The Donkey Kong Country series is an old-school run 'n' jump platformer from the mid '90s. All the years I’d sunk into the series, all the time I’d spent passing the controller back and forth with my younger brother - I’d finally get to share the series with my kids.īut before you peel the banana on this game for the kids, here are a few things to consider. So, when Nintendo announced in January that a retooled version of the Wii U Donkey Kong Country game was making its appearance on Switch, it was an easy yes. The only one I'd missed was the original 2014 release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U.Ī lot of people missed out on that DKC game, to be fair. Over the years, I've played through almost every single iteration of Donkey Kong Country that there's been. It stretched the technology further than anyone had ever seen at that time, and it followed up with gameplay that was crisp and challenging. Even back then, Donkey Kong Country was a marvel. Its roots are rich and deep, reaching as far as back as 1994 with its first apperance on the Super Nintendo. Funky sells them in his shop for the low price of just three coins, and there are plenty of other chances to pick up extra chances along the way.Before you peel the banana on this game for the kids, here's what you should consider.ĭonkey Kong Country is a longtime Nintendo staple. Thankfully extra lives by way of balloon are easy to come by. And I wasn’t good enough A LOT, particularly on some of the later bosses. I died because I just wasn’t good enough. I never felt like I died because of some cheap move on the part of the game. The boss battles, too, are difficult but fair.
I really hated it, and if I need to revisit it to 100-percent Tropical Freeze, well, I guess I won’t be 100-percenting it. I put it up there with the underwater dam level in the original TMNT for NES. You’re required to navigate tiny, deadly corridors using the clunkiest controls in the game. One of the later rocket-barrel levels was so frustrating, it’s not only my least favorite level in Tropical Freeze, it’s one of my least favorite levels, ever. “Difficulty in Tropical Freeze is unrelenting, but almost never feels cheap, with one major exception. Once I sat down on my couch with a controller, I… still struggled, but less so. Likewise, I struggled to beat the final boss with the Switch in handheld because picking up and throwing stunned enemies is a huge part of the process.
Sometimes I’d accidentally throw something because there isn’t as much play in those shoulder buttons. I had difficulty with the smaller shoulder buttons on the Joy-Cons, used to pick up barrels and stunned enemies.
The controls are tight and jumps are easy to pull off, but I found playing in handheld mode harder than playing with the Pro Controller. If that wasn’t enough to take the edge off the difficulty, Funky Mode also gives you an extra heart for each level, and hearts to replenish your health appear more often during levels. He also needs no help from Diddy, Dixie, or Cranky. Funky’s surfboard also makes him briefly immune to spike damage, and brings the total level of tubularness in the Switch version to a place unheard of on Wii U. Thanks to a surfboard that lets you feather your falls, Funky’s jumps are much more forgiving than even the jumps possible with Diddy’s rocket or Dixie’s ponytail helicopter. With his wrap-around sunglasses, belt-fastened jorts, tank-top, and bandana, he’s the cool uncle who knows a lot about living, and a little about love. It lets you play as either Donkey Kong or the titular Funky Kong, the coolest of all the Kongs. You can’t cheese your way through any of the levels or battles, you just get a few extra chances to correct your mistakes. The precision jumps and timing are still there. “The much more accessible Funky Mode is the biggest change to the Tropical Freeze formula, and it’s a welcome one because it makes things easier without feeling like a mode for babies.