Playing With Your Food: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Edition

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Well stick a knife in me, take it out and put me in the fridge because I am jelly. The Big N hosted a special get-together of YouTube personalities who all share a love for video games and Nintendo. They had a potluck where each of them brought a Donkey Kong themed dish and their Nintendo 3DS with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.

Jimmy Wong, Meghan Camarena, Andre Meadows, Katie Wilson, Dodger and Luke Conrad all got invited to a potluck, bringing pineapple BBQ dip with plantains, banana curry, strawberry-blueberry salad, brown rce wth pneapple, and frut juce cocktals.  Sorry for the typos; started drooling and keyboard is going. These lucky gamers were brought together to share their stories and love for the Donkey Kong franchise. They spoke of their favorite game in the serious; for Jimmy it was Donkey Kong Country 2. They shared their love/frustration for the platformer; for Luke it was his love of knowing the (somewhat) secret roll jump.

They talked about level design and their hardships with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D,  all the while laughing and eating a Donkey Kong themed meal. They discussed the green balloon, which saves you from certain death and their opinions on Super Kong, a ‘guide’ that gets you through difficult times.  They even brought up an interesting theory of ‘Kong Cred’. At the end of the meal they took 3DS in hand and enjoyed Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. I wanted so badly to join them around the table and partake in their Donkey Kong themed dinner and conversation.

I would like to point out that Nintendo brought these people together. Not “got them together” but “brought them together”, through their mutual love of consoles and games. Nintendo just has a way of fostering friendships!  Some of my fondest memories are of my friends and I playing Mario Party, getting blisters from that Deep Dea Divers game, playing Smash Bros. Melee until 2:00 AM, and using a colorful vocabulary to express our distaste for blue shells in Mario Kart (only the receiving party complains). The bottom line is that Nintendo is responsible for getting a wide range of gamers together on the same platform.

The guests’ YouTube channels cover all corners of fandom. Originally, I thought they were all close friends doing similar videos on their YouTube channels (games, games and more games), but Meghan’s channel features Girl VS Boy episodes where she goes up against a guy in random challenges to see which gender is better at this or that. Then there’s Andre who does everything from comic-con to 80’s and 90’s rants. I was expecting a centralized theme of video game reviews but they all did their own thing – but what they had in common was a love for video games and all things Nintendo.

At the end of their dinner they “cheers”-ed their 3DSes (oh my gosh how do you spell any of that?!) and enjoyed a gaming session. Nintendo is about community and boy have they built one. I carry my 3DS almost everywhere I go and when that little light in the corner turns on, I get so excited. All in all it seemed like a successful, enjoyable time with friends and video games; something I’ve come to associate with the Nintendo brand. Have any fond memories yourself? Sound off in the comments below.

Check out the guests’ channels below:

Jimmy Wong: http://www.youtube.com/jimmy

Meghan Camarena: http://www.youtube.com/Strawburry17

Andre Meadows: http://www.youtube.com/BlackNerdComedy

Katie Wilson: http://www.youtube.com/ihavmnyskills

Dodger: http://www.youtube.com/PressHeartToContinue

Luke Conard: http://www.youtube.com/lukeconard

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is available for the 3DS and is in stores now. Pick it up!