PAX 2010: Hands-on with Donkey Kong Country Returns

I can almost smell their banana breath. Our favorite necktied simian and his little nephew are back for more jungle adventures in the upcoming Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. At PAX this weekend, I teamed up with another journalist as we made our way through a demo level called “Poppin’ Planks”. I played as Donkey Kong and he played as Diddy Kong.

Nintendo revealed Donkey Kong Country Returns at E3 2010 a few months ago, much to everyone’s surprise. It was just one of several stunning announcements the company made at the event.

If you’ve ever played the original Donkey Kong Country on the Super NES, you’ll feel right at home with this game. The graphics and gameplay in Donkey Kong Country Returns is very similar to its SNES predecessor. However, the controls have of course, been changed to take advantage of the Wii’s motion sensing feature. For example, shaking the Wiimote vigorously up and down causes Donkey to pound the ground. This stuns nearby enemies and breaks wooden crates.

As mentioned, if you’re playing with a friend you each take control of Donkey and Diddy, but if you’re soloing then you play as both of them, with Diddy riding on Donkey’s back. However, Diddy can still piggyback on Donkey even in two-player mode. Interestingly, the description of the game on the Nintendo website suggests that Diddy is a beginner character for very young, or novice players to control, since he can just sit on Donkey’s back at any point and enjoy the ride.

Each character has special abilities that benefit both during gameplay. Diddy has a jetpack that allows him to fly safely over large gaps — and Donkey as well if Diddy is on his back. Meanwhile, Donkey can blow large gusts of wind to help uncover secret goodies.

Donkey Kong Country Returns feels like a love letter to the original game. You’ve got the bananas, angry bees, the infamous challenging mine cart level, chipper music and of course, the challenges. The game may look cute, but be ready for a challenge. You and your teammate have to work together to bypass these levels. However, if one of you does die don’t fret — you float back in game in a barrel, and your living partner can release you.

Donkey Kong Country Returns will be available on November 21, 2010.

Site [Donkey Kong Country Returns]