DKC Atlas Forum

[WesternTanager794]

Scribes is long gone, : . Which is terrible! But did anyone figure out what the mourning animation was used for?
My best guess was that instead of the boss scare in stronghold showdown, there was the mourning animation. What is everyone else’s opinion?

[Mattrizzle]

I still stand by the idea that they were meant to be used when losing a bonus game, as DKC2 doesn't use an animation for that. My theory is that scrolling would lock, and the characters would sulk while walking off the screen, as the bonus lose fanfare played. Another user found a small raincloud that was seemingly meant to form over Diddy and Dixie's heads and accompany them in this animation.

The reason it was scrapped is likely that there are many bonus rooms which lack long stretches of solid ground, and it would be weird to have the Kongs walk off of a cliff.

[Super Luigi!]

I like that idea, although I've also wondered if the animations were for a scrapped in-game version of the manual's story, or maybe they were planned for the Kaptain's Kabin in Pirate Panic after reading the note, like the banana hoard in DKC1? Our ideas seem to be the most likely.

[WesternTanager794]

I like your second idea! That seems just as likely! Maybe we could ask Playtonic Games?

[WesternTanager794]

Guess what I found!

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[WesternTanager794]

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[WesternTanager794]

I was doing some research on this.

In the data they're right next to the sprites for winning a bonus game

I found this doing research on this. A very old forum thread on it.
viewtopic.php?t=1383
In which, a new theory showed up. The mourning animation was played upon startup of the game. Maybe only for the first time, though? Additionally, I believe that Rareware had something planned for Stronghold Showdown. Perhaps, the K.rool Boss fight there instead of the flying krock which is totally a reference to the gargantuan. I still don’t believe it was originally planned to be empty. But at the same time it was a bluff ending/boss fight. Perhaps it was akin to DKC1 fake credits and fake ending. It sure reminds me of that fact.