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Nintendo E3 2013 Wii U: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze announced (trailer + images inside!)
News reported by 
(Editor-in-chief)
June 11, 2013, 20:42
 

Whether you wanted them be or not, Retro Studios has been deep at work on a new Donkey Kong Country game, and they have finally lifted the veil and showed us their work. One of the first things that you will notice is that... gasp!... Donkey Kong and pals swim underwater again in this game!


The enemies this time are viking animals, which works for me, I guess? Also, Dixie is back. I'm pumped, what about you?

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will be released in November of 2013. Get your wallets ready!


Source: E3 Nintendo direct / Youtube

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06/11/13, 20:42   Edited:  06/12/13, 06:37
 
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@deathly_hallows Well. NST can make it... if you want a paint by numbers game. I sure don't!

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 07:13
@deathly_hallows

Whoa, if NST did it, it wouldn't have anywhere near the polish or detailed environments of the first game, no disrespect to NST intended.

I get what you're saying, though. But I think in this case, there's really no better developer out there for DK himself, and Retro would ensure the highest possible quality for Tropical Freeze.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 07:15
@Zero
Well I feel like a lot of Nintendo's output has been paint by numbers recently, and this new DK game seems nearly identical to the last in terms of core mechanics just like Mario Kart 8 seems more or less identical to Mario Kart Wii and 7. It seems like a lot of these Nintendo franchises are becoming like CoD, they keep coming out with a new coat of paint but when you strip that thin veneer away it's really the exact same game. That's cool if they want to do that because if a game sells 20 million copies then hey, make another and keep that money coming in! But they should try something new too, and Retro has proven twice now it can breathe new life into aging franchises, let them try with something else, heck let them make Zelda and have the Zelda team make Donkey Kong, anything to shake it up a little. Just my 2 cents.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 07:21
@deathly_hallows I'm not sure exactly how you are getting that this seems nearly identical to the last, we haven't even seen much and they have already shown off underwater stuff, which is new. But either way, what made the last one amazing was the sheer polish of every little piece of level design... something I just don't have any faith that NST could pull off.

Still, even considering that it is going to be more of the same idea. Basically I feel like Super Mario Galaxy -> Super Mario Galaxy 2 is what DKCR -> DKCTF could be. Something that I don't think anyone but a top tier Nintendo studio could pull off.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 07:40
If these kinds of games were so easy to make, then Yoshi's Island 2 wouldn't have been completely awful (or so I've heard), and honestly, Yoshi's Island is in the same kind of family that DKCR lives in. It's not just a tile based platformer with gimmicks in each level. Each level has huge setpieces that grow organically as the level progresses. Shit pops out of the background, you get launched to completely new environments mid-level, etc. You can't really slap Artoon on a game like this and expect it to be anywhere nearly as good.

Though, from a sales perspective, yeah, Nintendo could probably slap another team on a DKC game and it would do really well, while they put Retro on something that, really, only they can handle.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 08:32
@PogueSquadron
Yoshi's Island DS was not awful.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 11:14
TriforceBun said:
@deathly_hallows

Whoa, if NST did it, it wouldn't have anywhere near the polish or detailed environments of the first game, no disrespect to NST intended.

I get what you're saying, though. But I think in this case, there's really no better developer out there for DK himself, and Retro would ensure the highest possible quality for Tropical Freeze.

Exactly! Plus, what I would like to see Retro work on next is a new Mario game with all the details of the DKC games. Actually, that is what should happen on a next gen console like the Wii U. We shouldn't be getting Mario games that look like they could have been developed on the Wii or 3DS and then bumped up to HD. Basically, that is what Nintendo is giving us right now.

People bitched over and over that third party developers, ect were not using the Wii's power to it's full advantage. Now it looks like Nintendo is the one not fully taking advantage of what the Wii U has to offer. Sure, Mario kart looks next gen and SSB as well. Everything else looks like a Wii game bumped up to HD.

I can't wait for games like X, but I honestly do not believe that game will release in 2014. I'm betting 2015 on that one. I just don't trust Nintendo anymore when they give us a release date. Back in the 1990s, Nintendo did this all the time, tell us the game was due out on a certain date and we ended up waiting a year or more longer. In the 2000s they did get better at nailing the dates. Now, it seems like its the older Nintendo all over again.

Nintendo just needs to be upfront and honest, even if it means that X will not release until 2015 or even 2016, which wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 12:14
@Pokefreak911 It wasn't near the level of the first game though. I'm with Pogue, you can't just say "the blueprints are there, anyone can take over now!" because game design isn't about following blueprints, it is about being creative and finding balance and blah blah blah.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 17:23
Zero said:
@deathly_hallowsBasically I feel like Super Mario Galaxy -> Super Mario Galaxy 2 is what DKCR -> DKCTF could be. Something that I don't think anyone but a top tier Nintendo studio could pull off.
That's a good point, but I don't think that DKCR is nearly as innovative or varied as the Galaxy games, although maybe this next one will prove me wrong. Still, I'd rather risk letting have a B-team develop DKC than have their entire studio bogged down by this one franchise which doesn't allow them to work on anything else.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 17:30
@gamewizard65

I don't think they actually know. Their schedule may indeed be for 2014. If all goes well, it will happen. And then they run into a game-breaking bug, and what can you do?

The alternative, of course, is to plan for these bugs and such, but then deadlines get screwy because you just never know one way or the other.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 17:35
Pokefreak911 said:
Yoshi's Island DS was not awful.

I agree.

Though it is seen as such, mostly for the reason that @Zero mentioned; it wasn't nearly at the same level of polish that the original was. Of course, very few games achieve that. But we expect (and deserve, IMO) better out of the game's sequel.

Posted by 
 on: 06/14/13, 19:41
Wow this looks good. I'm happy Retro is at the helm, they are going to deliver another masterpiece, and I'm glad Dixie is playable now. This has a realy DKC2 feel to it, now all we need are the roller coaster and bramble blast stages

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 19:41
Oh yeah, one more thing.... David Wise!!!!

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 19:42
I guess the question is this....did DKCR sell because it was a good game, or because a ton of families already had Wii U and this was one of the only big games Nintendo put out during the last couple years of the Wii's life? If it's the latter...then yeah, I don't know, maybe they should've just told Retro to work on something else while a B team put out DKCR.

Hell, they've put B teams on Mario games before and sold gangbusters.

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 20:21
But why would we want a B-team on this game? I don't want a B-level sequel to an A-level game.

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 20:24
I'm saying from Nintendo's perspective. I'm just wondering how much of DKCR's success rides on its predecessors and its franchise, rather than how good the game actually was.

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 22:09
@PogueSquadron Tough to say, but I'll bet "the next game from Retro Studios" had a lot of weight in the West.

Posted by 
 on: 06/20/13, 22:33
It's amazing the sheer detail and the variety of the environments that Retro put in. But this game is really missing that radiosity/global illumination that's making some Wii U games really stand out. Even Pikmin 3 looks like it has it in the final version.

I know they're going for a cartoonish visuals, but it would make all the difference. Mario Kart 8 without this lighting effect would look pretty average.

Posted by 
 on: 06/27/13, 04:49   Edited:  06/27/13, 04:58
@achhibbar
It would be bizarre if they didn't take full advantage of Wii U hardware with this game. After all, they did spend a lot of time getting DK's fur just right... I have hope the graphics will improve from now until release. Just as they did with Pikmin 3.

Posted by 
 on: 06/27/13, 19:30
@anon_mastermind
If they do get radiosity in, I reckon it would become the best looking game on the system.

The quality of the assets is incredibly high - the only thing that's missing is some fancy lighting.

Posted by 
 on: 06/27/13, 21:52
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