Donkey Kong has had some fantastic animal companions over the years, and when Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze breezed onto the Wii U, and later Switch, it brought back with it a very small selection of animal companions. But in an interview published in the latest issue of Retro Gamer (via Nintendo Everything) creative director Vince Joly revealed the team at Retro Studios almost brought back a fan favourite — Enguarde the Swordfish.
Tropical Freeze only brought back Squawks the Parrot and Rambi the Rhinoceros, with the Switch version also adding a brand new parrot in Tawks to the mix, and it was the team's desire to keep the game close to the previous entry, Donkey Kong Country Returns, that stopped them from adding more in.
Joly reflects on the thought process behind the decision:
"“We were thinking that bringing back the familiarity that players experienced in Donkey Kong Country Returns would be a good way for us to further strengthen their love for these characters. We felt this was the right choice over adding different buddies in their stead..."
Instead, more Kongs — and, most importantly, Funky Kong — were added into the mix alongside new gameplay mechanics. But that didn't stop Joly and the team from considering one of our favourite companions. Joly admits to Retro Gamer:
"...we would have loved to have introduced some new animal buddies. Like Enguarde, for instance, who did come close to being added.”
While the excerpts don't go into more detail, they did help us reflect on our favourite Donkey Kong series buddies; Squitter the Spider, Rattly the Rattlesnake, Ellie the Elephant — we miss a lot of these! But especially Enguarde.
Enguard hasn't been seen in the Donkey Kong games since Donkey Kong Barrel Blast on the Wii, so we think it's high time for the Swordfish to swim back into the series spotlight. Maybe it was a bit too cold for him in Tropical Freeze...
Would you like to have seen Enguarde in Tropical Freeze? Let us know in the comments!
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 32
Man, I would of loved to see Engarde return along with Squitter, and maybe one or two new ones. Hopefully we get a new DKC game soon?
This Donkey Kong Country game was a Legend in that time. Yess, I remember the Swordfish.
Enguarde was probably one of my favourite buddies. But nothing comes close to Expresso the Ostrich and his amazing sneakers!
NL think it's high time Enguarde returns... I think it's high time Donkey Kong returns!
Retro doing interviews about a game they released NINE years ago on February 14th 2023 is nice... BUT it also highlights once again that the studio has released the grand sum of nothing for NINE years.
The biggest disappointment in the Switch era is the fact that Retro picking up Metroid Prime 4 has clearly resulted in Donkey Kong getting the cold shoulder.
Maybe one day we will see a third Returns game with a few more animal helpers included (and surely K Rool back on the scene), but I'm not holding out much hope it will be Retro.
I'm also feeling a bit pessimistic about Metroid Prime 4. NINE years without a release is a really bad record. It doesn't mean your next release will definitely be bad... but it does mean you're under immense pressure and that kind of pressure can go one of two ways in terms of your end result. Let's hope they do well.
It's about time for a new DK game, well overdue!!
The underwater levels of Tropical Freeze already control really smoothly. I wonder what Enguarde would have done if he was still in? Just the jabby stabby attack and faster movement speed?
I can see why they might have felt he wasn't necessary, even if it would have been nice to see a familiar face.
@EarthboundBenjy Yes, agreed. Especially with another Kong on your back (Dixie in particular!).
One area I think they could have done it, without compromising the game continuity or mechanics is by involving the animal helpers in the bonus rooms. There is an OK amount of variety in those rooms, but a few special bonus rooms with an animal helper mechanic would have been a really nice touch. Could have had one such bonus room per island, themed accordingly.
(The rooms where you collect 100 Bananas in 30 seconds for a puzzle piece).
It was almost a real Donkey Kong Country game.
Aw, that’s a shame. I remember actually hoping that Enguarde would be the next animal buddy to return back then. He’s my second favorite after Rambi. Really, I just miss ALL of the animal buddies that haven’t returned other than Rambi and Squawks. Nintendo Switch deserves its own DK game!
Squitter really could have got his own game.
Seeing Enguarde return in a new DKC game would be fantastic, the animal buddied in the original DKC trilogy were all unique in their own rights and makes the games very fun to play. I don't see how they couldn't add him to the game now for the Switch port, more DLCs for the game would be awesome.
How did such a great studio who last made such a masterpiece just fall off the face of the earth for a decade? Is it Nintendo's fault? I would be feeling existential crisis if I worked there and had nothing to show for it for so long.
Among all the animal buddies in the SNES games, Enguard had felt the best to play with. Seeing the improvements Retro made to Rambi though makes me wish this could have happened.
@SpaceboyScreams Yea, it's very strange. They must have been contributing to some other games in this time, and they no doubt worked on the Switch port of DK:TF, but no major release to their name. DK:TF released on Wii U on 14th February 2014 - so we're just 3 weeks Shy of 9 years, plus however many months DK:TF was actually finished before it launched in Feb 2014.
It suggests that at least one game they were working on was canned, and possibly a second game was parked/canned in the lead up to MP4 being handed over to them.
The thing I find most peculiar is MP4 ran into problems with the studio working on it, so Nintendo gave it to another studio who themselves must have had problems on something else. That itself is a strange decision.
Yes, Retro worked on the earlier MP games, but they were a long time ago, on much older tech, and with a team that largely does not work there anymore.
It's a big gamble. If Metroid Prime 4 turns out badly (I hope not, but it is a possibility given the pressure the studio is under having not released a game in 9 years!) then we end up with no Donkey Kong (Retro were working on MP4) and a bad MP game.
The smarter option would have been to appoint Retro on a third DK Returns game (which would have already released by now, by the way) and have a small core team from Retro support another developer on MP4 - with a view to increasing that support once the DK game launched.
Nintendo are certainly to blame in my view, but this does highlight that Nintendo are clearly very comfortable (perhaps too comfortable) with the software that's available on Switch and leaning on Wii U titles to plug gaps.
Afterall, Donkey Kong isn't the only game MIA on Switch. There's no unique 2D Mario, 2D Zelda, Star Fox or Mario Kart on Switch either!
i hope if Retro Studios develop a third Donkey Kong Country after Metroid Prime 4, i hope they put more enfasis on the Animal Budies.
@nocdaes Retro Studios has been hiring a lot of high profile profissionals to work on Metroid Prime 4, including a cinematic director from Dreamworks, a art director for EA Dice,a producer for the GTA franchise as it lead producer, and a senior game designer for God of War 2018, do you really believe with all this hiring, Metroid Prime 4 is gonna be horrible.
https://youtu.be/oqYgUsZ4iCo
@Giancarlothomaz All I know is that the studio has released no new game for 9 years, and that is going to pile on the pressure. The jury is out as to whether hiring an elite team of expensive leads is going to help ease that pressure or further add to it.
Besides, the team with the best players doesn't always win... does improve your chances of success.
I have my fingers crossed for Retro. I don't see any harm in highlighting that MP4 being a success is an extremely big deal for the studio.
So glad that people are finally admitting Tropical Freeze was great, actually. Really hoping we get another DKC soon-ish.
It’s time for a new donkey Kong game. I don’t care if it is 3D or 2d, just make a new game
Winky the Frog never gets the love he deserves. He was my favourite after Enguarde.
Also, I know Retro are busy right now with Prime 4, but one day, I would love for them to conclude their trilogy of DK games and give us a third entry. Possibly even get a returning K Rool thrown in there too
I'll never understand why they took away so many animal buddies from those games, along with the tag system? Retro sucks at making DKC games.
@fox_mattcloud Winky the Frog is great. Much better then Rattly.
I hope someday soon we hear about a new 2d platform Donkey Kong Country game. One of my all time favorite series.
@Tempestryke I would have loved more animals, but I don't think they suck. I loved the newer DKC games. My only wish is that more levels were as hard as the extra hidden ones in each level. Overall I'd give them a B or B+
Really could do with DK Country Returns getting ported to Switch 🍌
I miss Rambi, Leggs the frog, and the ostrich whose name I forget.
Enguarde was alright but he wasn't one of my favorite animal buddies.
Expresso the Ostrich...now there is an animal buddy I would love to see again.😭
I don’t know why no one here isn’t just asking for country returns remasters from the Wii. You can play them on a Chinese Nvidia shield but not on a region free Switch. That sucks along with Punch Out Wii HD
@fox_mattcloud I was thinking how underrated Winky actually is for someone only in the first game. It was extremely satisfying to jump on Zingers with him and his hopping was much better than Rattly the snake's.
@sixrings I think there is less appetite for DKC Returns to be ported from Wii to Switch because they already ported it across to the 3DS. That means many fans likely already played it a second time there, but also means many others can just get it and play it there right now.
Granted it's not as good as a Switch port would be, but it is there filling a gap.
On a seperate but related note, are there any 3DS games that have come across to Switch? I feel like Nintendo are deliberately avoiding anything that has already been ported from earlier consoles to 3DS AND anything that was exclusively on 3DS. Presumably this is because 1. Its a nightmare to port a 3DS game to Switch (2 screens/ resolution) and 2. The 3DS is still, just about, a viable option for people to buy and play.
That is one thing I miss from Retro's DK games, no Animal Buddies besides Rambi. There were some really good ones back in the original trilogy, Enguarde and Squawks were good, I especially miss Squitter, he was so fun to play. I do want to see the next DK game bring back the Animal Buddies (I want to see them do a lot more than that, it feels like DK's gameplay is too stale and repetitive lately, but I do think bringing back Animal Buddies should be a priority).
@EarthboundBenjy Yeah, the new underwater mechanics in Tropical Freeze pretty much took Enguarde's niche. Enguarde was useful in the classic trilogy because the Kongs couldn't attack underwater themselves, now in Tropical Freeze they can. So all Enguarde offers is better control underwater. If they're intent on keeping these new underwater mechanics (which I think they might, it does feel more natural and fair) IDK if Enguarde serves much purpose anymore. I do think there is room for a new Animal Buddy under these mechanics to give the Kongs infinite air (perhaps a jellyfish where the Kongs ride in its sac), but Enguarde is so nostalgic that IDK that they'll go for that. Quite the conundrum here.
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