Donkey Kong Country – Tropical Freeze

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a 2014 platform game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii U console. The fifth installment in the Donkey Kong Country series, Tropical Freeze is a direct sequel to the 2010 Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns and was released in February 2014. An enhanced port for the Nintendo Switch was released in May 2018. In Tropical Freeze, Donkey Kong and his family must venture across five islands to save their home, Donkey Kong Island, after it is frozen over by the villainous Snowmads—a group of invaders from the northern seas, who attacked the island on Donkey Kong’s birthday.

Like its predecessor, the game received generally positive reviews. Praise was directed at the level design, gameplay, and soundtrack, although its high level of difficulty received more mixed opinions. As the Kongs celebrate Donkey Kong’s birthday, their island is attacked by the Snowmads, arctic invaders. Their leader, Lord Fredrik, blows a horn that creates frozen winds and an ice dragon. The Kongs are blown away and the Snowmads seize the frozen Donkey Kong Island. The Kongs traverse a series of islands and make their way back to Donkey Kong Island.

They make their way through the frozen fortress until they encounter the leader of the Snowmads, Lord Fredrik, who challenges them to a battle deep in the depths of the volcano. Donkey Kong delivers the final punch to Lord Fredrik, who crashes into the Snowmad ships, defeating the Snowmads. Donkey Kong blows into Fredrik’s horn, producing a breeze that thaws Donkey Kong Island. The game continues on from the side-scrolling platform gameplay of the Donkey Kong Country series and sees Donkey Kong and his friends traveling through seven different islands in order to defeat the Snowmads.

Controls are similar to the previous game, with the addition of being able to pluck items from the ground and pick up and throw stunned enemies, and various controllers can be used with customizable controls. Like the previous game, players primarily control Donkey Kong who is assisted by a companion, who either provide additional abilities to Donkey Kong, or can be controlled individually by a second player. Along with Diddy Kong, who returns with his barrel jet pack for crossing large gaps, two additional characters are added: Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong.

Dixie has the ability to spin her ponytail into a propeller and slowly descend through the air, with an initial boost in height at the start, allowing her and Donkey Kong to fly up out-of-reach platforms or items. Cranky can use his cane to bounce on dangerous surfaces such as spiky thorns and reach higher areas and defeat certain enemies the other Kongs cannot. Filling up a ‘Kong-POW’ meter allows Donkey Kong and his partner to perform a special move which defeats all on-screen enemies and converts them into items depending on the partner.

The Super Guide from the previous game is absent and is replaced by an expanded shop, run by Funky Kong, offering various support items such as temporary invincibility. Like the previous game, each level contains various Kong letters and puzzle pieces, some of which require specific partners to reach, which unlock various bonuses and hidden levels. The Time Attack mode also returns, now featuring online leaderboards, allowing players to view video replays of the top ranked players.

The Nintendo Switch version of the game features Funky Kong as a new playable character. In the optional easier new Funky Mode, Funky Kong is playable with no possible companions, along with an option to switch between him and Donkey Kong. Unlike Donkey Kong in the game’s normal mode, Funky Kong comes with five hit points instead of two, while he is also able to double-jump, hover in mid-air, stand on spikes and breathe underwater for an unlimited time. When DK is played, he can gain a companion and each Kong has three hit points.