Expresso Racing as seen in the game Donkey Kong Country 2 for GBA.
Expresso Racing, or Expresso's Racing, is a racing minigame present only in the Game Boy Advance version of the game Donkey Kong Country 2. In this minigame, the player controls Expresso racing against three other Expressos, each of whom having a random name, and are colored red, green, and blue. By finishing the races in first place, the player earns golden trophies and DK Coins from Cranky Kong.
The minigame can be accessed in every location of the Cranky's Hut. When meeting Cranky Kong for the first time in the game, the player must pick the option "Cranky's Surprise", and the old primate will introduce the animal buddy Expresso and give one Golden Feather to the player. The player must find another three feathers in any stages to make Expresso bigger and Cranky allows them to start the minigame. Before races, the player can freely power up the bird by using the collected Golden Feathers in stages. Expresso possesses forty slots for upgrading, equally divided into stats Strength, Speed, Flight and Boost. Strength helps to stop other racers of pushing the bird, Speed increases Expresso's maximum speed, Flight allows Expresso to pick up Golden Feathers on the tracks and make a short flight, and Boost allows him to pick bird grains to use as a short boost of speed.
Depending on the world visited in, while the track itself always uses a jungle appearance, the background will be different, such as the background in Krem Quay using a Swamp-themed background.
Each race consists of three laps around the tracks. During races, players must avoid being pushed by other racers, jump over elevated ground and obstacles capable of slow them down, such as water and mud, and do not fall down into pits and spike traps. Running over red arrows will give Expresso a short boost of speed, which can also enable him to jump over the obstacles. The player must collect Golden Feathers and bird grains on the tracks before the opponents can to allow Expresso to execute short flights and short boosts of speed, respectively. At each new track, the opponent Expressos receive bigger stat boosts, making later races even harder.
The minigame can also be unlocked and played in the Bonus Games menu, in single player or multiplayer (by using a Game Link Cable[1] with another GBA). There, the player can set the number of laps from one to five, activate balance of stats between racers and view the best lap times in each track of their game files. However, it is impossible to upgrade their Expresso with Golden Feathers, like in the main game.
List of Racing Tracks[]
- Ship Deck Dash: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Gangplank Galleon world.
- Magma Spurt: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Crocodile Cauldron world.
- Swampy Swoop: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Krem Quay world.
- Fairground Fall: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Krazy Kremland world.
- Spooky Sprint: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Gloomy Gulch world.
- Castle Creep: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the K. Rool's Keep world.
- Lost World Leap: track accessible in the Cranky's Hut of the Lost World.
Gallery[]
