Topic: Donkey Kong Country (Series)

I think people forget that the Kremlins stuck around for a while after DKC. It's really only the new platformers post-Rare where they vanished. They were in at the very least, the GBA updates of the SNES DKC games (which did have new content in them), the DK King of Swing games, and the mid 2000s Mario sports games. Also that racing game with the bongos. I guess most of those games are just kinda forgotten now.

And also, there's not a ton of games with the newer DKC enemies in them (it just might seem like a lot because the DKCR Mario Kart course lucked into being in 3 games in a row)

Finally just beaten DKC2! Great game. Diddy is a hero! Now pondering on if I go back and get all the DK coins. Think I’ve only got
4 coins lol. I’m not normally a completionist, I just usually like to get to the end credits. 100% is something I’m not bothered about so think I’ll whack on DKC3!

@Oswinner
I wouldn't in your case. DKC3 is my favourite out of the original trilogy. Alone the manner how you get the DK insignia in this one is a deal breaker to me.

PLEASE let that be true!

Has anyone played the Land games? I never gave them a try and I’m curious if they are worth visiting today.

I played Land 2 more than 15 years ago. All I can tell you about it in hindsight is that I sucked at it, and was way better at the GBA version of DKC2 that came out like months later. Also that the main underwater theme of the game "Lockjaw's Saga" was used for like every level of the first world past the first level.

Glad I got tucked into DKC3. It’s a quality game and I think I prefer it to the original two games. Must be near the end now and I’ve loved it.

@Oswinner
Glad you changed your mind and you're enjoying the game.

Just noticed that you can play DKC3 in harder modes that remove DK Barrels and star barrels. May well have to give it a go once I finish the game.

Is this also possible in DKC1 and/or DKC2?

@jump

I have/completed Donkey Kong Land 1 & 2, regretfully never got DKL3.

Well, back in 1995 they were the only handheld games that were like DKC. For such a limited hardware Rare did a great job. Was a big fan of the SNES games and I geniunely enjoyed DKC ... erm, I mean DKL on the go. All new stages, new music and remixes, some new enemies and bosses. If you only played DKC1-3 then you missed out on even more jungle fever action.

1. Donkey Kong Country
2. Donkey Kong Land
3. Donkey Kong Country 2
4. Donkey Kong Land 2
5. Donkey Kong Country 3
6. Donkey Kong Land 3
7. Donkey Kong 64

These 7 games conclude the DKC story arc by Rare. (It seems Diddy Kong Racing is it's own thing, but the DS remake arguably made it more canon.)

No. Only DKC3 has that hard mode.

If you didn't know...
in DKC1 you can get 101% completion
in DKC2 you can get 102% completion
in DKC3 you can get 103% completion
but if you play DKC3 in hard mode you can get 105% completion.

True, this misconception also led to people believing that King K. Rool is owned by Rare and could never come to Smash, when in fact there were games like Mario Superstar Baseball (Gamecube), DK King of Swing (DS), and Donkey Kong Jet Race (Wii), featuring him and/or other Kremlings. Even Smash itself had King K. Rool / Kremling trophies.

Well, I defeated K.Roolenstein! Found DKC3 slightly easier than the first two, unless I’m just getting better at the game?

Took me 15 hours to complete DKC1 and 20 hours to complete DKC2. Only 10 hours to complete DKC3. I say complete but my completion is only around 50% for each game lol.

I’m not a completionist though so started on Donkey Kong Country Returns today. Had a good old fashioned 3 hour sesh to start out. Enjoying it. Not a fan of motion controls though. I keep thinking, I’d love to play this where I can roll without waggling!

@Oswinner If you have a 3DS there's a version of DKCR on there which lets you roll with a button. It has a few extra levels too, although I believe you have to get close to 100% completion (or at least all the KONG letters? Not sure) to unlock them, which I haven't done yet.

@Dogorilla unfortunately I don’t have a 3DS. I take it that the game plays much better with the roll being assigned to a button?

@Oswinner It is better that way, yeah, but it's not essential. It's been a long time since I played the Wii version (I don't own it, I just played it when my brother borrowed it from someone) but I think I got used to the waggle controls before long. The graphics look nicer on Wii too (apart from the 3D effect you get on 3DS, which really suits this game).

I was curious to see what the critics and what the everyday users thought of Returns and Tropical Freeze;

MetaCritics
87: Returns (Wii)
86: Tropical Freeze (NS)
83: Returns (3DS) / Tropical Freeze (WiiU)

MetaUsers
89: Tropical Freeze (WiiU)
86: Returns (Wii) / Tropical Freeze (NS)
82: Returns (3DS)

Nintendo Life Users
88: Tropical Freeze (WiiU)
87: Returns (Wii) / Tropical Freeze (NS)
85: Returns (3DS)

Critics have Returns just pipping Tropical Freeze whilst the everyday user slightly prefers Tropical Freeze. Returns on Wii is favoured whilst TF is favoured on WiiU, which I'm guessing is due to backlash over the price for the port not being too favourable because surely it's the better game?

Also, the original trilogy rated by Nintendo Life users;

89: DKC2
86: DKC
82: DKC3

Think that's the general concensus from what I've read online. DKC3 needs more love that's for sure. Better game than the average concensus in my view.

So, according to Nintendo Life the series is rated in this order;

1: DKC2 (89)
2: DKC:TF (88)
3: DKC:R (87)
4: DKC (86)
5: DKC3 (82)

This thread seems like an appropriate place for this.