Containment

Greetings once again loyal monkeys and welcome to the second installment of my new column(still nameless any ideas?). In my previous article, I talked about the prospects of an N64 link cable, and a few of you(who actually took the time to read the article thankfully) stated that your gaming "circle" did not consist of eight players. Well today I have a special treat for you guys.

When Rare's Diddy Kong Racing was released, my friends and I thought that we had found the "worthy" successor to Super Mario Kart for the SNES(Mario Kart 64 was beyond disappointing). However, even though Diddy Kong was a great game and everything, the multiplayer game was not quite holding our attention for as long as we had hoped. One night, we wanted to take a break from Goldeneye, so we popped in the Diddy Kong cartridge and proceeded to invent our own multiplayer mode. When we first came up with this idea, we had no clue that it would extend Diddy Kong's replay value literally for months. We dubbed this radical new mode of play "Containment" and proceeded to play it for hours on end(and we still do). I know you are all dying to know what it is, so without further ado...

There are only a few, easy-to-follow rules in "Containment". First of all, you need four players(even better if they have similar skill levels), as it is a 2vs2 mode of play. After booting up your copy of DKR, choose the level in which everyone flies planes and has to get eggs from the center pit and drop them in their nests(I can't remember what it's called...Fire Canyon or something like that maybe?). Now split up into two teams and choose your characters. The object of the game is still to get eggs and drop them in the nests but with a twist. One person from each team is designated as the "offense". They are not allowed to attack or disrupt the "offensive member" of the opposing team. If you are on offense, your sole goal is to pick up the eggs and drop them in yours or your teammate's nests. Now you have a much better chance of scoring points for your team. You have to get the required number of eggs in your or your teammates nest to end the match. It seems easy enough, but there is a catch. One member of your team and one member of the opposing team are designated as the "defense". All the defender has to do is shadow you and keep you from getting any eggs into your team's nests(by any means necessary). The same will be going on with the other offender and defender as well. As you gain experience, you will find yourselves developing new strategies that could mean the difference between winning and losing. Offenders begin to use homing missiles and weapons as a means of "breaking away" from their defenders, and beautifully timed homing missiles and kamikazee stunts become that much more effective. You will see that this mode provides for much longer, action-packed matches, and you will not put Diddy Kong Racing down for quite a while once you get the hang of it.

Trust me. I ask you to give it some time when you first start out. Once you learn the ins and outs of the game, there is no N64 multiplayer experience that even comes close(aside from Goldeneye). So next time you have some friends over, pop Diddy Kong Racing in your N64 and "Highway to the Danger Zone" in your CD player and get ready for hours and hours of pure multiplayer gaming enjoyment.

If you have any questions in regards to how the game is played or if you try it out, tell me what you think. Remember, I am the creator, and I own the "Containment" trademark. ;)