DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut is an inspired animated tribute to Donkey Kong Country

From the ashes of the heavily meme’d ’90s CG show comes this fantastic animated chantey

With an immense amount of love for the Donkey Kong Country trilogy (especially DKC2), and the vaguest of vague memories of watching the fugly mid-’90s CG show of the same name, I am all about this fan-made animated short from creator Alex Henderson.

Featuring music from Alestorm, this whole production is spot-on. DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut will put a smile on any fan’s face — particularly those of us who miss the Kremlings (even though the modern Donkey Kong Country games are great without them).

“This year may have been Donkey Kong’s 40th birthday, but what a lot of people don’t know is that this wasn’t his only milestone, as this month marks the 25th anniversary of his glorious TV show,” Henderson noted. “Exactly 25 years ago, the powers of antiquated motion capture technology, Canadian tax dollars, and the audacity of the French, joined forces to create the greatest show in the history of television, and I’ve teamed up with Bootleg Dubs and Napalm Records to produce this celebratory anniversary short!”

If we ever get another game with the Kremlings, great. I’ll cherish this video either way.

It’s baffling how little of the show I remember, to the point where even the Crystal Coconut was lost on me, but I’m poking around (entirely too many) wikis to jog my memory. For a lot of us, the super-dated CGI characters live on as meme fodder.

If you’d like to relive the madness, someone uploaded Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut on YouTube, complete with nostalgia-inducing Rugrats adverts to kick it off. Expect whiplash — from pretty much every facet of the viewing experience.

To end on a happier note, DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut is getting filed in my feel-good memory palace alongside Pollyanna: An Animated EarthBound Tribute.