By the end we had been playing DKC for almost two years on and off. Eagerly we made it to the pirate ship to meet King K. Rool for the final showdown.

This was for all the marbles. We were on our last life and hadn’t saved thinking there would be a series of levels on the pirate ship to clear including a save point and a chance to stock up on some lives. Wrong.

As soon as we made it to the ship the battle began. Suddenly a hulking, green-scaled figure jumped down onto the deck in front of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

There were no pleasantries or villainous monologues.

King K. Rool whipped his crown with violent intent. A quick dodge was in order but it was far from over! The oversized pirate king charged straight at us.

Dodging this attempted tackle seemed trivial; I was cocky at this point. We made it this far and a fat alligator wasn’t about to take my last life.

That’s when his pattern suddenly changed. King K. Rool began leaping about the ship, smashing down and trying to take out Donkey and Diddy for good.

The beefy king stopped briefly to try another go with his crown ninja star. This was my chance to deliver a counter strike with a wallop over his head.

After a few tense rounds of flawlessly timed jumps and barrel rolls, cannon balls rained down from above.

The large frame of Donkey Kong was no match as munitions of iron and ill intent fell around him – one wrong barrel roll and I ended up hotdogging right into an oncoming cannon ball.

It was then up to Chris, he was our final hope.

Our last life, no tag-ins and if we lost we had to go back two levels and start over. A lot was riding on Chris.

I began to commentate, “Ladies and Gentlemen this is our final moment! I hope you’ve brought your ketchup and mustard because ladies and gentlemen, Chris is about to hot dog right into King K. Rool’s cannon balls! There goes Diddy Kong, he somersaults away from one – used the ol’ stutter step to dodge another – holy shit! He’s dodged another and ANOTHER!”

At the end of the barrage King K. Rool gave one more desperate throw of the crown.

“DIDDY EVADES THE NINJA STAR! HE MOVES TO COUNTER. HE’S GOING FOR IT! OH MY GAWD! DIDDY JUMPS – HE’S ON COURSE – HE HIT HIM! OH MY F@*#ING GAWD HE DID IT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN DIDDY DEFEATED THE FINAL BOSS!!”

King K. Rool fell and a series of credits rolled. We roared in excitement I couldn’t believe it. With one life we beat the boss and finally beat the game. We put our controllers down, jumped up and cheered.

It wasn’t over.

The credits finished and without warning, King K. Rool jumped up with a vengeance. He came crashing down, catching the unsuspecting Diddy off guard.

We had lost. The greatest hot dog in history was just handed to us by the game itself. DKC had successfully trolled our attempts to win and because we had no save points, we had to replay multiple grueling levels flawlessly to get another shot.

It was like that State Farm commercial with the fisherman “Ooh you almost had it. Gotta be quicker than that.” DKC got us good.

It would be another month before we could meet back to try again.

The next go around we decided to do some map hopping, going back to some easier levels so we could farm up on lives. Once we had collected a good four or five lives we made sure to hit the save point.

Good thing we did too because we needed them. It seemed either we were rusty or King K. Rool was hell bent on breaking us (or maybe a little of both). We kept getting crushed under the girthy pirate king or smashed by one of the falling cannon balls.

Eventually we had to postpone and play the next week. It started off the same with farming up for lives but this time around we were better rehearsed and more prepared than before.

We only donated a few hot dogs to the cause before finally making it to the point that crushed us so cruelly before. They don’t call him K. Rool for nothing.

But we knew what to expect this time.

A few hops and some crown chucks (seriously, where do these crowns keep coming from? Does he have a kangaroo pouch of crowns? Actually, I’d rather not know) and we were once again walloping the gator boi on his head.

Just like Carole Baskin’s first husband, the king was dead.

This time we made sure we had won! The game ended with Cranky Kong sitting in his rocking chair outside his jungle cabin.

I found it to be an interesting moment because if you don’t find all the secrets and clear the game 100% like we hadn’t, Cranky will encourage you to continue exploring before informing Donkey Kong to check his newly stockpiled banana horde.

I felt this was kind of special because it was an age before console achievements and trophies and yet it still encouraged you to play to completion.

However, after two years of getting together on odd weekends, reminiscing, playing and hot-dogging, our adventure with Donkey Kong Country had come to its end. I gained a newfound respect for retro game designers and their cunning level-crafting. Donkey Kong Country brought an amazing experience and it was a blast to play.

DKC helped to rekindle an old friendship as well as giving us those breaks in life we need to keep up with the day to day. Thanks to that, Donkey Kong Country will always have a special place in my heart.

Over the two years it took us to beat DKC a lot would take place – girlfriends, marriage, college, career changes – but these weekend gaming sessions kept us grounded as we both moved on to the next chapters in our lives.

As for Chris and I, they say in life, true friendships are strengthened through struggle and victory. We go way back. He’ll always be my brother from another mother.