WINTER IS COMING

Tropical Freeze gets second chance on Nintendo’s Switch platform

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Nintendo Switch

TORONTO Donkey Kong is giving an encore performance of his latest adventure, and this time he’s expecting a bigger audience.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze makes its way to the Nintendo Switch this week. The challenging platformer starring one of Nintendo’s oldest characters was originally released in February 2014 for the Wii U, earning critical acclaim but seeing its sales limited by the console’s modest install base.

The Switch, however, has easily outsold the Wii U in just one fiscal year, and that has presented Nintendo with an opportunity to beef up the library for its new console/hand-held hybrid with excellent, ready-made games. Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch last year, and the former Wii U exclusive went on to sell 9.22 million units worldwide as of March.

Tropical Freeze, the fifth instalment in the main Donkey Kong Country series, is deserving of such a second chance. The game features the lovable cravat sporting ape in a meticulously designed and fun 2D side-scrolling romp. Perhaps it’s a touch too unforgiving for casual players, but Nintendo addresses that in the Switch version.

The game begins when Donkey Kong ’s birthday is rudely interrupted by a horde of Viking penguins, who sail to Donkey Kong island, turn it into a wintry wasteland and exile our hero and his simian cohorts.

Not one to take a ruined party lightly, Donkey Kong begins on a quest to defeat his new Nordic enemies and restore his island. He gets help from his fellow Kongs — Diddy, Dixie and Cranky. Each one increases Donkey Kong ’s health bar and can help DK navigate the levels.

While he can trample throughout the levels without help, the companions make life easier and are needed to get at the collectibles necessary to unlock secret levels.

Difficulty ramps up quickly. After lulling players into a false sense of security with a couple of easy introductory levels, the game throws some prickly platforming sequences early on.

The game’s difficulty was praised when released for the Wii U, but the biggest addition to the Switch version lets you dial it down. A new game mode lets players enjoy the adventure as Funky Kong, whose usefulness belies his surfer slacker motif.

Funky Kong ’s advantages go beyond his significantly larger health bar, and he can roll and breathe underwater indefinitely, double-jump and even hover momentarily and avoid damage from spiky floors.

Essentially he diminishes some of the game’s tougher challenges and makes it easier to get the collectibles.

Other than Funky Kong, this is pretty much a direct port of the Wii U version, with enhanced graphics and a smooth frame rate thanks to the Switch’s more powerful hardware. But as many Switch owners would have missed this gem on the Wii U, Nintendo doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel here.