The odd one of these here and there is fine, but pretty much every screen in the game is filled with things that just want to fuck you over. I think it's a mistake making the game this difficult, it's benefitting very few yet will potentially put off an entire audience of players. I know a few people who wouldn't go near this game after playing the Wii version (which I completed). I dunno, maybe Nintendo worked out they'd sell the same amount of copies if they reduced the severity. If you look at their own games made in Japan for Wii U, Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3, they are much easier games to play. 3D World, like 3D Land has lots of challenging levels, but DKC: TF just feels hard for the sake of it to me.
Would a difficulty selection hurt? Would it an option of always have 3 hearts be an issue, or how about 5? The game just doesn't need to be this difficult, and I think that's almost all its got as a USP. It's fucking nails hard. Nintendo have even made a video about it.