Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze |OT| Donkey's Got a Brand New Funk

Oh god. I finally finished 2-K, and my thumb hurts so much from having to jump so much.

This is probably a dumb question, but how to play as other characters besides Donkey Kong in single player? I never knew you could until I saw the character trailers.

ChristopherDX said:

I'm mad I spent sixty dollars on this...

Why are you guys hyping the soundtrack it sounded like David Wise phoned this one in.

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First thing that popped into my head....

きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ said:

Oh god. I finally finished 2-K, and my thumb hurts so much from having to jump so much.

This is probably a dumb question, but how to play as other characters besides Donkey Kong in single player? I never knew you could until I saw the character trailers.

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You can only do that in hard mode which is unlocked once you beat every level in the game.

ChristopherDX said:

...for the switch.

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well yeah, the best platformer ever made by definition is also the best on Switch.

I just watched this video on some of the design decisions behind DK:TF. It highlights a few interesting elements in level and gameplay design that give this game its mechanical depth and polish. I thought it was pretty interesting and wanted to share.

2K was the most frustrating level I've ever played. The hit detection needed to be almost 100% spot on.

I once claimed that Returns had the eight worst boss fights of all time. Immediately I had to ask myself how much hyperbole was contained within that statement. The answer? Surprisingly little. I could not find bosses in any game that I hate more than Returns bosses. I don't think any differently of the bosses in this game. Not a single attack in the first two phases of every boss in this game (the sole exception being the somewhat difficult to land bop during the final boss charge attack) was ever going to hit me even a single time. Like, I am falling asleep midfight in a way that I have not in any other game in the hundreds of games I have played in my entire life. This is not hyperbole. I went out of my way to try and find something that worked my mind less than Retro DK boss fights prior to the final phase. The easiest games and the easiest individual moments I could think of still demanded significantly more mental effort, even if they were so forgiving that the player couldn't possibly fail. It really cannot be overstated how above and beyond the simplicity of these patterns are. The irony is that they're so aggressively boring I end up being pretty bad at them, especially when I go down at the very end and have to redo it. I got stuck in the world 4 boss hitbox during the final phase and was effectively instantly killed. The frustration of having to sit through something I hated that much got to me and I went on to die a couple more times. Asking the player to take risks and create difficulty (in my case desperately find ways to maintain minimal attention) is not an acceptable answer to bad design.

On a much more positive note, while I remain slightly disappointed in the earlier worlds, the final two are totally awesome. The two K stages I played through last night were excellent as well. Time to go unlock some more.

I finally beat Bopopolis (with four of five puzzle pieces, no less). I'm not sure how many lives that I lost because I started the level at 99 and ended it at 99, but it was a lot, trust.

I didn't enjoy that level and never felt that I could lock consistent timing on some of the parts of the level. Maybe some day, I'll go back and snag that last puzzle piece.

This game has made me fall in love with gaming again crazy thing if it wasn't for my daughters wanting it I would have never tried it.

I forgot how brutal the final boss is.

AllenSports said:

This game has made me fall in love with gaming again crazy thing if it wasn't for my daughters wanting it I would have never tried it.

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definitely one of those games that reminds you of the magic of the medium

SavoryTruffle said:

I once claimed that Returns had the eight worst boss fights of all time. Immediately I had to ask myself how much hyperbole was contained within that statement. The answer? Surprisingly little. I could not find bosses in any game that I hate more than Returns bosses. I don't think any differently of the bosses in this game. Not a single attack in the first two phases of every boss in this game (the sole exception being the somewhat difficult to land bop during the final boss charge attack) was ever going to hit me even a single time. Like, I am falling asleep midfight in a way that I have not in any other game in the hundreds of games I have played in my entire life. This is not hyperbole. I went out of my way to try and find something that worked my mind less than Retro DK boss fights prior to the final phase. The easiest games and the easiest individual moments I could think of still demanded significantly more mental effort, even if they were so forgiving that the player couldn't possibly fail. It really cannot be overstated how above and beyond the simplicity of these patterns are. The irony is that they're so aggressively boring I end up being pretty bad at them, especially when I go down at the very end and have to redo it. I got stuck in the world 4 boss hitbox during the final phase and was effectively instantly killed. The frustration of having to sit through something I hated that much got to me and I went on to die a couple more times. Asking the player to take risks and create difficulty (in my case desperately find ways to maintain minimal attention) is not an acceptable answer to bad design.

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so you dislike the boss fights? It wasnt quite clear, could you elaborate a bit more

ViewtifulJC said:

so you dislike the boss fights? It wasnt quite clear, could you elaborate a bit more

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good game, good music, forgot how good the game and music was, that one level is good

brb next page to repeat

I don't think of the bosses in terms of how often I am attacking them. I look at them like arena-based obstacle courses, but where the obstacles come towards me... and in that respect they're all very well-done.

Most platformer bosses are bad because platform games are about movement, not being stuck in an arena waiting around for attack patterns to be over. Jumping on things is usually your one offensive move, so not a lot to build around with that. If you cant be good, at least be short, and Tropical Freeze doesnt do that, either. You mostly just wait around and pray you dont fuck up so you dont have to do this entire damn boss fight again.

(reminder that Celeste, the best game of 2018, has the best selection of boss fights in platformer history, through a combination of narrative context, fantastic visual/audio design, creatively building on platforming skills learned throughout the game, and emphazing the same thrill of moving through its tricky level design)

I like the bosses in TF, but ViewtifulJC ain't wrong either. Celeste does bosses really well.

Celeste's bosses are good because they're not really boss fights in an arena and more like another interesting mechanic or challenge to add to the platforming

Why couldn't Nintendo package the soundtrack for this game into a Collector's Edition?
The soundtrack is just sublime ..

ChristopherDX said:

2K was the most frustrating level I've ever played. The hit detection needed to be almost 100% spot on.

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It's a pretty easy level to be honest. Even if you're just using DK.

https://www.verdict.co.uk/which-are-nintendos-most-valuable-franchises-nintendo-shares/

So apparently Donkey Kong is the fifth best-selling and most important among Nintendo franchises. Goes to show how badly managed it was before Retro stepped in with their awesome games. I sincerely hope we never have to go through a DK drought like that again.

Gin said:

Why couldn't Nintendo package the soundtrack for this game into a Collector's Edition?
The soundtrack is just sublime ..

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Let's hope that this reissue is a success and they decide to put out a 5 CD set.

I'm liking this game more now. Honestly, I think I was just kind of mad at the game for a while after Bopopolis. I beat that level, but it was more frustrating than fun. Now that I'm further along in the game (currently deep into world 5), I think I understand the game more, and I'm having more fun. I'm finally used to the controls, and I have a better sense of what kinds of tricks the game usually pulls, and what kind of pacing it expects from the player.

I really liked world 4 especially. Swimming is super fun in this game.

I love the bosses in Tropical Freeze, they are so charming and fun to fight. I say they are perfect and definitely better than in DKC1.

As for the bosses in DKC Returns, they are ugly, boring.. I hated each of those bosses and still do.

As much as I like Bopopolis, Platform Problems is by far the best K Level.

antonio said:

I love the bosses in Tropical Freeze, they are so charming and fun to fight. I say they are perfect and definitely better than in DKC1.

As for the bosses in DKC Returns, they are ugly, boring.. I hated each of those bosses and still do.

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I liked the chicken boss from the factory world. The rest of the bosses.... yeah, they were pretty meh...

I had a late morning and caved in to try the game (so much for waiting until finals).

Tight ass gameplay, 1-1 was awesome!

TheMoon said:

Just a random note to all the people skipping this because handheld res is not fully native 720p: you're being ridiculous. If nobody told you, you wouldn't even notice. Saying that after finally trying it out myself.

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I mean, the game clearly looks a lot better on TV than on handheld, not only because 1080p but bc the camera being so far for a lot of the game makes it kinda hard to appreciate all the detail in the small screen.

But it looks excellent on the go as well.

Am I misremembering, or did the dpad control scheme on Wii U require you to hold Y to run, while in the Switch version the dpad automatically goes to run speed and has no walk option.

First thing I noticed when I booted it up 30 minutes ago was that it looks a bit softer on the screen than I thought but once you get on it doesn't matter at all and surprisingly it doesn't eat through battery!

Also, HD Rumble is extremely obnoxious, holy shit it's so loud. I've had to disable it system wide!

QuicoGil said:

I mean, the game clearly looks a lot better on TV than on handheld, not only because 1080p but bc the camera being so far for a lot of the game makes it kinda hard to appreciate all the detail in the small screen.

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And obviously the budget LCD screen can't compare to the IQ you get on TV's.

superNESjoe said:

Am I misremembering, or did the dpad control scheme on Wii U require you to hold Y to run, while in the Switch version the dpad automatically goes to run speed and has no walk option.

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Yeah, Retro changed that in the Switch version for some reason...

You really should use the analog stick option though. It's much better, especially in the swimming levels.

Japanese Media Create sales should be up in about four hours at Gematsu.

Here are a couple tidbits, though:

-It's number one on Amazon Japan.
I've heard it's sold out on Amazon JP, too.

-Number one in TSUYUYA.

-We've also got this:
https://twitter.com/japanese3ds/status/993394664089772032?ref_src=twsrc^tfw&ref_url=http://s9e.github.io/iframe/twitter.min.html#993394664089772032

Tropical Freeze only did 38k on it's first week in Japan, really poorly, and just around 200k lifetime sales. This is really, really low, DK in Japan is pretty big and the Rare games were multi-million sellers in Japan. So we'll see.

ChristopherDX said:

2K was the most frustrating level I've ever played. The hit detection needed to be almost 100% spot on.

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Maybe you should go back to Sonic 06

Ok so i bought it and currently i finished world 3 with all Kong letters and puzzle pieces and...HOLY SHIT

Loved DKC Returns but never played TF because i hated playing on WiiU (horrible control pad and console in my opinion), when the game was announced i was like "meh, i liked Returns but seems like the same game with better resolution".

What a total mistake.

The game is beatiful, its art is way better from Returns and level design is one or two steps higher, specially in water levels, it succeds in every aspect...it reminds me to Diddy's Kong Quest greatness and that is saying a lot.

Man, what a game...

Safety_Man said:

I just watched this video on some of the design decisions behind DK:TF. It highlights a few interesting elements in level and gameplay design that give this game its mechanical depth and polish. I thought it was pretty interesting and wanted to share.

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This right here ladies and gentlemen is why Retro Studios is currently the best developer in the world.

exodus said:

For example, you can't just switch directions and roll. You need to switch directions, wait until you see the puff of dust, then hit roll.

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This is probably the one and only thing of the control I would refine in a sequel, because it definitely bothers me.

exodus said:

Also, so many times when rolling and jumping at some point I'll just lose all of my speed and I miss my next jump because DK failed to roll again and barely got any distance. Still not sure what I'm doing there.

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That's just because you start the jump when the roll has already ended, or you jump too early before it has started. It's a matter of getting use to the range of the movement.

I

macapala said:

Yeah, Retro changed that in the Switch version for some reason...

You really should use the analog stick option though. It's much better, especially in the swimming levels.

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I hate using analog sticks for platformers. I have tried the thumbstick in water levels sometimes, but do fine without it.

I picked this up on Wii U and played maybe thirty minutes and it just felt like your standard platformer. Never really saw the magic people referred to. Is there a point in which I'd know if this game is or isn't for me? I picked it up for Switch but have yet to open the game and may return it.

Nocturnowl said:

This world man

When we start bringing the environment and other enemies in, whew, I'm spoilt for choice.

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How are you playing as the other characters without DK? Co-op?

ScOULaris said:

How are you playing as the other characters without DK? Co-op?

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It's an unlockable hard mode. I think you gotta get 100% to get it

ngower said:

I picked this up on Wii U and played maybe thirty minutes and it just felt like your standard platformer. Never really saw the magic people referred to. Is there a point in which I'd know if this game is or isn't for me? I picked it up for Switch but have yet to open the game and may return it.

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i was the same, picked it up on Wii U and didn't feel like it was for me... then i lost my copy lmao

so i picked it up on Switch and it feels like a new game for me, this time i proper got into it

i felt like i knew it was for me when i took my time with the stages, not rush through them, but explored them thoroughly and took my time with them

MONSTER said:

i was the same, picked it up on Wii U and didn't feel like it was for me... then i lost my copy lmao

so i picked it up on Switch and it feels like a new game for me, this time i proper got into it

i felt like i knew it was for me when i took my time with the stages, not rush through them, but explored them thoroughly and took my time with them

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Do you still feel this is worthy of $60.00? Furthermore, did anything in this game captivate you at all?

There is nothing special at all to this game. It's a great platformer, but forgettable.

ChristopherDX said:

Do you still feel this is worthy of $60.00? Furthermore, did anything in this game captivate you at all?

There is nothing special at all to this game. It's a great platformer, but forgettable.

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Are you sure you are playing Donkey Kong? Because it sounds more like Donkey WRONG

WestEgg said:

Are you sure you are playing Donkey Kong? Because it sounds more like Donkey WRONG

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I think I got Tropical Freezer Burned....eh I liked that one.

Anyway I'm just venting an opinion, if you don't agree that's fine. If you like it I respect that too.

ngower said:

I picked this up on Wii U and played maybe thirty minutes and it just felt like your standard platformer. Never really saw the magic people referred to. Is there a point in which I'd know if this game is or isn't for me? I picked it up for Switch but have yet to open the game and may return it.

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Probably the start of World 2 or the first level of world 3. If you get to 3-1 Grassland Groove and don't feel anything, the game definitely isn't for you. World 1 is just OK.

This game is a classic.

OrbitalBeard said:

I like the bosses in TF, but ViewtifulJC ain't wrong either. Celeste does bosses really well.

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The thing with Celeste's bosses is that they just feel like regular levels with a persistent hazard going off, rather than an actual, you know...fight. And that's probably how platformer bosses should be tbh, but it isn't going for TF's thing at all. Not that Retro's DKC games don't already tackle a similar concept in levels like Peaceful Pier, Crowded Cavern and Irate Eight.

I actually don't think TF's bosses are super great. They don't capture the joy of catapulting DK around, and some of them involve long stretches of waiting for the boss to make a move. I don't totaly hate them, but the best boss in TF is still magnitudes weaker than almost any regular stage imo. Now, this isn't really a problem exclusive to TF. I honestly can't think of any primarily run and jump, non-combat focused platformers (so excluding Mega Man/Castlevania/etc) that have great bosses. These games just aren't really tuned for that type of engagement, yet it keeps happening.

ChristopherDX said:

I think I got Tropical Freezer Burned....eh I liked that one.

Anyway I'm just venting an opinion, if you don't agree that's fine. If you like it I respect that too.

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I was mostly looking for an excuse to unload that pun. This game is definitely a top 3 platformer for me, maybe even top 5 games in general. But different strokes for different folks.