Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: Top 10 Facts

For owners of the Wii U, 2014 seems to be the year that will make them all happy. Plenty of awesome Nintendo 1st-party releases will be arriving on the system, which brings us to the February 21, 2014 release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Fans loved the old-school platforming adventure that was present in the Wii exclsuive, Donkey Kong Country Returns.

There’s plenty of new and familiar mechanics to look forward to in this new Donkey Kong release. New playable characters, islands and many more elements that make Donkey Kong…well, Donkey Kong will show up in this new Wii U entry.

Here’s everything you need to know about Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

1. The Plot Revolves Around a Group of Viking Animals

The main plot begins when Donkey Kong and his loyal sidekicks are celebrating his birthday. Out of nowhere, a snowflake randomly blows in the wind and extinguishes the birthday candle. The group looks into the distance and spots a group of Viking animals (Snowmads) making their way on ships towards Donkey Kong Island. The leader of the Snowmads unleashes a fierce icy gust of wind and blows the Kongs off to a much farther island location. Now, Donkey Kong and his crew are now forced to make their way back home and get rid of the tropical freeze on Donkey Kong Island.

2. There Will Be Two New Characters to Play As

Everyone knows the main star of the game, Donkey Kong, is one of the playable characters in the game. Fans also known that Diddy Kong will make his return to Donkey Kong’s side. The two new characters who will be aiding Donkey and Diddy include Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong. The second player can use either one of these three characters, plus each character comes with their own special abilities. Diddy Kong has a barrel jetpack he can use to cross long gaps and Dixie can spin her ponytail in order to slowly ascend through the air. Funky Kong will return to the game as the shopkeeper, which means Cranky Kong won’t be selling players any items this time around. As for Cranky Kong, he comes with an ability that old school gamers may recognize…

3. Cranky Kong Will Bring Some New Moves to This Adventure

Cranky Kong is adopting an ability that fans of NES’ DuckTales video game will no doubt find familiar. Cranky can utilize his cane and bounce across any dangerous surfaces (spiky thorns), jump to higher platforms and take out any enemies the other Kongs can’t defeat. Check out the reveal video above to see just how useful Cranky Kong can be.

4. There Will Be Six Islands and Six to Seven Levels Per Island

This sequel will feature six separate islands that will also feature six to seven levels each. NintendoEverything.com posted up some details they got on these islands/stages from an issue of Game Informer:

– World 1: Lost Mangroves (rainforest, vine grabbing, zip-lining)
– World 2: Autumn Heights (Bavarian-like mountain, mine carts, hot-air balloons, giant owls, jagged cliff faces)
– World 3: Bright Savannah (tall grass, orange/brown colors, like an African safari, dodge brush fire and penguins with spears)
– World 4: Sea Breeze Cove (blue harbors, sandy inlets, lots of swimming, dodge electric seaweed and manage air supply)
– World 5: Juicy Jungle (tropical forest that produces a rare fruit, home to an elaborate processing plant, jump off jellies to reach new heights)
– World 6: DK Island (Donkey Kong’s tree house has been frosted over, has homages to levels from Donkey Kong Country Returns)

5. A New Move Called the Kong-Pow is Being Introduced

A new in-game move mechanics called the Kong-Pow is making its debut in this release. The Wikipedia page for the game explained what Kong-Pow can do and what each Kong can do with this move:

Kong-Pow. By collecting bananas and filling up a Kong-POW meter, Donkey Kong and his partner can perform a Kong-POW move which defeats all on-screen enemies and replaces each of them with an item. Depending on which character is your partner, the defeated enemies will be converted to a different item (Diddy transforms enemies into life balloons, Dixie transforms enemies into golden hearts that allow for extra health, and Cranky turns enemies into banana coins)

6. A New Dynamic 3D Camera is Being Added to the Game

The game’s dynamic 3D camera is getting a nice enhancement job. Retro Studios’ president/CEO Michael Kelbaugh spoke to GamesTM.com about how the 3D camera will enhance gameplay:

The new dynamic 3D Camera really opened the world experience for Donkey Kong in that we were able to now see in front and behind Donkey Kong. That really allowed us to broaden the experience in creating new challenges and obstacles for the player in the level design. Now, instead of just seeing what’s in front of you by a screen length, you can see many lengths ahead of you. Plus, you can experience many game elements in complete 3D, which really enhances the experience.

7. During Single-Player Sessions, The Main Kong Will Only Be Controllable

When you’re playing alone, players will only have access to Donkey Kong as a playable character. When you come across any barrels that hold any of the other Kongs, the face icons on the barrel will slowly rotate as you choose to decide to which character you want alongside you. Switching between Kongs means you’ll have to come across these barrels as you make your way through each stage.

8. This is the 6th Installment in the Donkey Kong Country Series

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Returns is the 5th main game in the Donkey Kong Country series. The other four games that came before it are:

– Donkey Kong Country (Made by Rare)
– Diddy’s Kong Quest (Made by Rare)
– Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble (Made by Rare)
– Donkey Kong 64 (Made by Rare)
– Donkey Kong Country Returns (Made by Retro Studios)

9. The Producer of the Game Has Worked on Another Nintendo Classic

The main producer of the game, Kensuke Tanabe, has had previous experience producing platforming video games. Tanabe has worked on such titles as:

– Super Mario Bros. 2
– Kirby’s Dream Course
– Stunt Race FX
– Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
– Pikmin

10. The Soundtrack is Being Composed by Some Notable Nintendo Luminaries

The game’s music is being composed and orchestrated by Kenji Yamamoto, a longtime Nintendo/Retro Studios video game soundtrack composer. He previously worked on the last game in the series as a supervisor for the soundtrack. Yamamoto has also worked on teh music for other major Nintendo hits (Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, Metroid Prime, Excite Truck etc.). The 2nd soundtrack composer of the game is the original series composer David Wise. Wise did not work on the last game in the series, although he has contributed to the soundtrack for past Donkey Kong Country games.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know