Like a usual Donkey Kong Country game, Returns is broken into eight distinct worlds, each one with a varying number of levels ranging from six and nine, and a boss sitting at their end. While the fact that players are fighting regular animals, as opposed to wacky crocodiles with ridiculously amusing behaviors, is a tad disappointing, the Tikis are an interesting bunch that, while not nearly as remarkable as the Kremlings, do have quite a bit of personality. Following the theft, the evil Tikis use their powers to hypnotize the islands’ animals and alter their behavior in order to stop Donkey Kong from achieving his ultimate goal of recovering his goods. The humorous crew of Kremlings (the anthropomorphic crocodiles that tormented the Kongs over and over again during the nineties), apparently tired of having themselves kicked out of the DK Isles in a remarkable fashion, has given way to the Tiki Tak Tribe. While the crime remains the same, the culprit has changed its nature. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, as dictated by tradition, the Kong family faces a huge problem that will sound familiar to anyone who has played any of the Super Nintendo classics that came before it: their treasured and tasty banana hoard is stolen. With the arrival of the Nintendo Wii, though, there came a sudden rebirth of sidescrollers, and perhaps aware that the homecoming party would not be complete without one of its most beloved stars, Nintendo (now without Rare by its side) handed over the task of bringing Donkey Kong Country back to life to the only development team that was worthy of the challenge: the highly acclaimed Retro Studios, which were hot out of the conclusion of the masterful Metroid Prime trilogy. Thanks to Rare, though, the gorilla was able to escape the confines of arcade gaming and walk, gloriously, into the 16-bit era by riding on a era-defining trilogy that conquered what was, at the time, the industry’s noblest genre (platformers) and, in the process, produced what is likely the style’s greatest sidecrolling masterpiece: Diddy’s Kong Quest.įollowing the conclusion of the saga, the franchise lay dormant for a whopping fourteen years, a time during which the gaming industry’s blind love for 3-D visuals caused 2-D platformers to be seen as a genre that belonged solely in museums rather than as a viable gameplay alternative to the large open-ended scenarios that dominated the landscape. Prior to 1994 and Donkey Kong Country’s release, the simian’s appearances had been limited to either a mindless villain that served as the videogame equivalent of King Kong, in both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong 3, or as a caged beast that had to be rescued from Mario’s evil clutches by his young son, in Donkey Kong Jr. However, a deep glance at the past reveals that Donkey Kong could have easily ended up as a forgotten relic of the arcade era and a mere trampoline for the launch of Mario towards stardom if Rare had not intervened in his fate. From a contemporary standpoint, it is easy to take both the franchise and the character’s sustained existence for granted after all, both have been around for so long they precede the birth of many gamers. Among the British company’s many achievements during their golden years, the inception of Donkey Kong Country easily ranks as one of the most remarkable. It astounds with sheer design brilliancy and, as far as 2-D platformers go, that is the main recipe for successĭonkey Kong was undeniably one of the strongest and most popular characters under Nintendo’s belt during the time Rare was still an integral part of the Japanese giant.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |