Topic: Retro Studios Developing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

[Traveller]

The famed developer is having another go at the DKC series.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/34537

It has been revealed that Retro Studios is the developer behind the new Wii U game, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

The game features simultaneous cooperative multiplayer and will bring back Dixie Kong as a playable character. The game will be released later this year.

[broodwars]

*sigh* Well, we all knew Nintendo wasn't going to let Retro make a new franchise, and Other M destroyed Metroid's standing for the time being. Oh well...at least this new Donkey Kong Country game's looking pretty sweet.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I never thought it possible, but this announcement has made me both happy and hugely disappointed.

[NintendoFanboy]

Really!?    this is what retro has been working on!?
Im in the rare camp of people who prefer DK64's
3d gaming over dkc  style. So for like 4 years retro has made
Nothing in my mind. And continues to make nothing
I play.   Such a waste of talent.

[Vahne]

Sigh, seems it'll be a long time before we get to see Retro pushing the Wii U to the limit.

[Caterkiller]

I never thought it possible, but this announcement has made me both happy and hugely disappointed.

Hahaha same here. I'm extremely happy a new one is coming so soon after the last but after that interview where Retro stated a sequel wasn't being planned I think we all expected something else.

Really glad Dixie is back though. Not sure how I feel about her helicopter hair performing slightly different than before. I suppose she can't be spinning DK around like that.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Sigh, seems it'll be a long time before we get to see Retro pushing the Wii U to the limit.

Maybe I'm being cynical, but what I took away from Nintendo's showing at E3 this year is that they seem unwilling to push either their franchises or the Wii U. Everything they have shown (with the possible exception of Monolith's new game, which we still know very little about) feels incredibly safe and tepid. There are of course some Nintendo franchises for which I fully expected Nintendo to play it safe. For instance, I'm not at all surprised that Wii Party U, Mario Kart 8 and the next Super Smash Bros all seem broadly similar to their predecessors.
 
I think the reason some people (myself included) are so disappointed by the Tropical Freeze reveal is that the much speculated upon Retro project was one of the few opportunities for Nintendo to surprise and delight us, and while another Retro developed DKC game is no bad thing, it's certainly the safest possible project they could have delivered.
 
Nintendo really need to start shaking things up.

[broodwars]

I'm really curious why exactly a new 2D Donkey Kong Country game took Retro so long to be released. There's nothing in that trailer that screams "3-4 years of development!" It just makes no sense why Nintendo held this game so close to their chest.

[Ceric]

Sigh, seems it'll be a long time before we get to see ANYONE pushing the Wii U to the limit.

That whole time I just sat their going "Is this the Gamecube?"

[Caterkiller]

I'm really curious why exactly a new 2D Donkey Kong Country game took Retro so long to be released. There's nothing in that trailer that screams "3-4 years of development!" It just makes no sense why Nintendo held this game so close to their chest.

Good question. You know they just may be working on multiple projects.

[Pixelated Pixies]

But guys! Did you see Donkey Kong's fur?! Or what about Bayonetta's new hair style!? Those are game changing features...right?

[ResettisCousin]

This game looks expertly made and confirms Retro has extremely talented artists.


However.


I cannot be in the minority in hoping that Retro has staffed up enough to develop two titles at once, and that perhaps Retro can finally surprise us at E3... 2014.

[Fireponcoal]

Nintendo is such a joke of a company at this point but I love em' still.  I'm very tired of being disappointed by their total lack of bringing any new ideas to the table.  Preordered a PS4 last night from Ye'Olde Amazon and truly can't wait to experience it.  The WiiU looks like it will continue to reside in my sons room.  Nintendo, I'll continue to hope for change but I have little actual belief that the company will give me what I personally want. Oh well. 

[nickmitch]

Considering that Nintendo TOLD us what they were going to show, and that THIS was the only surprise, it's safe to say I'm disappointed. It's just so weird that Nintendo wouldn't announce Retro's game when it was a DKC sequel all along. It's actually pretty upsetting. This was described as "A game everyone wants us to do", or w/e the quote was, and I'm pretty sure that's as inaccurate as it gets.


Still probably gonna buy this Day 1, though.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I was pretty critical (although cool headed) about Nintendo's decision to not hold a press conference this year. I take it back though. Nintendo was completely correct in their decision, because I don't think this would have went down well at all on stage.

[TrueNerd]

What a waste.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

I think people need to understand that the Retro Studios of today is not the same as the Retro Studios of 10 years ago. The company has long since moved on from being the studio born out of Iguana's ashes, intended to make first-person games. Some of the key Metroid Prime designers have since left the company, others have joined who are likely more skilled in other areas, and in general, their role as a Nintendo first-party developer has changed.

Also, I take issue with the idea that Donkey Kong Country, one of the great platforming series in gaming, is somehow beneath Retro Studios, as if they are a mighty god of game development who is only allowed to make games that alter the very composition of the Earth. In my view, Tropical Freeze looks like an excellent 2D platformer, and hardly a 'waste of talent.'

[NWR_insanolord]

I never thought it possible, but this announcement has made me both happy and hugely disappointed.

That about sums me up right there. DKCR was phenomenal, for my money the best 2D platformer in 20 years, and it's great to get more of that, especially looking as good as that trailer did. At the same time, I think Retro's one of the most talented developers in the industry and I'd like to see them be able to branch out more. It's not that Donkey Kong's beneath them, it's just that I'd prefer to see them doing something new.

[Agent-X-]

Pixelated Pixies, I agree, and I think Nintendo wisely chose a medium where they could solely focus on games. They have some great games coming. I don't feel like any of these were groundbreaking. The new Mario is looking pretty good, but it's not a platform-defining game like Mario Galaxy or a new Zelda game. In fact, Nintendo really didn't showcase anything that would help to define or differentiate the Wii U.


This isn't really surprising, though. Nintendo has had ho-hum E3 showings in the past, and I think we could see this one coming. Nintendo had one objective in mind, and they nailed it pretty decently. They needed to showcase high quality games coming to Wii U. My confidence in Wii U has improved somewhat. Nintendo needs to show us a home run title, though. I love DKC, and it's as quality as quality comes. However, show me what the Wii U can do.

[Mop it up]

I admit that I expected them to be working on something else... but there are certainly worse things they could have been doing!

If co-op's back, then I'm on board.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Also, I take issue with the idea that Donkey Kong Country, one of the great platforming series in gaming, is somehow beneath Retro Studios, as if they are a mighty god of game development who is only allowed to make games that alter the very composition of the Earth. In my view, Tropical Freeze looks like an excellent 2D platformer, and hardly a 'waste of talent.'

For me it's not that the DK series is below them, it's more that Retro at one point occupied a unique space within Nintendo. Part of the reason Retro's fan base is so ardent is because with the Prime series they were able to take the best elements of Nintendo and combine them with their own game design sensibilities, in the process producing something that no other company in the world could have pulled off. DKC is a beloved and prestigious series, but I don't think it plays to Retro's strengths.
 
Retro had a real knack for creating tension and a unique sense of place, and while I'm aware that certain key figures have left the company, I have no reason to believe that the people who work there today are no longer capable of producing something on that scale again. With the Prime series Retro brought to the table something that Nintendo lacked. Something which, with all the will in the world, will not be showcased in a 2D platformer.
 
Donkey Kong Country is a known quantity, and it's a project that I believe could easily have been handed to any one of several other talented developers (both first and third-party). Donkey Kong Country is very much a Nintendo series. My disappointment with this announcement comes from the fact that I've always felt that Retro have the potential to create games that Nintendo could not make themselves.

[Ian Sane]

I liked the 2D sidescroller revival at first because those types of games had not been made for a long time.  But now the sidescroller is Nintendo's go-to genre and the novelty has worn off.  I'm sure this new DK will be good but if they released it as an N64 game it would have been consider archaic.  Games like Contra Rebirth and Mega Man 9 are released on the eShop as a budget titles.  Nintendo is using retro titles as the main selling point for a new console.  And honestly, to me, it comes across that Nintendo is all over 2D sidescrollers because they're EASIER games to make.  I can't help but feel that Nintendo figures the rubes love their sidescrollers and that Nintendo can just crank them out and make a bundle (and that's completely delusional on Nintendo's part as the lukewarm sales of the Wii U demonstrate).

This will be a good game but I'm more interested in great games and I think that a certain amount of ambition and creativity is required for a game to be truly great.  Safe conventional cookie-cutter sequels that follow a basic template set 28 years ago are typically good at best, and rarely great.  Besides it isn't just Retro working on a safe conventional project.  So is EAD.  So is seemingly every Nintendo team except Monolith.  If Retro was the only dev doing something like this it wouldn't matter but Nintendo as a whole is following the NSMB model of generic product.  We hoped that perhaps Retro was an exception and would not be doing that.

I remember around when Iwata took over we got an ad campaign called "Who are you?" that really pushed Nintendo's franchises.  At the time, it bothered me because I felt that Nintendo's identity was defined by their creativity, ambition and commitment to quality - not specifically their franchises.  Ultimately I feel that, under Iwata, Nintendo has clearly transformed into a company defined by their franchises.  Nintendo assumed this was the game "everyone wants [Retro] to do" because they see themselves as their franchises and assume their fans support them out of desire to play new games for those franchises.  The idea of Retro working on a new IP did not cross their minds because they don't understand why people would want that.  They have become so focused on their IP that they would assume that THAT is all they have to offer of value.

Nintendo has become very conservative and they remain in touch with fans with conservative tastes and grossly out-of-touch with the fans that still want something progressive.  Nintendo is one of them old-timer bands playing at state fairs for crowds of drunk middle-aged people.

[Sageprotector]

I'm of the belief they've been working on more than just this. Either way, this is a title I'd definitively get.

[Kytim89]

I would be more excepting of Retro doing another DK game if the Kremlings returned.

[Shaymin]

They chose... wisely.