When it was released in 1994 for the SNES, Donkey Kong Country wowed gaming audiences with its impressive CG graphics and fantastic soundtrack. Still, there was some resentment against it – it was simpler than Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros. games, and was criticized as a case of style over substance. Fast forward 20 years to 2014, and the tides have drastically turned. Nintendo’s prolific New Super Mario Bros. series is fun, but safe and uninspired; meanwhile, the Donkey Kong Country series, out of the hands of original developers Rare and placed in the care of Retro Studios, has created better crafted games.
Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii was very, very good, yet it suffered in a few areas – the forced waggle controls were lame, the music was forgettable, and the levels lacked creativity. Every issue was fixed in its Wii U sequel, Tropical Freeze. The core of every great platformer lies in its stage design, and Tropical Freeze excels on every level. They're filled with fantastic setpieces – the designers love collapsing environments – along with creative themes, particularly the beer gardenthemed mountains, or the level where you’re stalked by a giant octopus the entire time. The difficulty is demanding, but better balanced than its predecessor, with fewer infuriating rocket barrel stages. Each area is colorful, and created in lavishing detail. You can play to just reach the end of a level, but only further replays to collect the bonus KONG letters and hidden puzzle pieces reveal the amount of care put into every stage.
David Wise, legendary composer of the first two SNES games (and the GBA version of the third) returns to provide one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. In spite of the improved instrumentation, many tracks maintain the feel of the SNES games, in some cases even using similar samples, creating music that's fresh and nostalgic. While often a subject of debate, the controls just feel right. Donkey Kong is much weightier than Mario, Rayman, or even his own previous SNES incarnations, yet he’s still precise enough to accommodate the platforming challenges you need to overcome to survive. His companions – Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky – come with different jump modifications, allowing for a great degree of mid-air control. It's possibly the only 2D platformer that controls well with an analog stick. Despite not being designed by Nintendo proper, as with the Metroid Prime games, Retro Studios has once again proven themselves as true masters of game design with Tropical Freeze.
The SNES Donkey Kong Country games are kind of shallow, but still fun. DKC2's soundtrack remains one of the best, and in spite of the dated CG graphics, they exude a cool atmosphere. As far as modern 2D platformers go, Ubisoft's Rayman Origins features gorgeous illustrated visuals using the UbiArt framework, which excels at animating high res 2D images. It’s a fast and fun game, with levels built around its wall jumping techniques. Its sequel, Rayman Legends, contains most of its predecessor's stages and tons of content, though the Murfy levels, where you need to indirectly guide a character around obstacles, diminish the game somewhat. The musical stages, which are designed to match the rhythm of assorted popular music tracks, are fantastic, though.
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