The Childish Terror of Wizpig -- Designing For Nostalgia
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- Designing For is a series which looks at a level, boss, or theme in gaming and analyzes the core message of it. In this episode, we break down the final boss of Diddy Kong Racing, Wizpig, and how such a stupid villain manages to be scary, challenging, and invoke the simple joys of growing up and facing challenges as a kid that we all faced, invoking his own, weird, but special brand of nostalgia.
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Patreon: / designingfor
Twitter: / designing4games
Discord: / discord
Director/Writer/Voice Over/Footage: Tommy Eyler/Pyrrhickong ( / pyrrhickong )
Video Editing/Additional Direction/Script Editing: AuthorMan ( / authorman )
Intro Animation By: / @tarvouldsquest
Intro Theme By: / tracks
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Also check out our full breakdown on Diddy Kong, and how the little guy went from a video game nobody to a headliner of the whole video game world, and how time's made that all come crashing down again - • The Forgotten Heroism ...
Or our episode on Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled, and how its new tracks toy with and improve upon the previous game's deeper mechanics - • Crash Team Racing: Nit...
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The thing that scared me the most in this game (or the DS version, at least) was the animation of the Wizpig head opening up after beating all the bosses
Yeah, I remember closing the DS screen halfway and looking away in fear when that screen showed up…and even then the sound still freaked me out
Also that horrifying Game Over screen you get when you don’t place first in story mode always scared me
@@CLTurtle I never bothered beating the N64 version as a kid. When I saw the Wizpig head turn fleshy, I deleted my data in fear. Teenage me did finish the DS version years later though in redemption. Even then i cringed a bit at his awakening.
YES LITERALLY SAME HERE!!
@@GearGolemTMF I swear, when it isn’t about Toads fighting some lady, Rare games are just nightmare fuel
Yes, that the classic moment for everyone. But that didn't bother me, even in the N64 version.
Nothing raised my anxiety faster than when Wizpig was stomping right behind me in the first race.
wizpig is like imagine how a person remembers a nostalgic childhood video game antagonist and then making the antagonist ACTUALLY like that for real with all the cheesiness and hamminess and horror, i love it
hamminess, i see what you did there
the absolute mechanical precision required to beat wizpig was one of the many reasons i never beat this as a kid. coming back to it now, it's kind of insane how tall of an order this bossfight is
I did it as a kid but it took around a month.
Same, he was a tough boss but I was DETERMINED to beat him. Yep got through took me two days, can't say the same for other games as I got older. Except maybe the Valkyries in GoW.
Yeah, looking back its kinda fucked up to expect that much from a child but I guess the games were built different back then
I beat him just now using save states.
This and King K rool.... I never beat as a kid.... I at least had a chance at Grunty, but goddamn were wizpig and King k rool hard boss fights!
Wizpig (and DKR in general) is the EPITOME of the type of challenge that completely bottled-necked me and my abilities as a child and that only with revisiting it as an adult could I truly fully appreciate.
Other hard games from my childhood either became this mountain of a task through genuinely being tedious, unfair, or cryptic, but DKR always made it's goalposts clear, but made getting to them a challenge that just was a tall mountain of execution that I just never attained at that age.
But after revisiting the game years later, I finally got the closure my childhood self always dreamed of and it is to this day one of my favorite games to replay.
Also, real men use Krunch.
Real men use Krunch, play on hard mode, don't mash A, don't let go of A on speed boosts, and don't get the boost at the start of the race.
@@kelpfries9042 I'll agree with all but the last 2, but is it even possible to beat wizpig 1 without A-releasing the zippers?
@@TJ-Henry-Yoshi yes. It took me like a month, but it is possible. You need to use the trick where you angle your kart in mid air. If you do this, and take absolutely perfect lines over the water you can do it.
Still easier than Hot-Top Volcano too.
@@kelpfries9042 okay buddy we don't need to make everything some nightmarish Uberchallenge.
@@StarkMaximum If you ain't playin your toddlers racing game on at LEAST Ultraviolence why we even talking.
Man, I remember Wizpig giving me utter hell in the first race. Though like you said, we learned many skills by just playing the story mode. If you don't know everything about controls, location, and techniques, you already lost. I'm sure many players that have raced against Wizpig have their own stories and memories relating to the hell hexing hog.
Got there,but I don’t think I ever beat him
I used to be absolutely terrified of the loss jingle that played when you lose to a boss or in multiplayer versus. It gave me nightmares for years, and I still genuinely can't see why I find it so scary. Even to this day, it sends chills down my spine. Easily one of my most unconventional fears lmao
Real talk, I thought I was the only one feeling like that. It’s not like Mario Kart 64 with its silly jingle. Followed by the ominously soothing pianos to try again. Diddy Kong Racing lose jingle felt like you let the racers down, let everyone down, and even let yourself down. Nintendo Era Rare showing once again, you should really feel afraid of game overs at high steaks.
The unlocking of future funland and the final wizpig fight were lowkey some of the most shocking memories of its era for me. That high was hard to beat, blasting through the rest of the courses and beating him on his own turf was electrifying. And that first boss, that brick wall of "Beatable with skill and that's it," gave me an appreciation for learning lessons from games and growing. It's something I would continue honing in other games, relishing the chance to learn, grow and be tested. Honestly just something good to have in general.
Ah man, took me frickin' _years_ to roast Wizpig, mostly because I took forever to find out about the Zipper trick. Despite that, I do respect the choice to make him a legitimately threatening boss, and this video helped me appreciate how well he works as a heel.
Well, you roasted that pig eventually.
6:30 I really like this part of Taj slowly teaching the racer per boss that in order to win they need to cheat themselves to win against him like letting go of the speed arrows before landing on one for a boost, Wizpig may be a threatening foe to go up against but Taj shows it isn't impossible with his knowledge on the exploits to racing
Greenwood village coin challenge can go suck it that race is still hard
Diddy Kong Racing is a certified hood classic. Wizpig is a rather silly simple bad guy who does the job. I remember unlocking Future Funland for the first time and finding out how cool the final stages there were. All in all, great video. I feel like this channel is a little underrated.
HUGE ANIME BREASTS
I remember it was the way he ran that creeped me out. His sprint-waddle, and being so gigantic and just plowing through everything, was real intimidating to 12 year old me.
Diddy King Racing and Crash Team Racing are the reason why we can beat anyone at any racing game in this day and age. We were forged in fire. We are unbreakable.
13:23 Worth it! Conker's Bad Fur Day is a timeless masterpiece
that felt very close and personal, thank you so much for all the videos you make, they are beyond wonderful!
I think what was cool about wizpig, he was actually difficult enough to back up all of his boasting
Oh, yeah, Wizpig was indeed meant to be terrifying, like Bowser. But you still can't help but love him, anyway.
And yes, both his races were hard as heck, but satisfying when you win.
same here
The first race is really intimidating and brutal until you realize how to zip with the green flame. I didn't know how to do that until I died at that race a thousand times. I had gotten to that point in the game without needing it. Once you start green flame zipping all over, it's only a matter of time before you learn that precision needed to jump from one zip to the next to the next without falling off into any of the pitfalls. Once you master that, you will beat Wizpig and it is so satisfying.
With that being said, the last race with him on the rocket, is not as easy as he is making it out to be in this video. Sure, it seems like it should be easier with all your items and rockets you can pick up, but this one is a marathon whereas the other one was a sprint. And there's way more rough weird turns, traps and obstacles over a longer stretch of time that can trip you up. You have to be on your game for a much longer period of time. And no matter how good you became in the first Wizpig race, you are still guaranteed to lose this race a bunch too before finally beating it. And it remains very challenging when you pick it up years later, whereas the first one, it's very easy to memorize that short track and the fact that you need to hit a lot of zips and release the green flame to blow ahead. Those green zip boosts are so powerful that you can afford to skip a few and still win comfortably once you really know what you're doing. But no such cheap gimmick will save you in the other race. You have to be a legit really good pilot for a good, long 3 laps to win and it can be hard not to choke away any lead you have at the very end, whether in the throne room with all the lasers flying around or in the sharp turns in the final cave before the finish. But it all makes for that much more of a satisfying victory.
I knew Wizpig was hard, but I hadn't realized how much people had trouble with him. It makes the achievement of beating him that much better, I remember taking hours upon hours to do it.
I beat it first try 🥱
The fact that he actually cheats, starting early before each race, further cements him as a completely dickish standout villain. Everyone had a person they knew as a kid like this...
I remember my family getting me this for Christmas back then and being somewhat disappointed because I didn't really like racing games. But I tried it anywise until i eventually beat the Wizpig at the footrace and I was happy with it. NOW after all these years I find out there was another set of levels after that?! serves me right for turning off the game to avoid dealing with a credit roll but dang. (goes and digs out the n64)
You did a FANTASTIC job of giving this game the credit it's due. From the music to the gameplay, the characters to the style, it's an essence so pure that SHOULD weather the test of time. If only it could make a comeback...
I gotta agree with you, the game was a master at making nostalgia. It also at the time evoked a vague nostalgia for us older players. I grew up during the NES and SNES era and I was a teenager when the game came out, but for me, Diddy Kong Racing's ambiance brought me back to the childhood sense of wonder, it was a time when I could drop the cynical nihilism that being a teen was about at the time and just go back to being a kid, even if just a few hours. It was also a nice way to procrastinate when I should have been doing my algebra homework.
Ugh the music in this game is by far the best in the n64 I can’t get enough of how uplifting it is.
Wizpig's 1st race was what taught me the green boost. Before that I went through the game with 0 issues for the most part outside of the 4 bosses.
No matter what I could do, I could never beat him and thought he was unbeatable. It wasn't until reading the manual and players guide I owned that I finally understood how to green boost.
As a child, I couldn't comprehend how letting go of the acceleration button would make you go faster on a boost and would assume it would make you slower.
Learning that, I finally got to floor Wizpig and I was one of my greatest feats as a kid. Was so happy.
I wonder if Wizpig was secretly a Saiyan. A super Saiyan pig that goes to destroy planets with his powers sounds like a beautiful story.
DKR was one of the first console games I ever owned. I vividly remember getting it for my 8th bday along with the N64 itself and (I think) Rampage. Truly lil 8 year old me thought it was insurmountable. There were a lot of tears and all that, but the feeling of conquering the tracks for the first time and getting to 100% completion was unforgettable. I think it was some years before I even discovered the bonus tracks, I was just goofing off driving around the hub island lol, talk about a shock!
The scariest bit for me was the Wizpig ghosts on that one track. I never played that track as a kid because every time I did, one of those faces would always end up flying directly into the screen like a jumpscare.
Every video game ever made that DOESN'T have a secret passage/collectible/surprise behind a waterfall is a betrayal of human sensibilities. So few people see waterfalls in real life, so if you put one in a game... put a treat behind it. Our inner child needs it.
The Wizpig race may have been the very first insane challenge I accomplished in a video game. Looking back on it, it's not as bad as other things I did later in other games but it definitely is a brutal race objectively and I remember impressing my friend who could never beat Wizpig himself.
So for me, I got stuck on Greenwich Village's Silver Coin Challenge as a kid... For 20 years. I figured I would never beat it. Wizpig always represented this insurmountable challenge that I would never be able to beat. Hell, I remember writing a letter to Nintendo Power asking how to unlock Drumstick, and when they responded saying I needed to beat WizPig, I thought, "Well, guess I'm not getting him then." It wasn't until I was 28 and I committed an afternoon to not only beating the silver coin challenge, but Wizpig, the space levels and the Wizpig rematch that I finally felt like I had finished what I had started as a kid. I don't know if anything gaming-wise has felt more satisfying than that.
I remember Wizpig being almost impossible because back then I didn't know english therefore I never knew you could release A too get the max boost xD the strat was to be always in front of him and get him to push you all the way on those parts where he walks, and on the parts where he flies, take all the boosts in a row without missing any single one xD
You deserve atleast 100k subs man
Born in 2000, I always just kinda *had* this game at my house, I always remember it being around. As a result, I don't even remember my first time playing it, i just would pick it up when i was younger, think it was fun and probably lose a lot. So when you talk about "finally beating wizpig and growing up" it honestly hit me pretty hard. As a 5/6 y/o, beating dino domain was simple enough but I could never do the silver coin challenges, and I certainly could never get enough balloons to race on any of the Dragon Forest stages. But it's totally true, bit by bit, as the years went by, I got better and better at the game, then finally when i was probably 11 or 12 I finally beat wizpig. It really was a huge accomplishment. But I never realized until now just how much time had passed.
Someday.. *WIZPIG SHALL MAKE HIS GRAND COMEBACK FIR HUS REVENGE!!!!*
Dude, I loved Diddy kong racing. It was my favorite racing game on the N64. I could never beat wizpig. The music is what takes me back. Rareware was really at the top of their game during that era.
We beat Wizpig as a kid but I NEVER knew about this Future Funland. I wanna fire mine up to see what I need to do but I suck at Diddy Kong racing now. I don’t even come close to my old records lol
Awesome video, some hilarious editing gags too.
You deserve a grand applause for this video! You gave a wonderful existential perspective of why this game is so indelible in my childhood helping me to understand the magic of game production. Current and future “kids” games can learn ALOT from diddy Kong and Rareware
It is hard to describe how utterly *satisfying* it was to unlock T.T. for the first time.
That was harder than all of the adventure mode
Diddy Kong Racing was the first racing game me and my brothers had growing up. I didn't complete adventures 1 and 2 until I was older, but I loved watching my older brother and my dad complete each course and beat Wiz Pig.
I still consider it the best racing game in the world!
This soundtrack is one of my favorites, he did such a great job on it, and fantastic video, you earned the subscription and then some.
For a Thanksgiving-Themed episode, bringing two worlds together.
Mario & Sonic Olympics Design For Truce
You got my subscription friend. I never got to beat this game or fight wizpig but this game melts my heart. I have almost no good memories as a kid. This game helped me so much as a kid..whenever i got to play it
This is the first video I've seen from this creator. "No, jump good!" Has informed me that you are a real one. You are real, and this video is real good. Subscribed.
I miss my grandparents... This and warioland 2 are the games I most closely associate with them.
Bernkastel is in your banner, no way on earth are you based enough to have read higu and umineko. Unreal.
This was my favorite N64 game. I loved finding the space levels .
Your editing is fantastic, keep at it!!
Excellent video man
Diddy Kong Racing, Is most favorite Nintendo 64 game. The Feeling, The Music, The Challenge... Makes me want to scream with excitement. This game means so much to me, back to the days growing up playing it with younger cousins and family.... till now. I LOVE IT p.s. David Wise is my Favorite Music Composer
This was the first video game I ever played as a child, and hopefully the last game I ever play on my death bed lol, the way you describe the child like wonder of Diddy Kong Racing couldn't be worded any better, Timbers Island is a world of splendor that greatly influenced my entire life ..
Another great video, the editing was also top notch!
This is beautiful! Loved this video. Beating wiz pig really is a rite of passage!
Mm. I feel this video is going to hit different for a lot of people, but to those who've played it and witnessed the final credits... it's gonna feel like you're talking directly to us.
I feel like the music for Spacedust Alley and Star City show the feeling of how the races the you have played built you up for some of Diddy Kong Racing’s hardest challenges.
Thank you for making these great videos 😢
Absolutely fantastic video, you got me choked up practically the while way through! Such a great game and I really hope we do get a proper sequel, that pig has a rematch coming.
If we can get Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie on NSO, there's hope for DKR 🙏
Every few months or so this channel pops back up into my recommendations and I wonder how I forgot about it. I don’t know why the cycle happens, but it’s always fun to watch the videos I missed.
I could never beat Wizpig as a kid. The summer when I was 15, I went back to the game and played a couple of the Wizpig races each day. Finally I beat the bastard. Right as I crossed the finish line I suddenly had a full beard and a hairy chest.
Did not know about this mega zipper meta, and because of this every race against this chonker has been down to the absolute wire. Also had no idea Drumstick was the previous island champion, how did I miss all this!? Great video as always.
keep making this beautiful videos man👍👍👍
This video is so well put together! The editing is top notch, the commentary is funny. Instantly subscribed! Can't wait to see what other videos you got on your channel. Thanks TH-cam for recommending this :)
“Let’s go to his house and kick his ass!”
That is perfect. XD
" No No No... Wrong way" has become a personal Meme for myself that i use when someone driving makes a wrong turn. This game cures depression and i will forever love it.
I would kill for a remake sequel hybrid where all the characters have grown up to their modern alterations, A comeback season if you would.
Diddy Kong Racing 2: Wizpig’s Last Strike
@@justinbarton8808 Actually I was just gonna add the "Comeback Season" to the original subtitle.
There was going to be a sequel, donkey kong racing, but then rare was going bankrupt, nintendo didn't buy them, and Microsoft bought them instead so they had to cancel it
You've just given me nostalgia for a game I never played!!! How did you do that?!
Bro I still haven't beaten Wizpig. I can barely beat that damn triceratops.
This was my very first N64 game so extra shame
Brother, your videos are just so damn good.
Man, Diddy Kong Racing is a childhood memory, I am saddened to hear that Rare Studio's disappeared or gone bankrupt, But they produced such amazing games.
You got really good editing!
never actually got to play diddy kong racing, but this really makes me want to pick it up!
You should, best kart racing game as far as i'm concerned
Didn't think I'd hop on TH-cam today to find
D I D D Y K O N G R A C I N G L O R E
I think it's amazing how you opened a new way for me to see DKR. I remember I had fun playing, but I didn't own the game, only rented, so I couldn't really experience like that. Putting this way, this makes the game so underrated, we don't see it in Top 10 lists or deeper analyses of bigger reviewers, but it deserves. But it also highlights what writing for children should be. I know the Di$ney rule of writing for children aiming for adults, but writing and designing games having a primary target demographic for children requires treating them as independent and having confidence they can learn, and if you make a good job, you'll sure get other demographics.
Great video. Wizpig 1 is the boss I struggled the most against in my gamer life. 10 year old me cried out of rage after losing and losing again, but after much tries, I finally managed to beat him and I even beat Wizpig 2 after only one attempt. I guess it changed me as a gamer.
This game just had so many super fun details to it that made it such a classic. One of the little things I loved so much is how every character had different instrumentations they played the themesong to both in the opening and in the character select screen. Little injections of personality like that will always mean so much to me in video games and I truly think it's formative experiences like growing up with DKR that make me that way.
Who else never reached the Wizpig fight as a kid, and when older found out that the childish fantasies like something being behind the Wizpig were real?
Especially I never expected the lighthouse would really have a purpose in the end. I thought, it would just be decoration, even if I often got there as a child. And that there is a whole new fifth world, I never experienced as a child.
It felt like as if you start up Mario Kart 64 when older and some day you free the caged thwomp, you bumped against with full speed many times hoping something will happen as a kid.
Im gonna be dead honest: I actually broke down and cried after the 50th time I tried to beat the crab boss. It just felt like some big bully shitting on me so many times that it became emotionally real. That is the only time a videogame has made me cry.
Do u mean the octopus one?? Confused when u said crab, or is that something in the ds version.
@@SmashHDD oh yeah i meant the octupus
I was todays years old when i learned Diddy Kong Racing is based on an amusement park! I never thought of it like that until you said but it literally all make sense! So you just got yourself a new subscriber just for enlightening me on that aspect! Thank You! 😃😃😃😃😃
I like the part where he puts his mouth over Diddy Kong and says what he says it's hilarious.
Thank you, I had to surgically remove my face and put it onto Diddy to make it happen. I'm committed to realism
I had the captions turn off when I first played, so never saw Taj’s hints. It took me days to beat Wizpig. I had already unlocked Drumstick before I finally beat him. Learning how to use the green boost during the Wizpig race itself. I also discovered tapping A to go faster, which is how I discovered the green boost.
my experience with this guy's first race was taking him on with someone else's file on a rented copy of the game, meaning i had no idea about the zipper trick you need to have a chance at all. pretty sure this was intentional with how big rentals were at the time, but it did make getting there legitimately on my own file and being told all the tricks along the way feel like unraveling a mystery
This game was awesome. It took a while at the time for it to grow on me but the levels were so creative and varied. The sense of accomplishment was great throughout!
great video!!
So insane when you first stumbled onto the lighthouse and it turned into a spaceship! For those of us playing it before the Internet, it was such a good secret 🎉 my favorite racing game to this day!
I'm still wondering how my brother found the Battle Game keys. The first one in Ancient Lake is obvious, but I would've never guessed that there was a key off the side in Crescent Island. And, I certainly wouldn't have guessed that the key in Boulder Canyon required the bell and bridge
So happy to see a video on my favorite N64 game! It's so rare to find a good in-depth guilty pleasure video on DKR (pun entirely intended!)
Great, you broke No Nostalgia Critic November for me.
I always thought I was the only one who was ever scared of Wizpig… how can such a simple idea be so terrifying?!
Wizpigs laugh is so awesome!
I still got my cartridge with Conker on it and it sits comfortably next to his Bad Fur Day
This is an awesome video. I didn’t consider it so much but back in the day it was such a great feeling to beat the OG Wizpig race. As a kid before I could beat it I remember wondering if it was even possible! I wish they’d get the game on NSO one of these days.
I still remember the sense of accomplishment when I first beat Wizpig as a kid with Diddy Kong(The only character I could beat him with)....that and beating the actual boss in Star Fox was probably one the most memorable gaming experience in my life because the game was so damn hard.
Love love love your videos! So we subbed. Also we would love to welcome you to the Monster Club someday. It’s super nostalgic. You’ll love it 🎴🎴🎴
Surprisingly the second Wizpig race was easier than the first. Beat it after 3 tries whereas the first race took like 25.
Lol 40 tries here on the 64 🤣. I felt disrespected when the DS verison made it easier lol.
The biggest and most frustrating races for me was the Beetle (82 tries) in DK 64 and the races in F Zero GX story mode lol 😆
Given that I have never beat wizpig the first time, all of the in-game content after that was completely new to me from watching this video. All these years I've always thought the game ended right after you beat the pig that one time.
One of my all time favorite games to this day 20 years or so later. The music is just fantastic, the racing is fun, the stage design is simple yet charming and the dreaded boss races add an extra challenge not found in most racing games. The annoying silver coin challenges especially in adventure 2... I had an absolute blast playing this game as a kid. And so many failed attempts at beating that mean wizpig man. Unless you knew somehow about the rainbow dash before hand, you were just not fast enough. The wizpig rematch when he comes flying out of the wall still gives me goosebumps the way it’s meant to surprise you. And then the kick ass theme starts up. The nostalgia I get from playing this game as an adult is unreal. Still holds up, still fun to play but obviously much easier. Although I have to say, when I played a rom of dkr on pc, the race with lucky the walrus is actually pretty difficult, if you miss any balloons or don’t Time things right, you can’t pass him. If you hit any walls or trees you can’t catch up. This game is a RARE gem and will always have a special place in my memories.
just completed this awesome game and found your awesome video!
I LOVE this game!! great video!
I was so excited when i saw the rare racers merch!! im hoping theres going to be more of it, and maybe it opens the door for a spiritual successor under the name rare racers?
i wasnt scared if wizpig as a kid but i was scared of the wizpig trophy! something about the trophy room seemed ominous to 6 year old me, and driving into it only to get that (startling) audio cue and pop up that i couldnt read (i didnt know english at the time) freaked me out a little
I remember how excited my friends and I got when one of us beat Wizpig for the first time. The guy who did it even showed the rest of us how to do it. My dumbass never read any of the racing tips so I was blow away when I was told how to make boost better by letting go of "A".
ROFL THAT SAMURAI JACK REFERENCE XD , wizpig is totally flying though
and yeah i totally felt that same thing even as a kid that this final boss guy was that challenge personified and made terrifying to boot , actually feeling real fear the first time you started the game to see that giant scary face , racing the bosses , unlocking the mountain mouth , and seeing the tyrant in person for the first time , memorable stuff.....
I remember as a kid in 90s me and my friend used to take turns playing against wizpig because we were both raging at the game lol. Until this day I still couldn't beat him. Good times...
1:20 good lord. I didn't grow up with a nintendo console, there's nothing particularly special about Diddy Kong Racing that would objectively evoke that feeling.