Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Don't Be Cranky, Be Funky)

I guess this deserves a thread.  It'll most likely be a good, if not great, game, with solid platforming and plenty of challenge.  It's just a shame that it was Retro's only offering and the Direct's only surprise.  Sigh...

So, anyone had a closer look at this?  Impressed by the fur, the camera angles, the level design, the inclusion of Dixie?  Or are you still bitter, like me?

Balladeer wrote:

It's just a shame that it was Retro's only offering and the Direct's only surprise. Sigh...

The problem is we're all still thinking in terms of E3, but this was a Nintendo Direct. There's one surprise per Direct.
Imagine if X, Zelda LbW, WWHD, Bayonetta 2 etc had all been unveiled in one go, and pretend that was the E3 we got.

Saying that, I'm disappointed we got this and not something like Metroid but DKCR probably sold more than all the Primes combined.

I would have loved to have had a Metroid game but I am liking DKC.
Like I said some where else I am more excited about this then Mario's game. (That's the one I'm bitter about)

Crushingly disappointing waste of talent, this is, still can't get over how this is what Retro have been secretly working on over the past two years, especially with all those new hires of staff from studios like Naughty Dog.

It'll be good, but if anything shows Nintendo is playing it safe, it's this.

sporkhead wrote:

Crushingly disappointing waste of talent, this is, still can't get over how this is what Retro have been secretly working on over the past two years, especially with all those new hires of staff from studios like Naughty Dog.

It'll be good, but if anything shows Nintendo is playing it safe, it's this.

I just entered this thread to say exactly that. It'll help sell hardware and it'll inevitably be one of the most enjoyable Wii U games of the year, but ultimately there's no reason to get too excited. It's just Donkey Kong Country. I fancied something different too.

Slightly more on the fence than sporky and Phillips but not much. I know I'll enjoy it but it's not the Metroid I was secretly hoping for. Fingers crossed that's next on the Retro to do list.

I'm disappointed.  It'll be good, definitely, but it doesn't seem to do much different from the original DKCR.  It seems like a cheap shot at nostalgia that they put in Dixie Kong.  The camera angles don't seem like a big deal at all when all the gameplay is still 2D.  But I don't really know; maybe it will be good, and maybe they still have something up their sleeves...

I initially still hoped they had a Metroid or something that they were working on in the background, but it doesn't sound like it. It sounds like they were given a choice of Metroid and DKC, and went with DKC.

But hey: fur, am I right?

This was the most disappointing aspect of Nintendo's E3, for me. For years, people have been building up Retro Studios to near mythological proportions so whatever they showed would have probably been disappointing. But we're completely spoiled for choice when it comes to platformers on Wii U, (in fact, it's the only genre the Wii U is drowning in), so it's weird they decided to release another one.

But, I'm not that much of a Donkey Kong fan, anyway. I could personally live without seeing another game in this series ever again. 

Nintendo are just as likely to announce Metroid in an August Direct as they are at E3. I can already see the "Why didn't they show this at E3?" comments.

To be fair, I'm happier with this than I would have been a new Metroid. However, as Axis1500, I could live without seeing another DKC game again. It's quite mad that even I, the chief bummer of platforming, think that there are too many kicking about. Don't forget, we've also got New Super Luigi U, Rayman Legends and Yarn Yoshi on the way. Chuck in Sonic Lost World too if you like.

I'd go along with this too. The other day I found myself questioning whether I liked platformers anymore, there seems to be loads about at the moment.

Are folk forgetting DKC returns came out three years ago? No doubt something new would've been preferred but a sequel to one of the best 2d platformers in years? I say bring it on.

I'll buy it if they put this on the cover.

at Mr Miyamoto in the DK barrel.

I'll definately be getting it at some point. I loved DKCR, it was just not exactly an exciting announcement.

Yup, agreed with Andyman.  It was my ninth-favourite Wii game, and I'm sure this will be solid: just utterly unexciting, is all.  Which seemed to be a sort of theme for the Nintendo Direct...

Dusty Knackers wrote:

I'd go along with this too. The other day I found myself questioning whether I liked platformers anymore, there seems to be loads about at the moment.

I agree when it comes to 2D platformers. They seem to be ten a penny at the moment. But a decent 3D one still excites me. Maybe because it's something that's so rarely done right?

Maybe that's why they didn't show Yarn Yoshi...

For 3D platformers, scratch "so rarely done right" - so rarely done at all these days. I'm happy to have more 2D platformers out there - my favourite genre! - and I know I'll love Tropical Freeze (who was it who put on Twitter that it sounds like a drink flavour?) but, yes, what everyone else seems to be saying: not as exciting as it could have been.

I believe the drink/flavour comparison was from Schilling and/or Matthew "The castle" Castle.

I've done a U turn on this game after seeing this amazing off-screen footage. Seriously. Look at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bUgZTrIFbE

Meh.  Doesn't show anything I didn't expect.  It'll be good, there's little doubting that: just not new in any meaningful way.

Yeah, what Balladeer said. Even Donkey Kong's animation after the bonus stage is completed is the same. If anything, the recent 3DS remake of DKCR has diminished my interest in a sequel; playing it through again makes me feel that I might have overrated it slightly in The Great Big Wii Voting Thread.

Mind you, NSMBU was a pleasant surprise in many ways. There's potential for this to have a similar impact.

I don't think DKCR was overrated.  At the time, we hadn't had a proper Donkey Kong game since Jungle Beat (and I didn't play that).  Then Retro gave us a platformer which was genuinely challenging, quite pretty for the hardware, and had lots of variety in the levels.  Between barrel rockets, minecarts, silhouette platforming, chase sequences, dodging the tide, animal control and others, almost every level (apart from the slow and boring 6-1) mixed things up sufficiently to avoid any feeling of ennui.

The way things are going, DKCTF is going to have to deal with ennui from the off.

Hmmm. I'll probably get this anyway.

I did hear a rumour... that shaking was still the way to roll. I assume that's not true; if it is I'm not going anywhere near this. If not, then yes.