Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Wii U)

 

The Revenge of King K. Rool.

Continued playing the second game. Basically Donkey Kong's been kidnapped by King K. Rool so Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong sets out to save him. Cranky and Funky returns with them and some new Kongs like Wrinkly and Swanky. Pretty much returning animal buddies like Rambi, Enquarde, Sqwakes and new ones like the spider and snake. And I enjoy this game much more than the first game.

I think because they made it somewhat easier (still hard levels and such), but other things that helped the enjoyment. For one, every animal buddy can attack, compared to the ostrich in the first game. They made it more obvious where secrets are, both in the levels like with banana arrows or letters indicating what ability to use or hints you can get from Cranky. The bonus stage also had a title card for what you where supposed to do so it wasn't that obtuse. This allowed me get over 60 % this time around and my lives was at a full 99 (well, using the restore point I saved up on unnecessary deaths and such, but compare it to the first game when I only ended the game with something around 50 lives, you where supposed to grind for life I assume). 

On the other hand, since I've played Donkey Kong Land 2 a lot and actually finished that one I might have already learned some of the patterns it wasn't completely new to me. Don't like that you have to pay to save at certain points. Always made me stingy with the collectibles. It could also be that the duo Dixie and Diddy actually plays better. You switch characters with select this time around and can join up for some special move with A if both are in the party. 

So this is clearly a better sequel. Or it can be that I haven't gotten to play these games as much compared to the first one and I'm not good at the first one, meaning I never get past it. But we know that can't be the case.

Donkey Kong Country (Wii U)

Time for some monkey buisness!

I was gonna play Donkey Kong Bananza during my final weekend of my vacation, but yet again the postal services have betrayed me. So it will probably come when I started work again. Thanks for that. So what can I do to occupy myself these last days? Well, I got the whole Country-series on Wii U so that could be something. I got the game on GBA, Wii Virtual Console, 3DS, Wii U and SNES Mini and technically I got the Donkey Kong Land as well, but this is the first time I actually finish it for the first time. Only around 50 % since I haven't gotten all secrets and so on and I won't get them since I really don't like the game.

Story is that King K. Rool and his kremlings have stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard so DK and Diddy sets out to get them back. Kranky Kong, Funky Kong and Candy Kong sets out to help our primate friends as they traverse all over DK Island in search for the golden bananas. It's rather hard and maybe why I don't like it. To often there is a new gimmick for the stage and you basically have to memorize the stages in order to get past them. I remember reading a review of... maybe the GBA game for the Swedish magazine Super Play where the reviewer apologized for ever thinking this game was good so it might have colored my perception as well. 

I got past the game mostly by abusing the save state function on the Wii U and in total the gameplay ended on less than 2 hours, but I assume that it maybe would have been a couple hours added since I restarted all the time. To finish it legit? Who knows how many hours I had to spend on it. Now, if I was a kid and played it as intended on SNES I might have forced myself to learn the patterns and such and have a completely different appreciation of the game. 

But to be more positive, it looks good with the graphics and the music is really good, but it plays a bit bad in my opinion. And the game is a bit evil with enemy placement, for example there is a couple of stages where before clearing a jump from moving platforms there is a big muscle guy you only can defeat with Donkey Kong since Diddy is to small, if you hit them as Diddy, they push you back into the pit, game over. And the bosses takes a lot of beating and with only two hits it's a question of pattern recognition. So you see, I'm not that impressed by the game.

Mario Kart World (Switch 2)

 

This will not help with the tour.

So like everyone else there is basically one new game for the Switch 2 at launch and as stated, I got it at the launch bundle with my Switch 2. And it's Mario Kart. I drove through the coursers and unlocked the final Grand Prix with Rainbow Road in it. I gathered it was an unlockable course since Mario Kart needs a Rainbow Road as the final. 

Overall, it's Mario Kart and it looks and sound great. I'm not a competitive player or plays online so I don't get as much out of it. My first Mario Kart was Mario Kart 64 and I think the most enjoyment was playing with friends and my sisters. Took years until I managed to unlock mirror mode since we played it more as battle mode or two. Dubble Dash for the GameCube was better that way since we could all four play in the Grand Prix. But what I did when I played on my own was driving around the coursers looking around. The train level I followed the tracks into the tunnel or found Peaches castle at the Mario Circuit level so when this game introduced the Free Roam mode, I would have loved it as a kid. I even got vibes of Diddy Kong Racing and the adventure mode. You got to collect Peach coins, ?-panels and find missions to solve. Meanwhile you can find food that unlocks new costumes for your characters. 

As a kid I would have loved it, as an adult that have a gigantic backlog it's busy work I don't really feel like going through. Meanwhile there isn't anything else to play beside older games and such so what else are you gonna do. I got it was a mirror mode you can unlock as well, but then you have to collect ten off everything in free roam and then beat all coursers in 150cc I think. Maybe I will someday, but we will see. A thing I would have wished they added from Diddy Kong Racing was a plane mode to fly around the stages instead of just gliding. 

Online I gather there is some controversy regarding the intermission tracks, instead of standard 3 laps coursers they put in Intermission tracks where you travel around the world. In one way it showcases the free roam mode, but I get it for those that want to learn the coursers since you need the repeating tracks to do it since the tracks gets long in intermission mode. Especially irritated for people was that there was a workaround, but after a patch people couldn't get past that in the same way I gathered. I can understand peoples irritation over it and maybe this is one of the times when Nintendo maybe should give the people what they want? Then on the other hand, people doesn't always know what they want or what they need? Then again I don't really care since I don't play online.

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) (Wii U)

 

All Aboard the Crazy Train!

Thought about playing this after Phantom Hourglass, but other things got in the way and after playing through it again I can say I don't very much like the DS gameplay. Spirit Tracks is a direct sequel to Phantom Hourglass that followed Wind Waker. Story is that after getting his engineer degree to pilot a train, Zelda ask Link to take her to the Spirit Tower to investigate the disappearance of the spirit tracks across the land. Turns out that the chancellor Cole is a demon in disguise that kidnaps Zelda's body to use it for a vessel of the Demon King Malladus (meaning no Ganon in this story). Zelda's spirit follows Link around and after getting to the Spirit Tower they meet Anjean, a lokomo. Apparently the lokomos aided the spirits before the hylians arrived and trapped Malladus by using the Spirit Tracks, but after they eroded away the Chancellor saw his chance to release Malladus. So you set out to restore the spirit tracks by traversing the spirit tower itself and then finding the temples scattered around the land. 

This is the second time I play through it which makes it one of the Zelda games I've played the least. It came out in 2009 and I didn't finish it until I got a 3DS in 2011. Playing it again there is some really fun puzzles and it follows the Zelda-formula. I won't deny that it's quite interesting how they use all of the DS functions, you control Link with the stylus, you gotta use the microphone to play the pan pipes and tell this little girl if she is plain or cute... I don't have the heart to tell her she's plain so it was cute every time I interacted with her. But the stylus shows some real problems since it doesn't always correlate to what I try to do. The pan pipes is a nightmare to try to get working at times, especially the restoration song you need to time trice over each time. And it's even in the final battle with Malladus which makes it one of the harder parts. And the attacks with the stylus get's a bit weird at times when I don't draw the sword or when I try to roll but swing instead and so on. I prefer a normal control scheme thank you very much.

Also, like Phantom Hourglass you follow a set route, of course diminished in this game since you are restricted to the tracks that exists compared to the ocean, but no time limit in the main hub. Overall travel feels so slow compared to a traditional Zelda. There are teleportation points, but you have to pass through them and they are point A to point B. Wished the flute have had some teleportation songs like in the earlier games, but I assume that would be a problem with the transportation quests. Overall, it will probably still be one of the lesser played games in the series just by that. The Save Point on the Wii U at least helps with the minigames and traveling with people or transporting cargo.

On the other hand, music is a bit more distinct than Phantom Hourglass and I do like pan flute music after watching Mysterious Cities of Gold and listening to the Golden Sun Soundtrack.