. Next, he will rocket to the other end of the room and fire three bouncing Red Clouds, then three spiked Kannonballs. The Red Clouds will exaggerate your movements for a time, making matters worse as you leap over the triple Kannonball shower and attempt to assault the Kaptain. If hit by Red Clouds, immediately run to the other side of the room as far as possible, double back, start running, and prepare to jump over the Kannonballs one by one while standing still (Dixie's Helicopter Spin is way more effective). Quickly snatch your Kannonball and clog Kaptain K. Rool's gun. Ready for the hardest part yet?

After charging to the other side, he fires three swirling Purple Clouds to start with (they reverse the Left and Right buttons on the Control Pad for an extended period and throw you off). Wait for considerable landing space between the third cloud and K.Rool first, then hurtle the poisonous purple clumps with a Helicopter Spin or full Diddy jump after the clouds themselves pass their highest point of orbit. When the clouds are gone, he will teleport five times in a row, each to where you were last standing at the time and try to suck you up at full power. Lure him to the center of the room by stopping at this destination and waiting for K. Rool to reappear, most likely from behind you. As he is about to start vacuuming, run away from him as fast as possible until he vanishes, then go back to the center and get him to appear there again. If you do this long enough, a Kannonball will appear as K. Rool teleports for the fifth and final time. Quickly throw this into his gun, being sure to listen for the drastically different sound of this last Kannonball being shot back out at you at rapid speed. Unlike all the other times he got fried from the previous eight hits, the Kaptain will turn his face to stare directly at the monkey(s) you are controlling (not you the player) and freeze for a second prior to being backfired by his own weapon for the ninth and last time. On to the Lost World.

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