Topic: The DK Franchise Discussion Thread

I completed DK 64 as well and I think it had a bunch of flaws, but it's not the content and amount of collectables. That's one of the good things about DK64, especially when it released around a time when games were pretty short and extremely limited by cartridge memory. With DK64 you got real bang for your buck.

As for the flaws let me first say that DK64 was a good game. It's one of the best in the N64's game library but it's also Rare's worst N64 platformer. It was simply not as good as Banjo-Kazooie, even though it came out 1 and a half years later.
Graphics, music, and gameplay were neither on par with Banjo nor with the original DKC series.

Compared to Banjo-Kazooie there was lots of pop-up graphics-wise: enemies and items faded in really late. I was hyped for the graphics. I knew it was bundled with the Expansion Pak, and I had secretly hoped that it would revolutionize N64 graphics the same way DKC revolutionized SNES graphics. It didn't. It looked worse than Banjo-Kazooie. And the soundtrack was a huge disappointment as well. It all sounded like Banjo-Kazooie. And it did not fit DK. Not for me, not back then. Why did Grant Kirkhope make the music for DK64 and not David Wise? I could never fathom this decision. Now, with almost two decades of distance, a couple of songs began to grow on me. Though they still give me instant Banjo-Kazooie vibes that I can't shake off.

Fortunately after DK64, Rare came back to their senses. Banjo-Tooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day did the graphics, music, and 3D platforming gameplay way better than DK64.

@SKTTR I think that the amount of abilities and upgrades for the abilities was one of the flaws of the gameplay. Even though the music was never an issue for me, I can agree that we could've had more music that are in the same vein as DKC and DKC2.

In all honesty, I'm not sure I like DKC all that much. I tried the first game, and it just felt a bit slow and the controls felt off. I tried playing Tropical Freeze. It feels faster, but still slow. The most fun I had was when I bought Cranky from the shop and was flying through some secret level and died shortly after down a hole. Keep in mind I only played 1 level of DKC 1, and 3 of DKCTF. It might just be me, but does anyone know if the games get faster paced or if I can just fully play as cranky pr something like that?

@MysticGengar.

First, just like in Mario you hold the Y-button 99% of the time to switch from walking to running. Some people seem to miss that in the DKC Returns / TF series

The movement speed that you can gain in the DKC games is one of it's upsides, especially in the old trilogy which has the reputation of being extremely fast and fluid for a platformer (and I can attest to that). The speedrunning comunity is still superstrong at them. It's why the new games have Online Time Trials for every stage that can be shared and viewed from within the game.

The Donkey Kong in the new games feels heavier and slower indeed. And it works as the level design is primarily designed around Donkey's (dis)abilities, but I play with the more agile Diddy or Dixie most of the time anyway, so I don't mind these changes much.

@SKTTR
Oooooooh. That explains a LOT.

@ReaderRagfihs True. I bought the game some time ago. All I need now is to go to a retro game store I have visited that cleans the N64 because mine had a mountain of dust due to years without using it. I of course, removed the external dust but it seems that internally it still has and I am afraid of doing it because I don't want to accidentally do something wrong.

I also need a N64 controller because I don't have any of those. I could bought a Wii U but I have heard that the races like the one that Tiny Kong does with the lady bug are harder in the Wii U version.

@ReaderRagfihs From what I have heard, it has to do with some adjustments that were done in the Wii U version. I think some people in their youtube videos have talked about this. I it was one these youtubers: Snowman Man Gaming, Dr. Wily (possibly in his second chanel called Game Architects), or Unseen 64.

On the topic of donkey kong games. Not sure what route they'll go with but a 3d dk would be welcome since we have so many 2d options. Ive only 2 I've beaten tropical freeze and dk land 2 or 3, I can't remember. Pretty soon I'm going on the Wii u eshop and buying 1 or 2 of the country games or maybe the n64 one. Really looking for some feedback, I loved tropical freeze so much it's probabaly my 3rd or 4th favorite game on switch. With that said,I'll probabaly like returns Yea? I love the 1st snes too but never finished it. Or I'm considering dkc 2/3 and also 64. It's either a dkc snes game and 64 or returns. Sounds like 64 can be a time sink though. I played it in very small chunks as a kid. Sorry for rambling. Let me know what you guys think I should go with.

@nintendobynature From the 2D DKs, I have cleared DKC and DKC2 (I never had the third one, though I heard that it's the hardest to clear). I recommend that you buy DKC2 if you're going to buy one of the 2D ones, it may be a bit harder than the first entry but you should be ok since you are able to clear Tropical Freeze.

If you also like 3D collectibles games you can try DK64, the only thing that I should mention, is that it requires doing backtracking more than once or twice due to the changing Kong mechanic being limited to using special barrels, but it's not like there would be just one special barrel. There would be like 5 or more depending on the level.

@SamusLv7 hmm thanks for the reply. I'll go dkc2 and may be 3. I'll hold off on returns for a bit until I clear those two

@nintendobynature No problem 👍

Now that Starlink will have an update that includes a racing in some way, it means that Retro did not worked on a Star Fox racing game like it was speculated many months ago. Perhaps they have been working on a Donkey Kong game. We may find out either in a future direct or in the E3.

Donkey Kong Country Maker

I think we would find out in the next direct. I can see maybe 1 more happening before e3 thats a normal direct and not one for a single game. If we get said direct I would think retros work will be shown off and i hope it's a country game. Maybe 3d

@nintendobynature I would jump from happiness if they make a 3D one! 😄 Its been 20 years since DK 64.

@SKTTR Perhaps one day when there have been more DKCs made in the future.

Retro need to stop making DKC games. Returns and Tropical Freeze are average games. They look really pretty but lack all the polish that the SNES trilogy had. Honestly in my opinion the only thing Tropical Freeze does better than the DKC SNES Trilogy is the graphics. A shame that a game released over 10 years later is worse in almost every way.

I'd rather Nintendo ask Playtonic Games to make the nest DKC game. Basically the old crew back together again.
I know why Retro was asked though. They exist in part to bring dead Nintendo IPs back to life. With Playtonic in existance Retro can move on to different things.

I've 100%'d Tropical Freeze on Switch, though not played the new game plus difficult mode though. Tropical Freeze as a game really disappionted me. The lack of polish in Tropical Freeze is so obvious. Yeah it's just not as great as some claim it to be.

@the8thark It's a game that has been released 20 years later (DKC was 1994, DKCTF was 2014).

But the Retro Studios DKC come closer step by step. I was disappointed by Returns, but they managed to get graphics and music on the right track with Tropical Freeze. While the gameplay still is not as good as the original trilogy, at least TF has also better controls and level design than Returns. I will never expect something that matches the original trilogy, but I hope the next DKC game is another huge step forward.

@SKTTR

I can agree with you there. Tropical Freeze is an improvement over Returns. I hope the next one is better.

Actually I feel in parts the music is not on track in Tropical Freeze. Overall the music is good but for a lot of it, it doesn't match the theme of the level. If you take any main level piece from any of the SNES trilogy and listen to it out of game, you can feel the theme they are going for.

Aquatic Ambiance feels like you are under water.
Jib Jig feels like you are on a pirate ship. You can hear the wind and the waves splashing up on the deck.
Hot Head Bop has the bloops of lava and the deeper cave like sounds.
Frosty Frolics has bells sounds that remind me of Christmas as well as deeper sounds for colder feelings.
And so on and so on.

In Tropical Freeze the only track I think is really good is Windmill Hills. Even that does not remind me of windmills. When I listen to it out of game, It's hard to tell what theme it's portraying.

I think you get my point. The music in Tropical Freeze though not bad at all, is not thematically in sync with the stages they are attached to.

Also I think the controls of the rocket in Tropical Freeze could have been improved.
Lastly I thought that 3 stage special world was not good at all.

I don't hate Tropical freeze. I do think it's a good game. That's why I bought it on Switch. I just think it's good and not great.

I think DKCTF is a really great platformer once you're able to stop comparing it to the original trilogy.
Guess we are spoiled by something that was mindblowing back in the day. And we didn't get the same experience and satisfaction from the Wii and Wii U/Switch semi-sequels. The series returned with something underwhelming (when the original DKC was groundbreaking). We entered DKCR with DKC expectations and it wasn't able to match em, but... when I try forget that the original trilogy exists, then DKCTF is easily one of the Top 10 platformers in recent years.

It sounds like you appreciate the original music for having the ambient sound effects be part of the tracks, while in Tropical Freeze the ambience is running on separated sound channels. So, yeah, this part of the music is now lost so we can have multiple ambient backgrounds fading in and out, fitting interactively and context sensitive to the action on screen.

Anyway, this is my favourite atm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljea2cmeCpo