1) As we all know, our own Brad Shoemaker played quite a bit of Super Meat Boy.
2) Earlier today, Ryan tweeted this message informing us that Brad was on DK duty.
3) Even more recently, Brad tweeted this.
 
This all tells me that Donkey Kong Country Returns will be anything but a casual Wii title, and I'm now very excited. I want this game to be just as difficult as the old SNES game. Bring on the nostalgia!

Really, DKC 2 was the only game in the series that could be considered "hard". But none of those games were cakewalks, that's for sure. If this one is just as hard? Sure, I'll buy it... when it goes on sale.

I was reading that it will be a tough game.  People said New Super Mario Bros. Wii was hard and that is bull.  That game was cake.  I really hope this game is tough and has excellent replay value.

Word kicking around is it is the hardest DKC game yet. Personally, it's been a long time since any DKC game was hard for me, so it's hard to say if difficulty is what I like about DKC. Still though, game looks fantastic.

I don't know much about it yet, but have you guys heard anything about why it's difficult? I just realized that the difficulty could possibly be coming from the controls. That would be a huge bummer. 
 
I just want the game to be challenging. I think that's the only way you can make a game like this interesting these days.