Topic: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Delayed to 2014

[King Bowser Koopa]

Donkey Gone.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/35585

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which was originally scheduled to release in December this year, has been pushed back until next year.

As Iwata explained during today's Nintendo Direct, the game will now be released in February 2014. The only explanation offered was that the game is being refined and improved.

The game was first announced during E3 this year.

[MetalMario2]

Dammit.

[Khushrenada]

One year later, still can't release games for the Wii U.

[Adrock]

Blessing in disguise for me. I would have been tempted to buy it in December even though I probably wouldn't have finished 3D World by then. I can't wait.

[ShyGuy]

I hope there is some compensating in the form of VC or eShop games.

[motang]

No frozen bananas till 2014! 

[broodwars]

I see Nintendo just realized that they have nothing in 2014 besides Mario Kart, so they're now stretching their releases out to try to hide the drought.  Watch Mario Kart Wii U now be Nintendo's big Fall 2014 game.  Well, now that DKC isn't coming out this year, I guess I'm done caring about Wii U games this year.

[Adrock]

I see Nintendo just realized that they have nothing in 2014 besides Mario Kart

Super Smash Bros. Probably Bayonetta 2. And just because they didn't announce something, doesn't mean it isn't in the works. That's par for the course with Nintendo for the last few years. Donkey Long Coubtry Returns was announced like six months before it was released.

[broodwars]

I see Nintendo just realized that they have nothing in 2014 besides Mario Kart

Super Smash Bros. Probably Bayonetta 2. And just because they didn't announce something, doesn't mean it isn't in the works. That's par for the course with Nintendo for the last few years. Donkey Long Coubtry Returns was announced like six months before it was released.

Didn't care about the last Bayonetta, and I don't care about this one, either.  I also have no faith that Smash Bros. is releasing before Fall 2014, assuming it isn't delayed again. As for unannounced titles, that's always a possibility, but with how absolutely barren Nintendo's 2014 Wii U schedule looks right now, they'd better start announcing games.

[Adrock]

Not caring about a game doesn't change the fact that it still exists. There's a distinct difference between saying "Nintendo just realized that they have nothing in 2014 besides Mario Kart" and "Nintendo has nothing for me until Mario Kart." They're not even remotely close to the same thing.

Also, I don't recall Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS getting delayed. They never announced a date outside of 2014 which is about right considering Sakurai didn't start the game until after Kid Icarus Uprising was finished. Brawl spent about two years in development.

[broodwars]

Not caring about a game doesn't change the fact that it still exists. There's a distinct difference between saying "Nintendo just realized that they have nothing in 2014 besides Mario Kart" and "Nintendo has nothing for me until Mario Kart." They're not even remotely close to the same thing.

Also, I don't recall Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS getting delayed. They never announced a date outside of 2014 which is about right considering Sakurai didn't start the game until after Kid Icarus Uprising was finished. Brawl spent about two years in development.

Platinum games have a history of selling at best underwhelming numbers and typically bomb. Bayonetta 2 might as well not exist for all the sales impact it will have, especially on a console where nothing sells.  As for Smash Bros., that franchise has a history of unexpected delays. I'm not expecting it till Fall 2014, especially with how Nintendo likes to space out releases. With DKC now releasing in Fall 2014, Mario Kart's bound to get pushed back to Summer 2014 at the earliest and Nintendo will want a game for the Fall. That's how Smash Bros. becomes the Fall 2014 game barring any new announcements.

[NWR_insanolord]

If you think there was ever a chance of Smash Bros. coming out before fall of next year you're fooling yourself. It was fall 2014 regardless of what Nintendo had in Q1-3, and that's assuming it doesn't get pushed into 2015

[broodwars]

Bah...I hate this inability to edit posts...I meant to say "with DCK:TF now releasing in Feb. 2014..."  And as I said, I've never expected Smash Bros. before Fall 2014.

[Ian Sane]

As a Nintendo fan we've dealt with delays before but I can't think of a more costly one for Nintendo.  The Wii U needed that Mario/DK doubleshot badly.  This Christmas is make-or-break for the Wii U.  After the second Christmas you know where a videogame system stands.  If it ain't selling by then it never will because the image of an unsupported flop is already set in the minds of the consumers.  The Wii U's identity will be established by then as it will no longer be a new product with the typical growing pains.  For the Wii U to ever amount to squat it needed this Christmas to be big and with one of its top two Christmas titles out that's just going to be that much harder.

If Nintendo is intentionally delaying it to spread the wealth across the release schedule the console is fucked.  It has no third party support and the first party lacks the resources to make games on a timely schedule and has made no indication that they will increase their resources to address that.  Retro simply not being ready is actually a more hopeful situation.  All the hope was that the second half of 2013 was going to be the start of more healthy release schedule but if we're just in a drought-surge-drought pattern it's going to be years before I would even consider buying this thing.

The Wii U will be discontinued in 2014.  It is not a product that the public wants and Nintendo lacks the resources and, frankly the know-how (HD games take a long time to make?  If only there was some way to have known that years ago!), to change that.  Even if Nintendo feels they can hold out they rely on stores being willing to carry it.

[Adrock]

The Wii U will be discontinued in 2014.

Right. Because no one wants Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.

/throws Wii U into hobo trash can fire

[IssunZX]

Bummer, Tropical Freeze would've been a great title to see for Christmas, and likely would've helped push sales a bit.

Still, I don't want to buy into all the "doom and gloom" people are saying about the Wii-U. Yeah, it's not doing great right now, and Nintendo has made some bad, perhaps costly, decisions, but I still want to remain optimistic with what's coming soon and on the horizon. That said, it is a shame Nintendo is flailing around a bit this generation.

[azeke]

It's hilarous to see the very same people who hated Tropical Freeze reveal now feigning outrage at it's delay ;p

[Ymeegod]

Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. were also on the GC and it didn't save that. 

Not sure if losing Donkey Kong TF is that big of an deal since there's already two solid platformers that were/will be released by the x-mas (Rayman and Mario).

Rayman could use a few million more sales .

[Adrock]

GameCube also wasn't discontinued after two years.

[ShyGuy]

The Wii U will be discontinued in 2014.

Care to make a ban bet?

[Luigi Dude]

Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. were also on the GC and it didn't save that.

Both franchises are way more popular now.  Smash Bros on the N64 only sold over 5 million and Mario Kart 64 over 9 million.  In comparison, Smash Bros Brawl has sold over 11 million and Mario Kart Wii over 34 million. 

On the Gamecube, Melee and Double Dash only sold 7 million.  Now Smash Bros Wii U could drop to those levels, but it's literally impossible for Mario Kart 8 to go that low.  Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS managed over 8 million in a year and Mario Kart is less popular on handhelds then consoles.  That pretty much guarantees Mario Kart 8 is going to achieve sales well over 10 million and could easily break 20 million as well.

[Ian Sane]

The Wii U will be discontinued in 2014.

Care to make a ban bet?

No way.  I want to be wrong on this.

It's hilarous to see the very same people who hated Tropical Freeze reveal now feigning outrage at it's delay ;p

I would have preferred a different release from Retro (or at least for Nintendo to not have hyped up Retro's super secret project as if it was something genuinely surprising) but this is the game they're making and, like it or not, it was one of the most high profile Wii U games due for 2013.  The Mario/DK doubleshot was as good of an effort Nintendo could realistically have made considering the poor third party support and Nintendo's own lack of development resources.  This one game had a lot of responsibility to help sell Wii U's this Christmas.  Clearly with one less major title as a selling point the Wii U will have a harder time attracting sales.  And I think this Christmas is insanely important for Nintendo, with "altering the future of the company" ramifications at stake.

I personally don't give a **** when the game comes out but I recognize the potential significant impact this could have on Nintendo's future.  This is the worst Christmas they could possibly have a major game slip out of.

[broodwars]

It's hilarous to see the very same people who hated Tropical Freeze reveal now feigning outrage at it's delay ;p

I don't believe I've ever once said I hated the game. I hate that Retro's talents are wasted on such a mere 2D platformer when they are capable of more, but the game's been on my most-anticipated list since E3 just based on how much I liked DKCR.

[Adrock]

What genre wouldn't be a waste of Retro's talents? They made one of the best 2D platformers in the last 20 years. I don't see how making a bigger, (possibly) better game is a waste of anything. And you're the same person who said this yesterday:

Platinum games have a history of selling at best underwhelming numbers and typically bomb. Bayonetta 2 might as well not exist for all the sales impact it will have, especially on a console where nothing sells.

If you're going to use sales impact as an indication of a game's potential then it makes perfect sense for Retro to make a sequel to a game that sold as well as Donkey Kong Country Returns. Isn't it their highest selling game (not counting helping out with Mario Kart 7's development)? Therefore, by your own reasoning, if Retro's talent is to reach as many people as possible, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is exactly the kind of title they should be developing unless you want them to make Mario or Zelda. If they worked on any other Nintendo IP or a brand new one, they're probably not touching sales anywhere near DKCR.

I would love to see Retro apply their creativity to an original IP; I just wouldn't say their talents are wasted on Tropical Freeze.

[Ian Sane]

A genre that wouldn't be a waste of Retro's talents would be one that Nintendo does not already have multiple teams working on.  EAD and Good Feel are already cranking out 2D platformers for Nintendo.  I don't know what HAL is currently working on but their last Wii game was also a 2D platformer.  So Nintendo already has three other devs working on this genre and thus Retro should do it, too?  Meanwhile Nintendo is completely ignoring entire genres including the FPS genre which is, you know, the most popular one going right now.  Metroid Prime filled a hole in Nintendo's lineup that no one else was filling.  In comparison, DKC is redundant.  That doesn't make it a bad game, but it's idiotic to put so much attention on the 2D genre while other genres are completely ignored.

Nintendo's got Platinum Games working for them these days and they're not working on the same types of games other Nintendo devs are already working on.  That's a full use of their talents as they can fill a hole and provide variety to Nintendo's lineup.  Retro has provided no variety for Nintendo since Metroid Prime 3.