Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

[weekender]

In other news, Wii Goldeneye is really really good fun.

Is there a separate thread for that?  I bought the limited edition for £32 so I could get a golden classic controller to go with my golden Wii wheel, but haven't actually got round to playing the game yet, what with being engrossed with Donkey Kong.

[The Boston Crab]

I almost started two the other day for Goldeneye & Metroid but the latter is so dull, it put me off the whole idea.

[weekender]

Well, I've sort-of completed this, having just beaten the main boss.

Then, having collected all the KONG letters in every world and beating all the 'K' levels, I even got to unlock the Golden Temple.  By rights, this should have been something pretty special, such was the time and effort I put in to getting all the KONG letters.

But no, all I get is this one fairly straightforward level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV4SHRm5t4U

It's pretty and all, but I wanted a bit more.  Oh, I do get to play the entire game again in mirror mode, so all the levels are reversed.  I suppose that's OK.

So I'm not going to fully complete the game because I'm not sure I can be arsed with mirror mode, and I certainly can't be arsed doing bloody speed levels like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHY-g9uQV9M

So all-in-all, a thoroughly good game.  I think 8 out of 10 is about right for a score.

[eluc55]

Yep, I completed the (weirdly disappointing) Golden Temple this morning and unlocked mirror mode, too. Brilliant, beautiful game, with a different idea or concept explored in almost every one of it 80 odd levels. So difficult at times; I've lost twenty-plus lives on certain sections, and I reckon I'm pretty good at games, in general. 

So, yeah, brilliant game. One of the best on Wii, with a perfect blend of inventiveness, imagination and simplicity.

Favourite level, albeit one of the easier ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz8ufm_mEAk

[weekender]

With hindsight, my favourite level, bizarrely, was this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqBXxMmrjog&feature=related

It's such a pain in the arse!  I really had to try hard, and the middle section nearly killed me.  The sheer elation when I realised I'd done it, you have no idea.  In the same way that I memorised Rainbow Road on the SNES version of Mario Kart, this level will be burned into my brain forever.

Also bear in mind that most of these levels I did having died, so didn't have the luxury of having Diddy Kong's rocket.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

I can't find a copy of this game anywhere. It's starting to annoy me now as it's the first Wii game I've wanted to play since SMG2.

[buntyman]

You can get it on the internet but still too dear for my liking. Paying over 30 quid for a game is unwise as the next day it's bound to be 17.99 on play.com. I saw it in Gamestation for £42.99 last week next to the 'New' Super Mario game at the same price. That has to be the dearest i've seen games anywhere since the ludicrous days of £50+ N64 games.

[eluc55]

Turok was 70 quid!

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Turok was 70 quid!

You're not the first person I've heard say that, but I don't remember it being that price ever - I could well be wrong.

Turok 2 was about £50, but that's because it came with the additional memory cartridge for the N64.

[buntyman]

Nah £50 was about the standard rrp for an N64 game (that's what I paid for the Ocarina of Time when it came out) and Turok 2 was definitely more than that.

[madhair60]

Conker's Bad Fur Day was £79.99, for fuck's sake.

[Benjie Trufflesnort]

Conker's Bad Fur Day was £79.99, for fuck's sake.

Bollocks.

It was absolutely nothing like that much.

[madhair60]

I might be thinking of dollars.  Or Street Fighter II.  Some cartridge was £79.99!

[mikeyg27]

You can get it on the internet but still too dear for my liking. Paying over 30 quid for a game is unwise as the next day it's bound to be 17.99 on play.com. I saw it in Gamestation for £42.99 last week next to the 'New' Super Mario game at the same price. That has to be the dearest i've seen games anywhere since the ludicrous days of £50+ N64 games.

This reminds me of something I've noticed about the Wii whilst browsing in the shops: there's no Player's Choice label for it as there was for both the N64 and Gamecube (and possibly the SNES before that? I can't remember) whilst Sony and Microsoft have brought forward the Platinum and Classics lines respectively to this generation of consoles. The idea that Twilight Princess or the 1st SMG are still full price is absolutely ludicrous.

[mcbpete]

I might be thinking of dollars.  Or Street Fighter II.  Some cartridge was £79.99!

Yeah I think the SNES version of SFII Turbo was close to something like that. And loads of people got it on import for like 120 quid.

BTW I tried looking through the long play of the new Donkey Kong but couldn't find them - Is there any heavy snow or underwater levels on this version as they were two of my favourite (albeit frustrating) level types in the original.

[eluc55]

Yeah I think the SNES version of SFII Turbo was close to something like that. And loads of people got it on import for like 120 quid.

BTW I tried looking through the long play of the new Donkey Kong but couldn't find them - Is there any heavy snow or underwater levels on this version as they were two of my favourite (albeit frustrating) level types in the original.

No, to both I'm afraid. The snow ones in particular were brilliant, if I remember rightly.

[mcbpete]

Yeah this was the bastard that destroyed me as a kid (especially as I didn't know about the shortcut at 2:43) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhO83FYRsU

and the levels that made me properly fall in love with music -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=773nRdQ5dUU