Donkey Kong Country: Beta Cartridge
I was around 11 years of age, and really enjoyed video games. My favorite games to play were games in the Donkey Kong series. I had played every game, all the way back from the Original arcade Donkey Kong game, all the way to the, current at the time, Donkey Kong 64.
So, one day, when I went to visit a local game resale shop and saw a Donkey Kong Country Cartridge, I had to have it, mainly for nostalgic reasons.
After inspecting the cartridge, I noticed something particularly interesting about the cartridge. It had a label on the game cartridge that said, "BETA Copy: For Testing purposes Only" written in small text on the bottom of the cartridge.
Thoughts of owning a beta copy of one of my favorite games from the Donkey Kong series made me have to own this. I was really curious to see the differences in the early version of the game vs. the final product.
After purchasing the game and returning home, I pulled my Super Nintendo out of my closet, hooked everything up, popped in the Beta Cartridge, and started the console.
Normal Rareware music was played, followed by a unseen message to me from before that said "BETA COPY: For Testing Only". I thought this to be neat, and couldn't wait to see the differences.
This is when things became strange. Instead of the normal scene of seeing Cranky Kong dancing to a record, we see a video. The video quality was what you would expect out of a Super Nintendo, the graphics weren't the best, but they did enough to show what was going on.
In the video, King K. Rool is seen traveling the seas, alongside his Kremling Krew. K. Rool and his crew come across DK Island. After landing on the island, they gather in search of food. They come across DK's Banana hoard, and ask politely if they could have a few Bannan's, and that they would be on their way as soon as the next day came.
Donkey Kong then came into appearance, and he looked very disturbing. His eyes glowed bright red , and his buddy Diddy had razor sharp teeth. Instead of the caring, loving ape that had his bananas stolen, we have a demonic looking ape instead. Donkey Kong, however proceeds to tell them to take the entire hoard.
K. Rool and his crew are very appreciative, and thank him for everything. As K. Rool is leaving, he drops a few banana's, and he sends small amount of his crew to go after the dropped banana's.
This ended the video, and you were brought to the normal selection screen. You were then given the normal single or multiplayer options. I selected single player, and began the game. The game began with DK and Diddy telling everyone a lie that the bananas were stolen, and that they had to be retrieved.
Thus began the normal adventure, only much more graphic than in my memory. Every creature or Kremling that you defeated sat still and twitched, while covered in blood. This continued throughout the game. Boss battles showed you killing each boss and mutilating them as the game progressed.
Then came the final boss, KING K. ROOL. This is when the BETA began to show a very big difference. Instead of the normal jerk-like character who immediately begins a battle against you, K. Rool instead pleads mercy, and that he would return every banana so long as he left him, and the rest of his crew alone. DK refused, and instead of playing DK, you are playing as K. Rool trying to defend yourself against the merciless DK. He shows his Blood red eyes, only now looking creepily realistic, as well as Diddy's Razor Sharp Fangs coming into view and also looking creepily realistic. They both come charging quickly, and you don't stand a chance as the moment the battle begins, DK jumps on K. Rool's neck and says, "DIDDY, PREPARE FOR THE FEAST!" DK then snaps K. Rool's neck. K. Rool is then placed upon a pile of the body's that DK has killed throughout the game in the hunt for his banana's back. Diddy then asks DK if he could have a special one, RAW. DK approves. He then takes K. Rool off of the top of the stack and begins tearing into the flesh of K. Rool with his razor sharp teeth. Realistic blood is going everywhere until Diddy finishes, and you see nothing more than K. Rool's skeleton.
After this , the credits role as usual, except the game didn't restart itself like normal. Instead, a creepily realistic image of DK appears with the blazing red eye's, with Diddy seen in the distance. Red text, appearing to be written in what appears to be blood says, "DIDDY, PREPARE FOR THE FEAST!"
Horrified, I shut off the console and thought nothing of it, other than, someone had obviously hacked a cartridge and put a "BETA" label on it as a trick to get someone to buy and play it. I then fed my pet alligator and went to sleep.
That night, I awoke to a loud noise. As I turned on my light, I let out a scream of terror, as only a skeleton remained in my pet alligator's cage, along with a note written in blood on the side that said, "Thanks for the meal."
Horrified, I went downstairs to check on the rest of my family. Everyone seemed alright and undisturbed. I then went into the kitchen to get some water to calm myself down. That's when I noticed, ALL OF OUR BANANAS were gone!
Credited to Creeoychris92
Originally uploaded on August 17, 2014
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