DKC Tricks
Can we get off? I'm feeling a bit dizzy.
Rolling is the meat of this game. It's fster than running or jumping and generally does a better job of dispatching enemies and getting over gaps than the jump alone. Any time not spent rolling is generally better spent rolling. DKC is primarily based around speeding yourself up through tight maneuvering and using tricks to gain speed, so rolling as often as possible and using enemies and the terrain to your advantage is key. As such, knowing enemy placement and how different parts of the stage can affect the Kongs' roll is very important.
That's a tasty single-file line you have there.
The most basic - and probably most important - thing to note is that each enemy you roll through will extend the duration of your roll. So a long line of enemies can be used to keep uptime on your roll and let you breeze through an area at a much faster speed than running. Additionally, rolling through any amount of enemies will remove the delay at the end of roll, so you can simply keep moving forward at the end of it. Rolling without going through an enemy will cause Diddy and DK to stop in place for a moment at the end of the roll, so normally you need to jump at the end to keep yourself going.
Another way to increase the length of a roll is to drop to a lower part of the stage. If you fall off an edge during the middle of a roll, the Kongs will roll further than usual; about the same length if you had started the roll on whatever spot you landed on from above. If you time your rolls correctly, you can maintain your speed for a long period of time. This can be used in conjunction with enemies to keep your roll going through large areas of a stage. Certain spots can stop your roll early, however, and falling off a cliff at the very end of a roll will leave you plummeting straight downwards, so you'll have to be accurate and consistent to achieve the same roll through multiple attempts.
I've always dreamed of being faster than the camera
The duration of the roll isn't the only thing you need to focus on, though. There are many different ways to gain speed when rolling through enemies. The most important mechanic to be aware of is tapping the Y button as you go through a series of enemies. You will gain speed with each enemy you pass through if you press Y right as you hit them and then immediately release it until you are about to reach the next one. By releasing the button, you are able to start your roll over, which can speed you up more than simply rolling through enemies (as long as you have enough space to roll the whole time). This works pretty much everywhere, including in the air, as long as the enemies aren't too far apart. Of course, you will need to hold down the button again once there are no more enemies within reach. There are a few places where holding down Y is faster overall; you will learn which one to use in each area through practice and experience.
There is another trick you can do at the end of a series of enemies to gain more speed and a significant amount of distance as well. If you release Y after hitting an enemy, then repress after travelling a short distance, you can start your roll over again (without an enemy this time) by doing an extended roll. It is essentially the same as the method of gaining speed I mentioned above; letting go of the button for a while gives you another roll, which can be used to pick up more speed or get more distance on your roll. This trick is usually used to get Diddy across gaps that are normally too far for him to leap across, even with a normal roll -> midair jump. There are two different ways to time the release and repress of the Y button for the extended roll. For the first method, just roll through an enemy normally, let go of the Y button right before you roll into the last one and then repress after a short period of time. For the second, tap Y and release as you normally would when trying to gain speed, but add another release -> repress at the end. The latter method makes the extended roll much easier to perform consistently, but the former will get you a bit more distance and is necessary for a few difficult jumps, such as the large rope skip in Temple Tempest.
I'm worried my youngest chimp won't ever learn to fly
There's one more thing that can be done with rolling. It's an interesting glitch called jumprolling (also known as the "comfy cozy" roll). Essentially, when you execute a roll on the same frame that you land on an enemy, the game bugs out and sends the Kongs flying -- literally. Upon performing the glitch, Diddy and DK spin in the air as if they were just shot out of a barrel cannon. This continues on until you jump out of it or you run into a Zinger (you are invulnerable to all other enemies). It also stops if you run into an object that changes the way your character moves, such as a minecart or barrel.The jumproll is a lot more situational than the other roll-based tricks. You normally can't roll after a jump until you land on the ground, so it only works in spots that you are able to fall onto an enemy in some way. As such, you are only able to perform it in certain areas, and not many of them are actually useful in a speedrun. There are about 5 jumprolls in the game that can be used to gain time in a speedrun; the amount of time they save ranges from 3 - 50 seconds. The stages these are performed on are Forest Frenzy, Minecart Madness, Tanked-Up Trouble, Misty Mine and Platform Perils. It is not recommended to use them at until your times (for the Any% All Stages category) are consistently below the 39-minute mark.
