Mysteries of Modern Media: Bubbler the Octopus is Pure Evil

Diddy Kong Racing week! 

Prior to the events of Diddy Kong Racing four of Timber Island's greatest racers were brainwashed by the villainous space sorcerer Wizpig. After being brainwashed, these racers served as Wizpig's top lieutenants, guarding the pieces of the amulet which would unlock his fortress. At the end of the game the bosses can be seen celebrating their freedom by throwing a party with the main characters. Except for Bubbler the Octopus, who is absolutely nowhere to be seen. Why wouldn't he be celebrating his freedom with the other characters? He's not totally seabound, as we see him climbing on shore several times. Surely he could have crawled across the beach and into the next bit of water to join the festivities.

Party? No.

Or maybe there's more nefarious reasons for Bubbler's absence. Maybe, unlike Bluey, Tricky, and Smokey, Bubbler was never under Wizpig's mind control. Maybe, unlike those others, he was free the entire time. If you want to get all kinds of conspiracy about it, look at the names of the bosses. The three bosses who celebrate their freedom with the heroes (Tricky, Bluey, and Smokey) all end with a pleasant and childish "Ee" sound generated by the letter "Y." But Bubbler? He's got that hard "Er" going for him with the letter "R." Could that be because he isn't like the other bosses?

But that would be totally nuts. Who would believe that?

One of these things is not like the others... One of these things doesn't belong...

Mysteries of Modern Media: The Yellow Dinosaur

Diddy Kong Racing is known as one of the greatest kart racers ever created. Released on the N64 by the enigmatic RareWare, Diddy Kong Racing starred Donkey Kong's nimble nephew in the far superior spiritual successor to Mario Kart 64. Sharing traits with almost every other RareWare title of the N64 era, Diddy Kong Racing was full of wit, charm, and inexplicable oddities. The most obvious of these is a large, yellow tyrannosaurus rex which appears exclusively in the intro video racing Bumper the Badger on Fossil Canyon, the second track of the game.

No explanation was ever given for this character. No interviews, no in-game explanation, nothing in an instruction manual. It's almost like he shouldn't be there. Even more interesting is that while Fossil Canyon is an average racetrack, this appears to be some kind of boss race. Maybe it's a beta boss that was cut prior to the game's release? This is possible, considering the nature of Diddy Kong Racing, which I'm going to explain to you right now!

While Diddy Kong Racing is arguably the greatest racing game ever created, its sole purpose was as a marketing tool for RareWare's future titles. Diddy Kong was chosen to advertise both the SNES Donkey Kong Country trilogy and the upcoming Donkey Kong 64, Banjo appeared to advertise Banjo-Kazooie, and Conker the Squirrel appeared to advertise his games Conker's Pocket Tales and Conker's Quest, which later became the infamous Conker's Bad Fur Day.

What am I getting at here? Well, the first boss of the game rules over an area known as Dino Domain, which is where Fossil Canyon can be found. Just who is the boss? A triceratops who goes by the name of Tricky. Now, that should start ringing some bells for people familiar with Rare's history.

Arguably the worst part of Rare's history if you have no soul.

So could The Yellow Dinosaur have been intended as the actual leader of Dino Domain, but was axed to make way for yet more subliminal advertising? Were there plans to include a boss race for every single track in the game? It's unfortunate to admit, but the world will never know.