Things get rather tricky and you’ll be thankful for all the extra lives you amassed early on when things were much simpler. Quite the contrary, especially as you make your way through the levels and worlds towards the endgame. Donkey can roll, he can pound the surrounding area and quite frankly there is a myriad of techniques available to enable a successful run, a complete run or the best run.ĭespite the fact there’re a lot of tools at the disposal of every player, that does not mean the game is in any way easy. You can also get temporary companions like Rambi which allows you to just bash through things. Donkey can work with a friend who provides some extra health - be that Diddy, Dixie or Cranky - with each allowing for a bit of extra lift or hangtime when jumping around. We have bouncy footholds and underwater sections, slippery slopes and barrel-propelled on-rails action. There are platforms, there are deadly drops. Every level is filled to make things look more vibrant, provide multiple routes from A to B and generally make life difficult for whichever of the Kong clan you have on screen at a given time. Throughout the game’s ten to twenty hours (dependent on completion or 200% completion) there is lots going on, all with a challenge and often with a healthy dose of invention. It’s just well-executed stuff we’ve seen before.ĭonkey and Dixie must beware the fire-breathing pig As a result it doesn’t feel cool, or different. There’s plenty to do and it all works well, in a way we have seen many years ago in Super Mario Bros. Some levels are straightforward, others have hidden exits, and each one has plenty of extra things to do in addition to just beating the level - for instance you can collect the four letters which make up KONG (to unlock bonus levels) and find the pieces of a puzzle (to gain in-game artwork).
In total there are seven worlds with each having a theme, as you’d expect, and with many levels within them having their own theme or catch.
With you in control of Donkey Kong you traverse a map of the first world, Lost Mangroves. If you can suspend your disbelief despite all of that, the game proper starts off. Penguins aren’t naughty in the first place typically and pirate ships don’t tend to float above an island and cause mischief. The game itself begins with Donkey Kong and company chilling out when a penguin pirate ship reaches their island and promptly attacks it, causing it to freeze in part and in totality be ensconced by all manner of baddies. With a lack of connection comes a lack of joy, a level of indifference and a wonder of “so what?” The shame with this particular title is that whilst it looks great and plays well, it’s largely impossible to connect with it in the same way I once did with Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. Games being re-released on the latest platform is not new for Nintendo then, nor it it new for Donkey Kong himself.
Now it’s back, on the Switch, in much the same way Donkey Kong Jungle Beat made its way to the Wii after it first sprang to life, bongos and all, on the Gamecube. That was on the Wii U and was released in 2014. In 2010 Nintendo’s Retro studios were tasked with making a new Donkey Kong (Country Returns) game which in turn resulted in a sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Controlling Donkey Kong, and with a cast of characters including Diddy Kong, it was a delight and a major success. Coming later in that console’s cycle it was a beautiful game - thanks to the pre-rendered 3D sprites enabled by Silicon Graphics’ hardware - and entirely joyful for anyone who happened to pick up the pad and play. So I knew about him before Rare developed Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo.
He’s one of the most well-known gaming icons around, especially for a fan of Mario and his series of games. I knew about Donkey Kong before I was first able to play as him, of course.