Donkey Kong Community Thread: Simian Seguing through the Country

[Deleted member 671]

Welcome to the Donkey Kong Community Thread! The Rules here are pretty lax: Be considerate of other posters, keep fanart posts within the bounds of common sense, and overall just post with common sense. Enjoy!

Original Series


Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushū
Donkey Kong '94



Donkey Kong Country Series


Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Land
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Land 2
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
Donkey Kong Land III
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze



Donkey Konga

Donkey Konga
Donkey Konga 2
Donkey Konga 3



DK series

DK: King of Swing
DK: Jungle Climber




Spin Off Titles

Diddy Kong Racing
Diddy Kong Racing DS




Mario vs. Donkey Kong Series

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge




Other Appearances

Mario Kart
Mario Party
Super Smash Bros
Skylanders




Television

Donkey Kong Country
Saturday Supercade
Captain N: The Game Master

 

[Deleted member 15476]

All I got to say is that Tropical Freeze alone made the Wii U purchase worthwhile.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Donkey Kong Country was my first game ever, and I love all of the games in the DKC series with all my heart. 2 is the best, but they're all great.

Hopefully we can get another one soon.

 

[Leo]

Big fan here! The country trilogy for the snes are my favorite games of all time.

Now that Metroid is out of the way, I hope to see a final DKC made by Retro, to complete a second trilogy, maybe referencing 2 and 3 a bit more and featuring K. Rool (one could dream).

 

[YukidaruPunch]

I love the Country series more than I give it credit for. The 3 Snes ones are among my most replayed games of all time, the Wii one might be my favorite game in the system, and when I bought a used Wii U a few months back I could choose between a few games with the console, and I chose it alongside Breath of the Wild and Bayonetta 1+2. It was the only one I actually finished so far.

Really like them. Thinking of playing the Wii version of Jungle Beat now since it's on eShop.

 

[HibbySloth]

Now this is my kind of thread.

Donkey Kong Country is my favorite Nintendo franchise hands down. I really hope Retro is making a new one to top off the trilogy, specifically a 3D platformer. I'd love to see their take on how a 3D DK game should be.

My only concern is Tanabe isn't at Retro anymore, so if they are making Donkey Kong then someone else would have had to oversee development.

 

[Kickmaster Kim]

There were 3 Donkey Kongas!?! I have no knowledge of anything other than the first. Shit, I also thought there were only two, three max of the Mario vs Donkey Kong games.

 

[Leo]

I was wondering, am I the only one who hates DKC Returns but loves TF?

First of all, let me clarify that I am an absolute fanboy of the snes trilogy. They were my favorite games growing up and still are, most of my fond memories playing videogames come from this series. It is very dear to me.

So 14 years after DKC3, long after I accepted the franchise was dead, I was presented with DKC Returns. I still remember how baffled and excited I was when watching that E3 reveal, but I knew I'd have to be careful because no one from Rare was involved, so it could all go very wrong. And I was right, when I finally played it, Returns felt like a cheap rehash of DKC1, the same music, the same scenarios, only with much worse controls, enemies and artstyle. I decided I'd consider the franchise dead once again.

Then they announced TF. I watched the trailer and it looked exactly like Returns, so my hype for it was zero. It had Dixie though, and a few more nods to DKC2, and of course David Wise's soundtrack, which was what ultimately got me to play the game, I just couldn't live knowing that there was a DKC game scored by Wise that I hadn't played. And I'm fucking glad I did play it.

TF, while retaining the questionable artstyle and not very tight controls from Returns, was absolutely overflowing with creativity. From Wise's modern masterpiece soundtrack (Fruity Factory sounds like something straight out of DKC2, and is up there with my favorite melancholic songs from the series) to the incredibly diversified level design and scenarios, I had to swallow my pride and eat Retro's crow.

TF still has some problems that keep it from being a perfect game (not being able to play with the other kongs from the start, Dixie's moveset being different from the original, the floaty controls), but overall is a very solid sequel to my favorite franchise of all time, and boy that was one hard expectation to live up to. Returns still hasn't captured me, I think it's bland, uncreative, and doesnt hold a candle to the original trilogy.

What do you guys think about this?

 

[HibbySloth]

I had minor problems with DKCR. Nothing that made me hate it, just some nitpicks. Tropical Freeze fixed almost every one of those.

The art style got better, the music was dialed up to 11, water levels were back and better than ever, Dixie, Cranky, and Funky returned. Only thing I felt missing were a couple more animal buddies, but with the helper Kongs giving you abilities underwater I don't know what else Enguarde could have provided.

Tropical Freeze is probably my favorite Donkey Kong game next to DKC2. DKC2 has some of my favorite level themes and songs, but TF has the tightest gameplay and it's levels and music rivals it. It's a tough pick.

 

[Deleted member 671]

DKCR was a worthy entry, but no where near 2 or Tropical Freeze.

DKC 2 => TF > DKC > DKC 3 > DKC R.

 

[Deleted member 33]

DKCR is a good game, but I agree with many of those criticisms.

Tiki enemies were a step down from the Kremlings, the motion controls (in the Wii version) felt unnecessary, and the music paled in comparison to the original DKC trilogy's soundtrack.

Tropical Freeze was such a big improvement over DKCR in every way possible.

 

[Garlic]

I admit I'm a bit baffled when people say the Retro games feel loose or floaty, especially compared to the original trilogy. To me DK in the duology feels very solid and weighty, and nails the rolling momentum that was the best part of the Rare games' controls. The only really wafflely part was using waggle to roll (which never bothered me that much to be honest), and that was rectified in TF.

I think a lot of people are sleeping on DKC3. Wish more games had world maps as good.

 

[Thuddert]

And man that DKC intro is still the best, although it doesn't come near the legendary status of the DK rap.

As for games I have soft spot for the OG DKC. DKC2 does everything better, but that's no surprise. DKC3 is also pretty good.

Returns feels so cheap in everything, I only liked the shadow stages. Tropical Freeze was a way better return. I like that one, but I can never love that style.

DK64 was great as a teen, now I dislike it a lot. I do wanna see Nintendo tackle a 3D DK game again.

 

[Tizoc]

I should look into picking up the DKC SNES games for my N3DS. I remember playing DKC1 ages ago and I rather enjoyed it. Need to play them again someday and see which of them I like best.

I came upon this neat little video on YT

 

[VKO-GFX]

Donkey Kong Country 2 changed my life.

Edit: That video by BlobVanDam is sick. I knew he sounded familiar, he's the one that did that Sonic 3 & Knuckles Mushroom Hill video.

 

[Deleted member 671]

Watching some Tropical Freeze speed runs:

 

[Deleted member 671]

Was recently posted in a thread. While I can appreciate the time and effort that must have gone into making this mod, I think the redesigns simply work far better. Never really was that much of a fan of the original design.

 

[HibbySloth]

That video is seriously impressive.

 

[Tizoc]

Been playing Returns on my 3ds and these later stages are getting too tough for me
Is it me or is the 3ds conversion causing some undesired inputs?

 

[HibbySloth]

Been a long time since this thread had any discussion, huh? Let's fix that.

The good folks over at Gamexplain are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Donkey Kong Country with multiple videos throughout the week. The first of which being an interview with Gregg Mayles himself. If you're a huge fan of DKC, I highly recommend giving this a listen! It's well worth your time.

 

[AndreGX]

Been a long time since this thread had any discussion, huh? Let's fix that.

The good folks over at Gamexplain are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Donkey Kong Country with multiple videos throughout the week. The first of which being an interview with Gregg Mayles himself. If you're a huge fan of DKC, I highly recommend giving this a listen! It's well worth your time.

Click to shrink...

This was such a fun video to do and Gregg was an absolute pleasure to speak with. I learned a ton of stuff o never knew myself, and I was obsessed with this game as a kid

 

[HibbySloth]

This was such a fun video to do and Gregg was an absolute pleasure to speak with. I learned a ton of stuff o never knew myself, and I was obsessed with this game as a kid

Click to shrink...

Thank you guys for doing it! As a huge fan of the DKC games, this was a joy to listen to this morning.

 

[electricmastro]

Time to revive the thread once again with Donkey Kong's cool moves: