Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze Wiki: Everything you need to know about the game

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is an upcoming platforming side scrolling adventure game being developed by Retro Studios (The developers of the Metroid Prime series, Retro Studios also worked on Donkey Kong Country Returns), the game is being published by Nintendo and is an exclusive title on the Nintendo Wii U.

This is to be the first game in the history of the Donkey Kong franchise to be rendered in high definition; it was first announced during Nintendo’s controversial pre-E3 “Nintendo Direct” broadcast on June 11th, 2013. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is currently set to release in February of 2014.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story
• 4. Characters

Development

The first time that Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was announced, was during the pre-E3 Nintendo Direct live broadcast in June of 2013. The development cycle for this new Donkey Kong title has been troubled thus far, at first being slated for a November 2013 launch, the game was then pushed back until December 2013 before ultimately being pushed back to an unspecific February 2014 launch window.

The game’s development studio, Retro Studios has had prior experience with the Donkey Kong franchise, having developed the 2010 hit game Donkey Kong Country Returns which received numerous gaming awards such as “Best Platformer” and “Best Wii Exclusive.” Numerous staff members from previous Donkey Kong development teams have returned to help Retro Studios in the development of this game, David Wise who was made famous by his musical compositions for Donkey Kong 1-3 and Battletoads (to name but a few) is returning to score the games soundtrack.

Producing the game is Kensuke Tanabe who has previously directed platform games like Doki Doki Panic (also known as OG Super Mario Bros 2 in gaming circles) as well as having worked on the scripts of two Legend of Zelda games. Kensuke was also the Producer on the successful 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns Wii exclusive.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze follows on from the established gameplay mechanics already set in place by the previous instalments. The game is a 2D side scrolling adventure platforming game wherein the player takes control of one of three simian friends as they progress through the games various stages in an effort to overcome their enemy. In this case, the enemy is a race of anthropomorphic Viking creatures; it’s up to Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong to defeat this foe in order to regain control of their home.

As per usual, Donkey Kong is the most powerful out of the three, this trade of comes at the cost of speed. Donkey Kong has long been the series main character and has always been the strongest of them all, but Diddy Kong returns with his “barrel jetpack” that allows him to cover large distances and leap large gaps with relative ease. Diddy Kong was often shown as the most athletic of the Donkey Kong Crew, but then along came Dixie Kong. She is the same as Diddy in regards to strength and speed but instead of using a jetpack to help with her jumping feats she makes use of her long ponytail to help gain extra altitude and double jump, whether or not her signature “helicopter spin” technique will be returning has not yet been confirmed.

As with previous entries in the series, these characters can be used individually in the multiplayer mode, but if the player is playing a single player campaign they can instead accompany Donkey Kong through his journey by breaking the appropriate barrel, Dixies Barrel is pink to suit her typically girly nature. At the moment, we are aware of a 4^th playable character, but the character is yet to be named. The 4^th character is not expected to be a new character however and is most likely going to be a character already established as part of the DK Crew.

A returning gameplay mechanic that was missing from Donkey Kong Country Returns is the ability to swim, but it has been further refined and improved than its previous iterations. When the player is swimming under water they have the option of attacking the foe with a spinning attack as a means of defence. As soon as the players character enteres the water, an oxygen gauge will appear on screen that will depict how much air the Kongs have left, if they wish to survive underwater with resurfacing the player must touch bubbles in order to gain more O2, similar to the means of replenishing oxygen in Sonic the Hedgehog.

The games producer Kensuke worked on the Japanese side scrolling adventure game, Doki Doki Panic which later became known as Super Mario Bros 2. Kensuke has clearly carried across some of the games mechanics, with Donkey Kong now possessing the ability to pull objects out of the ground to be used as throwable projectiles which can daze or knockout opponents. Pulling items out of the ground can also reveal various secrets such as hidden areas or health related pickups. A new feature that hasn’t been discussed much is the new 3D perspective sections in which Donkey Kong can be seen riding the famous Cannon Barrels.

Story

A group of Viking like creatures have begun invading and attacking Donkey Kong Island and terrorizing its inhabitants who have since fled to the outlying areas and smaller islands. Alongside his friends, it’s up to Donkey Kong to travel across six different islands tackling various enemies in an attempt to reclaim their home from the anthropomorphized Vikings.

Characters

Donkey Kong – The leader of the DK Crew and perhaps one of the most iconic video game characters in the history of the industry. Donkey Kong is the main playable character in this most recent Donkey Kong game. He is the strongest of the three playable characters and can pull items out of the ground to use as projectiles.

Diddy Kong – Diddy Kong first appeared alongside Donkey Kong in their breakout game Donkey Kong country for the SNES. He is often portrayed as being much more athletic than older and larger friend Donkey Kong. He even stole the spotlight for himself in the Donkey Kong Country sequel “Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest” which featured his female friend Dixie.

Dixie Kong – Dixie Kong first came onto the gaming scene in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest alongside Diddy Kong. Dixie however could use her long ponytail to glide through the air with her helicopter spin, she could also use her long hair to carry, throw and attack enemies. As well as being an accomplished guitarist she managed to steal the limelight herself in her very own sequel titled Donkey Kong 3.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.