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Donkey Kong Country: TF - Info on story, enemies, GamePad, 3DS port potential, series revamp & Retro's future

by rawmeatcowboy
24 December 2013
GN Version 4.0
What is the story for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze?

Kensuke Tanabe: When Donkey Kong and his friends are having a party, a fleet of Viking ships suddenly appears near the DK Island. The Vikings, known as Snowmads, are planning to take over the island. The Snowmad boss commands his minions to have his giant horn brought to him and blows into it, summoning an Ice Dragon. Sensing danger, the Kongs step outside their hut and are blown out to sea by the gust of wind created by the Dragon.The Dragon draws thick clouds to the island, turning Donkey Kong’s tropical island into a frozen island. The Vikings land their ship on top of the island and declare takeover.

What kinds of new enemies will we see in the game? How do they affect gameplay?

Kensuke Tanabe: In Donkey Kong Country Returns, we had the Tiki Tak Tribe, a mysterious group that emerged from deep under the ground. In this game, we have a group of Vikings called the Snowmads, giving a completely new look to the enemies. Some Snowmads wear helmets, and some hold shields and spears. Players must tackle the enemies in certain ways depending on how they are armed.

Michael Kelbaugh: We had a lot of fun developing the Snowmad characters. We spent a great deal of time on the slightest of details of even the smallest of them. You may notice that they are very animated and very detailed. We wanted to give them a lot of personality and character. They do a lot of funny and entertaining things.

How are you taking advantage of the Wii U’s hardware? Are you doing anything special with the touchscreen?

Kensuke Tanabe: Because we want everyone to enjoy not only gameplay, but also to focus on the on-screen visuals, we decided not to implement GamePad features which would require the player to often switch between the two screens. We have added off-TV play so that players can play the game with the GamePad only if they want, so that they can enjoy the game anytime even when the TV cannot be used.

Would you consider porting this title to the 3DS? Would that be a hard process?
Kensuke Tanabe: Minneapolis-based developer Monster Games ported the Wii version of Donkey Kong Country Returns to Nintendo 3DS with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. Even Retro praised Monster Games for successfully porting the game without compromising its quality. In fact, Monster Games was involved in some of the level design, art, and engineering of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze; they did a phenomenal job. However, if we were to port Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to Nintendo 3DS, it would be extremely difficult to not lose quality, even for Monster Games, because of the huge differences in the 3DS and Wii U technical specifications – more so than Wii.

Michael Kelbaugh: Monster Games did a phenomenal job bringing Donkey Kong Country Returns to the 3DS. We’re very proud, and a bit jealous, of their efforts. So much that we asked them to help us with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It would be a monumental task taking this new game from the Wii U to the 3DS because of the technology used in the Wii U version. However, if it could be done, I’d like to play it.

You guys did a great job taking the Metroid formula and shaking it up while staying true to its core concept. Would you eventually like to do the same thing with Donkey Kong – take it into a different genre or change the formula that Rare established on the SNES?

Kensuke Tanabe: Indeed, Retro has turned 2D Metroid into a 3D game and created a fun, new style of First-Person game. Although we didn’t greatly change the basic style of the game with Donkey Kong Country Returns, I feel that we did not betray the fans’ expectations while bringing something new to the game. I also think that moving on to the Donkey Kong Country series from the Metroid Prime series came as a big surprise for Retro fans; but this is Retro and Nintendo’s testament to developing different genres of games rather than sticking to the same. That being said, we may consider not just the Donkey Kong Country series but a broader range of possibilities for Retro’s next project.

Full interview here