31. Pirate Panic

In terms o’ 1st levels, “Pirate Panic” is stronger than DKC3’s “Lakeside Limbo”, but weaker than DKC1’s “Jungle Hijinx”. It does its job o’ introducing mechanics such as throwing your partner up to reach greater heights, holding A to use Rambi’s super charge, & the existence o’ the per-level hero coin, in plain sight for the only time in this level, but it doesn’t do so in particular interesting ways — they just sort o’ put these things in a sequence from left to right, banana formations giving information. One might suspect that the designers wanted to keep this level simple & basic to not o’erwhelm new players, but it comes @ the cost o’ being interesting or memorable; & if you compare to DKC1’s “Jungle Hijinx”, that level had multiple layers, with far mo’ cool collectibles you can grab.

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