TheSpaceBetween
Member
I think I'm in the minority of Windmill Hills being my least favorite Autumn Heights level. Not that it's bad in any way, but I'm not a fan of the music, and every other level on the island I LOVE.
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Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze |OT| There's always money in the banana stand
- Thread starter Frolow
- Start date
BigEvilTurtle
Banned
Awh, how can you not like the music? I always find myself singing, "Flappy bird, flappy bird! Flap flap flappy bird..." to the lead harmonica. It's so cheery and fun.
I agree, Autumn Hills is stacked with goodness. I can see how you'd appreciate Alpine Incline the way you do. I feel like replaying it now, lol.
What did you think of Horn Top Hop? I'm honestly torn whether I prefer Windmill Hills or Horn Top Hop. I must admit, Horn Top Hop is, for me, the hardest of the regular stages in World 2 (Bopopolis is the hardest overall in that world). So I rarely complete it in one shot, but man, when I get into the zone in Horn Top Hop, it's just on a whole different level... I also love the aesthetics of it -- the birch trees, the red-and-gold canopy, the dusky shade, the gilded horns... And the music with its tuba bassline, keeping the polka rhythm... Most underrated song in the game, BTW.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
One stage I think is underrated is Rockin' Relics.
You can gallop through it at a great pace -- which reminds me, I should check out the speed runs for it. 
A rain-lashed stage of pure platforming (if you wish) but enough swimming opportunities to mix things up, the land bits set to a techno version of Lockjaw's Saga, and the great "bucking bronco" gimmick where the lightning strikes power the relics and bounce the platforms, shipwrecks, etc.
The Xtortionist
Member
Great level - a bit subtle I think. Just not my absolute favorite. Still fantastic.
One stage I think is underrated is Rockin' Relics.You can gallop through it at a great pace -- which reminds me, I should check out the speed runs for it.A rain-lashed stage of pure platforming (if you wish) but enough swimming opportunities to mix things up, the land bits set to a techno version of Lockjaw's Saga, and the great "bucking bronco" gimmick where the lightning strikes power the relics and bounce the platforms, shipwrecks, etc.
That would be my runner up for world 4, lol.
Sorry for being off-topic, but as platformer-fan Wii U owners, did you guys like Sonic Lost World? I just bought it off Amazon because it was on sale or something for $29.99. I still have time to cancel if it's no good. I just don't know where else to ask, lol. To give you some backstory, I love both 2D and 3D platformers, though I haven't been into any of the Sonic games as of late and prefer platformers that aren't SOLELY focused on speed.
One stage I think is underrated is Rockin' Relics.You can gallop through it at a great pace -- which reminds me, I should check out the speed runs for it.A rain-lashed stage of pure platforming (if you wish) but enough swimming opportunities to mix things up, the land bits set to a techno version of Lockjaw's Saga, and the great "bucking bronco" gimmick where the lightning strikes power the relics and bounce the platforms, shipwrecks, etc.
Rockin' Relics was my runner up for Sea Breeze Cove. After searching for over half an hour for the secret exit that led to it (I didn't want to look it up) I was prepared to hate the level because of everything I had to do to unlock it. As soon as I entered the level I said "That was totally worth it."
I enjoy it. The game is very experimental and has quite a few problems but when it's good, it's great. It's a lot slower than most sonic games (Think Mario Galaxy speed) so you might like it.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Underrated Stages:
Canopy Chaos
Zip-Line Shrine
Mountain Mania
Crumble Cavern
Baobab Bonanza
Rickety Rafters
Deep Keep
Sea Stack Attack
Current Capers
Panicky Paddles
Beehive Brawl
Jammin' Jams
Frozen Frenzy
Meltdown Mayhem
Dynamite Dash
Slippy Spikes
Canopy Chaos
Zip-Line Shrine
Mountain Mania
Crumble Cavern
Baobab Bonanza
Rickety Rafters
Deep Keep
Sea Stack Attack
Current Capers
Panicky Paddles
Beehive Brawl
Jammin' Jams
Frozen Frenzy
Meltdown Mayhem
Dynamite Dash
Slippy Spikes
Levitation Station
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Grassland Groove is far from being a favorite of mine as well
I agree, Grassland Groove is certainly not my favorite Bright Savannah level. That goes to Scorch n' Torch.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
The Xtortionist
Member
Boards of Canada
Member
Grassland Grove is my favourite level in the game. I've played it 20 times already. Love it.
Scorch N' Torch definitely deserves more love. This damn track is incredible and the level was fun too.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Finished the game earlier tonight. Just incredible. This is in my top 3 platformers of all time. Figure I might as well stick around to collect all the err... collectables.
But yeah, I just can't believe how much creativity they packed into this. What a refreshing game.
But yeah, I just can't believe how much creativity they packed into this. What a refreshing game.
HitokiriNate85
Member
Played up through Wing Ding on hard tonight. I died in the last 1/4 of a number of stages, and some multiple times at that point. That can be, oh, a little frustrating. Dixie is my go-to so far with Cranky being really good in the right stages. I like playing as Diddy but don't feel like he provides as distinct of an advantage as the other two.
After I finished the game I was leaning towards Bright Savannah as my favorite. Autumn Hills, though...the level of quality maintained through every stage becomes almost surreal by the end. Hard to pick a favorite, but it's between Horn Top Bop and Alpine Incline. I like jumping leaf to leaf, the color scheme and music of HTB but AI has amazing progression, and the opening song is a fair runner for my favorite in the game. Sawmill Thrill also has amazing design and I love the flume. I'm going to end up just sitting at the beginning of the stage for the laid back atmosphere. Same goes for the Cavern stage, which I was really overlooking until I played it again. And Wing Ding, ahhhhh. That jam.
After I finished the game I was leaning towards Bright Savannah as my favorite. Autumn Hills, though...the level of quality maintained through every stage becomes almost surreal by the end. Hard to pick a favorite, but it's between Horn Top Bop and Alpine Incline. I like jumping leaf to leaf, the color scheme and music of HTB but AI has amazing progression, and the opening song is a fair runner for my favorite in the game. Sawmill Thrill also has amazing design and I love the flume. I'm going to end up just sitting at the beginning of the stage for the laid back atmosphere. Same goes for the Cavern stage, which I was really overlooking until I played it again. And Wing Ding, ahhhhh. That jam.
Heh, that's fucking awesome. I just found out, watching a time trial, that you can skip across the surface of the water doing the continuous buddy roll. So sweet!I just realized:
The patterns on the walls and columns in the K levels are the steel beams and ladders from the original Donkey Kong.
Holy fucking shit, Retro.
Maybe it's just me, but I found
Edit: Of course, right after I say that, I replay the one I had the most trouble with and beat it in one try :/
the world 7 stages to be really easy. I enjoyed them though. Hardest one for me was 7-1. My favorite was probably 7-3. I liked that bit at the end on the jet where your momentum shifts. 7-2 wasn't bad, but pretty simple. I think I lost something like 5-8 lives in 1, maybe 3 in 2, and 2 in 3. Honestly, I think the K levels were harder, but it's kind of nice to be rewarded with some fun levels like these.
Edit: Of course, right after I say that, I replay the one I had the most trouble with and beat it in one try :/
I just realized:
The patterns on the walls and columns in the K levels are the steel beams and ladders from the original Donkey Kong.
Holy fucking shit, Retro.
Oh snap.
I got SUPER lucky that I was able to predict one of his final phase attacks to get the last hit in time.
The jumping spot is sooooooo specific that I almost gave up.
This is why I love Nintendo games. The attention to detail is amazing.I just realized:
The patterns on the walls and columns in the K levels are the steel beams and ladders from the original Donkey Kong.
Holy fucking shit, Retro.
The Xtortionist
Member
Holy texture detail Batman! Beautiful shot.
Check out the ice on the palm tree in the first shot in that batch (the one where Donkey and Dixie are crouching). :-O
The Xtortionist
Member
Damn, you're right.
You know what? This game looks fucking brilliant. Some of these textures (the ice on that tree, the Aqueduct Assault bridge, those wires in Frozen Frenzy) almost look too good to be true, given performance and hardware expectations. And yet IQ is super clean and the game holds an HD resolution (I think) at 60FPS without breaking a sweat (while always running an incredible fur effect, to boot). I'm not saying the game is pushing any technical boundaries or anything but this shit is a feast for the eyes. God damn.
edit - Oh, and how are you liking world 6?
superpickleman
Member
Playing 4-4 when suddenly
starts playing. A stupid grin went on my face as soon as I finished recognizing it.
Anyone else really enjoying how well hidden some of the puzzle pieces are? I try to keep my eyes peeled at all times for any irregularities in levels and I still end up missing one or two at the end. Feels so good when I finally do find them.
This game.
a remix of Lockjaw's Locker
Anyone else really enjoying how well hidden some of the puzzle pieces are? I try to keep my eyes peeled at all times for any irregularities in levels and I still end up missing one or two at the end. Feels so good when I finally do find them.
This game.
It's funny how we're conditioned to feel unreasonable if we find graphics on modest hardware remarkable.Damn, you're right.
You know what? This game looks fucking brilliant. Some of these textures (the ice on that tree, the Aqueduct Assault bridge, those wires in Frozen Frenzy) almost look too good to be true, given performance and hardware expectations. And yet IQ is super clean and the game holds an HD resolution (I think) at 60FPS without breaking a sweat (while always running an incredible fur effect, to boot). I'm not saying the game is pushing any technical boundaries or anything but this shit is a feast for the eyes. God damn.
edit - Oh, and how are you liking world 6?
I agree with you -- Tropical Freeze looks incredible. Everything is highly stylized and densely detailed (the intricate bark of the palm trees being one example). Assets are layered in great abundance across multiple planes, with many one-off assets, including grandiose vistas, architecture and mechanisms. Everything is crisp and clear in HD and smoothly animated at 60 fps. But most striking of all is the color, the use of which makes many games on more powerful hardware look dull as dishwasher in their reliance on earthy, muted tones. The colors in this game POP. As for World 6 -- as I said earlier, it's amazing. Probably my second favorite world after World 2. From a pure gameplay standpoint, World 6 is probably the best world in the game, and they sure get a lot of mileage out of the snow/ice motif by
revisiting each world from Returns
My brother swung by today when I was playing 4-A, Rockin' Relics, and when the
techno version of Lockjaw's Locker came on
SaintMadeOfPlaster
Member
Just completely 100% the first world, including a gold medal time trail on 1-K. That took about 50 tries, but I did it! I'm so glad you can watch the top times. I wouldn't have been able to do it without studying the fastest time.
is also proving to be a bit more difficult than I expected. Never realized how often I was getting hit throughout the game.
Hard Mode
KennyLinder
Member
Just got to the boss fight on World 2 (not entered boss yet). Holy shit this game is tough!! :/
SaintMadeOfPlaster
Member
You haven't seen anything yet, haha. Hang in there!
KennyLinder
Member
I forgot how challenging the Wii one was (which I completed, but not all KONGs and jigsaw pieces though).This is so beautifully crafted, Retro really are a very talented bunch. Love it, but fuck me its hard!!
HUELEN10
Member
Not gonna detail the boss due to spoilers for those who have just picked the game up, but am I a scrub for only beating the boss of the second world with a green balloon and an extra heart? I have no idea why I was having that much trouble. it's not poorly designed, it's legitimately challenging (which is a good thing!). This game makes you get good, and I love that.
KennyLinder
Member
I just beat World 2 boss and found it challenging, but once I had died about 10 times, got pissed off, then managed to get to the last phase with DK and Dixie at full health. I found it annoying that sometimes you could throw the owl at him and it would just go over his head, then having to wait for the next sequence. That's a little unfair, but I got past it.
4 Lives left now entering World 3.
Damn, you're right.
You know what? This game looks fucking brilliant. Some of these textures (the ice on that tree, the Aqueduct Assault bridge, those wires in Frozen Frenzy) almost look too good to be true, given performance and hardware expectations. And yet IQ is super clean and the game holds an HD resolution (I think) at 60FPS without breaking a sweat (while always running an incredible fur effect, to boot). I'm not saying the game is pushing any technical boundaries or anything but this shit is a feast for the eyes. God damn.
edit - Oh, and how are you liking world 6?
You know what? the game looks AND runs amazing and everything about it is so well balanced and in absolute harmony that Retro (and EAD Tokyo with 3D World as well) deserves to be praised for such a polished and smooth (in every way possible) looking game. It's like everything in this game is poured in exactly the right amount.
I wish more console devs nowadays created games with such good understanding on how visuals and performance should blend together to create the best they could within the limitations of the hardware and their engines. It's funny because many folks around here said that Ninty studios will struggle with HD development yet their games on Wii U until now are prime examples on how efficiency and having the right goals is more important than anything else.
Nocturnowl
Member
Going back to the whole favourite stage per world thing from earlier.
World 1: Busted Bayou
The easy choice really, it's not like world 1 has much to tax you with so the silhouette stage with the funky music is a runaway winner, it's a bit more staightforward and less secret focused than Returns Sunset Shore but that also means that there's more platforming to be had.
World 2: Wing Ding
Almost entirely worth being number 1 for the bit where you zip line past the crumbling cliff, leap onto a vine and go sailing through that giant window. Great musical touch when you hit the ziplines with the theme changing to a more atmospheric version. Almost every other stage in this world is a close runner up, World 2 is some strong stuff.
World 3: Scorch N' Torch
Surprisingly having the pick up and throw watery fruits isn't a pace killing idea, this stage really runs with the bushfire gimmick, tree leaves get caught up in flames that turn to ash as well as entire trees collapsing under the pressure, there's the fiery floors capable of being set off by friend and foe and of course fire in general just being a general hazard.
As an aside I also quite like rickety rafters for some reason I'm not quite sure of. Much like World 2 there's a ton of close runner up choices here, loved this world.
World 4: Amiss Abyss
The audiovisual combo of Amiss Abyss takes it with ease, world 4 was a bit lacklustre for me on the whole. Anyway back to the Abyss and its funky waters, its pseudo silhouette stage where the amount of lighting available makes Kong more visible is pretty neat, more open spaces to really get accustomed to swimming controls, a great stage to just spam Diddy and Dixies respective water abilities.
Shame the music rarely turns up elsewhere because an overuse of Aquatic Ambiance and its shrill harmonica, YEAH I'M MAD!
World 5: Panicky Paddles
Another tough choice, this world is full of quality that I'm not even sure about my final choice here, but I didn't like this stage at all on my first run, now I think it's pretty sweet so for that turnaround it holds this spot for now, gets some use out of that ground pound and throws in a few water sections among the ground based ones which is neat.
World 6: Meltdown Mayhem
So very close to going with Chilly Coast for that music alone but Meltdown Mayhem might be Rambi's finest hour. Frantic and fiery, smacking ice blocks into temporary platforms all without stopping the mad dash is just straight up exhilarating.
K stages: Platform Problems
Intense stuff from start to finish, timing is of the essence and some of the platforms are set up in such a perfectly synced way that it's almost artful when you make it through perfectly, even the small things like using that one owl to get enough hang time between the lack of platforms.
Am I too late to tell you that the game was incredibly inconsistent? it starts promising enough but gradually kind of falls into an abyss when you hit world 4 and never truly recovers.
I still got my 100% out of it though so it must've had something there that pushed me on that far, perhaps it was that I could see the potential of its gameplay changes which aren't fully realised. Then again I'm so used to the idea of thoroughly mediocre Sonic outings it's like par the course, games like Colours and Generations are greatly appreciated exceptions.
It has nice music though so there's that as well.
World 1: Busted Bayou
The easy choice really, it's not like world 1 has much to tax you with so the silhouette stage with the funky music is a runaway winner, it's a bit more staightforward and less secret focused than Returns Sunset Shore but that also means that there's more platforming to be had.
World 2: Wing Ding
Almost entirely worth being number 1 for the bit where you zip line past the crumbling cliff, leap onto a vine and go sailing through that giant window. Great musical touch when you hit the ziplines with the theme changing to a more atmospheric version. Almost every other stage in this world is a close runner up, World 2 is some strong stuff.
World 3: Scorch N' Torch
Surprisingly having the pick up and throw watery fruits isn't a pace killing idea, this stage really runs with the bushfire gimmick, tree leaves get caught up in flames that turn to ash as well as entire trees collapsing under the pressure, there's the fiery floors capable of being set off by friend and foe and of course fire in general just being a general hazard.
As an aside I also quite like rickety rafters for some reason I'm not quite sure of. Much like World 2 there's a ton of close runner up choices here, loved this world.
World 4: Amiss Abyss
The audiovisual combo of Amiss Abyss takes it with ease, world 4 was a bit lacklustre for me on the whole. Anyway back to the Abyss and its funky waters, its pseudo silhouette stage where the amount of lighting available makes Kong more visible is pretty neat, more open spaces to really get accustomed to swimming controls, a great stage to just spam Diddy and Dixies respective water abilities.
Shame the music rarely turns up elsewhere because an overuse of Aquatic Ambiance and its shrill harmonica, YEAH I'M MAD!
World 5: Panicky Paddles
Another tough choice, this world is full of quality that I'm not even sure about my final choice here, but I didn't like this stage at all on my first run, now I think it's pretty sweet so for that turnaround it holds this spot for now, gets some use out of that ground pound and throws in a few water sections among the ground based ones which is neat.
World 6: Meltdown Mayhem
So very close to going with Chilly Coast for that music alone but Meltdown Mayhem might be Rambi's finest hour. Frantic and fiery, smacking ice blocks into temporary platforms all without stopping the mad dash is just straight up exhilarating.
K stages: Platform Problems
Intense stuff from start to finish, timing is of the essence and some of the platforms are set up in such a perfectly synced way that it's almost artful when you make it through perfectly, even the small things like using that one owl to get enough hang time between the lack of platforms.
Am I too late to tell you that the game was incredibly inconsistent? it starts promising enough but gradually kind of falls into an abyss when you hit world 4 and never truly recovers.
I still got my 100% out of it though so it must've had something there that pushed me on that far, perhaps it was that I could see the potential of its gameplay changes which aren't fully realised. Then again I'm so used to the idea of thoroughly mediocre Sonic outings it's like par the course, games like Colours and Generations are greatly appreciated exceptions.
It has nice music though so there's that as well.
aligning the roll jump is up to you. but if the issue is bouncing without losing momentum the easiest way for me is to press A the moment my brain recognizes the bounce sound from the TV. There is like a 0.3 second period after a bounce starts, where you can press a to upgrade it into a high bounce.
SaintMadeOfPlaster
Member
Grassland Groove is far from being a favorite of mine as well
oh, that I agree with. It's good and all but it didn't hit me with the awesomeness baton as I expected. Perhaps a bit...trite? Tribal percussions, a tribal chorus, not really mindblowing
but Windmill Hills man. How can anyone dislike that monkey juice
I see what you did there.
This game made me realize something I never even bothered considering before.
Donkey Kong and metal works so fucking good. The boss music in this game is phenomenal.
Stormwatch
Member
Maybe Retro can work on the next F-Zero and use Wise as the composer. That'd be awesome! They've already proven that they can do gritty futuristic stuff with Metroid Prime.