Debut: Donkey Kong Country
Let me start of by saying that I am EXTREMELY pro-wasp. People completely despise them, and… that’s not good! And when they say it’s scientifically proven that the world would be better off with them extinct, well, it makes my blood BOIL! How would the world not fall into ruin without some of the most important predators in existence, who also happen to be important pollinators? Show me the proof! Oh wait! There is none!
…That’s not to say I’m not scared of them, though! I respect them a whole lot, and I would never do anything to provoke them, but their power is simply nothing to be trifled with. And if I happened to come across a wasp the size of a gorilla… I guess I would faint or something! I don’t know! I’ve never happened to come across one before! But I guess the adorable cartoon eyes would lessen the fear a bit.
Zingers are a rather clever way to integrate the Gordo style of enemy- a nearly invincible, instant-damage obstacle- into a more realistic, down-to-earth series like Donkey Kong Country! Especially great of a choice thanks to those bright warning colors. It’s our natural instinct to avoid Zingers!
They must have known they made a great decision, because when Donkey Kong Country 2 came along, it brought with it a few levels set in Zinger hives! Insect colonies are always an absolutely wonderful level theme, and this game does not disappoint. They feature lots of Zingers, of course, as well as sticky honey on the floors and walls! Did you know that some wasps do make honey? Science Fact! Also, the backgrounds feature LARVAE!
There are also not one, but TWO Zinger bosses! Maybe it’s because they look exactly the same as normal Zingers and were easy to implement. There’s Queen B. in the first game, and King Zing, shown here, in the second! But wait! Male insects don’t have stingers… and have I got an explanation for you! King Zing appears in the stage before his battle as an obstacle chasing you, where his stinger (his weak point in the battle) is oddly absent. Clearly, this totally-not-a-graphical-error means that it’s a prosthetic of some kind! Bam! Justified!
Finally, Zingers were set to appear as ridable creatures in the cancelled Donkey Kong Racing. And can I just say… this game looked so dang cool! The premise was that instead of vehicles, you would ride on wild animals, each with different abilities, and hop between different creatures during a single race. Please, Nintendo… let us race through the jungle as a gorilla on a giant wasp!
