Who Created the Temples and Ruins? - DKC LORE #1

This was such a fun video to make and I can't believe I haven't dived into stuff like this before. So, let's talk about and theorize who we think created the temples and the ruins that we see in the Donkey Kong Country franchise, together!
#donkeykong #nintendo #videoessay #gaming #donkeykongcountry #videogames #dkc2 #mario #dkc #lore

[@TheJustintendo]

Join the Justintendo Society Discord! discord.gg/ukg65Wwjtz

[@AntiTheory]

My theory: We think that K. Rool is landing on DK Island for the first time in DKC1, but in actual fact, his ancestors colonized the island centuries beforehand but were driven off the island by the Kongs, who were slaves to the ancient Kremlings who worked the defunct mines to harvest the raw materials which were then used to build the temples that prominently feature Kremling iconography. K. Rool might be little more than a pirate who fancies himself a king, but his goals in the first game are remarkably straightforward - retaking what he believes is the Kremling birthright - the lost bit of the Krempire. He underestimated the Kongs, who had dwindled in number since the time of their revolt.

[@Lilipadpond]

Donkey Kong Island was promised to him 3000 years ago

[@SnevilGrey]

Yes! That ties a lot with my headcanon

[@seanewing204]

This makes a lot of sense! Add two songs and a Banana Slamma, and I'd watch that show! EDIT: There are definitely a fair number of Kongs. There's Uncle Kong, only seen in a Japanesestrategy guide; Multiple Mankey Kongs, outright stated to be banished traitors; There's the three additional Kongs from DKC 2, 3, and 64, plus possibly their parents, siblings, cousins, etc.; And finally, there's the other tribes from Jungle Beat. Plus maybe DK Jr., if you go with the "Cranky as grandfather" lore.

[@jjrivera5081]

My theory is that the ancient kongs and the ancient kremlings used to coexist with each other on DK Island long ago. This is backed by the existence of both Kong and Kremling ruins in the dkc series. Both races probably worshipped tiki tong which also explains the tiki ruins in dkcr. There must have been a kremling kong war at some point which could've been caused by the power hungry ruler of the kremlings at the time (probably an ancestor of King K. Rool) wanting to rule over the kongs too. The kongs might have resorted to begging their God (tiki tong) to help get rid of the kremlings which ultimately led to the kremlings fleeing the island and finding somewhere else to live (probably crocodile isle). Tiki tong eventually turns on the kongs bc he too is power hungry and starts enslaving the kongs so they can start building his army using their bananas. He most likely used hypnotism to control the kongs but some of the kongs were immune to it which is probably why DK was also immune to it in dkcr. The kongs came together and sealed tiki tong and his army away in the volcano of DK island.

[@indigofenix00]

I think Ancient Kremlings makes the most sense, the iconography sure suggests it. This has some interesting implications, since it means that the Kremlings lived on the island in ancient times, but they seem to be newcomers now. Did the Kongs drive their ancestors out? Did K. Rool motivate the Kremlings into invading by telling them they were "reclaiming their ancestral home", only to ignore the ruins and focus on mining and industry instead? Hmm...

[@manospondylus]

In my head-canon, DK Isle usually had a similar backstory to Skull Island from King Kong. Some ancient human civilisation used to exist on the island and left behind all the infrastructure (except for the more modern stuff like minecarts and factories that were made by the Kremlings). They worshipped or revered the Kongs, maybe seeing them as protectors against the Kremlings (similar to how King Kong‘s ancestors protected the ancient Skull Islanders from the dinosaurs), hence why you find so much ape and croc imagery inside the ruins. At some point the civilization must have collapsed for some reason, maybe due to Kremling or Snowmad raids or some ancient catastrophe. Perhaps the last of the ancients sealed their souls inside wooden effigies to preserve their legacy, becoming the Tikis.

[@TheJustintendo]

That is dope!!

[@Genguidanos]

Donkey Kong Island was home to three ancient civilizations: The Ancient Kongs, the Ancient Kremlings, and the Aztecs. The Ancient Kongs were the first civilization on Donkey Kong Island. They built the temples that we explore in Donkey Kong Country Returns, both in the game’s third world, and also the secret golden temples. The Ancient Kremling civilization first arose on Crocodile Isle, where they controlled a mighty maritime empire. These reptilian seafarers would eventually colonize Donkey Kong Island and build a great city they would name Kremlantis. The origins of the Aztecs is more uncertain, but they were a possible offshoot of the Ancient Kong civilization. Although the Kongs and the Kremlings shared the island in peace for a time, eventually, the Kremlantians sought to extend their dominion over all of Donkey Kong Island. This ignited a war between the Ancient Kongs, which the Kremlantians, with their more advanced technology, were poised to win. In desperation, the greatest sorcerers of the Ancient Kong civilization used their magic to awaken a terrible god, Tiki Tong. Tiki Tong, with the help of his Tiki Tak Tribe, unleashed his powers against the Kremlantians, sinking their mighty city beneath the waves, which we explore in Donkey Kong Land. Only two Kremling temples remained untouched, which we explore in Donkey Kong County, but were abandoned by the Kremlings who retreated back to Crocodile Isle were they would brood for generations planning their revenge against the Kongs. The Kongs themselves did not have long to celebrate their victory over the Kremlings, as the Tikis they unleashed turned their wrath against the Aztecs, turning their once lush jungle plateau into a desert and making the Aztecs very angry. The Kongs then fought against the Tikis, and, although it nearly destroyed their civilization, they managed to successfully seal the Tiki Tak Tribe and their mad god deep within the island's volcano, from where they hoped he would never espcae. Finally, the Kongs turned to their sorcerers, who they blamed for loosing control of Tiki Tong, and banished them from the kingdom. These sorcerer Kongs, lead by their Ghastly King, swore they would have their revenge on the rest of the Kong civilization, and spent the next several generation perfecting their martial arts skills.

[@georgesdeath179]

This gives me the idea the you could do a donkey kong iceberg video. I would really want to see something like that.

[@TheJustintendo]

Valid!! What a good idea

[@N1kk1_N00dl3s]

As I've said several times, I'm very partial to The Tiki Tak Tribe, but even with my bias aside, I think that the tiki theory is most likely. Some fun headcanons of mine: Since Tiki Tong demonstrates fire abilities in his boss, so I like to think he's some sort of god/demigod that created the island. I like to think that the tribe ruled the island with their hypnosis until the Kongs and maybe also the Kremlings broke free and drove Tiki Tong and his followers into the volcano after a big war.

[@MarkiplierMeatMuncher8]

My theory is that The Kongs and The Kremlings used to live peacefully, and they built the ruins as a sign of their friendship. In the DKC Show it's stated that Cranky Kong and King K. Rool used to be best friends, but something happened between them (They say it's because of an umbrella, but I doubt it. Perhaps they made something up to hide the harsh truth from the others?). Maybe a war broke between the 2 species? Maybe K. Rool caused the death of Donkey Kong Junior AKA Donkey Kong the II AKA Fedora Kong? Maybe K. Rool tried to steal the Crystal Coconut for the first time after he found out about its true power? Or the bananas? Maybe K. Rool ate Cranky Kong's cookies? There's another theory that suggesst the Tiki Tak Tribe used to be Kongs themselves (pretty suspicious how they want bananas specifically, no? Plus their hypnosis powers don't work on the Kongs, suggest they're one of the same). And they're the last remnants of the Ancient Kongs. I like to think that maybe many centuries ago, the Tribe believed the Kremlings didn't deserve to live with the Kongs, so they forced the crocs off of DK Island. But later the other Kongs realized that the Tiki Tak Tribe were evil, so they banished the tikis into the volcano to suffer for all eternity (maybe that's why they carved the giant Kong head onto the island, it was supposed to be a prison for them. But over the centuries the head deteriorated over time so the Tikis managed to destroy it and escape). Maybe at the start, K. Rool has some nicer ideas. Perhaps he wanted the 2 species to reunite with one and another. But the fateful day came where something happened between Cranky and Rool that changed things for the worse... This could explain why K. Rool has such beef with DK and his clan, it's not just a petty thing... Well, it's mostly petty, he probably had good intentions at the start but over time he descended more and more into villainy, forgetting why he even began this whole debacle in the first place. Maybe, deep down, he truly believes that the Kongs are the true evil, and they deserve to suffer.

[@KorySlane]

DK is my favorite. I’ll subscribe just for that. Great vid too. My head canon is that the Tiki-Tak tribe conquered Crocodile Isle first and then went on to try to expand to Donkey Kong Island but were stopped by the ancestors of the modern Kong Family. Resulting in the Kremean war mentioned in DKC3. This explains the obvious tree houses that are now vacant and why the kremlings have all of this tech that’s falling apart and unfinished. It was the Tiki-Tak tribe that built them and the Kremlings just use them.

[@TheJustintendo]

This might be my favorite theory!!! And I really appreciate you subscribing :)

[@mattkartout7262]

The fact that the're kong statues in the Ruins of Donkey Kong Country Returns could represent the ancient kongs indeed...But I prefer the Tiki Tak Theory

[@karabogdanak342]

Considering that when one of the designers of DKC was asked on Twitter what was the lore behind Krocodile Kore and its design and his response was something along the lines of not considering any deeper lore and they just wanted something ancient looking, it's safe to assume the ruins on DK Isle are there because temple in the jungle is just a fitting setting and nothing more. Still fun to think about headcanons and stuff, but don't get too lost in the 'what were they thinking', because usually the answer is simpler than you'd think.

[@TheJustintendo]

Yeah but that is so much more boring

[@NoshuHyena]

I think the most compelling theory is that it's ancient Kremlings. If the modern Kremlings, in their pursuit of power and industry, have lost interest in their past and are lodging in their old temples simply for practical reasons, then that's some interesting characterization. It also opens up the possibility of Kremlings who would go against the crowd with a desire to rediscover their past civilization.

[@jarerarebear1765]

I like to think the ancient Kremlings had expanded their empire or "Krempire" from Crocodile Isle to Donkey Kong Island. They had enslaved the Kong ancestors and forced them to work the Monkey Mines to gather the stone to build the Kremling buildings. Of course the Kongs liberated themselves and fought back against the Kremlings and drove them off the island. As for the more Monkey themed/Tiki Tak Tribe ruins we see in Returns, I see those as separate Temple ruins from the Kremling ruins. The Kongs built them but abandoned them to live in more simpler huts and cabins.

[@TheJustintendo]

Completely fair and valid theory! The Kremlings are more sinister than we believe I think

[@GamesinBrazil-m4t]

The tiki theory seems interesting, although things like this never came to my mind everytime I played the games. But it makes sense the tikis where living in the island and somehow something imprisoned them and this was so catastrophic that only a few kongs were able to survive and in a distant future KRool discovered this island and the rest we know what happened in the first game.

[@ODUBlue]

The great Wu Kong dynasty is responsible, of course. (Picture Cranky but with Pai Mei hair/beard/clothes from Kill Bill Vol. 2 😂) Love the branching out, keep it up!

[@TheJustintendo]

HAHA!! Thank you man!

[@jackscrivens9520]

There is an operational lighthouse in the background at the beginning of Sunset Shore in Donkey Kong Country Returns, clearly being used by someone. Maybe there are just other people on DK island we don't know about.

[@EricStevenTerry]

A theory I like to subscribe to is that the Kongs are an invasive species, especially when you play DKC3 and visit the Northern "Kremisphere." K. Rool is stealing bananas to cut off the apes from their most prominent food source. After a time, the Kongs leave DK Island and find a new home, giving it this same name, then they're met with the Tiki Tak tribe we see in DKC Returns (clearly, this is not the same island as we see in DKC1), and they attempt to employ the same efforts as K. Rool. I also like the idea I saw in Super Smash Bros fan animation from a few years ago explaining that the Kremlings are an offshoot of the Lizalfos we see in BoTW. They wanted to wake K. Rool up, so they took him to Hyrule, where the blood moon brought life back into him.

[@Sam_T2000]

but also, why is the Island shaped like Donkey Kong’s head? _DKC_ is probably the only 2D platformer whose lore I actually care about… the games have always excelled in creating a unique, mysterious, and inviting atmosphere and sense of place… from the music to the backdrops. I know you’re just a little gorilla dude trying to get from the left side of the screen to the right, but it’s such a cozy little world to inhabit. I love it 🍌 really cool video… thanks for the shoutout 🤙

[@Ty-douken]

What a fever dream, in the best possible way. In my 30 years of playing the first game I've never even stopped to think about where the ruins came from or who may have made the temples. If I had to make an educated guess I'd go with either a past Kremlin civilization or a civilization that worshiped them as gods, just going based on what we see people having made on our ancient ruins. It's rarely statues of us, but then you have the more European centric ruins where it's almost nothing but people statues.

[@TheJustintendo]

Great points! And thank you haha!

[@beatles123]

Okay, let's LORE-Craft! Here's my canon (I have Cranky and the Kong family partially written too if you like this. Part two if you will. this is the Pre cranky history.) TLDR version: The banana fairies/Banana birds were some of the original magical deities of what would become DK isles At some point, the Kremlings were among the first species to settle there and began bullying other species the more they advanced At a certain point, the Banana gods said "Enough. Life has now evolved to the point we can teach and enlighten you. Eat these." Some animals eat, namely the monkeys. These slowly help them to catch up to and even surpass the Kremlings The newly dominant apes, grateful to their banana-providing gods, proceeded to build shrines to them and also look after the rest of the animals. The earliest of these are Cranky's ancestors. At some point, Cranky's relatives decide to leave the island. Perhaps for their safety, or perhaps a desire to learn about the rest of the world. Cranky is thus born in the Mushroom kingdom. Grows up to be a strong ape. What his life is like is probably dependant on how his family are treated. They're probably shocked to find out apes are less evolved out there and feel homesick. His grandparents might tell him tales of their homeland. He's named "Donkey Kong" as an homage to the "Kong" ape tribe he comes from. Longer version (May be out of order in places): I have this theory that DK's hoard isn't just some collection of random banana's that he uses to eat for the sake of eating (though they probably double as an emergency food supply when needed.) I think the hoard itself is something sacred to the island and it's culture/religion. We know that the ancients on the main and surrounding islands clearly worshipped bananas if you study certain temple architecture, and if we take into account the fact the Banana birds and Banana fairies exist, we can start to piece a vague history together (Granted, it's not as if rare or retro were thinking about any of this. We'll be doing this for fun.) I think it's pretty clear that the Banana fairies are/were the original artisans of the specific type of bananas found in DK's hoard, and whatever their true purpose is, they're important enough that they thought it best to craft one for safe keeping. The "Rarest" one. One neither Kong or Kremling was aware of. I believe this to be a "Master" banana of sorts. A banana so powerful that the fairy queen chose to entrust the Kong family with it ONLY when Tiny helped rescue them. Why is it, though, that they would seclude themselves away from the Kongs up until that point? I think it's possible that originally. the fairies and the Banana birds both worked in tandem to provide for the world with their creations. Perhaps these bananas were in fact SO good - or perhaps, SO powerful - that certain tribes began warring for them. (Think of Jungle Beat as a prequel of sorts in this context. Yes, the game makes no mention of anything like this, but again: this is for fun.) Seeing this, it would stand to reason that Donkey Kong, having emerged as the de facto island protector, would gather them all in one place so that they not fall into the wrong hands. The fairies, meanwhile, go into hiding. I feel like the bananas either grant an amazing amount of strength (Which would absolutely be an explanation for how exceedingly strong DK is) or they have some regenerative properties. (This would explain Cranky's enduring lifespan, for example.) I think, though, that it's not as if one can just eat them freely. Not anymore. I think the birds and/or fairies have seen the damage they can do and do NOT want them abused. The kremlings, I feel, definately are more of an ancient race. I theorize they were the first to come crawling out of the island's primordial soup, which is what the first civilization or "Lost World"/"Kremlantis" was. I think from this also emerged the monkeys, bears, and other sentiant animals. Though some were clearly more evolved than other species (Wrinkly is heavily implied to be gifted with intellect, as is Cranky, where as the crocodiles are more barbaric. K. Lumsey fits this to a tee and is probably best explained as an ancient kremling. I dunno if I buy him being K. rool's brother unless he just so happened to be born with more brains via genetics, but since we don't know about the Kremling Monarchy, we can't speculate. We can assume there's definately a lineage. Maybe K. Lumsy was around durring the time of Cranky's ancestors and got his claws on a golden banana. whatever the case, the crocs and other animals like them eventually split from the monkeys and formed their own society with crocodile isle, and I don't think K. rool's priate getup is a disguise. I think he absolutely ran crocodile isle like a pirate base, and it was built around the ruins of the old society. Even in returns you can see the remnants of croc statues. There's more to it than we know (or will ever, since this is clearly not something the devs put thought into)

[@0RangeVort3x]

I feel like returns has a lot of lore potential, and tropical freeze Anyways good vid man!

[@TheJustintendo]

I agree, and thank you bro!

[@maddestmike5791]

I think these are ancient Kong ruins that were later appropriated by the Kremlings.

[@kasquez]

Possibly the best explanation is what you said @ 7:11. And it doesn't imply anything else, they just needed inspiration. Also, you should tell youtube that the Diddy you refer and we care about is not the same their algorythm believes it is.

[@TheJustintendo]

Ha! Very good point

[@Issachar-northern-kingdom]

Fun fact: inside the first cabin of pirate panic(DKC2) there is a map on the table that looks like the northern kremisphere

[@Tiwill]

KZbin loves to recommend me your videos so much that I forgot I wasn't subscribed lol, I fixed that. Fun video, can't wait to hear about the Kremean War.

[@TheJustintendo]

Ha ha, thank you so much!! Appreciate you.

[@matthewvandyk7773]

If you combined the runis in Returns i like to think there were two ancient nations. Maybe the Tiki Tribe even were a kingdom that boke into a civil war. Kremlins vs Kongs. I also like the idea that Donkey Kong Island wasn't always an Island and all the islands could've been all above water at one point.

[@TheJustintendo]

Great theory!!

[@G0ttaSmashTh3mAll]

To solidify Cranky Kong's implication about his ancestors, there's also a Kong/Monkey Tower in the game Donkey Kong 98 where Mario has his final showdown against Cranky and DK Jr. It's a tower dedicated to the Kongs in this abandoned valley.

[@Roddan96]

Dude. Love this content. I am not tired of the DK content. What other franchises you obsessed with? Wouldn't mind seeing some Star Fox or F-Zero deep dives, if those tickle your brain.

[@TheJustintendo]

Thank you man!! I really appreciate it :) and I love Mario, Zelda, and I quite enjoy Star Fox, Kirby and Metroid too!

[@AL_Talks]

Honestly it never even registered with me that there was Kremling architecture in the temples, that changes the motivation of the Kremlings. Also with the Easter Eggs of the cart ride in Universal there look like carvings/paintings of Pikmin. Since Pikmin are of a much smaller scale, I assume they accessed the temples years later but maybe they also came from this power/magic? I have a lot to think about. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, this is a great perspective to consider that I never would have thought of.

[@TheJustintendo]

Ha ha, you're welcome! Thanks for checking out the video and for commenting!

[@slikognito]

I'm such a huge fan of this new content, my friend!! I can't wait for more from you, Mr. Tendo sir🌚🥂🌝

[@TheJustintendo]

Thank you so much! I am excited for the future of the channel as well!

[@danielc6440]

You see. This is where if we got a Breath of the Wild Treatment for donkey Kong, we could get this lore exploration and deep dive into it. I would love to see something like a 3D DK game with the same type of vibe as BOTW where it’s a mysterious story but you uncover the past as you go. Idk just a thought 🔥

[@TheJustintendo]

Dude I would literally give my left kidney for a game like that

[@EricStevenTerry]

That may be a 3D game worth playing. I just hope if they do make it, they use better physics than they do with the 3D Mario games.

[@MrMassiveMemeKittyCat1750]

2:11 Massive? Like A Low Taper Fade? :0

[@TheJustintendo]

😨😨

[@kygigni]

The great ape war theory likely suggests the downfall of the Kong civilisation like you've mentioned in the second theory. Another theory source to consider is the DKC-cartoon, the temples appear there and house an oracle that helps the Kongs and this ancient oracle made out of stone has the power to contol all sorts of traps as well, suggesting that the temples as a whole kinda are sentient in a way and have existed since forever and eventually allied with the kongs. Perhaps the temples didn't need any civilisation to build them, like evolution made the most different lifeforms out of almost nothing in an incredibly large amount of time eventually.

[@TheJustintendo]

Good to know, thanks so much for the comment man!

[@YaboiJayb]

This theory is wild I never thought about that 👀

[@ArendAlphaEagle]

It makes sense to believe that the Tikis built the temples while the Kremlings built the factories. Though I think the Golden Temple, and the eight temples with the Rare Orbs required to access it, were definitely Kong-built, and so were the Ruins world in Returns (too much ape insignia). Methinks that the Tikis had been sealed inside the volcano by an ancient Kong tribe, who built temples over those of the Tikis, except for those inside the volcano itself. ...but who made the mines and the mine tracks? Mole Miners I suppose? Or maybe Kremlings too? Funny thing btw: the Donkey Kong Jungle Action Special, a comic magazine published by Fleetway, featured a comic in which Donkey Kong briefly discovers an ancient Kong temple while he and Diddy ride a minecart (Diddy had his eyes closed the whole time because it looked like they were driving straight into a rock wall, and therefore doesn't believe DK when the latter tried to tell the former about it). It was a brief section though, as the story was about DK and Diddy tried to retrieve bananas from some Kremlings.

[@TheJustintendo]

Well said!!

[@S2Volts]

I have a very different theory: Returns and Tropical Freeze could be prequels. The DK Island from DKC1 is a different island from the one in Returns, the Tikis were part of the first island and they had their temples (perhaps built by Tikis AND ancient kongs, given their shared love for bananas), but Tropical Freeze introduces the idea of moving to other islands, leading to eventually settling in an abandoned island that used to belong to the Kremlings long ago, which explains the Kremling temples all over the place. Maybe DK shaped the new island to his image via punches, maybe this new island was already shaped like DK and that made him go "yup, that's the one". Since the Kremlings moved to a different island where their research and technology progressed a ton, K. Rool wants to go back to their original island to exploit the resources it had (including the bananas). To answer the question: Everyone built temples, ancient Kongs + Tikis and Kremlings, each on their own islands, which would explain why the islands are so different, the absence of Kremlings in the newer games and the difference in architectural designs.

[@TheJustintendo]

WHOOAA. Dude. Putting it like that changes everything, thank you for this! Theories and headcanons like this make playing these games so much more fun and interesting.

[@MetroGexual]

I’d be curious to see you cover the Kong family tree. Like who classifies as a part of the Kong family? The big question would be the whole thing with Donkey Kong Jr

[@TheJustintendo]

That is absolutely on the list!

[@reversalmushroom]

I wanna know the stories behind the ruins, mines, abandoned tree villages, and the Kremling temple in DKC2's lost world.

[@abdieljove2011]

My random theory of the timeline. Note I’m a pretty casual DKC fan so there may be mistakes. In the ancient, ancient past, The Source, an unknown substance of mysterious origins, made crocodiles evolve into the Kremlings. They were the first great civilization and established the Kremlantis Empire. They ruled the entire archipelago, beyond just their great city of Kremlantis. DK Island was originally theirs and they built the first temples. However, they were eventually kicked out of there by some new arrivals. The Tikis. The Tikis came from another dimension. The extra world we visit in DKCR if you beat every temple level after getting the Kong letters. The Tikis conquered DK Island and likely contributed to the collapse of the crocodile empire in general. They also seem to use bananas as some sort of magical fuel. They used it to evolve the apes into the Kongs and used them as brainwashed footsoldiers. The Kongs eventually rebelled, lead by a hero ape too strong willed to be brainwashed. An ancestor of DK. The Kongs overthrow the Tikis but using their shaman powers, the Tikis seal their spirits into their masks and artifacts, so the Kongs lock them away in the volcano, where they remain until it erupts in the present. The island is ruled by a Kong civilization until it declines for unknown reasons too, leading to the current Kongs. Meanwhile, the Kremlings are no longer a massive emoire, but an industrial nation, ruling only the Northern Kremisphere. After a war in modern times, they lose that too, to the bears. After that collapse, current Kremlings are judt a pirate crew living in their sacred Krokodile Isle, where the Source is. Clinging to past glories, their captain fashions himself as King K. Rool and tries to conquer DK Island as a first step to rebuild their fading empire. Leading to the start of the series.

[@TheJustintendo]

Dude you should write a book on this seriously lol!

[@abdieljove2011]

@ Maybe if Nintendo hires me to write the Konga Historia lol

[@uffevonlauterbach]

I just think ancient Kremlings made the temples. Also consider their boss is King K. Rool. He's a king. What is he a king of? Is he traveling to DK Island to take over, or is he the king of that island somewhere?

[@reversalmushroom]

Actually, Rare said he probably just started calling himself king because of his own ego.

[@Schlagageul]

You should talk about a lore detail that bothers me. If Cranky is the original DK from the arcade games that grew old, how come Mario and Pauline are still young? Does the DKC franchise take place much further in the hypothetical Mario timeline where our favorite characters are now elderly?

[@manospondylus]

The most parsimonious answer is that Jumpman from the original arcade is also just a separate character and the father of Mario and Luigi.

[@6SamChat9]

It's all about interpretations just like the law of The legend of Zelda. It's given to us but it's up to us to peace it all together and that's what makes it fun ❤

[@ZukoPrince]

One detail that deepens link between Kongs and Tiki is the fact, that they failed to hypnotize DK. Now, i know that people like to think that it was because DK was too stupid for hypnosis to work, and yeah, maybe it is all what it is. But things like that still make me think about these kind of links. Especially considering that Diddy also didn't get hypnotized. Like, even if it's just gameplay thing, they still could have added the detail of him being under hypnosis in level and make DK snap him out of it, for him to join the game. But no, he still trapped in the barrell, not under any influence. In fact, noone from Kongs are hypnotized, not even Cranky. Like, his desire to scam his grandson out of his money was so strong, that he even set up his shop on literal enemy ground, and yet no Tiki was able to use it to their advantage? There something about these apes that immune to Tiki's trickery, making them natural enemies, and maybe Kongs was the force that trapped them in the volcano. But that already just speculations.

[@TheJustintendo]

That's such a great point!!

[@SnevilGrey]

I always saw the DKC1 and Returns islands as two different DK Islands, he probably had to move for some reason after DKC3. So I think the temples in DKCR would've been buily by the tikis, because there's a lot of structures in this game that were already built with the tiki design. And in DKC1 the temples have Kremling faces, so it wouldn't make sense to be the same temples as the Tiki temples. Those are more likely to belong to ancient Kremlings. In fact, maybe DK Island once belonged to the ancient Kremlings, and that's why the Kremlings were invading the DK Island, trying to get it back ?

[@TheJustintendo]

Fair!!! I like to think both are Tikis, but I definitely get it

[@ryanlee5512]

I like ancient Kong civilisation, Returns’ ruins and k levels have arcade dk sprites/young cranky all over the place (hell,there’s a giant statue that holds a Wii, or Wii u with dk jr and lately a joycon. ) It’s possible cranky could have been the leader of this civilisation since Morden dk is the “king of the jungle” they likely have royal blood.

[@ThunderXSurge]

BASED CONTENT

[@TheJustintendo]

THANK YOU!!

[@Kraivers]

I though your inspiration for making this video was the Overthinking Donkey Kong Country series by Definitely Mitch.

[@TheJustintendo]

Haha nope!

[@MarkiplierMeatMuncher8]

Can you make a video on Bluster the Benovelent AKA Leo Luster

[@nintendo-relatedchannel5810]

You compared notes with DK Vine?

[@TheJustintendo]

I did not😂😭

[@TheJustintendo]

I should have!

[@tvoyager7]

@@TheJustintendo two youtubers you might want to check out that have brought this topic up in their recent videos are The Red Guy with his latest vid, and Definitely Mitch's "Overthinking DKC" playlist

[@SargeMaximus]

And were did they go

[@migueloourico2011]

hello there

[@TheJustintendo]

General Kenobi

[@migueloourico2011]

@TheJustintendo sure, you got the reference

[@slikognito]

Yo

[@SnevilGrey]

They

[@TheJustintendo]

yo

[@maverickhuntermeta4954]

Too much to think about.

[@TheJustintendo]

😂

[@BohemianRaichu]

What were they mining for?

[@LathanFitzpatrick-vx5zp]

Uh, rocks?

[@TheJustintendo]

Good question!

[@BohemianRaichu]

@@TheJustintendo Perhaps golden bananas or crystal coconuts.

[@TheBeird]

Uh, Rare wasn’t it? 🤔

[@TheJustintendo]

Good one. Lol!