Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 8/18/2024)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Developer: Retro Studios, Monster Games

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): 2D Platformer

Platforms: Wii U

Release Date: February 14, 2014

I think that I despise the Wii U. I’ll defend what little honor it has from absolutely fervent naysayers who label Nintendo’s “sequel” to their motion-controlled sales juggernaut as an atrocity, but this is only because I’m one of the few people who actually owned one. Also, I transparently admit that my investment in the Wii U stemmed entirely from its Super Smash Bros. title, which is how Nintendo has consistently kept reeling me into purchasing their consoles since Melee kinda pollinated my adoration for the video game medium. Speaking positively on the Wii U’s behalf is like a parent taking the stand as a character witness for their defendant child in court. They’re clearly guilty of the crime they’ve been accused of, and the parent is fully aware of this. Still, I can’t bring myself to slander this machine despite knowing full well why it failed. If Nintendo bounced back and returned to the status of an esteemed contender in the console wars with their subsequent system, why is the Wii U’s failure still a relevant issue? Because the games released for this uninspired, unstimulating system suffer dearly. A game company’s statistical model is predicated on the hypothesis that the games sell the system and not vice versa; so when a system underperforms compared to the other competitors, it is assumed that the public is disinterested in the titles for the system. Despite the sound and solid business model, I can confidently state that it was the Wii U's pitiful marketability console that doomed it to a prematurely severed shelf life. In its short and tepid tenure, the Wii U was backed by some honest-to-God essential exclusives. One of these titles that did its damnedest to support Nintendo’s eighth-generation blunder was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: the fifth game in the Nintendo icon’s 2D platformer series and the second modern revival title developed by Retro Studios. This game was considered worthy enough to port over to the more successful Switch console where it sold much more favorably. Still, it’s unnerving that we haven’t seen Retro Studios round out their time with the DKC series with a third entry as Rare did on the SNES, and I can only place the blame on Nintendo abandoning the IP again for how poorly the Wii U performed sales-wise. Normally, I wouldn’t covet non-existent content from any series, but Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is not the note I want the franchise to go out on.

The oxymoronic subtitle in this DKC entry refers to the primary source of conflict the game introduces in its first cutscene. At first, the mood over at Donkey Kong’s treehouse is an especially jubilant one, for all of the tie-clad ape’s friends and family members are celebrating the big guy’s birthday (did 2014 mark the anniversary of something Donkey Kong-related?). In the distance, a Viking ship sails forward to Kong's home island sounding the horns of conquest, and Donkey Kong is alarmed by their presence once a stray snowflake douses the lit candle atop his frosted birthday banana. The shadowed ship captain summons an ice phoenix whose graceful wingspan is evidently equal to the powerful wind velocity of a category-five hurricane. With their only obstacles out of their way, the invaders find it fitting to reshape DK Island into something akin to their frosty habitat, glazing the humid jungle in such a thick layer of ice that it now resembles something of an alpine tundra. The series has shifted the silly conflict of banana thievery into the serious subject of climate change, a dreadful phenomenon that renders the DK crew’s homeland totally inhabitable. The premise is so sympathetically grim that it makes us all angry at penguins, a species of bird that is typically difficult to harbor negative feelings toward.

When Donkey Kong “returned” as the previous game had suggested in its title, one completely new aspect was the implementation of motion controls. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, the developers felt obliged to work with the Wii’s unique utility by assigning Donkey Kong’s roll and ground slap maneuvers to the shaking of the Wiimote. This decision proved to be fairly agreeable, but I still wondered if the scheme was really necessary from a player-character kinetic standpoint. Really, the only commonality that the Wii U shared with its immediate predecessor was its name, so the motion control gimmick that defined the console’s legacy did not carry over to the next generation of Nintendo consoles. Donkey Kong’s special tricks are instead executed all in one button, with the discerning factor depending on whether or not he’s stationary at the moment. As for the odd blowing move DKC Returns introduced, the developers wisely came to the same conclusion that I did in that it made their strapping, hunky hero look like a frilly schoolgirl playing with dandelions on a sunny spring afternoon and did away with it entirely. The Wii U’s more traditional control scheme sees the series going back to basics in a sense, and the consignment of Donkey Kong’s controls to the same button function as his jump maneuver honestly feels more organic. You can’t fix what isn’t broken, after all. However, something that wasn’t broken in the previous titles that Tropical Freeze evidently decided was imperative to toy with was Donkey Kong’s ability to breathe underwater. Now, an air gauge will deplete if Donkey Kong is submerged for a lengthy period, and he’ll obviously die if he doesn’t reach a source of oxygen in time. I understand that the abundance of underwater settings in Tropical Freeze might warrant this mechanic to prevent these kinds of levels from being effortlessly facile. Still, nerfing one of Donkey Kong’s trademark talents like this is equivalent to severing the fingers of a musical prodigy to put them on an equal playing field with the rest of the kids in their piano class.

Donkey Kong has always obliged assistance from his friends in his quests to reclaim his precious and impressive banana hoard, so he’s certainly going to need a helping hand to overcome this dilemma of epic, life-threatening proportions. I lamented that Diddy Kong, an integral character from the series who clocked in more screen time than the titular Kong in the SNES trilogy, was relegated to a secondary supporting role instead of continuing the tag team dynamic he shared with Donkey Kong. Diddy is still gliding his burlier friend over gaps with his jetpack in Tropical Freeze, but I can’t stay cross at the developers because Diddy is now mixed with good company. In Tropical Freeze, the character barrel now shuffles between three supporting characters from the series: Diddy and the newly added Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong. Each of them piggybacks on Donkey Kong and provide a unique aid to Donkey Kong’s limited range of movement. Dixie Kong will flutter her blond ponytail upward like a helicopter, while Cranky Kong will channel another old codger from gaming’s yesteryears and use his cane to pogo off of flat surfaces or the heads of his enemies. The secondary character’s special properties also translate to an underwater setting, where Diddy and Dixie provide propulsive movement via their jetpack and hair respectively and Cranky Kong swiftly whacks the creatures of the deep with his walking apparatus like they owe him a Cracker Barrel coupon.

I understand that incorporating all of these characters into the gameplay is intended to evoke the sentimental rejoicing of a DKC reunion, even though Kiddy Kong was evidently cut from the mailing list as expected. While I appreciate the enhanced modes of gameplay all of these characters provide, a few issues still arise. Dixie renders Diddy Kong worthless as her similar flight maneuver is smoother and covers a bit more aerial space. Hopping to the buoyant heights of a trampoline with Cranky Kong is not a problem in the slightest; rather, his first-time inclusion on the field indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the character. Lest we forget that Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong’s grandfather. If anyone has ever known their grandfather, one subject of conversation they cannot resist speaking on is how monumentally strong and resilient they once were in their younger days, especially compared to their grandkid’s generation that they perceive as a bunch of namby-pamby soy boys. Cranky Kong is guilty of bolstering the tremendous achievements of his yesteryears like any other decrepit geezer, and the dubious self-asserted accounts of these feats have served as the penultimate challenges in every game of the SNES DKC trilogy. We were never intended to see Cranky Kong in action, for the illusion of this old ape’s glorious feats of athleticism is squandered by his meager supporting role of allowing his grandson to bounce like a basketball. In other related news, what continues to disappoint me in terms of classic character inclusion, or in this case omission, is that Rambi is still the sole animal buddy representative (besides the Squawks radar in the shop). As much as I am delighted to encounter the trusty rhinoceros on the field and ride him as he furiously stampedes through lines of enemies, one would think that a game that highlights a reunion initiative of the series’ characters would believe that including all of Donkey Kong’s non-simian friends would be prudent. What did the Kongs do to make all of the other species on DK Island so jilted? The spontaneous ice age concerns them too!

Donkey Kong can’t deal with this icy ordeal surrounding his home island with the immediate urgency it probably warrants. The flight of the ice phoenix was so majestic that it literally blew Donkey Kong and company away–to a place situated five islands west of DK Island. The journey back to the Kong’s residential address encompasses all five islands plus the eventual return to DK Island, a fitting number of “worlds” for a stacked 2D platformer game. As par for the course, all six major worlds in Tropical Freeze are progressed through on the Super Mario Bros. 3-esque grid map and they are all thematically distinct from one another. On the subject of level themes, Tropical Freeze exhibits what is arguably the most creative array of worlds that the series has ever displayed. The game begins with “Lost Mangroves”, a beach level traditional to the recurring themes across the series if the tropical fruit of the island’s namesake was any indication. After that, “Autumn Heights” showcases an island in a perpetual state of the season of arboreal decay and all of its beauty. “Bright Savannah” is an inspired tribute to the scorching wild plains of Africa, complete with model giraffe heads made from cloth that the humble people of this continent would craft for a tribal ceremony. The sheer breadth of the deep sea in “Sea Breeze Cover” is likely why the developers figured it was appropriate to give Donkey Kong a pair of vulnerable lungs, for traversing through this divine aquatic realm shouldn’t have the ease of swimming laps in a public pool. Also, I’d like to point out that this world should’ve revitalized the swordfish Enguarde back into the franchise, and I’m quite upset that the developers didn’t jump at this opportunity. The standout world in my opinion is the fruit-oriented “Juicy Jungle,” an island dedicated to liquidating the island’s tropical produce at an industrial rate of efficiency. The series of factories claim to be for the production of popsicles, but what popsicle factory is made of brick with vines crawling all over it? Your disguising of a winery in a game for general audiences isn’t that inconspicuous, Retro Studios. Lastly, Donkey Kong and friends arrive at home base and are forced to progress through the map via a chain of blast barrels due to the cumulative mass of snow on the ground. One would think the premise would serve as a ploy to rationally insert the common ice-themed platformer-level trope in a series that typically has warmer climates. Still, the final world isn’t an outright cavalcade of ice. Fluttering snowfall as an invasive element to a familiar land evokes a stirring melancholy unexpected from this series. It’s an odd, yet effective way of signifying the threat at hand.

One might notice that a few levels in each world’s map will still be in their locked, darkened state even if the player successfully completes the areas preceding them. This is because each world offers at least one branching path from the standard trajectory, an innovation that Tropical Freeze debuts. If the player notices that two levels intersect from the current one, this likely connotes that a warp gate is located in that level. These alternate exits tend to be placed distantly off the beaten path, so the player will have to put on their tweed detective hats and do some genuine scavenger work. The “extra” levels that the portal uncovering leads to are nothing out of the ordinary in terms of diverting from the theme of the world they reside in, except that they commonly exhibit the silhouetted art style that DKC Returns introduced. These discoverable warp gates incentivize the player to stray from the linear line of progress that most 2D platformers uphold, and that supplementary stride allows the player to engage with the levels to a more intricate degree. Tropical Freeze continues to foster replayability by reintegrating the DK coins back into the series. Instead of simply serving as another collectible found in the same roundabout fashion at the warp gates, these giant, copper tokens are earned through optional time trial runs through the level after completing them initially. Crash Bandicoot is giving back to the series that inspired it after taking so much of its identity for itself! Isn’t that swell?! The caramel-colored leaves still unlock concept art in the menu, and collecting the KONG letters per level will still open a series of temple catacombs that act as the apex of DKC difficulty. To be transparent, none of this extra content is all that revolutionary, and it’s not as if Tropical Freeze offers more of it than the previous titles. Still, I can appreciate the avenue to an auxiliary challenge.

Veteran DKC players such as myself will be especially thankful that Tropical Freeze caters to them specifically with these tangential tasks because the base game is a bit too easy to stimulate our interests. Yes, I’m completely serious: Tropical Freeze drops the spicy heat of DKC’s notoriously steep difficulty down to a cool breeziness not unlike how the Snowmad imperialists plummet DK Island to a temperature below freezing to fit their normal habitat. On paper, Tropical Freeze doesn’t alter the course of a DKC game one bit. However, upon playing it, seasoned DKC soldiers will notice that the platform placement is more manageable to jump between, enemies tend to approach Donkey Kong with a languid lethargy, and the game is far too accommodating with placing 1-UP balloons throughout the level, much less the overhaul of bananas in differing quantities that grant the player lives by the barrel full anyways. Over the course of playing Tropical Freeze, I amassed so many extra lives that I thought the A&E network was going to call me and exploit my hoarding for their television program and refer to it as a mental illness. I hit the fucking maximum capacity far too many times for comfort. I had to look up what the “game over” screens for this game looked like out of curiosity, and it’s almost a shame that I never saw it because the image of two emperor penguin enemies ensnaring Donkey Kong in a block of ice as a means of captivity is one of the better ones. Sure, I died occasionally, and the rate of dying accelerated near the end of the game because the final world is leagues harder than every single world that precedes it. However, death was still a trivial hiccup due to the stockpile of lives I had accumulated during the easier areas leading up to it. For the first time ever, I feel like the series is punching below its weight class.

Tropical Freeze also (unintentionally) marks an unbelievable series first in that its bosses are far more formidable than their levels. The aspect of the DKC series most maligned across the SNES trilogy was boosted to unprecedented heights with Retro Studios at the helm, for the bosses they conjured up were finally fit to be referred to by their imposing descriptor. Tropical Freeze’s end-level foes continue the admirable streak of multifaceted mechanics and shifting phases to keep the player from catching on to the scent of their attack patterns. Pompy, The Presumptuous is a slippery seal who adores the spotlight as he performs his big top circus act, while Scowl always tests Donkey Kong’s airborne aptitude by ascending further into the skies upon each phase. My favorite of the high-ranking Snowmad lieutenants is Bashmaster, whose tonguing of a frozen, fruity treat upon encountering him begs the question if he’s taking advantage of the domain he’s settled in or the juice workers are solidifying their product into popsicles under his commands. Either or, he’s an upright-standing polar bear who wields a massive mallet. He looks like a goddamn World of Warcraft beast. The poisonous Fugu and the duplicating Ba-Boom, unfortunately, deflect the consistent arctic animal theme of the bosses, even though they wear the snowflake insignia that spells out their allegiance to DK’s new nemeses. Still, they are far superior to similar bosses from series past such as the Scurvy Crew from DKC Returns and the giant urchin Barbos from DKC 3. The regal king of the Snowmads, Lord Fredrik, resides in the inner sanctum of DK Island’s volcano, and the leader of the Snowmad clan is as daunting as his venerated title and shadowy visage would suggest. This prideful walrus stalls Donkey Kong to make him sweat as the unstable, molten platform that is the boss arena sinks into the pool of lava underneath, and his mammoth of a Viking horn features a swiss-army knife of unique utilities. Even if the player accurately times their jumps on his backside as he bullrushes towards them in a huff, this final boss is still a tense test of endurance.

How dare you dumb down my beloved Donkey Kong Country to appeal to a wider gaming demographic, Retro Studios. I half expected your previous effort to submit to the standards of the modern gaming climate, but I was ecstatic when you stuck to the traditional values of the series. I suppose they regressed DKC’s difficulty as a desperation tactic to make the sinking Wii U ship more approachable. This decision didn’t garner the intended results, now did it? I dedicate a raspberry noise to you, Retro Studios, for your foolish antics. On second thought, I shouldn’t express my bitter schadenfreude too explicitly, for I do wish for the developer to make another DKC game to surpass this one. However, it's unlikely that will ever happen, either due to the studio not bothering to put the effort into one or because the series has already implanted itself into the realm of accessibility to the point of no return. Even though I commend the mature premise and world themes, Tropical Freeze hardly adds anything fresh and exciting and ultimately dilutes the properties of the previous title. For the chosen few who purchased a Wii U and those who heard of Tropical Freeze from word of mouth and decided to try it on the Switch, Tropical Freeze is lauded as the peak of the series. In my opinion, all Tropical Freeze does is elevate DKC Returns as the perfect revival title. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is undoubtedly my least favorite game in the franchise, but it's still better than most traditional 2D platformers. This is especially true compared to the regurgitated slop Mario was serving up on the same system. The Wii U never stood a chance.

Donkey Kong Country Returns Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 3/29/2024)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Developer: Retro Studios

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): 2D Platformer

Platforms: Wii

Release Date: November 21, 2010

It’s amazing how radically society's perception of things can shift over the course of a decade. Approximately ten years before the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns, American developer Retro Studios was signed on by Nintendo to ignite the new generation of Metroid games after the franchise’s long absence, making up for lost time on the Gamecube while its peers had already received the 3D treatment on the N64. Instead of sheer elation that should’ve been warranted from Metroid’s resurrection, the fact that Retro Studios was an amateur developer working on Metroid’s 3D launch as their debut effort with their ambitious visions for the deferred franchise resembling a first-person shooter petrified all of their fans. Retro Studios were predestined to join the dingy, abysmal ranks with the likes of Jar Jar Binks for ravaging an IP upon its resurfacing, causing fans to wish that Metroid had remained dormant as a faint, but delightful memory. Of course, this collective panic attack was much ado about nothing as Retro Studios astounded fans with what could be argued as Metroid’s finest outing. The fans then had to apologize profusely for the bombardment of death threats, letter bombs, and boxes of fecal matter mailed to their PO Box. Well into the Wii generation later that decade, announcing that Retro Studios were at the helm of Donkey Kong’s third wind of relevancy made Nintendo fans ecstatic just on the fact that Retro Studios were behind the title alone. Did Retro Studios find it fit to reshape Donkey Kong into something the big ape hadn’t tested before like a real-time strategy or survival horror experience? No, but Retro Studios proved with this title that they can also stick to traditions just as masterfully.

Despite the allusion to Donkey Kong's absence the title alludes to, Donkey Kong had still occupied at least an iota of the limelight among Nintendo’s IPs throughout the 2000s decade. No, I’m not referring to his tangential role as a playable character in various Mario sports and racing games. The king of the Kong clan had his own racing game sans Mario, two rhythm games, and an attempt to revitalize Mario and Donkey Kong’s earliest rivalry with the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games. I don’t even know how to classify Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. While Donkey Kong was still cashing checks, it isn’t a stretch to state that Donkey Kong was kind of slumming it throughout this time because none of these titles were all that exemplary (except arguably Jungle Beat, if you’re willing to be patient with its bongo controls). Even though Mario (and Kirby, I guess) is the prime representative for the platformer genre in Nintendo’s catalog, Donkey Kong should’ve been taking the plumber to school in the 2D platformer realm as it was back in the days of the SNES with the “country” moniker attached. Perhaps Nintendo had finally moved on after feeling jilted when that hussy Rare ran off with Microsoft (and a lot of good that decision did them!) and decided that Retro Studios was a sufficient surrogate as an overseas subsidiary developer once they overcame their trauma of losing the original creators of the DKC trilogy on the SNES. Donkey Kong never faded from the spotlight, but the emphasis on the “country” portion of the title signified that he was ready to continue his reign as a viable contender in the celebrated ranks of Nintendo IPs.

Almost fifteen years later, Donkey Kong still has his priorities straightened out. Bananas remain DK’s ultimate source of joy and accomplishment in his unpretentious life in the jungle (the eponymous country if you will). For someone who lives a life of humdrum leisure eating bananas, Donkey Kong sure has a lot of enemies who know exactly how to hurt him. For once, it isn’t that meddlesome Kremling king King K. Rool causing a raucous, succeeding his pirate and mad scientist schtick with another getup gimmick. In DKC Returns, the new villains are a sentient tribe of masks that emerged from a volcano eruption on the island. These masks are adept with the power of persuasion, hypnotizing the animals of the jungle when their eyes turn into spirals. It attempts to sway Donkey Kong into its animal puppet army, but the same method proves ineffective against him. I don’t think the developers are suggesting that Donkey Kong possesses some kind of strong, heroic mental fortitude here; rather, he should be fortunate he’s a strapping lug because there isn’t much going on upstairs. Donkey Kong’s main passion in life are just bananas after all, which the Tiki Tak Tribe recognizes and steals his banana hoard to slight the big ape. Because Donkey Kong naturally isn’t going to let these bodiless pieces of wood and fabric usurp his life’s work from under him, he now must spring into action and take back what is rightfully his…again. Even though King K. Rool’s kremling minions have already spurned Donkey Kong in this manner before, I’ll allow it to be repeated again because there is no other franchise in gaming where this silly premise could cause genuine plot conflict and make sense.

Judging from the first few seconds of gameplay in DKC Returns, Retro Studios has established some core idiosyncrasies for the big ape’s subseries. Donkey Kong Country is a 2D platformer resembling the Mario series design construct of surviving the steep platforming challenges until they eventually reach a goalline. The “country” is divided into six to eight “worlds” with a boss at the end, and secrets to uncover at possibly every step of each level. Obviously, all of these gameplay facets are carried over from the original SNES trilogy. Still, the developers transporting all of these for their own creative project cement a staunch formula that gives any Donkey Kong game with the “country” label a definitive identity. However, Retro Studios found it vital to give Donkey Kong the utmost precedence that he ever had before. Ironically enough, Donkey Kong was never the focal point of Donkey Kong Country throughout the SNES trilogy. He was predominantly featured as a playable character in the first game, a “distressed dude” (a male damsel in distress, apparently) in the second, and just collected royalties by the third game. Hell, he and Diddy Kong shared an equal stake in gameplay as the player could theoretically complete the game with just Diddy without breaking a barrel to revive Donkey Kong. As absurd as it sounds, Retro Studios' biggest effort to go against the grain of Donkey Kong Country tradition is placing the titular character front and center for once.

Because Donkey Kong isn’t divvying up the weight of the franchise anymore, Retro Studios has given him a new arrangement of maneuvers to supersede the standard jumping and rolling that all Kongs can execute. Donkey Kong can now use his signature ground slap move from Super Smash Bros. to either shake enemies off the ground right side up onto their heads or daze them with its thunderous, rhythmic fury. Borrowing a move that another franchise made synonymous with Donkey Kong is a no-brainer, but I still can’t fathom how the developers thought gingerly blowing on objects to either douse flames or power wind-related contraptions would be appropriate for the lumbering gorilla. An example of the duality of the character? Who knows. Still, regardless of whether or not Donkey Kong is channeling primal aggression or odd gentleness, the multifaceted maneuvers will remind everyone that Donkey Kong Country Returns is indeed a Wii game because they are all triggered by wiggling the Wiimote while it’s being held horizontally. Because the maneuvers only require straightforward kinetic involvement, I do not mind the motion controls like some people would. However, shifting the roll move to a motion-controlled swipe of the Wiimote does admittedly make every long jump more unwavering to execute. Considering that Donkey Kong still tends to sink like an anchor when he jumps, the player will have to leap in tandem with this somewhat finicky control scheme. While Donkey Kong is now officially the main character of his own series, Diddy Kong still bursts from the barrels around the field and accompanies Donkey Kong until the player sustains too many hits or clumsily falls off the map. Everything should conjure up nostalgic wonderment for the very first game, except for the fact that Diddy Kong now functions as a glorified upgrade like Aku Aku instead of a playable partner character. Diddy clutches to Donkey Kong’s backside and boosts him over gaps with his jetpack like a furry, simian Clank. Doing Diddy dirty like this leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially since he has more DKC tenure than the titular Kong. Still, putting Donkey Kong at the helm for this revival entry is more apropos to the “returns” context the game presents and is less likely to confuse new players.

The setting of DKC Returns also reverts back to recalling the first DKC game. At first, the country of Donkey Kong Country was a sprawling selection of pastoral, agrestic lands consisting of humid jungles, snowy mountain peaks, ancient temple grounds, and the coral reefs of the ocean. Later in the game, Industrial factory levels were incorporated into the mix to present a clear juxtaposition of level themes. As the series went forward, the DK clan ventured off beyond the modest confines of Donkey Kong’s backyard to scale the towering masts of pirate ships, cavernous honey hives, and deadly carnival attractions to name a few. DKC 3 even modeled its levels entirely from a defined temperate climate template that directly contrasted the country of the first game. Like Donkey Kong returning to his rightful place as the main protagonist, DKC Returns rewinds all the ground DK’s mates had covered across the original trilogy back to the most familiar of familiar territory. However, how these classic DKC levels are presented is much more organized. DKC Returns consists of eight main worlds, and each of these worlds is defined by an ecological theme seen in the first DKC game. Donkey Kong naturally begins his quest to obtain his banana hoard from his residential district of the jungle, and then progresses to a beach world, forest world, ruins world, to a cave world almost entirely comprised of mine cart levels. The notion of this theming will have half of DKC’s fanbase ecstatic while the other equal portion will gripe profusely like a middle-aged woman whose deli coupon got declined. The developers even incorporated a factory level near the end as if the connection between DKC Returns’s levels and those of the first game wasn’t clear enough already. Regardless of how DKC Returns retreads familiar territory, each level is designed as superbly as the ones from the SNES trilogy. I especially enjoy the galleys commanded by squadrons of crab pirates sailing on the shores of the beach levels for their bombastic presences, and finding hidden three switches across the factory levels to power the path to the world’s boss is an intuitive additional facet of gameplay never seen in the original trilogy.

The persistent reuse of the first DKC’s level themes almost defines DKC Returns as a soft, quasi-3D reboot, almost to a pastiche degree. However, DKC Returns avoids the stark retread label by implementing a smattering of innovations devised by Retro Studios. On top of the series staple minecart sections, DKC Returns supplements the most acquired taste of DKC vehicles by augmenting the rocket barrel seen in one level of DKC 3 into a fully-fledged vehicle that Donkey Kong rides while auto-scrolling through the air. Blasting off the makeshift contraption and dodging the oncoming obstacles like a sillier version of Gradius (sans the bullets) is just as exhilarating as calamitously careening on a set of train tracks. Still, the often hesitant acceleration rate of the rocket might also draw as much ire from the faction of fans who decry the minecart. Something more puzzling Retro Studios have added is the occasional silhouetting of a level, darkening Donkey Kong and his surroundings to the point where only their shadowy outlines and Donkey Kong’s red tie are discernable. I have no idea what prompted this periodic artistic rendering, but the contrast between the dim foreground and the background retaining its color is a pretty cool aesthetic choice in small doses. The familiar four letters in each level that spell out KONG are also newly accompanied by caramel-colored puzzle pieces hidden in the concealed passages and rewards for completing bonus sections of each level. As gratifying as finding these pieces is, the reward of concept art in the menu’s gallery might be deemed unworthy of the effort to collect them. If the player is seeking a more tangible reward for their meticulous platforming and exploration, collecting every KONG letter per world will unlock an additional level that all share a theme of excavating a temple’s inner sanctum. These “K” levels consistently have the most challenging platforming sections the game offers even in the first world, so let the buyer beware. Once the player manages to complete all of the arduous platforming excursions, an endgame addendum will be unlocked in the form of a ninth world called the Golden Temple where Donkey Kong is raptured away to his depiction of Shangri-La where giant fruits make up the platforms. If the player is willing to go the distance and is having trouble finding any of the extras, the DK clan’s ol’ parrot companion Squawks will chirp up on the field if a collectible is nearby. As happy as I am to see Squawks again, his relegation to a purchasable item is quite disheartening as a fan of the original trilogy. Actually, while I’m on the subject, DKC Returns is severely lacking in animal buddies, as Rambi is the only one to return and function the same way he did on the SNES. Were they all bewitched by the Tiki Tak Tribe? What a bunch of maroons.

Even if Squawks refurbished functionality doesn’t appeal to the player, they will most likely be visiting Cranky’s shop in each world where the doddering (and now widowed) OG Kong tells his grandson that he aint shit from his rocking chair anyways. The coins that are commonly found in the levels can be used to buy extra lives, and these lives will most likely be exhausted in a matter of a few levels because DKC Returns proves to match the notoriously steep difficulty of the original trilogy. Jumps will be mismatched, hitboxes will be debated, and objects will come hurtling at Donkey Kong before he has time to react. While DKC Returns will conjure up old frustrations, a mix of hindsight and modern advancements have at least assuaged the old struggle significantly. For one, the consistent bouts of endurance in completing several levels before reaching a save point have been redacted. Completing one level is now enough of an accomplishment to warrant the player taking a breather. I neglected to mention that the life balloons in Cranky’s shop can be bought in bulk for what is a meager amount of coins. I think I can speak for every veteran DKC fan when I say I appreciate Retro Studio’s consideration, but do all of these enhancements render DKC Returns facile and unengaging? Surprisingly, no. Despite all of the nifty perks DKC Returns has added, Retro Studios has still managed to make their creation as strenuous as the SNES titles through painstaking level design. The first instance where I started to sweat was swerving around the sonic sonar blasts of a giant bat on the rocket barrel in the fourth world, and the game never let up from there. Notice how the volcano world in particular resembles the fiery terrors of hell? Well, the constant barrage of obstacles, tight windows of opportunity to hop on platforms, and sporadic minecart sections make this collective of levels arguably more hellish than any of the base game levels from the SNES games. Amid my frustration, I really have to commend Retro Studios for achieving this difficulty curve organically.

However, if there is one aspect of the original Donkey Kong Country that this revival title does not carry over is the ease of the boss battles. All cocky veteran players who think the bosses will be inadvertent sources of respite as they were in the first game are in for a rude awakening. From the stampeding Mugly and its advanced breed Thugly, the great train chase of Mole Miner Max, to the crabby trio of the Scurvy Crew, every world’s boss battle requires a considerable amount of consideration and even memorization to defeat. The automaton mech of Colonel Pluck will especially catch the player off guard once he suddenly scurries erratically after stomping around the arena. Once Donkey Kong delivers the final blow to the boss, the mask possessing them will reveal itself in a defeated daze. Donkey Kong will rid its manipulative presence from the animal host by launching the menace up in the sky with a fierce uppercut. The one exception to the laughably breezy batch of lame boss battles in the first DKC game was the final boss of King. K Rool, tripping up many players' sense of relief upon his defeat with a fake scroll of credits. The spiritual, vengeful mask demon that the Tiki Tak Tribe resurrects for the final boss does not pull any dastardly tricks to the same extent, but it is still wise to keep Donkey Kong on his toes for a formidable fight that will require swift reaction time before Donkey Kong delivers the final blow by punching the moon at the apex of the volcano temple. Overall, not only do these varied and stimulating boss battles undoubtedly best those from the first game, but they manage to be the greatest bunch of baddies across the entire series.

As simple and direct as the title ”Donkey Kong Country Returns” is, there couldn’t have been a more apt one for this game. The effort of Retro Studios to revive the big ape’s relevance with the subseries that elevated his dominion in Nintendo’s esteemed library of IPs past his historical role as proto-Mario’s nemesis in the early 1980s more than rivals the quality of the exemplary trilogy on the SNES. With a new developer's fresh perspective and generations of hindsight, since Donkey Kong was rendered in the 2D platformer format, DKC Returns will please every old fan who has been waiting with bated breath for another chance to traverse through the charming and intense world that Donkey Kong resides in. A few notable changes will have returning players scratching their heads, but they do not adulterate the base of a DKC game too drastically. The kongmeister is back, baby, and has made his return with flying colors.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 8/12/2021)

[Image from igdb.com]

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!

Developer: Rare

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): 2D Platformer

Platforms: SNES

Release Date: November 22, 1996

The controversial reputation of Donkey Kong Country 3 is mostly undeserved. One could readily assume that it’s due to the natural occurrence of the third entry in a franchise showing signs of franchise fatigue, but you’d only be half right. DKC3 was released at an unfortunate time in late 1996, the launch year of the N64. Nintendo’s first landmark 3D console carried along an initiative that set a precedent for gaming for the foreseeable future. Nintendo insisted that 3D was the future wave and anything in 2D was inherently obsolete. Rare developed another Donkey Kong Country game for the SNES to round the franchise as a trilogy of games. Nintendo, however, moved on from anything having to do with SNES, and its 16-bit glory, leaving DKC3 in the dust. Wrinkly Kong is even seen playing an N64 console in this game, a not-so-subtle advertisement for the new system and a way to make players in late 1996 feel like out-of-touch squares. Nintendo’s callous attitude towards the last few games in the SNES library might have impacted the general consensus of the last game in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. I consider it on par with the previous two entries, almost matching up to the quality of the first game. Naturally, DKC3 couldn’t have lived up to the standards of DKC2. The superb quality of DKC2 matched with its refinement of the Donkey Kong Country formula, cemented itself as the pinnacle of the franchise. Like most franchises, the second entry proved to be the peak of quality. This usually leaves the third entry meandering about trying to recreate the magic of the previous entry, commonly faltering as a result. The developers made the smart decision to not piggyback too much off of DKC2 with the following game. DKC3 is a sequel that tries to form its own identity with unique properties. However, those unique properties make DKC3 such a divisive entry in the franchise.

Most third entries in gaming franchises tend to be more accessible to new players. While I find DKC3 easier than the first two games, the traces of accessibility aren’t outright noticeable. The direction of DKC3 seems like the developers had a younger audience in mind. The first two DKC games are appropriate for all ages, but there’s something about DKC3 that makes it seem more...infantile? This isn’t because one of the playable characters of the Kong duo is an infant, but we’ll get to his role in this game later. The colors, sprites, and soundtrack in DKC3 have a much lighter tone. The elephant animal buddy that replaces Rambi looks like a ripped design off of a blanket for a toddler.

Furthermore, shall we compare the game over screens between all three DKC games? The first game shows Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong battered and bruised like they just returned from a street brawl. The second game shows Diddy and Dixie being locked up in a dark prison cell, appropriate considering they were infiltrating enemy territory. The game over screen of the third game is Kiddy Kong and Dixie pouting in a crib with “game over” is spelled out in colorful blocks. Kiddy Kong is obviously meant to be a young child, but is Dixie? Some claim that Diddy and Dixie are both children, but I always figured they were a smaller race of apes compared to Donkey Kong. It’s something I hadn’t considered until Rare incorporated all of these more puerile touches in the game. Ultimately, these new tones are not detractors of the game. This is still a true Donkey Kong Country game, just like the others.

There is one looming detractor in this game that puts people off of it. I’ve mentioned him before: the irksome Kiddy Kong. At this point, the playable characters of Donkey Kong Country revolve like a band that’s been around for way too long. Not having Donkey Kong as a playable character in DKC2 was odd enough, but Mach 3 of Donkey Kong Country doesn’t even have any original characters from the first game. Once Dixie arrives in the new setting at the beginning of the game, series regular Funky Kong passes off Kiddy Kong onto Dixie, promising her he won’t be a burden to her. This move here feels like Funky Kong just discovered he had an illegitimate son, and he’s passing him off to someone else, like leaving it on someone’s doorstep. Kiddy Kong is less of a burden to Dixie Kong than Funky Kong.

It turns out that Funky Kong was mostly right, and Kiddy Kong’s presence is not a detriment to the game, or at least in terms of maintaining the gameplay of Donkey Kong Country. The pairing of Dixie and Kiddy Kong is a strange fusion of the dynamics from the previous two games. Kiddy Kong is much heavier than Dixie Kong, giving a direct dichotomy of gameplay like Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong from the first game. This is also implemented once in a while as there are bigger enemies that can only be defeated by Kiddy Kong’s weight. The throwing mechanic from DKC2 also makes a return, and it’s a little awkward here. Since Kiddy Kong is heavier than Dixie, both characters cannot fling one another with the greatest of ease. Dixie Kong strains herself trying to launch Kiddy Kong, and I can’t say I blame her, but the developers have incorporated something to keep this mechanic without too much imbalance. Throwing Kiddy Kong will blow open cracked foundations to reveal bonus stages or coins. It gives enough credence to the weight shift between the two characters, but I prefer the equal sizes of Diddy and Dixie from the previous game. Kiddy Kong is an acceptable character in gameplay, but everything else about him is very unappealing. If we’re going by Pokemon logic, everything becomes less cute the bigger it is. I’m not surprised that people were put off by a disturbingly huge baby, wearing a onesie with concerningly hollow leg space as the cherry on top of an agitating sundae. The fact that Kiddy Kong replaced both Kongs from the first game probably didn’t help matters with fans either. In the modern Donkey Kong Country games, every character from the franchise makes their return and is totally playable like a band reunion. Kiddy Kong debuted in DKC3 and never appeared again, giving him a Cousin Oliver status.

The animal buddies also have the same involved presence as they did in the previous game. Squawks, Squitter, and Enguarde make their return and get plenty of action. There aren’t too many new animal buddies, but the few that are new make me miss the ones that didn’t make it into this entry. Ellie, the animal buddy I previously mentioned who looked like a cherubic cut out of a child’s blanket, is the prime new animal buddy with the most screen time. She’s not a direct replacement for Rambi, but it feels this way nevertheless. Rambi was the most brutish of all the animal buddies, running down kremlings like a mack truck. Ellie functions similarly to Rambi, but her smaller stature and cutesy design feel like a total downgrade from Rambi’s raw power. She does have a few unique abilities, however. She uses her trunk to suck up both barrels and water as projectiles. It’s certainly different from the rampaging beast that Rambi was, but these new mechanics tend to be a bit awkward and compromise the pace of gameplay. She also has this infuriating mechanic where she bolts in the opposite direction at the sight of a rat. She’s a walking elephant stereotype. The other new animal buddy is a colorful bird named Parry. His nickname, “the parallel bird” entails exactly what he does; he hovers over the Kongs at a parallel angle, destroying enemies and collecting coins he runs into. He’s useful, but his role is underwhelming compared to the other animal buddies. The same level of involvement from the animal buddies is just as present here. Some levels and bosses are strictly designated to the animal buddies, fleshing out the gameplay and world. The new animal buddies pale compared to the ones they’ve replaced, but at least the returning ones are the same as they always were.

The new setting of DKC3 draws inspiration from the world of the first game. Instead of offering a different, contained theme per level like in DKC3, DKC3 opts for a cohesive world with consistently themed elements throughout. The Kongs have trekked their way up to an area called the “Northern Kremisphere,” a sprawling place apparently inspired by the temperate climates of northern Europe and Canada. Instead of jungles, beaches, and ancient ruins, the Northern Kremisphere comprises lakefronts, sawmills, and forests with towering redwood trees. There is also the occasional industrial level to signify the presence of the kremlings. Overall, the different setting presented here has a nice level of consistency, and the presentation is up to the standard of Donkey Kong Country. The only problem is that the setting doesn’t make any sense. The jungle setting of the first Donkey Kong Country accommodated Donkey Kong because he’s an ape, an endemic species to that tropical setting. The more varied levels of DKC2 stray a bit from the jungle environments, but not enough where it feels completely removed from them. The only instance where one might see a monkey in northern Europe or Canada is if one escaped from a zoo or a testing facility. This setting doesn’t naturally fit the Kongs unless these monkeys are eclectic urban outdoorsmen. The presence of the kremlings in this setting is also unfitting, but I suppose they are invading this land just like the Kongs.

The peculiar thing about the enemies is that the zingers have been mechanized. There are green mechanical zingers that are easily defeated and red zingers that are practically impenetrable. These robotic zingers are the only indication of King K. Rool’s new identity as a mad scientist, like he’s Dr. Robotnik with scaly skin and bloodshot eyes. I guess King K. Rool’s identity as a pirate wasn’t as concrete as I thought. King K. Rool is an eccentric madman with an army to back him. Considering the northern European influence of the setting, they could’ve fashioned him and the rest of the kremlings as Vikings. After all, they are well-known pillagers like pirates, but they are more known for conducting their business in colder climates.

A unique feature of the Northern Kremisphere is that the world map is traversed seamlessly without directly selecting a level. More areas of the map are progressively unlocked through Funky Kong, expanding the potential of his floatation devices. The Kongs start with a simple raft that becomes a motor boat, a turbo ski, and then a fully-fledged helicopter. It’s certainly different, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The levels are found in different corners of the map, but the levels are still progressing linearly. I suppose it’s fitting because the difficulty in DKC3 is pretty inconsistent. There are difficulty spikes scattered throughout, but none of them reach the heights of “Mine Cart Madness” or “Poison Pond.” The erratic difficulty is due to the variety of gimmick-heavy levels throughout. The previous two games had level gimmicks, but DKC3 has so many of these that it’s obvious the developers implemented them to keep the third entry from seeming stale. The gimmicks of DKC2 were contained in each level. They were introduced in an early level section and grew in difficulty as the player progressed. Most gimmicks in DKC3, on the other hand, appear only once in a level, and the player doesn’t have enough opportunity to acclimate to them. Some of the harder examples of these gimmicks are the lightning strikes in “Lightning Lookout,” the anti-gravity in “Low-G Labyrinth,” the ravenous fish in “Floodlit Fish,” and the kremlings that push you off the ledges in “Koindozer Klamber.” While the gimmicky level design may irk me, I have to appreciate the level of creativity the developers put into each gimmick. It’s not that these gimmicks don’t make for fun-level variety. I would rather have had these gimmicks breathe a little more by incorporating them in more than one level, and maybe then they wouldn’t seem as gimmicky.

This level of creative variety works the best with the bosses, a facet of Donkey Kong Country that has never been its strong suit. The first game’s uninspired bosses were practically a respite from the difficulty of the levels. DKC2 improved on the bosses ever so slightly but was still guilty of implementing bosses that were far too easy and even incorporated a lazy reskinned boss. The bosses in DKC3 are my favorite bunch of baddies because none of them are like the other. Bosses like Belcha the Barrel are still easy, but the way the Kongs defeat him is unlike anything in the series. The Kongs have to feed him yellow bugs, propelling him further off the ledge with each giant belch per serving. Squirt is a boss fought entirely by Ellie the Elephant, and he looks like an HR Giger painting fused into the wall of a canyon. Bleak, my personal favorite boss is an evil snowman that is fought like a ball-toss game at a carnival. King K. Rool’s encounter in DKC3 is completely different from the first two games, and that’s not because of his new mad scientist getup. His fight in this game is much more methodically paced, having the player patiently determine the right moment to hit him with a barrel instead of waiting for a moment of respite after swiftly dodging his attacks. It’s the least memorable King K. Rool fight of the three games, but I still have to commend the developers for their different approaches. There is a part of me that wants to heavily criticize these bosses in tandem with DKC3’s emphasis on gimmicks, but the series was in dire need of variety in its bosses. This is the only aspect of DKC3 in which its faltering approach to variety gives it the edge over its predecessors.

With all of the factors that make up this game, one could assume that Donkey Kong Country 3 pales in comparison to the first two games in the franchise. While it does have many awkward elements like extremely gimmicky levels, a new setting that’s awkwardly implemented, and a protagonist whose presence makes people feel uncomfortable, this game is as exceptional as the other two. I appreciate the differences the developers implemented to make this game seem fresh, given that this was the third game in a franchise all on the same system. If freshness is what the developers sought to convey, then the high points of creativity and variety make this so. DKC3 feels like its unique entry, and that’s more than I can say for most third entries that attempt to copy the previous games to preserve their glory. It still has the winning formula of solid platforming and magnificent presentation that makes the Donkey Kong Country series stand out above its contemporaries.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 8/9/2021)

[Image from igdb.com]

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Developer: Rare

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): 2D Platformer

Platforms: SNES

Release Date: November 20, 1995

The character of Donkey Kong is not what makes a Donkey Kong Country game. I realize this might sound silly, considering his name is in the series title, but Donkey Kong isn't a playable character in both sequels to Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. Because of this, I had assumed that the sequels were lackluster affairs, so I had only played the first one for the longest time. In retrospect, avoiding the Donkey Kong Country sequels lacking the titular character was ridiculous. I still can’t think of a reason as to why Rare would omit Donkey Kong completely from two major entries in his own series. As it turned out, Rare’s baffling decision was not detrimental to the franchise. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest proved that Donkey Kong was not an essential ingredient to the franchise, despite maintaining his namesake. The sequel expanded on all of the elements of the first game and refined it to the point where Donkey Kong Country 2 is the quintessential DKC experience, and I also feel quite foolish for depriving myself for as long as I did. Donkey Kong Country 2 is considered the best game in the series, with a few naysayers favoring the first game. I fall into the former category, plus I consider Donkey Kong Country 2 to be one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time. All things considered, DKC2 isn’t a whole lot different from the first game, yet I don’t sing the same praises for DKC1. It would be easy to credit Rare for buffing out the cracks of the first game like any game developer is supposed to do for a sequel, but these improvements are very abstruse. I am not declaring DKC2 as the best game tentatively, as I’m confident in my opinion. DKC2 has all of the hallmarks that made the first game a standout title, but the subtle changes are what elevate it above the rest.

Rare’s focal point when developing Donkey Kong Country was to expand on the “country” part of the title instead of the “Donkey Kong” aspect. The world of the first game was a sprawling, rural landscape composed of humid jungles, musty caves, snowy peaks, and a smattering of other geographical environments. Donkey Kong hadn’t had much limelight since he first appeared in his eponymous arcade game in 1981. The developers at Rare figured that since Donkey Kong was an ape, placing him in a pastoral setting made sense. The choice in setting wasn’t just implemented to complement Donkey Kong’s animalistic persona. The developers went to great lengths to make every level sublime with gorgeous pre-rendered graphics, kinetic platforming, and a mesmerizing soundtrack. These elements are needed to craft a Donkey Kong Country game, not Donkey Kong himself.

Stating that Donkey Kong isn’t present throughout DKC2 isn’t entirely true. Rescuing Donkey Kong from King K. Rool’s slimy clutches is the main mission of DKC2. How anyone subdued a burly ape-like Donkey Kong to hold him hostage is beyond me, but I suppose the same was done to King Kong, another iconic ape figure that is a hundred times the size of Donkey Kong. Diddy Kong’s quest, or “kong quest” (I went through the entire game before I noticed the pun in the title), is to ascend the perilous peak of Crocodile Isle, the homefront of King K. Rool and the kremlings. Diddy, of course, can’t venture off on this daunting journey on his lonesome. He is joined by Dixie Kong, a female simian of vague relation to Diddy Kong. Are they cousins? Siblings? Romantic partners? There’s no carnal monkey love in this game, so their relationship is irrelevant. The only dynamic between them that does matter is how they work as a platforming duo. Considering Dixie Kong has ousted Donkey Kong from his own franchise, the stakes are high with Dixie Kong as a playable character.

I’m happy to say that Dixie Kong is my favorite character in the Donkey Kong Country series. This is due to one simple but incredibly useful mechanic: her gliding feature she can do with her blonde ponytail. It always feels comfortable using this technique to traverse the levels in this game, and it also covers a lot of ground. It’s difficult to say if replacing Donkey Kong with Dixie Kong is an overall improvement because both characters are totally different. This gives Dixie Kong a drastically different dynamic from Diddy Kong by proxy, and I’m not entirely sure if this new dynamic is better or worse than it was with Donkey Kong. In the first game, the dynamic was the contrasting sizes between the two characters. Donkey Kong was the strapping one with the ability to defeat bigger enemies, while Diddy was much more agile and could jump higher due to his smaller stature. Ponytail glide moves aside; Dixie Kong is the same size as Diddy Kong. I’ve been told that Diddy moves slightly quicker than Dixie, but this was never evident to me while playing. The polar opposite proportions between Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong gave the duel platforming of the first game its relative depth that Diddy and Dixie don’t have. However, DKC2 manages to compensate for this.

While the size differences between Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are well implemented into the gameplay of the first game, sections in which not having a specific Kong would unfairly doom the player. The sections that require the unique talents of Dixie Kong are only to access bonus stages, and the same goes with the character-specific barrels. Playing as either Kong in DKC2 is completely even, so the player has a choice over which Kong to put in front to suit their playstyle. Their similar sizes also lend to the new throwing mechanic. The select Kong can hoist the other on their back to throw them upward to access new heights or across a gap. The more evenly matched dynamic between the characters gives the player more leeway in traversing the levels rather than the forced character implementation of the first game. In saying that, the only thing that’s keeping me from playing as Dixie Kong for the entire duration of the game is being hit and having to use Diddy Kong.

The Kongs aren’t the only playable characters with more precedence than the titular ape. The animal buddies are a returning feature much more enterprising than it used to be. In the first game, animal buddies were present on most levels as vehicles that would aid the Kongs in either move quicker through a level or jumping higher. The animal buddies were all fun to use once in a while, and they counted as helpful collateral when the Kongs were hit. They were also playable without the Kongs in many bonus levels for gaining extra lives. I’d argue that the animal buddies were underutilized in the first game due to their aid being a novelty instead of a necessity. They couldn’t really offer anything totally out of the Kong’s reach. The animal buddies in DKC2 are much more useful than they were and have a presence that makes them feel like secondary characters instead of tools.

Returning animal buddies like Rambi and Enguarde offer their backs to give the Kongs a lift but come with special attributes that give them way more utility. Rambi can make a rhino charge move to demolish a blocked-off entrance, and this move can also precariously catapult the player past a good chunk of the level, zooming past kremlings like a jungle autobahn. Squawks offered his talents as a flashlight in the first game, but now he’s passed that job off to an anglerfish named Glimmer onto bigger and better things. Squawks can now use their wings to soar past levels with various hazards, lifting the Kongs up with their talons. Rattly and Squitter are new animal buddies, and they are huge improvements to the animal buddies from the first game that did not return. Rattly is a rattlesnake gifted with a jumping ability uncharacteristic of any rattlesnake I’m familiar with. Nevertheless, he reaches heights higher than Winky ever did. Squitter is a tarantula with four pairs of bitchin’ sneakers on each of his eight legs. He has the most interesting utility of all the animal buddies in that he can shoot webs as projectiles and thicker webs to use as platforms. He can access heights with his webs reaching up so far as the edge of what graphical space the game will allow (I’d also like to point out that tarantulas shoot webs from their feet, not their mouths. Realistically, Squitter would just be filling his shoes with webs). All of these features prove the animal buddies to be incredibly useful in more ways than just bicycles composed of flesh and blood and being vehicles for corny bonus stages.

It’s fantastic that the animal buddies have such a large presence in this game because they are on the frontlines almost as much as both Kongs. Many levels are designated entirely for playing as one of the animal buddies. Some of these animal buddy levels are also some of the hardest levels in the entire game. Slime Climb is a level with Rattly that utilizes his super jump move to the best of his ability, having the player aim his jumps accordingly to avoid the ascending slime hazard. Web Woods is the Squitter level with swathes of bottomless hazards so tense that it’s enough to make any player’s sphincter clench. Squawks even gets his boss battle all to himself, spitting nuts at a giant zinger like a multi-directional shooter. Animal Antics, one of the bonus levels in the game, is a gauntlet of using every animal buddy to the best of their abilities. It’s also widely considered to be the most difficult level in the game, so the developers definitely wanted the animal buddies to be considered playable characters with their own stakes in the game. One might argue that the heavy presence of the animal buddies is too distracting from the core gameplay, but I think it broadens the overall scope of the series. The animal buddies are supposed to give the jungle background of DKC some depth with their presence, exotic animals that make up the foreground of a jungle setting. Their more substantial roles here do a wonderful job at expanding on the “country” aspect of the series, making it seem as if Donkey Kong is not the center of the series.

If Donkey Kong was a playable character, he’d still be a fish out of water. The setting is no longer DK Isle with its comforting familiarity. Every inch of the mountainous Crocodile Isle is riddled with the influence of King K. Rool and his reptilian underlings. The Kongs are infiltrating enemy territory instead of Kremling influence slowly adulterating DK Isle as was the case for the first game. The atmosphere of Crocodile Isle is consistently more hostile than the tropical sunsets accompanied by the sounds of frogs and other noisy wildlife found on DK Isle. Opting out of the jungle setting of DKC1 may be another instance of the franchise losing itself again, but this was just another part of the “country expansion” directive the developers strived for. The overall setting of DKC2 may not be as cohesive as the jungle setting of the first game, but the individual levels are far more consistent with a particular theme. Gangplank Galleon is a pirate-themed level in which the sublevels run from the bow to the stern of a ship or an epic ascent to the mast. The kremlings walk on wooden legs or wear bandanas to add to the pirate theme. It’s a theme that’s certainly warranted, considering King K. Rool’s fight in the last game took place on a pirate ship. Maybe the kremlings are legitimate pirates, and Crocodile Isle is like their Skull Keep. Crocodile Cauldron is a diamond mine surrounded by lava. Krem Quay is a dingy swamp, and Gloomy Gulch is an eerie place engulfed by fog and strong autumn winds. The most interesting place is Krazy Kremland, an amusement park built by the Kremlings on the territory of zinger hives. The more contained theming of each level DKC2 makes them feel more consistent in tone. The first game would introduce a random jungle environment whenever it felt like it, no matter the place in the game. The jungle setting may have felt more appropriate for Donkey Kong, but repeating this for the sequels would have fatigued the series. The only setting that is guilty of randomly being implemented here in DKC2 is the bramble areas. They occur every so often on every level starting from Krem Quay, and showcase the staple barrel mechanic in every game of the series. The accompanying track for these levels, “Stickerbrush Symphony,” is maybe the best in the entire series, but the barrel mechanic of these levels is nauseating.

Progressing through these themed places will give the player a sense of the game’s difficulty curve compared to the first game. There are no longer any steep pikes in difficulty like “Mine Cart Madness,” and there are no unfair blindspots to catch the player off guard. Extra lives are also more plentiful due to the carnival bell feature at the end of each level with a range of prizes. Despite this, DKC2 is the hardest game in the SNES trilogy. Some of the levels later in this game made me want to nuke Crocodile Isle out of pure spite, but that’s the thing. The game has an incredibly smooth difficulty curve that naturally increases as the player progresses. The challenge comes from stacking upon what the player has already experienced without any cheaply implemented tactics. Gangplank Galleon almost acts as a tutorial level, comfortably nestling the player into the experience and netting more experienced players with a bevy of extra lives. Crocodile Cauldron is slightly harder than the preceding level, just as Krem Quay is slightly harder than the level that preceded it. In my experience, the game starts to ratchet up the difficulty around Krazy Kremland. It’s a tough but fair difficulty curve throughout. Unlike the first game, saving and traveling to another level costs coins, so the player can’t use saving and traveling to easier levels to farm for lives as a crutch. Surviving the onslaught present in DKC becomes more imperative as a result.

The bosses were definitely the biggest detriment to the first Donkey Kong Country. Except for the final fight against King K. Rool, each boss at the end of every level was a laughably pitiful experience. It saddens me that the bosses in DKC 2 are only slightly improved from those of the first game. Their designs are more interesting this time, as are the means to defeat them. Some standouts are Kleever in Crocodile Cauldron and the giant zinger boss with Squawks. However, I am not amused by Kudgel’s predictable attack patterns nor the incorporeal, reskinned Kreepy Crow. These fights are mostly an improvement on the first game’s bosses, which isn’t setting the bar too high. King K. Rool is once again the only truly formidable foe. His outfit is more extravagant than his animalistic nakedness from the first game. He’s fully adopted the pirate persona, wearing a regal captain’s uniform and donning the typical black pirate hat with a skull and crossbones. His fight is a multi-phased affair of carefully dodging erratic patterns of cannonballs and colored gasses that warp the player’s controls. It’s a fight that will make the player’s brow sweat, and he doesn’t even try to execute another cheap fakeout (although the first cannonball he shoots back at the player might catch someone off guard).

Once Donkey Kong is rescued, the adventure is far from over. Our favorite geriatric primate Cranky Kong will again be disappointed in the Kong’s performance, just like any crotchety old man is with their kin. The extra features needed to satisfy Cranky Kong and fully complete the game aren’t just a matter of finding misplaced collectibles. The Kongs must brave the challenges of the “Lost World,” the inner sanctum of Crocodile Isle, acting as a secret bonus realm like “Star Road” from Super Mario World. To access this bonus world, the Kongs have to pay Kudgel at a toll marked by a crocodile icon on the map of each sublevel. The player has to pay a whopping 15 kremcoins achieved from bonus stages in the main levels to access each level in the Lost World. Having to do this is the pinnacle of a completionist-level slog and isn’t much fun. There is an option to fight Kudgel, but it will just result in him batting you off with his giant club. Considering the tedium of collecting each Kremcoin, I’d rather just whoop his ass five different times. Each level in the lost world is fairly challenging, with a steady difficulty build increasing as the player progresses, similarly to the base game. Once you’ve completed every level, it ends with a more demanding version of the final boss fight against King K. Rool in another location. It’s hard to tell whether or not Cranky Kong will truly be satisfied with the player once they’ve endured each level of Lost World, but the player should certainly feel more than accomplished (and incredibly exhausted).

Ironically, the best game in the Donkey Kong Country series doesn’t even have Donkey Kong in it (his unorthodox role as a damsel in distress withstanding). The first game was made to give Nintendo’s first breakout star another breath of relevancy after lying dormant for so long. In the process, the developers created this immaculate, rural world to support the ape appropriately. The developers made an odd decision to expand on the world instead of expanding on accompanying Donkey Kong with different aspects. The developers knew the core of Donkey Kong Country was the graphical style, the challenging gameplay, and the strength of the different settings. Maintaining this core with Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and the animal buddies proved to be just as exceptional, improving on aspects lacking from the first game as a stellar sequel should. It’s also apt that I compare DKC2 with Super Mario World in the last paragraph to illustrate comparisons between two landmark SNES platformers. Declaring DKC2 as the best Donkey Kong Country game is not a controversial sentiment, but I consider Donkey Kong Country 2 to even surpass the ever-iconic Super Mario World in every aspect. Hell, Donkey Kong Country 2 might even be the greatest game on the SNES and the greatest 2D platformer of all time.

Donkey Kong Country Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 12/22/2020)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

Donkey Kong Country

Developer: Rare

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre(s): 2D Platformer

Platforms: SNES

Release Date: November 21, 1994

Donkey Kong was almost a relic of Nintendo's ancient history. The classic Donkey Kong arcade game was Nintendo's individual achievement back in 1981, but the introduction of the NES later in the decade ushered in a golden age for Nintendo as they became the dominant video game console producer. New IPs became the backbone for Nintendo's glory days and the character of Donkey Kong was left in the dust. Nintendo became a household name in only a few short years that it seemed unbelievable that they had anything to do with the Donkey Kong arcade game. For the longest time, Donkey Kong was relegated to Nintendo's pre-history. As influential as the Donkey Kong arcade game was, the NES period was a bad time to not get any limelight in Nintendo's back catalog. Ten years after the arcade game, Donkey Kong Jr.'s inclusion in the first Mario Kart game for the SNES was like Mr. Game and Watch's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee; as a lark to showcase some obscure, historical Nintendo characters among more popular ones. It's insane how long Nintendo left Donkey Kong in the proverbial attic during their golden years. It might have been this way if a certain British game developer had left this unchecked. If you like Donkey Kong as the brawny, tie-wearing ape as we've come to know him, then you have Rare Studio's 1994 SNES game Donkey Kong Country to thank.

You might ask yourself this question: what was the impetus of resurrecting the titular ape of a classic early 80's arcade game? Donkey Kong just throws barrels and kidnaps people's girlfriends. Donkey Kong isn't exactly a complicated game with complicated characters. How could he fit into the landscape of the 16-bit era? Not to mention, Jumpman, or Mario as you might know him, had greatly transcended his role into bigger feats of saving girls from giant reptilians instead of giant apes since his first outing in 1981. Mario had completely separated himself from his first video game role so drastically that the fact that he was ever referred to as Jumpman seems like an esoteric trivia factoid. Obviously, a game two gaming generations later wouldn't be the same as it once was. The template for Donkey Kong Country wasn't to expand on the classic arcade game or the titular character but to emphasize the "country" part of Donkey Kong Country to give audiences a sprawling world that made sense putting Donkey Kong in. The presentation of this game, whether it be the level design, the music, or the unique art style, made this game stand out above the rest of its contemporaries and cemented itself not just as a comeback for Donkey Kong, but also as one of the hallmark games on the SNES.

The game begins as Donkey Kong is crestfallen at the sight of his massive banana hoard stolen by Kremlings, the alligator-like main enemies in the game, and Donkey Kong has to venture out into progressively more uncharted territory to get his banana hoard back. It seems like a silly setup until you realize that Donkey Kong is a giant ape and the only way he could be motivated to go on a daunting journey is bananas, not sex. After all, Donkey Kong's girlfriend, Candy Kong, helps you on your quest by providing the occasional save point. She definitely seems much more of a formidable person to capture than the frangible Princess Peach. Stealing a monkey's banana hoard is as low as taking the love of his life (which in this case, the love of his life is bananas, not his girlfriend, so I guess it's not on equal standing). Aiding Donkey Kong in his quest is his best buddy Diddy Kong. You simultaneously play as both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong throughout the entirety of the game. In this case, Diddy and Donkey Kong are on equal standing in this game in terms of screen time. Diddy isn't just Donkey Kong's Luigi in that his existence doesn't fulfill a multi-player role for your younger sibling. Donkey Kong and Diddy balance each other out quite nicely. Where Donkey Kong is bulky, Diddy Kong is nimble. Donkey Kong can defeat a larger array of enemies because of his larger stature and Diddy Kong can access more of a level because he can jump higher. Both character's attributes are required to traverse through each level, so you'll always have to be careful because once one character is hit, they gasp and run away until you find another barrel to bring them back. The dynamic between Donkey Kong and Diddy is so simple, yet works so well in the game that it's practically perfect. Many platformers with more than one playable character around this time were repainted clones, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong legitimately feel different when you are playing as either of them. The contrast between the two makes the player utilize the strengths of each character wisely and also makes them careful which character is upfront before they get hit. Not to mention, both characters move incredibly smoothly and there are plenty of ways to traverse the levels as either character when you only have one of them. There is also a bevy of animal buddies that you can find at almost every level. Each of them is different animals with their own unique attributes that control just as smoothly as the two main characters (although I swear I made too many unfair missteps with that damn frog). The smoothness and variation of control are a testament to what makes a solid 2D platformer especially with as many playable characters as DKC has.

Before discussing the strengths of how the levels in Donkey Kong Country are designed, one just can't overlook the game's aesthetic. Instead of using 16-bit graphics as per the usual SNES games, Rare implemented pre-rendered 3D graphics and compressed them into 16-bit graphics to fit on the SNES. They look like the bridge between the then-current generation of graphics with the future of what was to come in the next generation of early 3D games. It's a style that is stuck in a state of purgatory between these two eras, but this is for the benefit of the DKC series because it makes the series look distinctive. This tactic also makes the DKC series the best-looking games on the SNES. I was always somewhat deterred by the graphics of the 16-bit era because they often look very "drawn on" thus looking very dated. I find the 64-bit graphics charming and the once rudimentary 8-bit graphics have become their own distinctive graphical style over the years, so the era in between still looks a little awkward to me. DKC's graphics don't quite fit the common aesthetic of its era, but it's all to it's the benefit. For some reason, the style still looks fantastic. Every character, whether it be the playable characters or the varied animal enemies, looks so animated and expressive. The backgrounds are lush and practically look like paintings and the foregrounds are just as vividly clear. Why didn't other game studios think of ever doing this? Accompanying the lush, sprawling world of Donkey Kong Country is the soundtrack, an element to this game that is just as important as the graphics. David Wise did an outstanding job at perfectly capturing the right mood for every single level in this game. A highlight track for me is "Aquatic Ambiance" because of how mesmerizing it is. As far as I'm concerned, it's up there with "Aquarium" from "The Carnival of Animals" as far as effective watery music pieces go.

The world, or should I say country, of Donkey Kong Country, is divided very similarly to Super Mario World. The hub world is a map of the entire game divided into seven or so sub-worlds each with a varying number of levels. The first Donkey Kong Country game on the SNES is much more consistent with the overall level themes than the other two in that it maintains its overall jungle/rural tone. It only deviates from this theme later in the game in the factory levels, but the factories are still overrun with kremlings and other animals from previous levels making it seem like the factory is still rooted in the rustic world of this game instead of contrasting it. Like other 2D platformers, the objective is to get to point A to point B. Donkey Kong and Diddy can jump on enemies and roll into them giving the player a nuanced way of defeating enemies rather than just using one tactic in conjunction with getting through the level. Ropes are strewn around the levels to climb further and to dodge enemies on a rail, tires act as springs like in Sonic the Hedgehog, and barrels will launch you in any direction. The barrels are definitely the defining platforming feature of the DKC series. Utilizing the barrels in levels would evolve as the series went on, but I think they were used the best in the first game. The barrel sections are tense and require the greatest use of one's reaction time. You cannot make any mistakes in this game when it comes to the barrel sections.

On the map, Donkey Kong has other friends that aid him in his journey besides Diddy and his animal friends. There is the aptly ape named Cranky Kong who is a tiny old curmudgeon that lives in a cabin. He doesn't so much help you as much as he calls you a candyass and tells you about a challenge involving beating completing this game in under an hour, a feat that he apparently did long ago. Cranky is apparently the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game as an old man, and the modern Donkey Kong that we're all familiar with is his grandson which only makes me ask questions about what happened to Donkey Kong Jr. The aforementioned Candy Kong will help you similarly save your game to Super Mario World in which you have to unlock the save point after a certain number of levels. Lastly, there's Funky Kong that lets you travel to different areas of the map.

You'll get to know Funky and Candy Kong really well from saving at any possible point and stocking up on extra lives. You're gonna need them because this game and the rest of the Donkey Kong Country games have a reputation for being quite difficult. It almost reminds you that this game was developed by the guys that made Battletoads. Although not as consistently frustrating as Battletoads, DKC has an incredibly steep difficulty curb as early as the second world with the notorious "Mine Cart Madness" level. Up until this level, the platforming was pretty fair and the obstacles could be readily combated without much trouble, but this level throws all of that out of the window. For the entire level, you are forced inside of a minecart that constantly keeps moving and never stops. You'll have to efficiently time your jumps at every step, there are stationary mine carts to jump over, and kremlings will be coming at you from the opposite direction. What's funny to me is that somehow, this level is much more difficult than the mine cart level much later in the game. It's the level that separates the men from the boys and after this, the game never gets easier.

Like classic Sonic the Hedgehog, the root of the first DKC's difficulty comes from the "blindspot" difficulty. DKC oftentimes makes you memorize the placements of the pitfalls and enemies because passing them smoothly requires a lot of trial and error. There are pitfalls at every corner in this game that can be quite challenging to get through. Oftentimes, the game throws more gimmicks at the player like a level on a conveyor belt and a level that is mostly in total darkness. Tons of different types of enemies come at you from every angle each with a unique tactic to kill you and the hitboxes are oftentimes questionable. I felt like I needed a referee to debate my untimely death every other time I died trying to jump on an enemy. "Mine Cart Madness" even has a fake-out kremling after the developers know you've taken a breath of relief. The worst offender of these blindspots is "Poison Pond" in which taking the incorrect route will ultimately result in the Kongs getting hit. It doesn't help that the correct paths are filled with gyrating tires with little elbow room to dodge and the final part of this level has fish coming at you in every single space that it's practically a bullet-hell section. The game makes damn sure that the player never gets accustomed to dealing with the obstacles in this game unless you know how to overcome every single one of them. Fortunately, the game gives you ample opportunity to stock up on extra lives through mini-games and banana collecting. The bananas in this game act like the coins in Mario in that collecting 100 of them will reward you with an extra life. They mostly come in singles, but there are plenty of bananas that are stacked in tens. The abundance of bananas in the levels shows a nice sense of self-awareness from the developers in that they didn't want to leave the player high and dry with the steep difficulty of the game.

The levels in this game are certainly daunting, but the same can't be said about the bosses. In fact, the bosses in the first Donkey Kong Country are pitifully easy. You know it's troubling when you strain yourself over the levels and a boss fight seems like a place of relief. The bosses are essentially larger versions of the standard enemies and they only take a few hits to defeat. The boss before King K. Rool is a giant black barrel with a skull and crossbones in the middle of it and it's just a simple boss gauntlet. The barrel doesn't even hurt you when it slams down on the ground. King K. Rool, the final boss of this game and the Bowser of the DKC trilogy, is a different beast altogether. Instead of going down after a few cheap hits, King K. Rool is a formidable foe with a few different phases that will test all of the abilities you've been using throughout the game. All of the blindspots in the game will also prepare you for the bizarre kremling kredits that roll after you think you've defeated King K. Rool before the final phase of his boss fight. I'm ashamed to admit, but he pulled me into a false sense of victory when these credits rolled and he stomped me into the ground. I feel like an absolute idiot for not getting the hint from the credits considering the Rare staff all have kremling names. I figured they were all foreigners.

Donkey Kong Country totally revitalized the character (or technically, revamped Donkey Kong as a younger, more acrobatic version of the arcade game character) and forever made Donkey Kong one of the prime faces of Nintendo's extensive back catalog. As for the game itself, it takes the influences from other 2D platformers of the time and still delivers something unique. The art style and music are still just as captivating as they were when the game was released more than 25 years ago, and it's also one of the smoothest and diverse games of the time in terms of movement. This game is now rightfully considered a classic, but for me personally, everything that made this game stand out was vastly improved in the next two games in the franchise.