A few days ago, we brought you word of Nintendo of Canada's launch event for Donkey Kong Country Returns, which took place on Saturday from 1pm to 4pm at the RioCan Yonge-Eglinton Centre in Toronto. But if you weren't able to make it out, worry not; we were on the scene to provide full coverage of the event.
Though the game would not be available until the following day, a number of kiosks were set up so that fans and passers-by alike could all see that the beast is definitely back. Kids and adults alike partook of the demo units, shaking Wii Remotes and Nunchuks wildly to make DK pound his massive palms into the ground to not only disable the oppressive local wildlife, but discover new secret areas hidden within the dense jungle foliage.
During the event, we were able to catch up with Matt Ryan of Nintendo of Canada, who was specially decked-out in a yellow Donkey Kong Country Returns t-shirt. We briefly chatted about Nintendo's expectations for the title going into the holiday season, though he would not compare how this title might do versus last year's system-mover, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, nor one version of this year's Call of Duty installment, Black Ops, as Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime did last year.
However, he did say that the game came as a response to Wii consumers' desire for a "full-on" game of this type. As such, they have high expectations for the game going into the holiday season, and believe that when people get their hands on a controller and try it out for themselves, the visuals, the sounds, the gameplay, and the challenge will make it a must-have for consumers before the ball drops on 2010.
At 3pm, it was time for the main event. Competitive eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, nicknamed "The Tsunami," flew out from Japan to take part in a special challenge presented by Nintendo, wherein one participant from the audience would come up on stage and play Donkey Kong Country Returns, grabbing as many bananas as he could within three tries, at 60 seconds each. Kobayashi's challenge was then to eat 10 percent (or more) of the bananas acquired within a 60 second period of his own.
The challenger managed to acquire about 100 bananas over the course of the game, leaving Kobayashi with the feat of eating 10 bananas in 60 seconds. Not only did he manage to meet the percentage, but went above and beyond to down 16 bananas within the minute's time.
Who won the better prize is up for debate; Kobayashi was given a large novelty cheque-like banana which declared him the Donkey Kong Country Returns Champion, while the challenger got to go home with a copy of the game a day before it would be officially released to stores across North America, 16 years to the day after the original Donkey Kong Country was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Following the competition, fans were able to pose for pictures with The Tsunami, as well as get his autograph. Meanwhile, many others would spend the remaining hour at the other Wii kiosks, playing as much of the game as they could before the hour was up and the event would be over, leaving them to count down the hours before they would finally be able to bring home a copy of their very own.
To your left, you can check out our slideshow of pictures from the event, which provide a few more details, including the swag given out. There is also a video of the banana-eating competition for you to view as well.
As for the video, it was taken on an iPhone, and tilts to the side at one point: we've never really recorded a long video with this thing before, and wanted to get a wide-angle shot before realizing that probably would not work the way we hoped. At least we know better for next time.
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