The original Donkey Kong Country Returns on the WII was a game I very much enjoyed as a kid, and one that I replayed on the 3DS port last year - finding that it still held up very well. I never, however, played the sequel. After all these years, I’m glad that I finally got around to it, because it is great!
What sets this game apart from other Nintendo platformers (and platformers in general, mostly) is that everything is consistently framed within the game’s context. That is - all the platforms are actually things that believably exist within the world, and aren’t just floating blocks. This seems a small difference, but this aspect of art direction places this game far above just about any other platformer on the market in my opinion; this now sits comfortably as one of my favourite 2D platformers ever.
So the graphics and art design is great, but so is the soundtrack - every single one is an absolute banger. I really don’t understand enough about music to be able to tell you why it is so good but once you play the game, you’ll understand. This is quite typical from Nintendo though, they quite often have some of the best music in the whole industry.
The gameplay is also very solid and a cut above most contempories of the genre. It’s quite simple, at least in terms of the player moveset, but the level design remains constantly engaging and thoroughly challenging. Paired with the smooth animations of both the player character and what they are interacting with and you have a game that just feels good to play.
The boss fights here, although few in number, are fun across the board too - with maybe the exception of the fourth world boss. The pufferfish boss Fuga is fought with entirely underwater mechanics, which I didn’t really enjoy in this game. Water traversal is very hard to get right in videogames, there is literally decades worth of examples of this fact, and while it certainly isn’t terrible in this game, it represented the games lowest point for me. I thought the foruth world was easily the weakest of the six purely due to it being water themed and therefore relying heavily on that stiff water movement. It’s something about how DK maintains momentum for longer than is comfortable, meaning that you drift into hazards that you see coming but can do nothing about. Maybe this was just me going too quickly for the levels pace and isn’t a common problem, but it plagued all of world 4 for me.
To balance out that criticism, world 5 was my personal favourite world in all aspects - gameplay mechanics, theme and boss fight. The uniqueness of all the different world themes is impressive and one of the games most commendable aspects. The previous game had pretty good variety too, the devs for these two games really get how to make a world memorable.
Little side note: the fact that minecarts and rocket barrels now have three hit points instead of just immediately being destroyed in one hit makes those levels so much more tolerable compared to the previous game. Sure, it makes them way easier, but the difficulty in those levels always felt artificial to me anyway.
What sets this game apart from other Nintendo platformers (and platformers in general, mostly) is that everything is consistently framed within the game’s context. That is - all the platforms are actually things that believably exist within the world, and aren’t just floating blocks. This seems a small difference, but this aspect of art direction places this game far above just about any other platformer on the market in my opinion; this now sits comfortably as one of my favourite 2D platformers ever.
So the graphics and art design is great, but so is the soundtrack - every single one is an absolute banger. I really don’t understand enough about music to be able to tell you why it is so good but once you play the game, you’ll understand. This is quite typical from Nintendo though, they quite often have some of the best music in the whole industry.
The gameplay is also very solid and a cut above most contempories of the genre. It’s quite simple, at least in terms of the player moveset, but the level design remains constantly engaging and thoroughly challenging. Paired with the smooth animations of both the player character and what they are interacting with and you have a game that just feels good to play.
The boss fights here, although few in number, are fun across the board too - with maybe the exception of the fourth world boss. The pufferfish boss Fuga is fought with entirely underwater mechanics, which I didn’t really enjoy in this game. Water traversal is very hard to get right in videogames, there is literally decades worth of examples of this fact, and while it certainly isn’t terrible in this game, it represented the games lowest point for me. I thought the foruth world was easily the weakest of the six purely due to it being water themed and therefore relying heavily on that stiff water movement. It’s something about how DK maintains momentum for longer than is comfortable, meaning that you drift into hazards that you see coming but can do nothing about. Maybe this was just me going too quickly for the levels pace and isn’t a common problem, but it plagued all of world 4 for me.
To balance out that criticism, world 5 was my personal favourite world in all aspects - gameplay mechanics, theme and boss fight. The uniqueness of all the different world themes is impressive and one of the games most commendable aspects. The previous game had pretty good variety too, the devs for these two games really get how to make a world memorable.
Little side note: the fact that minecarts and rocket barrels now have three hit points instead of just immediately being destroyed in one hit makes those levels so much more tolerable compared to the previous game. Sure, it makes them way easier, but the difficulty in those levels always felt artificial to me anyway.
This review contains spoilers
Goated platformer for sure, fuck that final boss tho fr. Felt fair tho
I have no idea why the gameplay from the funny monke game is so incredibly fun and fluent.
Oh FUCK yeah this game rules I’ll be real. It’s difficult (especialyl on hard mode) but its smooth, it’s like butter. Really nothing plays better. For how tight the platforming is, it feels so fluid. The music is fantastic, boss fights are great. Every level is so deeply creative it is wild. I hope in 7 years time we get another entry in the DKC: Returns trilogy, finish it off strong.
Fun game that was a step up from the original in my opinion. Now with funky mode!
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is great because you get to re-play Donkey Kong Country Returns again with barely altered level themes, without the hassle of missing out on the original's deeply frustrating do-or-die completion challenges.
Score! Buy now for $60!
Score! Buy now for $60!
Really creative level design and theming. Quite challenging, but never felt unfair. Controls are substantially more intuitive than DKC Returns (at least the 3DS version), and it works to its benefit. DKCR felt harder, but it's harder to tell whether it's just the difference in inertia/weightiness. The boss battles are pretty rough and tedious, though - many of them follow the old "wait for the right moment to attack" pattern, which is never fun. All in all, I think Rayman Legends is still my favorite modern, large studio platformer, but this is pretty dang good.
This is the best 2D platformer on the Switch...And it isn't even exclusive to the Switch.
Game looks good, it plays good, music is great, character abilities are fun, it has co-op, it is challenging.
Most importantly, this game might be limited to 2 dimensions, but that doesn't mean it limits itself when it comes to creativity. The level design in this game is so fantastic and dynamic; every level feels different, every level brings something new and exciting to the table, no obstacle is there just cuz, everything is carefully crafted to make this one of the best 2D platformers of all time.
If you haven't played this game yet you are losing, you are losing in life. What are you doing? What are you thinking? What is wrong with you? Play this, play this now...Not tomorrow or next month, NOW!!!
5 Donkeys out of Kong.
Game looks good, it plays good, music is great, character abilities are fun, it has co-op, it is challenging.
Most importantly, this game might be limited to 2 dimensions, but that doesn't mean it limits itself when it comes to creativity. The level design in this game is so fantastic and dynamic; every level feels different, every level brings something new and exciting to the table, no obstacle is there just cuz, everything is carefully crafted to make this one of the best 2D platformers of all time.
If you haven't played this game yet you are losing, you are losing in life. What are you doing? What are you thinking? What is wrong with you? Play this, play this now...Not tomorrow or next month, NOW!!!
5 Donkeys out of Kong.
Solid lil game right here, I don't like ANY of the old DKC games, I think they blow. This one is alright, I can't imagine playing this whole game multiplayer though, played like 5 levels and wanted to boom myself.
makes me rage hard
best 2d platformer ever idgaf