The dark ages had arrived in full. Rareware said a final goodbye to the Donkey Kong Country series with the release of an expanded remake in Donkey Kong Country 3. Fans of the great ape and his friends and enemies were left wondering what could be next. For a while the answer was nothing short of disaster as Donkey Kong left the style of game that took him and the Super Nintendo to unforgettable heights. He picked up a pair of bongos that he had no idea what to do with despite having used them in the past. We also saw him and Diddy pick up swinging on peg-boards and participating in several Mario based sports games. We even saw Donkey Kong take up the reigns of his grandfather, Cranky as a villain in the Mario vs Donkey Kong series. Yes the dark days seemed to really be here and they were for five years. Then suddenly Retro Studios dropped an ape sized bombshell when they announced that Donkey Kong Country would be returning on the Nintendo Wii.
My hype was unreal. I preordered the game, got a special banana wii mote holder and held my breath as I plunged into what was finally after about thirteen years, a brand new Donkey Kong Country game (counting from Donkey Kong Country 3 on SNES). My thoughts when I fired this game up was "Oh yeah here we finally go again." as the classic Donkey Kong Country music came back remixed and sounding more rocking then ever before. My smile faded a little bit when I came to learn that King K. Rool was not in the game. In fact I was very sad to see that none of the Kremlings were in the game. Then my feeling sad about that turned to, well I'm not sure if I'd call it confusion or disappointment as the enemies revealed themselves as.... well... wood. Yeah, little tiki guys are the big baddies of the game. Kind of comical, but they pale in comparison to the Kremlings. Whatever, as long as the game was still fun I was in. I quickly found that classic DK barrel and busted it open to get Diddy whom jumped right on Donkey's back. I quickly realized that you cannot switch characters. I was kind of put off by that a bit as switching characters had always been such a staple in the series. I became mostly okay with it though as Diddy can briefly use his jet pack to make Donkey hover a little bit. It kind of reminded my of Dixie's hair spin, but a much watered down and straight up nerfed version of it.
I figured that things would be different this time around, but I guess I was not prepared at the time for it to be that different right off the bat. Another thing that I quickly noticed that I wasn't a big fan of was that without Diddy I could tank a hit before dying. In all of the older games if you took a hit without your partner Kong, you were dead. Once you get Diddy in this game it will take four hits to kill you. After two you lose Diddy, but still four hits seemed like a lot to me. In addition to that, I felt and still do feel that there are waaaaay too many extra lives in the game. At the end of some levels I was able to rack up five or more and that's not counting the ones I got from collecting bananas or from completing bonus rooms. As I continued on my way, my hype settling down as I realized that I was not playing the next installment of Donkey Kong Country, but rather a reboot and completely new direction I discovered something I found kind of silly. The world map looks extremely similar to the New Super Mario Bros. series that spans the DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U.
Yes that is a bit of a nit pick and I'm not even saying I don't like it. I just personally had a chuckle with it. There is just one more thing that dropped my hype for this game significantly as I played. The first was when I realized what system I was playing on. That of course being the Nintendo Wii which could only mean one possible thing, motion controls. Yes motion controls were jammed into this game. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii you had to shake the wiimote to use the helicopter mushroom or do a spin jump. Two things that are important, but not constantly used in the game. Here you need to do the same thing to do Donkey Kong's signature roll or ground pound moves. Both moves are used very frequently throughout the game so I found myself feeling like I was always shaking the controller. While it is minimal motion controls, it is still enough to annoy me, especially when the Wii has a classic controller which was completely ignored here in favor of the motion controls.
So you may expect me to come out now and say that I do not like this game, well that's not going to happen and here is why. First of all the game looks simply beautiful. The environments and enemies are all bright, vibrant, and lively. Had it been Rare at the helm I think the enemies would have been different, but the game probably would have looked just as beautiful. As I played I felt that the game did feel like a Donkey Kong Country game, just different. The levels were all very well done, albeit I personally did not find any of them overly difficult. In fact, much like New Super Mario Bros. Wii I ended the game with 99 lives. The levels here have a ton of variety. The classic mine cart levels return with some really neat new effects and there are new challenges with each level. One of my personal favorites is Tidal Terror where massive tidal waves attempt to was you and everything else off screen. It's cool because the waves actually come from the background. Honestly the level reminded me more of the Scarecrow levels in Batman Arkham Asylum in having to duck against walls and whatnot to avoid his gaze.
So the levels are fun and beautiful. That's all that needs to be said about them. As far as sound goes I really have to tip my hat to Retro Studios. They took on quite a project in revamping many of the classic Donkey Kong Country tunes for this game and I think they did a pretty good job. The new songs that were created for the game are also good, but for me, hearing those nostalgic tunes redone was really really neat and a tip of the hat to Rare and David Wise's past work. Of course the biggest thing for a game is the gameplay itself and I think Donkey Kong Country Returns gets it mostly right. Returning from previous games are Donkey Kong's roll and ground pound abilities as well as climbing, jumping, swinging, blasting out of barrels, throwing objects and enemies, and a plethora of other things.
One of the most important returning feature is the return of Rambi the rhino. While Rambi unfortunately is the only animal buddy in the game he makes more than an impact and it is great to see him in his first new adventure in the series since Donkey Kong Country 2. Putting him in over the other animal buddies seems like the right choice and is certainly the best fan service choice out of any of them. I mean it would certainly have been great to see some more, but I'll touch on that later. With the exception of the motion controls bogging down and over complicating things the gameplay is pretty solid. My only other complaint is that this game is one where speed is not a factor in a similar fashion to Donkey Kong Country 3, but worse. In that game while both characters are slower than the second game, you were still able to pick up some speed while rolling through consecutive enemies. In fact that was a staple of the original three games as well as their Game Boy Advance remakes. That feature is lost in this game and I think it shows and does actually hurt a little bit when you know you could make a certain jump much easier if you only had more speed. Where there is loss there is gain though as Donkey Kong Country Returns introduces collectible puzzle pieces in each level that can help lead to unlocking various things including levels which adds a nice incentive to explore.
So my final feelings on this game is that it is a new take on the series and that there is still a big hesitation to really acknowledge much of what Rareware was able to do. For example, the omission of the Kremlings in this game is basically like taking the koopas out of a 2-D Mario game. It would have just been so natural to see them in the game and if Retro was set on using these wood guys, I think they could have made some sort of cooperation thing between the two factions work. I also think the decision to only include Rambi as far as animal buddies go was one made out of not wanting to be like Rare. While it was nice to see Rambi in the game again, it would have been equally as awesome to see Squawks appear in a level as opposed to just basically being a help feature. It would also have been nice to see a full fledged water level featuring Enguarde the swordfish. Honestly they could have stopped there with the most iconic three and that would have been amazing. Lastly, and I think this points more to the direction of these types of games nowadays, the game just was not as challenging to me as the previous. As I mentioned earlier I finished with 99 lives. I finished New Super Mario Bros. with the same number. I would have loved to have seen Rare's style of difficulty scaling in play here, but it just never really happened for me anyways.
I do like Donkey Kong Country Returns a lot. I think it did a great job at laying the groundwork to reboot there series and take it in a new direction. With the wood guys defeated it was time to wait another three years before any more Donkey Kong Country games were released. Had the dark ages returned? Not so much. For those three years only a couple games came out featuring the great ape, but they were additions to the Mario vs Donkey Kong series. The series again slipped into the night until a port of the Wii game was announced and released for the 3DS.
Three years after the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns I would task myself with playing it again on the 3DS. Knowing the issues I have with the Wii version I put them aside to test this version out against the Wii and I have to admit I am still impressed.
Graphically you can see the 3DS is a bit darker and not as sharp, but still looks really good on the handheld system. As I mentioned before though with this game on the Wii, while something was lost, something was gained. In this case what was gained is the removal of the motion controls. This gives the game a more traditional feel and enhances the overall gameplay experience by a massive degree. It finally felt like I was playing a classic Donkey Kong Country game. Yes it was still missing things that made the originals so special, but it just felt and feels so much better being free of the motion controls. In a similar fashion to Donkey Kong Country 3 on Game Boy Advance, the handheld version of Returns offers brand new levels which are all a fun addition to the mix. Perhaps it was learning from what Rare had done with Donkey Kong Country 3 on the Game Boy AdvanceMuch like the remake of Donkey Kong Country 3 on the Game Boy Advance that inspired this decision? Other than that, there really isn't much else to say here. It's a brilliantly done port that adds some new features and removes terrible motion controls. Honestly I think this is the better version between the two. The slight graphical loss is more than made up for in additional content and lack of motion controls.
While the 3DS continued to become a handheld monster, questions had popped up again about the future of Donkey Kong Country. I mean a remake of Returns on the 3DS was nice and all, but I waited in suspense for that next big home console release on the Wii U that just seemed to be getting pushed further and further back. Finally in 2014, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze would hit stores and bring about the most recent entry into the series.
Donkey Kong Country Returns laid the groundwork for what Retro Studios next installment in the Donkey Kong franchise. When I first laid eyes on this game I was not happy. Why? The answer is simply that I did not have a Wii U and had no means of getting one at the time so I couldn't play the game! To me the cover art screamed that this would be a better game than returns. After all, my favorite Kong was being brought back for the first time in forever, Dixie Kong. Diddy is there too and I Cranky is also on the cover, but he's probably there for more advice giving or something right? I never really looked into any spoilers or info on the game past seeing the cover because the last thing I needed was a reason to blow money I didn't have. I finally did get a Wii U and this was one of the first things I go for it and man was I pleasantly surprised. First impressions can go a long way and this game made quite the first impression.
The opening cinematic is bananas of fun, literally, and the introduction of the Snowmads who freeze Donkey Kong Island over are actually a pretty interesting group of enemies. No, they still are not the Kremlings and King K. Rool is still nowhere to be seen, but after Returns baddies being planks of wood.... Anything is better really. I mean seriously, we've seen pirate crocodiles in a past game, so why not viking penguins? It was nice to see some enemies that are genuinely likable again, but I still think that the Kremlings would have been a more welcome site, or again some kind of alliance. Personally I think it would have hilarious to see the return of the pirate Kremlings working with viking penguins. Ah, dreams for another day I suppose...
Another first impression in this game was the music. Returns music was good, but this seemed all too familiar in quality to Rareware's games. It all just flowed better, it sounded better, like something that was lost long ago, but somehow found. It seems that even in the video game world, life can be funny sometimes. Sometime between Returns coming out and this game, David Wise, the composer for Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, as well as the Game Boy Advance Games, had left Rare and opened his own studio. Nintendo brought him back for this game and what a brilliant choice that turned out to be! It's really funny how things work out. I love the music in this game, that is all!
As I played I became more impressed. I stumbled across a DK barrel that contained Diddy. Then another that was pink? I tossed that thing and the next thing I knew Dixie Kong was now on Donkey's back. Her helicopter spin was such a welcome sight to see as she lifted Donkey into the air. Sadly it's in a nerfed state and not as useful as in previous games, but still very useful. Then I stumbled upon a CK barrel. I tossed it and freaking Cranky Kong hopped onto Donkey's back. Then I figured out that Cranky basically is Scrooge Mc.Duck from Duck Tales and uses his cane as a pogo stick. That was freaking awesome to see and marked the first time Cranky is actually playable. Awesome! Then I played multiplayer and holy crap is it fun! In Returns, the second player manned Diddy independently of Donkey which was nice. In this game though, the second player can be any of the other three Kongs. Again, awesome! The only thing I would have really loved to see would have again, been more animal buddies. Rambi returns again thankfully, but Squawks is still unplayable, and Enguarde is nowhere to be found which surprised me considering the return of full blown water levels occurs in this game. Cranky kind of fills the roll that both Rattly and Winky once held so that makes sense, but Squitter and I'd even say Ellie could have been a lot of fun on some of these levels.
The levels themselves are beautiful and well designed. They are a step up from Returns which was to be expected with the game being on a newer system. So visually things improve. Gameplay wise, the game takes steps forwards as well. It still takes a whopping four hits if you have a second Kong with you do lose a life, but the difficulty in this game makes it feel a bit more reasonable to have four hits. Some of the water levels in particular offer some serious challenge which I feel was lacking in Returns. Speaking of water levels, you actually have a set time to be under water before needing to surface. In a similar fashion to the Sonic the Hedgehog series, you can collect an air bubble underwater to restore your timer. The increase in difficulty was a welcome thing for me, but what was kind of a downer about it was again the life situation. Not only were you once again able to buy lives (forgot to mention that before.... that's a thing), but they just seemed to rain down from the sky. I remember a couple levels where I died a bunch of times, but came out of the level with either the same amount as I went in with or more. That simply shouldn't happen, but when you're rewarded so much for bonus stages and finishing a level, it's hard to really lose lives for any amount of time.
So where does Tropical Freeze stand? It's close. I mean it is close to what Rareware has done in the past. It improves so much on everything that was wrong with Returns and brings in new features and themes that are a lot of fun. There are still some things missing and I totally understand that those things will probably remain missing such as the increased momentum from crashing through enemies and animal buddies. Honestly if the plan in the future is to keep a variety of Kongs around, the loss of the animal buddies is not as big a deal with the exception of Enguarde. I really feel that him not being in the game was a missed opportunity. I also would like to see lives mean something again as I once again finished with 99 lives (without buying any), which I think is just ridiculous for a first play-through. If I had to choose between this game and returns I'd pick this game every time and would recommend this game to both veterans and newbies to the series alike. No, the game is not on the exact same level as Rareware's original trilogy, but something needs to be realized by a large number of the fan base that crap on both this game and returns.
The days of Rareware heading the Donkey Kong Universe are over. Nintendo and Retro Studios have for whatever reason decided to not utilize everything Rare did with their games and that is okay. For veterans of the series will it feel like something is missing? Yes of course it will, but with everything that was lost, something new came into play. The days of Rareware are done and while I personally do not think that Returns or Tropical Freeze are fully on the level of the original SNES trilogy, I still think that they are good or very good games (Tropical Freeze) that deserve some recognition. All change is not bad and while the series is certainly different now and there are things I would love nothing more than to see come back, I realize that those things probably will not be returning and that is okay because the games managed to be good without them.
So that is my story of my experiences in a nutshell on the Donkey Kong Country series. As I said from the get go, these games (the SNES trilogy in particular), are some of my all time favorite games. The work that Rareware put into the original SNES Donkey Kong Country Trilogy, Game Boy's Donkey Kong Land, and Game Boy Advance's remakes of the SNES games are all in their own way incredible creations. Despite their shortcomings, the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games still get a bunch of playtime, but nothing compares to the Super Nintendo games for me. Retro Studios I feel has done a respectable job picking up the reigns, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Rare was never purchased by Microsoft. I can theorycraft on that all day honestly, but now is not the time. These are the games that really got me into gaming over twenty years ago. They got me through some rough times and continue to bring me all kinds of entertainment. I wonder what the future will bring for the series. Since Tropical Freeze came out there has not been another Donkey Kong Country game announced. Once again the series lies in question with only another Mario vs Donkey Kong game giving the great ape any kind of prominent role. Will the Nintendo Switch be the home of a new Donkey Kong Country and if so what will Retro Studios or whoever makes it have up their sleeve? Who knows? For now fans of the series sit once again and hold their breath and hope that the dark ages are not to return...
Thank you all so much for reading all of these reflection blogs on Donkey Kong Country! Stay tuned for an update blog! Also.... ENGUARDE FOR WHATEVER THE NEXT ENTRY INTO THE SERIES WILL BE!!!!!
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