Nintendo has a knack for the platformer genre, which is evident in the original Donkey Kong Country in 1994, the Mario Bros. games and the 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns. Now, Nintendo works its magic once again with Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze, which continues to pay homage to the genre, including hints to the 1994 game but also reinvigorating the genre and the franchise.

Tropical Freeze could have easily been a rehash of the popular Donkey Kong Country Returns and would have been just as successful. However, the game breathes life into the series and shows the same kind of innovation that its predecessors are known for.

Tropical Freeze adds the ability to attach characters, such as Diddie Kong, Cranky Kong or Dixie Kong, to the lead character, Donkey Kong. 

Each character adds a special ability to Donkey Kong’s gameplay. 

Diddie wears a jetpack, adding height and length to jumps, Cranky has a pogo-stick, which allows for a double jump, and Dixie allows the player to hover. 

The players find secret locations or items through these character perks. Each level in Tropical Freeze is full of collectables in secret areas or hard-to-reach spots. It becomes fun and addicting to replay levels to acquire these items, which may also provide access to secret levels. 

In one level, the player is in the savannah dodging tornadoes, and in the next he or she could be underwater or even in the middle of a wild mine cart ride.

Though the game is in 2-D, Tropical Freeze features incredibly vibrant colors and very detailed environments. Nintendo also used the Wii U’s power to add a great layer of detail to the characters.

Though collecting items and traversing through the levels is incredibly fun and engaging, the game does have pacing issues. 

Like most platformers, Tropical Freeze provides a high level of difficulty. This is refreshing in many spots, and the difficulty adds to the fun, but it can also spike at random times and sometimes make the game feel unfair. Death is inevitable in Tropical Freeze, and often progress can be measured in inches, not miles.

Each death teaches the player about a new portion of the level with many deaths come from going too fast and not seeing an obstacle soon enough, or not being able to react to an obstacle in time. Some deaths feel a little over the top and can hinder the gameplay, making the player wonder how fair or feasible the obstacle is. 

Tropical Freeze’s music is definitely a highlight. Each level has a distinct feel not just from how it looks, but how it sounds. Being stuck on a certain part of a level is not so bad when the soundtrack is catchy and unique for every part of it.

Tropical Freeze does an incredible job of not only keeping what makes Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country Returns such great games in the spotlight, but also in bringing in new ideas and revitalizing old ones. It becomes the perfect mix of what the series is known for and what the player is used to, and what the player wouldn’t expect.