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Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze


illdog
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  • 3 years later...

Started this on Friday and played a bit more today. Up to World 4, played about 4 hours or so. It really is exceptional isn’t it?

 

I adored DKCR3D on my 3DS, actually picked this up on Wii U years back but never got round to playing it for some reason. Roll on the years to present day and I’m finally getting stuck into it on the Switch.

 

I didn’t know whether to choose Funky Mode - but playing as DK - or Classic (New Mode kicked my arse at times on DKCR3D). In the end I thought fuck it, I’ve beaten Cuphead and although this will no doubt be hard at times I figured it wouldn’t be anywhere near the level of that.

 

So yeah. The game definitely eases you in with World 1, all very lovely and jolly without too many hazards or issues but as I’ve gone on I can feel the difficulty curve slowly climbing. I’m quite surprised that I’ve not had too many issues so far really, a few folks on ERA said they gave up on World 2 boss but I managed it first time, none of the other bosses have given me much hassle so far either.

 

Controls wise it is definitely familiar to DKCR3D, everything feels just like I remember it but it is SO much nicer playing this on the JoyCons-in-cradle rather than the claw-like positions I had to orient my hands on my OG 3DS years back. There’s no other word to describe the way the game feels other than perfect, there’s literally nothing I would change, everything feels so nice, tight and crisp to control, every time you fuck up you know it is your fault, in motion it is just pure platforming joy.

 

I like that there’s more of a theme around each island this time too, going from the traditional jungles of World 1 to a lush Windmill World 2 and beautiful African Savannah of World 3 - part of the African World actually reminded me a bit of The Lion King on Mega Drive.

 

The music is just phenomenal too, the way it blends seamlessly into the level, all the beats of the track in perfect sync with the trees swaying in the wind or whistles blowing. How they manage to mix the underwater track effortlessly with the land track for that particular level is a real achievement too.

 

Going in I had heard that the bonus sections break up the flow of the game a little bit and that I should skip them but I haven’t had any issues myself, they are a nice distraction from the rest of the level and provide a lot of extra bananas/lives. I’ve not really bothered collecting all the bits and pieces from the levels, I try to get the Kong letters but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen.

 

DKCR3D is one of my favourite platformers and this looks like being exactly the same. I guess you could argue it is more of the same but when it is so polished and beautiful as this you won’t mind one iota.

 

Pics:

 

 

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Well it's loads better now according to GameSpot

 

qiexziq7w8v01.png

 

I know, different reviewers and stuff, but it's still kinda funny.  People definately like playing games on the Switch more than the Wii U.

 

But "dull, derivative level design"?

 

giphy.webp

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2 hours ago, DifferentClass said:

Well it's loads better now according to GameSpot

 

qiexziq7w8v01.png

 

I know, different reviewers and stuff, but it's still kinda funny.  People definately like playing games on the Switch more than the Wii U.

 

But "dull, derivative level design"?

 

giphy.webp

 

:lol: Yeah I saw that, as you say two different reviewers but still rather funny.

Have you seen the Trusted Reviews review

 

hbi0QZt.gif

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Wow, that stinks of "I have to quickly do this for review".

 

They obviously played it with no patience, and even missed completely on one of the games cool and weird mechanics.  They complain about having trouble timing jumps using the roll (since you get a longer arc jumping after a roll) but what you can actually do is roll off an edge and still jump as long as you're still in the roll animation, essentially jumping off thin air.  It's an interesting thing because it was a bug in the original but they kept it in and even designed some secrets in levels that required you to use it.  I don't know if the term "it's not a bug, its a feature" was coined off this but its related a lot.

 

But then I think Tropical Freeze is up there as maybe the best large scale 2D platformer out there.  I loved it.  Not so much to buy it again for full price  (this game RRP'd at £35 or less on Wii U as a 2nd tier game like Pikmin 3 etc) but I'm glad its getting another chance.

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more than full price @DifferentClass it was (I think) a tenner cheaper when it launched on the WiiU 4 years ago, and then went in to the Player Choice range (or whatever Nintendo call their cheap relaunch range) for £20. The way Nintendo have price it is kind of bullshit imo, it's a "cheap" port and should be reflected in the price.*

 

 

*in my opinion obviously, I've seen a few people defend the higher price as being a good thing

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It's a difficult one, £30 would be the sweetspot but as I picked it up for £35 I can't exactly grumble. I never got round to playing it on Wii U so wouldn't of minded paying £45-£50 to play it on Switch.

 

The price doesn't seem to of done it any harm anyway:

 

Quote

 

That belongs to the excellent Nintendo Switch platformer Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which debuts at No.2. We say debuts, it's technically a re-entry as the game is a port of an equally excellent Wii U game. Yet considering the Wii U version only sold 44 units this week, we're going to class it as a standalone title.

 

In just one week, the Switch version of the game already accounts for nearly 17% of the total number of copies the game has sold in the UK (physical units only). Week one sales of the Switch version were 53.7% higher than week one sales of the Wii U version (although Switch does have a considerably higher install base).

 

 

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Up to Level 5-5 now, probably about 7 hours in.

 

Wow, this game definitely has no chill at all now, World 4 and 5 have definitely ramped the difficulty up, I'm not very good at water platforming in games so World 4 was a bit of a struggle but I still managed to get through most of 4 and 5 without losing too many lives (down to about 80) so not too bad. I reckon World 6 is going to be insane.

 

What a game though, the platforming is just so damn tight. You've gotta be so accurate at times with some of the gauntlets they throw you down, incredibly satisfying when you nail it.

 

The music is absolutely phenomenal throughout, that underwater theme on World 4 ?

 

I made some vids, some miss the bit I was trying to capture, but I'll post anyway:

 

 

 

 

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Played another couple of hours of this since my last update, up to World 6-6 or so.

 

Didn't have too much trouble with the rest of World 5. But World 6 has had no chill at all so far, has reminded me quite a bit of DKCR3D, some of the levels are truly phenomenal, the rest of the game has been fantastic too but they really ramp up the challenge here and test the ol' reflexes.

 

Have managed to keep a healthy amount of lives - at around the 99 level cap - up until World 6 but since I've got here I've been losing them like nobodies business for the first time and have gone down to 75 or so.

 

A couple of vids:

 

 

 

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Yeah there's a few levels like that @regemond they really do look spectacular.

 

I finished it just now, the final boss was a bit of a cunt but after an hour or so perseverance I managed to batter him, if it wasn't for the platforming lifting lava move he does I would’ve done it much easier ? one shot kills are not fun at all :( but yeah no worries now, all is finished.

 

Overall I probably didn't enjoy it quite as much as DKCR3D, I think in a post-Cuphead world I found it a bit easy at times to be honest whereas I struggled a lot with DKCR3D and therefore it was more satisfying when I beat a particularly hard level on that than it was on this.

 

Still a fantastic platformer though, definitely one of the best in recent years and lives up to the hype and reputation.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Picked this up again on Switch for a plan journey, glad I did as we were mega delayed. Game me plenty of time to bash through a few worlds!

I can't yet figure out how to 100% a level though, do you just need to have all KONG and Puzzle pieces? When looking at the completion before starting a level it has three 'badges'.

 

Awesome game, everything about it, just love :)

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  • 4 years later...

Bump. I played the first level of this. Been years since I played a platformer.  I got the four KONG letters but only 4/9 puzzle pieces. I don’t think I’m gonna try and 100% it but hopefully I can play through it by the end of next week.

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