Topic: Donkey Kong (Switch /2)

Fur detail.. oh the fur detail. Here’s the thread to ruminate aloud on the next-gen DK adventure, be it Country 6 or a modern DK64.

Personally I’m hoping for a blended approach á la Mario 3D World or Kirby Forgotten Land. I think an isometric styled DK, something sitting between DKC and DK64 would be extremely exciting, and an excellent approach to show off modern hardware 🍌

I would LOVE a new 3D DK game. Never played 64 as I've heard that it's a pretty repetitive collectathon game, which I'm not into that style. But like you said, something along the lines of 3D World would be great.

I also think an Odyssey/ Bowser's Fury approach would work really well, too. DK definitely has the potential to go open-world, and I think if they did it in a similar vein to how Mario does it, that could be a hit.

Funnily enough, I had a literal dream many years ago during the Wii U era about watching a Nintendo Direct in which a Donkey Kong game resembling Super Mario 3D World was announced. It had the DK Crew jumping and swinging around while bopping Kremlings. It looked amazing.

It'll likely just be another reboot of Donkey Kong Country, only featuring way more classic series characters than Returns and Tropical Freeze. Not just King K. Rool and the Kremlings, but more Kongs and animal buddies. So long as the Kremling Krew returns, the game's quality matches Retro Studios' games and they bring David Wise back again, I'm good.

However, I must say that it'll always be a personal disappointment if this is on the next system and Switch never gets its own DK game. I've thought Switch has been my favorite Nintendo system for a good while, but this might threaten to take that down a notch.

While I am a bit critical toward Donkey Kong 64, I won't mind seeing another Donkey Kong platformer that happens to be open-world. What I didn't like about DK64 was that switching between kongs can only be done in certain spots - that made exploring levels cumbersome - and some of the minigames were pretty frustrating. (Beaver Bother especially sucks.) If a DK64 successor does happen to be made and the devs fix those issues, I think it could be really good. Have the kongs get switched out anytime, and have the bonus areas be more along the lines of how the Donkey Kong Country games does those.

I'd be interested in another 3D Donkey Kong platformer. DK64 went overkill with the collectables to a point that I didn't want to 100% it, but I still found it to be a fun game despite its flaws.

Imma be honest, I'm struggling to think of where 2D DK can go next. It seems like 2D platformers are struggling to figure out where else to go (Super Mario Bros. Wonder figured it out, but in general there hasn't been a lot of innovation in the genre).

3D DK though, I think they can experiment with a new style of DK that would fit his identity. I'd like to see DK go in more of a hybrid platformer/beat-em-up direction. We don't really have a Nintendo game in this style and we've seen through cutscenes and animations that DK is a brute that loves bashing baddies, so I think this would fit extremely well. Having typical DK platforming, but in 3D, and adding kicks and punches in addition to things DK can already do like rolls, grabs, throws, heck maybe even bring back the fruit weapons as a limited powerup. That would be a very different and novel style of DK, but I think it's one that fits his identity and DK fans would probably be willing to try (then maybe if it's successful they could also add some of these elements to the 2D games).

I know a lot of people are thinking sandbox platformer again and those two ideas aren't mutually exclusive as they could have a sandbox platformer with beat-em-up elements. However, it doesn't need to be sandbox and I've never felt like DK needed sandbox exploration/collection elements, that's too common a style for 3D platformers and Mario already does that so it might feel too similar. I was thinking more of a linear platformer. One of the styles I look more towards for what a beat-em-up DK might look like is the Werehog gameplay in Sonic Unleashed, and that's linear. This is the level I like to point towards when demonstrating "this is what DK should do" (it has some of the best platforming of the Werehog gameplay and there's some gimmicks with collapsing platforms that resemble what we've seen in Returns/TF):

Now this isn't exactly the highest quality gameplay on display, the platforming is a bit rudimentary and the combat basically amounts to "perform flashy but pointless combo moves until the enemies die", but nevertheless I think there's a solid foundation here that could work for DK and the problems are fixable if Nintendo polishes the gameplay and level design as they typically do.

I think there's a possibility that a new DK could pivot more in a rhythmic direction. Not full-on rhythm platformer, but the Donkey Konga series brought rhythm gameplay to the IP, and we at least saw experimentation with syncing the level design to the music in Tropical Freeze (unless I'm mistaken, Grassland Groove in particular timed a number of things to its background music). I'm not sure if Jungle Beat also leaned into some rhythm elements, given it was designed to be played with the bongos made for Donkey Konga, but if it did, then that makes the idea a bit likelier. Allegedly, the Nintendo EPD Tokyo team is behind the rumored new DK, and they were the ones to work on Jungle Beat. It would be a way to set DK apart a bit more and justify shifting the IP away from Retro, especially if they pulled it off - and given the pedigree of EPD Tokyo, they probably could!

Anyone think the June Direct might show the next Donkey Kong adventure?

@NinChocolate I'm really torn over whether DK can be a Switch swan song or a Year 1 Switch 2 game. Personally, I'd like the former so the Switch can have its own DK game. It'd obviously look and play better on the next system, but I believe it'll have backwards combability anyway.

It depends on whether Nintendo considers DK to be a big series. If they think it is because we're getting a DK expansion for the theme parks, then maybe they might put it on the next system along with their other big hitters, but if it's not really, then it could be out this year. I used to think the June Direct would be just filler at first, but after reading Nintendo's president saying how they're challenging themselves to sell more Switches, I think it might be bigger than previously thought.

@Croctopus for obvious reason I don’t think we’ll see the big top-tier games, but I don’t think this direct will disappoint. They’ve only needed to focus on one platform this generation and I’d have to think they’ve been preparing something to slot in for the sunset period. A new DK could be just that something.

I can see them doing a big DK64-type game early in the Switch 2 cycle, kind of around where Mario Odyssey came out for the original Switch.

It would be part tongue-in-cheek callback to the rose-tinted glasses we look at DK64 through these days, but mostly an awesome, reimagined 3D collect-a-thon the likes of which we really haven't seen in a long time (I don't think I'd even call Odyssey a collect-a-thon, and I got all the moons in it). It would be awesome, and it would be such a fun experience for the first year of Switch 2.

I don't see a fully 2D DK game in the near future - I think it's either gonna be fully 3D or some kind of hybrid.

Oooh great idea. I love 3D World. I've really never enjoyed the 2D Mario's. And I like 3D World better than Odyssey, even. I was actually pretty disappointed with the level design of Odyssey and have always been surprised by the affection.

2.5d.

I love 2.5d. It is the best of both for me.

Word. You know what's interesting is that 2.5D used to mean a sidescroller with 3D graphics, but still on a 2D plane. The first example that comes to mind is Shadow Complex.

@Gryffin That is interesting. Will look up that game as I am curious now! Yes, I love that there is a little more freedom in 2.5, and really think it could work for DK. Allows for a little more exploration and going off the beaten path.

@Gryffin I didn’t know 2.5D had moved on from describing a sidescroller with 3D modeling. Getting older every day, lol

It still does.