Game File is a thrice-weekly newsletter covering video game culture and business written by longtime games reporter Stephen Totilo (Kotaku, Axios, MTV News, The New York Times). Subscribe here for trivia, interviews and regular updates about games featuring the author’s almost 8-year-old twins.
For decades, I have trekked to office buildings and hotel suites to meet with game developers and public relations specialists to play upcoming video games before their release.
Until last week, I had never taken my children with me.
But when Nintendo invited me to a meeting last week, it seemed like a frosty idea.
There was a game Donkey Kong Country returns in HDremaster for the Switch, which has yet to be released last Friday, when my twins, who had recently turned 8, hopped on a train with me to head to Manhattan for our meeting.
Original DKCR on the Wii was quite a challenging game. I forgot. I shouldn’t have.
But what is parenting if not a series of twists and turns that you – the adult who thought you were prepared for anything – should have seen coming?
My kids have been playing since they were 5.5 years vintage, exclusively on Nintendo consoles for the first two years, so my focus was on the excitement of meeting real Nintendo people.
No, I explained to them a few days before our meeting, the man who created Donkey Kong would not be there. But I interviewed him many times! (Cool notes for dad?) And there would be people who work with him.
Better: We could have played the game before it came out! They were blown away by this concept last September when we played Early Review Code Astrobot — their first PlayStation game. My son then guessed that the bonus area marked with a row of question marks in the game hadn’t been named yet because we had Astrobot early and the game is not finished yet.
Of course, this Donkey Kong game was a remaster, but my kids weren’t even alive to see the original. This would be fresh to them.
Image: Nintendo
The folks at Nintendo were welcoming. A representative greeted us in the lobby, took us to the elevator, and we were soon greeted by Nintendo representatives. We went into a room that my daughter later said “had a lot of TVs in it” and sat down at a table where the game was paused. Several other families also took their places.
Before we could play, a Nintendo representative began the obligatory presentation, explaining the game with a set of slides marked “confidential” that explained the controls of Donkey Kong and his buddy Diddy. The representative promoted Nintendo Switch Online as a way to play other Donkey Kong games.
Then we hit reality.
Cooperative games are risky with my kids. Always looking for balance, twins can easily become frustrated when they have different ideas about what to do in a game they control together. DKCRHD he created this tension within seconds.
While my daughter, playing as Diddy, wanted to race forward, my son, as Donkey Kong, wanted to stay and explore. Naturally, as soon as he wanted to continue, she wanted to stop. This game isn’t the hardest, but they usually take turns playing Nintendo games and rarely play anything more challenging co-op than Kirby. Some jumps were challenging. He cared about collecting things; she doesn’t.
My children started getting upset with each other and I felt humiliated.
A Nintendo representative kindly suggested the idea of switching to single-player mode. Yes please!
This went better. While my son was playing, I tried to get my daughter to talk to the Nintendo people. I hoped that maybe they could learn something from each other.
She was playing Mario Kart, she told them. And Smash Bros. One representative asked who her favorite Smash characters were. She said she liked Zero Suit Samus. And a lady who shoots from her feet.
Meanwhile, my son was learning how to hang Donkey Kong from moss-covered ceilings. He also tried to find the hidden KONG letters in the level. It became really critical to him.
He soon took a break and my daughter resumed playing. When she ran out of time, she finally made the challenging jump and exclaimed, “I did it!” And we called it there.
Success! They were elated. I exhaled.
What did my son think of his first Donkey Kong Country game?
“I like it, but it’s really hard,” he said. “I liked the first level, how you got around the vines and stuff, and finding the hidden areas.”
“It’s hard, but it’s good,” she said.
They both enjoyed this game. But what they really liked were the Donkey Kong-themed water bottles that were placed at each family’s gaming stations. The children hoped that they would be able to keep them. The folks at Nintendo said they could. Who am I to impose no swag ethics on my children?
My daughter, stunned, was delighted with the initials “DK” on her bottle.
“Oh, that’s it BK” I said.
“No,” she said confidently. “It’s DK.”
And that was the point. Then we went to the Lego store, didn’t buy anything, and then dropped in Nintendo Store (he chose Fireball Mario and Bullet Bill plush; she grabbed Kirby and Toadette).
My kids said they had fun hanging out with Nintendo. They liked the game, they liked the bottles. The brief argument wasn’t even recorded. They would love to do it again.
As for me, this evening was the latest reminder of another truth about parenting: I’m just along for the ride. You better hold on tight.
