Flaming Tiki Buzz
| Flaming Tiki Buzz | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Screenshot from Donkey Kong Country Returns | |||
| First appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) | ||
| Latest appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (2025) | ||
| Variant of | Tiki Buzz | ||
| |||
Flaming Tiki Buzzes[1][2] are enemies in Donkey Kong Country Returns (as well as its Nintendo 3DS port and its Nintendo Switch port). Like a regular Tiki Buzz, a Flaming Tiki Buzz is a drum-shaped Tiki with red wings, with the body carved such that it has a large nose and eyeholes containing yellow eyes. Unlike regular Tiki Buzzes, Flaming Tiki Buzzes have dark tail feathers and are on fire. Fire in Donkey Kong Country Returns indicates an immunity to all melee attacks, making a Flaming Tiki Buzz much harder to deal with than a regular Tiki Buzz. Flaming Tiki Buzzes are most common in levels of the Volcano, but they do appear elsewhere.
Flaming Tiki Buzzes move in the same way that normal Tiki Buzzes do: They can be static, fly up and down in a set space, or fly left and right in a set space. They do not flap their wings when moving downward, and so they move down faster than they move up. Where a Tiki Buzz can be defeated by jumping on it or barrel-rolling into it, a Flaming Tiki Buzz cannot. In fact, no melee attack can harm a Flaming Tiki Buzz; contact with one in any way results in taking damage, even when using Rambi and his near-invincibility. Ranged attacks still work, so the player can throw a barrel at a Flaming Tiki Buzz to defeat it. Blowing on a Flaming Tiki Buzz temporarily puts out the fire, which makes it vulnerable to all melee attacks while also stunning it. Once Flaming Tiki Buzzes recover, they reignite themselves and resume their movement pattern if they have one. They can recover even while being blown on, but that will blow out their flames before they get the chance to move again. Flaming Tiki Buzzes are usually not close enough to the ground to be within range of Blow.
In Tree Top Bop, there is a Flaming Tiki Buzz with a sparkle effect around it. Defeating it with the DK Barrel from earlier in the level rewards the player with three Red Balloons.[3]
In the second phase of the battle against Tiki Tong, he can spit out Flaming Tiki Buzzes that charge in a direction and destroy themselves on contact with the ground. They are completely immune to Blow. He has two kinds of attacks involving them. The first is to spit four of them out in varying directions, but they home in on Donkey Kong. They turn slowly, and so they can be led to miss and fly offscreen or collide with the floor. In the latter case, that section of the floor catches fire for a short time, and that fire also deals damage on contact, but the fire can be blown out. The second attack has Tiki Tong spin and move left and right across the top of the screen. He moves across the screen two to four times, and as he spins, he drops Flaming Tiki Buzzes that fall straight to the ground. These ones do not cause the floor to catch fire on impact. Sometimes there are gaps in the Flaming Tiki Buzzes to stand between. Sometimes there are not, and the attack would be conventionally undodgeable because the formation of Flaming Tiki Buzzes spans the entire screen's width. Some Flaming Tiki Buzzes in the latter variation fall faster than the others, which allows the player to dodge the fast fallers than stand where the fast fallers were to dodge the regular ones.
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ティキヒドリー[4] Tiki Hidorī |
From「火」(hi, "fire") and「ティキドリー」(Tiki Dorī, "Tiki Buzz"); lit. "Tiki Firebird" |
Notes[edit]
- In some instances in the Prima guide for the original Wii version, the name is rendered as "flaming" Tiki Buzz;[5] however, in the Prima guide for the Nintendo 3DS version, these instances are corrected to "Flaming" Tiki Buzz.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "Flaming Tiki Buzzes are on fire, so don’t try to jump on them. Just jump over or duck under them or you will get hurt." – Knight, Michael (November 21, 2010). Donkey Kong Country Returns Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-47102-4. Page 25.
- ^ "Flaming Tiki Buzzes are on fire, so don't try to jump on them. Just jump over or duck under them or you will get hurt. It is possible to extinguish Flaming Tiki Buzzes by blowing on them." – Knight, Michael and Alexander Musa (May 24, 2013). Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-804-161497. Page 25.
- ^ Supper Mario Broth (October 18, 2022). Post. Tumblr (English). Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ 2010. 「ドンキーコングリターンズ任天堂公式ガイドブック」 (Donkey Kong Returns Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook). Shogakukan (Japanese). Page 20.
- ^ Knight, Michael (November 21, 2010). Donkey Kong Country Returns Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-47102-4. Page 41 and 96.
- ^ Knight, Michael and Alexander Musa (May 24, 2013). Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-804-161497. Page 41 and 104.
