Quick Look: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]

Best music!

Tropical Freeze is fucking amazing and anyone that likes platformers should play it.

Funky Kong... in the coffee...

I LOVE games that have 2 quick looks!!!

Looks great, I'd be in at 30 bucks, 60 is a bit steep me thinks though.

This might have the best music of 2015.

I've been playing this, and I dislike how Cranky Kong will just say his own name as if he's a Pokemon. It's weird AF. The classic mode has definitely been a fun challenge though. The levels you unlock after you get all the KONG letters in every stage in a world are particularly tough.

Also in classic mode the way the health works in single player is you start with 2 hearts while playing as Donkey Kong, and if you pick up another Kong from a barrel then they upgrade you to 4. If you get hit twice then you lose your other character, and downgrade back to 2 hearts.

I think bringing this to the Switch was a really good idea, and if you've never played it then it's worth picking up. Even at the $60 price point.

I...I think I need to get this. The $60 tag is hefty but Dan did a great job selling this game. I never really played the original DKC games back then but it looks like Retro refined that series to incredible extent that their DKC games (namely Tropical Freeze), look extremely well made.

I don't know if I can take Alex's Funky Kong hate though. He's got Macho Man Randy Savage sunglasses. What's not to like?

Could you play a bit of the music, into the mic?

Still (one of?) the best platformers of all time. Shame I already have it (and I use my Wii U quite a lot still), but once it gets cheaper I'm totally ready to buy it again.

From now on, whenever Poochie’s not on screen Abby should be asking, “Where’s Poochie?!?”

Thumbnail isn't animated, 0/5 stars.

I wish Nintendo would throw those of us that owned a WiiU and bought these games a bone. I own digital versions of most of the big WiiU games, and I'd be willing to double dip on some of them on the Switch, but not at full price.

I really hope they have the two conversations they've had about Donkey Kong every single time it's been mentioned on this site for the past four years in this video.

I like how it took Abby like 5 seconds to identify the biggest issue with the game. "This, eh, controls weird". I'm sure it's something you get used to eventually, but I remember playing it for like an hour or two and still not feeling comfortable with the controls at all.

I like how Dan picks up every heart when he has his health full and Abby is down to one heart. He is such a thoughtful nice guy.

Dan - Danky Kong

Abby- Abby Kong

Alex- Gloomy Kong

@tactfulogre: I am damn glad that I'm not the only one whose mind went there.

F K... in the bananas

Ok, let's do this.

Why the DK platformers are competent but not great.

So the movement is all wrong and the level design works against it. That's the short version.

The long version is they have a roll move that is super kinetic and momentum-based (I guess Sonic's shadow is indeed long)... but it's paired with a stomp move that *needs you to be perfectly still*. These two moves go together like peanut butter and dish soap.

Now, the games know this. They design for this as much as they can, but that also means the levels are not meant to be played the way you want to play them. There is a fast lane where you ignore collectibles and use the momentum mechanics to traverse the levels fast and there is a collectathon route.

This collectathon typically hides stuff in nooks and crannies, specifically demanding that you stop the momentum navigation to backtrack a bit to a place the physics don't want to take you and grab a thing. The effect is infuriating, like one of those viral videos of most dissatisfying things. You get a thing going, then screech to a halt to go back for a token.

And, counterintuitively, the speedrun route is the more hardcore. Newbies are expected to take their time and get all the extra lives. But the collection route is also the one that flows the most against the movement, because you need to go to places where the Kongs don't naturally want to be. And that's before you factor in a bunch of secrets that you're expected to search for on multiple passes of a level.

Now pair that with a checkpointing system where going for a collectible can throw you back to repeat a hard platforming sequence multiple times and... well, that is not "one of the best platformers ever" by any definition.

It's not... bad. It plays well, the levels are well laid out and the movement can be very fluid if you let it, but the disparate parts don't make for a great first experience unless you immediately click with it in a way that lets you find a groove and ignore some of the design choices. In fact, the Sonic thing applies there, too. It's a close match to Sonic CD in that it has this great momentum platforming hindered by an intricate level design forcing you to disrupt it. Some people are gonna bounce out because of it and never make it back.

Phew. There. I've been mulling this one for a while, honestly. These are very interesting, because even professional critics are out there saying they don't know why they don't like them, as Alex does. I think it's because the issues are at a very core design level. You can't quite pin it down to "attitude" or anything audiovisual. It's just raw mechanics and level design at play.

Also, while I'm here with the unpopular opinions and stuff. The Wii U didn't do well at all, but some of the "nobody played it" common knowledge is a bit off-base. It still sold about 14 million units. That's about as much as the Vita and a lot more than the Dreamcast, for instance.

This inaccurate perception of console hardware sales isn't necessarily a new phenomenon. The OG Xbox, the N64 and the Dreamcast get overrepresented in the US, while the Gamecube did a lot better in Europe and Japan than people often give it credit for. The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 worldwide, the PSP sold as much as the GBA and even today, the Wii was the best selling console of the last generation by a lot.

I personally know multiple people who own Wii Us... but I've only ever seen one original Xbox in a private home once and I reacted like that person owned a pet pterodactyl. They were using it as a DVD player, way past its due date for gaming popularity in a college student apartment I visited once for a party.

Scrappy Doo is fine.

I was planning on getting this until nintendo started pulling the scummy BS with the wii u version (and pricing a 4 year old game $10 higher than its launch price)

This game's music is great, but I still contend it was Shovel Knight that was robbed of Best Music of 2014. Luftrausers and Tropical Freeze got nothin' on this:

Did you see that, Zach?! Clear as a crisp spring morning! FK... in the Quick Look! I knew I could count on it. Never fails.

How can anyone deny how great this soundtrack is?

This game is great. This game is also overpriced for a port.

Super down for "This is the Kong" as a series.

Started playing it last night and I think I'm in love, it's amazingly fun. Don't care that I was charged too much honestly.

Also yes, please do a "This is the Kong" series. Now that it's been mentioned, they have to do it. Those are the rules.

I don't understand why everyone shits on Scrappy Doo.

Dan and Danielle Riendeau should team up and do a one off Tropical Freeze podcast.

"Dan and Danielle do a Donkey Kong discussion"

It looks cool, the last Donkey Kong game I played was Diddy Kong Racing, I think. But, I'm not paying £60 for this game. It's too much, for any game.

@ares42: there's a lot of momentum behind Dk's movement. It's not as fast paced as a lot of plat-formers. It's deliberate and weighty but once you get a feel for it you can move pretty fast through a level. I'm also a big fan of the mine cart stuff they do. There's a bit too much swimming for my taste but I have been enjoying the hell out of it.

@niko_of_death: I feel most people who have a wii u and wanted it there would have already gotten it at this point? I mean it sucks, but it's not that big of a deal really.

Im with Dan on this. Funky Kong is not only a great addition, but is possibly the BEST Kong.

''I've done nothing.''

Why are they talking during aquatic ambiance :(

Wish this game was $30.

I really wish they exposed the roll jump better. It's so key to moving fast in this game and also since it takes you super far it's so so useful. It's like the Dive Onto Hat stuff in Odyssey, only easier to do than even that. Just roll and jump and you'll go really far really fast.

Thank you DAN for opening this QL with water level

Aquatic Ambiance soundtrack never gets old. Best music

Definitely the best video game with Donkey Kong in the title. I got the Wii U version for free so I'm not totally against getting this one at some point.

That's not how snorkels work.

Funky Kong is the Brownie (see: Contra: Hard Corps) of Kongs.

FK means Forrest Kaysen.

@noelveiga: Sure but looking over lists of console sales the Wii U sits at around 13.5 mil and hearing that it initially sounds silly to say 'No one played that' but compared to your 70 and 80+ of its competing generation and the ridiculous 150+ of the all time greats then it may as well be the case.

Dan's a jerk co-op player. Kept getting hearts while his health was full while Abby needed them.

To be fair, it's not like Abby would have stayed alive long enough to get them. Most of her deaths were from falling into pits and general enviromental fuckery.

On that note, can anyone that played the game explain this? We've seen Abby play games before, we know she's not "bad" at them. Does DK have shitty movement controls? Does Cranky? What was happening here?

@vicious17: Posters above have detailed it. The gist is that, compared to Mario games, the Retro Donkey Kong games have a different weighty momentum to them that you have to acclimate to. How I would put it is that Donkey Kong doesn't move as sharply as the recent Mario games do. There's a larger slide and heft to everything Donkey Kong does.

Did you see that Zach!?

Clear as a crisp spring morning!

FK.. in the barrel.