Nintendo Switch owners can finally get their hands on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze . There are those who know Donkey Kong's adventures very well, while many others will be playing a title starring the cute Nintendo icon for the first time. In style, it's very similar to the other Donkey Kong Country games.
The game can be completed by yourself or with the help of a friend, it's basically a 2D platformer set in various worlds that make up an island, you solve puzzles and collect collectables.
Of course, on Switch players will find better skills for each of Donkey Kong's friends and better motion control technology. Tropical Freeze is one of the funniest titles you can find on the hybrid console today. If you're playing for the first time, here's a comprehensive and comprehensive guide to getting the adventure off to the best start.
How does the adventure begin?
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze opens with DK and his three Kong friends: Diddy, Dixie and Cranky, who enjoy a delicious cake for Donkey's birthday. Suddenly, a group of icy Viking-like creatures known as Snowmads arrive on the island with a large ice dragon and freeze the Kong to capture them. Our mission is to help the Kong people of the island return to normal.
To do this, the player must venture across six islands, defeating the Snowmads and their leaders in various platform levels, and eventually facing the Snowmads' own leader, Lord Fredrik. In the Nintendo Switch version of Tropical Freeze, the player can control both Donkey and Funky Kong. A second player can join by selecting Diddy, Dixie or Cranky to help advance the story and unlock secrets with each Kong's special abilities.
Donkey or Funky?
If you've played Donkey Kong Country Returns, you'll already be a master of Donkey control. But don't worry if you haven't! Donkey Kong can walk, roll and run, jump and grab suspended objects like ropes, and perform ground shots to break brittle ground or obstacles (like boxes). The top shot can also be used near enemies to temporarily stun them. It can defeat some enemies by stepping on them, but anything with sharp spikes becomes deadly.
Playing as Donkey Kong presents a medium level challenge. The developers, however, have decided to make things easier for newcomers or those who don't want a challenge level too high. In fact, selecting Funky Kong will make the game easier. Funky has five hearts for health (the other Kong has two) and, in addition to Donkey's skills, he can roll continuously without stopping when he gets hit. He also has a surfboard that gives him the ability to both do a double jump and land from high ground without getting hurt. When he swims, he never loses his breath.
So we can consider Donkey the normal level, Funky the easy level.
Alone or with friends?
After choosing Donkey or Funky, your next most important decision is whether or not to bring a friend during the game. You can finish Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze well on your own, but many of the collectible items and secrets of the game become more challenging or almost impossible to take without a friend. If you choose a 2 player, they can select Diddy, Dixie or Cranky Kong. Each of the three Kongs shares some of Donkey's basic skills and can climb on his shoulders and ride him through certain sections of the game. They also have their own special skills.
- Diddy Kong has the Barrel Jet that allows him to hover in the air along with Donkey and hit enemies from above, from an advantageous position. Diddy also throws his popguns, a kind of peanut bullets that can stun weaker enemies.
- Dixie Kong is able to shoot up or forward powerful water currents using his ponytail as a propeller.
- Cranky Kong can bounce on the ground with his rod, using it as a pole, jumping higher than he would with a normal jump. His tool also allows him to land on enemies with sharp thorns that would injure a normal Kong.
In addition to having the extra skills of Kong friends, bringing another player with you is useful because Kong can revive each other using the barrels scattered around the levels.
Collect all the items you can find
The goal of each level in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is simple: get to the end. Some levels culminate in a fight against bosses or mini-bosses. Most of these levels are overcome by climbing, jumping, swinging and landing on platforms and enemies. A handful of levels include frantic mine rides where you'll have to fight enemies and jump on the tracks.
In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze , however, the levels should not be exceeded going from point A to point B without giving a peek at what surrounds us. The levels are littered with objects and bonuses that can help your character to overcome the obstacles in front of you unscathed. Collect everything you see. Here are the most important items:
- Hearts give your Kongs more health. Hearts that represent resistance to damage decrease if you get hit by enemies, an enemy bullet, or if you land on something sharp. Most Kongs have a maximum of two hearts; Funky has five.
- Red Balloons are essentially "lives" and allow you to be reborn from checkpoints if you die. Once you run out of balloons, you'll have to start the level again.
- Bananas are everywhere! Collecting 100 helmets of these fruits will give you an extra red balloon.
- Banana Coins can be spent in Funky's shop to buy items like balloons. Funky himself gets a discount, of course.
- Letters K O N G can be found in each level. If you collect them all in each level in a given world, a secret level will be unlocked. If you collect every K O N G in the entire game, Difficult Mode will appear!
- The puzzle pieces are fun extras that unlock concept art bonuses. They have no effect on gameplay.
- Mysterious Relics are present at the end of each secret level of the temple, which are unlocked by collecting all the letters K O N G in a given world. After finishing all these Temple Levels, collecting the relics and beating the final boss, a hidden world, Secret Seclusion, will open up.
Other game modes
Apart from the main story mode, there are two additional game modes: Difficult Mode and Time Attack.
- Difficult Mode is unlocked by collecting every K O N G letter in the game. In Difficult Mode, you can only play in single player, but you can select any Kong you like, including Diddy, Dixie or Cranky. You'll only get one heart, which means you can't take any damage. There's no secret reward beyond personal satisfaction.
- Time Attack is also a single player mode where you can time yourself to see how fast you can finish a level. In this mode, there are no checkpoints. Online Time Attack leaderboards allow you to see the achievements of other players around the world. This, like Difficult mode, is just for fun and there is no secret reward.
