Topic: DK: King of Swing Retro Rewind

[NWR_Neal]

What better way to fight King K. Rool than by swinging on pegs?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/video/39688/dk-king-of-swing-retro-rewind

DK King of Swing, which is out on the Wii U Virtual Console, is a bit of an unheralded Game Boy Advance game. Originally released in 2005, King of Swing is more like Clu Clu Land than it is like Donkey Kong Country. Still, it was one of the last Donkey Kong games to feature everyone's favorite anthropomorphic crocodile King K. Rool. This time around, K. Rool steals a bunch of prizes for a tournament that will decide the jungle hero. Needless to say, Donkey Kong isn't too thrilled about the villain cheeping in on his territory, so he sets out to get all of the prizes back.

The collectables are spread out across 25 levels that make up five different worlds. As you collect medals and more, you unlock a ton of different characters, ranging from other Kongs to the hero from Clu Clu Land. In addition to the single-player adventure, King of Swing features many multiplayer that, unfortunately, you can't touch if you're playing the Wii U version.

King of Swing was developed by Paon, which is composed of former Data East staffers. This was actually the first game they worked with Nintendo on directly, and it led to the studio working on the Wii game Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and King of Swing's DS sequel, DK Jungle Climber. In addition to helping out with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Paon also developed the DS RPG Glory of Heracles and the Wii remake Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. Since 2008, the company has been quiet.

That's DK: King of Swing, a weird curio from the GBA's final years that now lives again on Wii U. Assuming Paon is still around, maybe DK and Diddy can pick up their swinging ways again and return on the 3DS.

[Phil]

Really enjoyed King of Swing on the GBA and Jungle Climber on the DS. Totally underrated games and it's awesome that you guys are bringing them to readers' attention once more!

[Mop it up]

This release got me to buy the game, though I got the original GBA cartridge since it was actually cheaper than the VC version. I only tried the first two levels to make sure the cartridge worked and saved, seems like an interesting game, though one that will take some time to get used to as I had some trouble navigating the second stage.