Tar pit
| Tar pit | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Screenshot of Sticky Situation from Donkey Kong Country Returns | |||
| First appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) | ||
| Latest appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (2025) | ||
| |||
- “Stay out of the tar, sonny! Jeez, do I have to teach you everything?”
- —Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong Country Returns
Tar pits[1] are a hazard in Donkey Kong Country Returns (as well as its Nintendo 3DS port and its Nintendo Switch port). If Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong lands in a tar pit, they get covered in tar and start to sink into the pit much like quicksand in other video games. The Kongs can jump to climb up; the entire tar pit is semisolid, so any jump puts them at a higher elevation within the tar pit than they had previously. Sinking all the way into the tar pit defeats the player instantly. However, being covered in tar is also a major problem. It impairs the player's jump height and movement speed, and it prevents them from using the Barrel Roll, Cartwheel Attack, and Kong Roll. Donkey Kong and Diddy can get the tar off them by using the Ground Pound or Popgun Pound, respectively, but it is impossible to use either move while standing in a tar pit, so they first have to leave the tar pit. Mine carts that enter tar pits fall directly through them, instantly defeating the player like any regular pit. Skullyrexes can be knocked into tar pits but are defeated upon sinking just a bit into the tar. Some skull and bone platforms float on top of tar pits: The skull platforms sink slightly when weight is on them but not enough to dip their surface into the tar, while the bone platforms tilt due to weight to the point that the surface of the farthest ends can slightly dip into the tar. If the player is standing on the farthest end of the latter kind of platform when this happens, they can get covered in tar from the tar pit without having to fall into the tar pit.
Tar pits appear in only four levels of the Cliff: Sticky Situation, Prehistoric Path, Crumble Canyon, and Clifftop Climb. Prehistoric Path is a mine cart level, so tar pits are an instant defeat hazard. but the opening section has tar pits that can be accessed on foot. The level has unstable wooden platforms that sink entirely into the tar if weight is on them. Later platforms in the level, wooden and otherwise, are extremely unstable. They start to tilt or sink when the mine cart lands on them but do not stop if the player jumps off. Some even start moving before the mine cart lands on them. The final set of platforms before the Slot Machine Barrel is wooden again, but these break to drop down quickly when the mine cart lands on them, and then start sinking while also not rising if the mine cart jumps off. Crumble Canyon has tar pits only near the end, as much of the level is about descending through the air, so there is no standard ground for a tar pit to be embedded in, but the tar pits that are present are a major obstacle in the Giga Goro Ball chase sequence. Clifftop Climb has tar pits only at the beginning, as the level is otherwise a vertical climb up a cliff that also lacks standard ground.
The Cloud level Tar Ball Fall, added in the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch ports, is based on Cliff and also has tar pits.
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Knight, Michael (November 21, 2010). Donkey Kong Country Returns: Prima Official Game Guide (Premiere Edition). Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-47102-4. Page 104.