Army Dillo

Not to be confused with Armies, armadillo enemies from the game Donkey Kong Country.

Army Dillo
Army Dillo's model from the game Donkey Kong 64 for Nintendo 64.
Alias(es)	Donkey Kong
Residence(s)	Jungle Japes, Crystal Caves
Species	Army
Gender	Male
Affiliation(s)	Kremling Krew
Powers/Abilities	Protecting himself by hiding inside his mechanic shell, Shooting fireballs at enemies, Jumping, Curling into a ball and pursuing enemies, Shaking the ground while moving, Taking off and creating shockwaves on the ground around him after landing, Shooting a rain of fireballs and missiles at enemies
Enemies	Kong Family, Donkey Kong
Game(s)	Donkey Kong 64
First Appearance	Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
Latest Appearance	Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
Voice Actor/Actress	Mildred "Tergio" Sturgeon

Army Dillo is the first and sixth boss in the game Donkey Kong 64. Donkey Kong fights him in both Jungle Japes and Crystal Caves, the first and sixth levels of the game, respectively.

Physical Appearance[]

Army Dillo is an enormous Army with brown eyes and a large, heavily armed iron shell. On the side of the shell are two retractable, oversized cannons that shoot fireballs and give him flight when positioned upwards. His shell is capable of exchanging its cannons for a large cannon that shoots a barrage of fireballs and a large homing missile.

First Boss Battle[]

When Donkey Kong enters the jungle arena, the sky darkens with thunderclouds then it starts to rain and thunder. The lightning is the sky turning blue and then dark again. Army Dillo then rolls in from the exit directly in front of Donkey Kong, and shows his face. After revealing oversized cannons on either side of his shell, he lowers his shell to protect his face, and the battle begins. Once Donkey Kong defeats Army Dillo, his cannons fall off, and he runs away the way he came, leaving behind the first Boss Key.

Attacks[]

• Fireball: Army Dillo fires fireballs from his cannons that he always aims at DK, switching cannons after each shot.
• Rolling: Army Dillo retracts into his shell, and his massive form rolls around the stage trying to damage DK.

Strategy[]

Army Dillo will shoot fireballs from his cannons, switching cannons after each shot, and always aiming at Donkey Kong. After a set number of shots, Dillo raises his shell, revealing his face to laugh mockingly. This is DK's chance: by picking up the TNT barrel from the pad in the center of the arena and throwing it at Army Dillo's exposed face, he causes the machinery in his armored shell to short-circuit, damaging the boss.

Donkey Kong must hit Army Dillo three times to defeat him.

Tips[]

• Army Dillo's Fireball attack increases in quantity after each hit. He fires four shots at first, nine after taking one hit, and eleven after taking two hits.
• Army Dillo only uses his Rolling attack after being hit; if DK doesn't hit him with a TNT barrel before he retracts into his shell, he'll roll to an adjacent corner of the room and use his Fireball attack again.
• Army Dillo's Fireball Rain attack always fires exactly six fireballs.

Report of Failure[]

A cutscene shown when the Kongs enter Angry Aztec shows Army Dillo, minus his shell, reporting his failure to King K. Rool. The King is furious; this terrifies Army Dillo to the extent that he faints from fright.

Second Boss Battle[]

Having apparently been given another chance, Army Dillo appears again at Crystal Caves, Donkey Kong again being his opponent. Prior to the battle, the Kremling Krew is seen working on his shell in a laboratory somewhere in the Caves. Afterwards, he rolls into the crystal arena with his cannons already out, laughs mockingly at DK, and then lowers his shell as the battle begins. Once Donkey Kong defeats him, his entire shell explodes, and he rises into the air, spinning around and growing smaller before vanishing, dropping the sixth Boss Key.

Attacks[]

• Fireball: Army Dillo fires fireballs from his cannons that he always aims at DK, switching cannons after each shot.
• Rolling: Army Dillo retracts into his shell, and his massive form rolls around the stage trying to damage DK.
• Shockwave: While using his Rolling attack, Army Dillo reveals twin rockets on the sides of his shell. He uses these to hover in place, and then slams down to create a green shockwave.
• Fireball Rain: After taking three hits, Army Dillo reveals his last cannon, mounted on his back. While hovering with his rockets, he fires multiple fireballs into the air that rain down on DK one at a time like meteorites.
• Homing Missile: After taking three hits, Army Dillo reveals his last cannon, mounted on his back. He uses it to launch a giant homing missile at DK.

Strategy[]

While the overall strategy is the same – using the TNT barrel in the center of the arena to hit Army Dillo's exposed head when he reveals it to laugh at DK – he's tougher this time around. He now has a pair of rockets that he can bring out in place of his two main cannons, and uses these rockets to create shockwaves in combination with his Rolling attack. Also, after his main cannons fall off, he gains another one on top of his shell, twice as large as the others. This cannon shoots homing missiles in addition to fireballs.

Donkey Kong must hit Army Dillo four times to defeat him.

Tips[]

• Army Dillo's Fireball attack increases in quantity after each hit. He fires four shots at first, nine after taking one hit, and eleven after taking two hits.
• Army Dillo only uses his Rolling attack and his Shockwave attack after being hit; if DK doesn't hit him with a TNT barrel before he retracts into his shell, he'll roll to an adjacent corner of the room and use his Fireball attack again.
• Army Dillo's Shockwave attack increases in quantity after each hit. He creates one shockwave after the first hit, two after the second, and three after the third.
• In the second battle, after being hit three times, Army Dillo always uses his Fireball Rain attack, then his Homing Missile attack. He reveals his head to laugh as soon as the missile explodes, and then uses Rain again, and so on.
• Army Dillo's Fireball Rain attack always fires exactly six fireballs.
• Army Dillo's Homing Missile will explode as soon as it hits something, or after about thirteen seconds of not hitting anything.

Trivia[]

• Army Dillo only needs to be defeated once to access Hideout Helm. But in order to fight King K. Rool, he must be defeated twice.
• This is one of only two bosses that is fought twice, the other being Dogadon, and the only one who the same Kong fights twice.
• Army Dillo's laughing changes in quantity after each hit. Zero hits has him laugh two and a half times, one hit has him laugh two times, two hits has him laugh one and a half times, and in the second battle, three hits has him laugh two times.
• The developers tested the second fight with Army Dillo in Jungle Japes. In the test, Army Dillo also spoke in full sentences. This was removed in the final version. In the demo, he was voiced by Kevin Bayliss.
• Unlike Armies and real-world armadillos, Army Dillo lacks natural shell.
• Army Dillo was voiced by Mildred "Tergio" Sturgeon, who also voiced Koshas, small Kremling enemies carrying large clubs, from the game Donkey Kong 64.
• Army Dillo bears some resemblance to Tarkus, an armadillo-tank creature depicted on the cover of the song album Tarkus^[1] by Emerson, Lake & Palmer^[2], an English progressive rock group.
• In the game Crash of the Titans for Nintendo DS, there are armadillo mutant enemies called Armydillos.

References[]