E3 2010: Donkey Kong Country RETURNS!

Glory be! Fifteen years of DK irrelevance has finally come to an end! Shit yes, in one of the highlights of Nintendo’s E3 2010 press conference it was announced that Donkey Kong Country will return in… Donkey Kong Country Returns (Tentative title? Hope not!)

The Mighty Kong hasn’t been seen on a console starring in a true action game since Donkey Kong 64, let alone a sidescoller, which he’s been playably absent from for over a decade and a half! In the recent years, Rare’s spit-curl revamp of the gaming’s first primate has, sadly, been relegated to kart racers, clap simulators and pretty much solely responsible for keeping the GameCube Bongo peripheral on life support.

But who cares?! That’s all over now. And we’re ready to embrace the ape once again after watching DK and Diddy careen through all manner of, barrels, vines and mine cart levels to the tune of David Wise’s timeless Donkey Kong Country theme that hasn’t left our heads since 1994.

Obviously, GR’s stable of old farts went nuts for the hyper-colorful, 2.5D platformer wonderfully reminiscent of gaming days of yore. But it’s not as if nothing’s changed. The all too brief look from the conference saw DK vine-swingin’ and barrel-blasting like the old days, but you can also see the guy do a double fisted ground-pound on a thorny reptile boss.

Above: Punch-Out!! was just practice

Come to think, Diddy look to be very equipped as well. Not only can he and DK work together to enact a vicious roll charge, but if you look closely during the vine swinging portion of the trailer, you can see the red-capped one clearly has a jetpack! Now, if you’ll excuse us, this bad boy is comingfor the Holidays, but it'splayable on Nintendo’s E3 showfloor right now!

Jun 15, 2010