Classics hardly ever lose their playability.

Generally the same can be said for ported ones.

Donkey Kong has been around for decades, first solidifying itself way back on the Game & Watch and SNES. Now, Nintendo have reworked Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze which initially released on Wii U in 2014.

A must have for the Wii U, the newly released Switch version sees the original gameplay accented with an all-new Funky Mode.

In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze the favourites make their first debut on the Switch; Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong.

Kong’s Birthday Party is interrupted by a shrouded shadowy figure who sends an ice dragon to transform the tropical paradise in to a frozen world.

With the wind created by the ice dragon, the Kong family are blown away to the Lost Mangroves island as the Snowmads begin to take over and turn the environments in to a snow blanketed wonderland.

The adventure begins as Kong and his troop set out to regain their Paradise.

There are six islands, and over 60 lusciously detailed and colourful Levels, including Boss and Hidden Temple ones, the 2.5D side scroller is Donkey Kong as we know and love.

For the Switch version and for the first time Dixie and Cranky Kong are playable, each equipped with special abilities. Another new feature is called ‘Plucking’. Along the platformed terrain you will come across bolt-like handles set in to the ground. Pulling these out will either change the terrain so you can go forward or give you a wealth of goodies, mostly timed ones though, so you gotta be quick to collect them.

The aforementioned Funky Mode is almost like a cheat sheet and alleviates the difficulty a bit by allowing players to play as Funky Kong right from the beginning. Funky Kong basically has all of the abilities that you would normally earn or gain throughout the gameplay including double jump, hover, perform infinite rolls and even perform infinite underwater corkscrews.

Excellent for beginners and those that just want to power through the many Levels.

Asides from the platforming action, Kong will get to pilot an assortments of vehicles; a Minecart to Rocket Barrels and Rhambi the Rhino.

All are of course Level specific – and even with funky mode, provide a challenge.

Collecting up Puzzle pieces found throughout the game will unlock goodies, to the likes of Music or Art / Gallery items.

In all, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Switch is a worthy pick up and play. Repetitive, yes, but excellent title for a quick play here and there.

Being the fifth Donkey Kong Country title and the only Donkey Kong game available on the Switch, it gets a full recommend from me. I enjoyed playing through this version as much as I did the original Wii U one.

The post Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nintendo debuted a new Nintendo Direct Mini video presentation today spotlighting a selection of first and third-party titles coming to Nintendo Switch early in 2018.

Following a strong holiday season, Nintendo Switch owners will see a variety of new games and content arriving in the next few months, including DARK SOULS: REMASTERED, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mario Tennis Aces and Kirby Star Allies for Nintendo Switch, and a certain green-clad brother bringing a new mode to Super Mario Odyssey.

DARK SOULS, the first title in the genre-defining action role-playing franchise, is coming to Nintendo Switch as DARK SOULS: REMASTERED, including the Artorias of the Abyss DLC as well as improved framerate and resolution from the original DARK SOULS game for an exhilarating return to Lordran. This marks the franchise’s debut on a Nintendo platform, and now for the first time ever, this revered (and challenging) game can be played on the go. The game launches on the 25th of May, 2018. 

Mario Tennis Aces will bring a new level of skill and competition to Nintendo Switch when it launches on Nintendo Switch. Mario steps onto the court in classy tennis garb for intense rallies against a variety of characters in full-blown tennis battles. New wrinkles in tennis gameplay will challenge your ability to read an opponent’s position and stroke to determine which shot will give you the advantage. And this time the game adds the first story mode since the Mario Tennis game on Game Boy Advance, offering a new flavour of tennis gameplay, with a variety of missions, boss battles and more. The game launches for Nintendo Switch this autumn.

Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong return for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Nintendo Switch. This title includes all the fun and challenge of the original game, plus a brand-new beginner-friendly mode that lets new and novice players play as groovy surfing simian Funky Kong. Funky Kong can double jump, hover, perform infinite rolls and even perform infinite underwater corkscrews. Thanks to his sturdy surfboard, even spikes can’t slow him down. The game launches for Nintendo Switch on the 4th of May 2018.

Players will be able to download a free update for Super Mario Odyssey in February 2018 that adds a new mini-game called Balloon World. 

Once players download the free update and complete the main story, Balloon World will become available. To get started, players just have to talk to Luigi. In “Hide It” mode, players have a limited amount of time to hide a balloon. In “Find It” mode, players have the same period of time to locate balloons hidden by other players from around the world. Players can move up in rank by finding hidden balloons and becoming expert hiders. The free update will be released in February with new Snapshot Mode filters and new outfits.

The post NINTENDO CONTINUES MOMENTUM INTO 2018! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.