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[Dario ff]

Disclaimer: The files I used were ripped directly from my digital copy of the game stored in my Wii U using one of the popular homebrew software solutions to transfer them to my PC.

I bought Tropical Freeze around the end of 2015 and I had only played up to World 4 due to complications with getting it to work with my monitor setup (you can't output audio through the gamepad on TV mode) and that world being a complete pace killer. I had enjoyed my time with it but the long loading times (USB HDD's fault mostly) and getting stuck on Fugu made me put it off for a replay at some other time.

I recently acquired a new 2560x1080 monitor due to being curious at how this new aspect ratio worked out and being one of the cheapest models I could get my hands on. I figured I'd try it only on some PC games, but my unexpected surprised was that this was also possible to get working on modern emulators.

Inspired by this demonstration of DKC Tropical Freeze on Ultrawide, I set out to rip the game's files from my Wii U and try it out for a bit... and then I ended up playing through the entire game on it!

Apart from the usual emulation quirks that are prevalent on modern emulation, I must insist that the game worked extremely well on this aspect ratio and it was just a great game changer in all aspects. I was having such a great time throughout that I really did not mind having to put up with a few buggy levels and glitches here and there.

The benefits are pretty clear to see.

• You just SEE more at all times. The benefits of this to the 2D platformer genre are just huge and have a very noticeable effect on the overall gameplay.
• Most of the time you'll get to notice details that were just hidden away yet Retro Studios modeled them anyway.
• Objects and enemies will work just fine outside of your regular 16:9 range of view 99% of the time. The other 1% are just slight pop-ins or just some odd respawns of objects that you were clearly not meant to see.
• Being able to see ahead more significantly improves your reaction and planning on how to get past the levels. It is truly a testament to how well the game is designed that I was able to get through some levels on first try without problem thanks to this. Even one of the K levels!
• The subtle hints towards bonus areas still work fine most of the time. They get a bit more blatant in some cases, but I don't think giving you an easier time to find some puzzle pieces is a bad thing for this game.
• Loading times are VERY quick.

Sadly there's a few things that need to be addressed for the experience to be perfect just yet.

• The UI is just stretched incorrectly. Hardly a deal breaker for me, but it's there.
• Some levels have a few odd behavior glitches (like 3-1) with platforms, but this did not happen in previous versions of CEMU and I imagine they'll get addressed at some point.
• Some graphical glitches here and there from either not correctly emulated objects or missing geometry as the game was designed for 16:9. However, the latter is much less frequent than you'd expect!
• General stability problems from modern emulation. I could not get into Funky's shop no matter how hard I tried without crashing, but it was hardly necessary to enjoy the game.
• While the game is pretty easy to emulate at a constant 60 FPS, there's some edge cases where the framerate might drop to 30 if you're using VSync depending on your CPU's capabilities. A slight overclock might help on these cases.

With all that said, I finally pushed past World 4 and I'm really glad I did. World 5 is where the game picks up the pace HARD. It's just one great level one after the other, demonstrating the great creativity Retro Studios has of making the level themes first and the level mechanics later. World 5 in particular legitimately feels like you're going through the entire production chain the baddies have set up, and it all pays off brilliantly in the introduction cut-scene of that World's boss.

The jump in overall quality from Returns to Tropical Freeze is so big that I would honestly not mind seeing Retro's take on yet another DKC game if given the chance. I played as far as to beat the last secret level, and I'm glad they're not afraid of pushing experienced players beyond their limits. I may consider a Hard Mode playthrough once some time has passed and the quality of CEMU's emulation gets better.

For anyone interested in doing this, here's some of the resources I've used:

• Cemu.
• Guide to play your CEMU games in ultrawide 21:9 (or more)
• Cemu hook (Extra convenience features and fixes the video cutscenes)
• Cemu graphic packs repository (You can find a 2160p UW Tropical Freeze pack here)

I highly urge anyone capable of doing this to try it out and get back to it for a full playthrough once most the quirks I mentioned are fixed.

Here's an album with some pictures demonstrating how the game works at 21:9 in various levels, and how apparent the benefits are to planning your moves in advance. (No big spoilers)

PS: The music is just amazing and so varied that I've had the soundtrack on repeat over the last week while working.

 

[purseowner]

The rare sort of thread that makes you wish you had money.

Wow.

 

[Decado]

What are the emulation quirks?

And holy shit, how is Wii u emulation already this far along? Do you need a beastly rig to run games?

 

[JordanKZ]

I'd love to see this game on my ultrawide too... I'm guessing there's no way to fix the stretched hud?

 

[Dario ff]

What are the emulation quirks?

• Having to use a slower texture cache mode for the game to work correctly.
• Having to find a shader cache online if you wish to avoid stutters. (Although they're not that bad for this game)
• Entering Funky's shop has a high probability of crashing.
• The platforms in the first half of 3-1 behave very oddly and teleport around.
• The DK Barrels, metal barrels and checkpoints all look incorrect.
• Some of the backgrounds in the tornado/blizzard levels are buggy.
• Some levels are more likely to drop frames than others. (Can be solved with more CPU power tho)
• Some parts of the background might not be filled out completely on some levels at the start. (21:9 specific tho)

I'd love to see this game on my ultrawide too... I'm guessing there's no way to fix the stretched hud?

Haven't found a way yet myself.

 

[Nachtfalke]

DKC Tropical Freeze on CEMU is awesome. I replayed parts of it recently. But I will never be a fan of playing games in the not intended aspect ratio. This stuffs always bothers me for some reason.

Screens look wonderful, though.

 

[Dario ff]

DKC Tropical Freeze on CEMU is awesome. I replayed parts of it recently. But I will never be a fan of playing games in the not intended aspect ratio. This stuffs always bothers me for some reason.

I would definitely agree with your point when it comes to 2D platformers. It's just almost impossible to design them around the flexibility of multiple aspect ratios most of the time. It can definitely ruin some of the surprise and more subtle design.

But I figured I might be one of the few people to try a complete playthrough first even with the possible risks.

 

[phanphare]

man those screens look really good

but I'm fucking weird and that UI stretch is killing me

all hail Tropical Freeze though, one of the best 2D platformers ever made

 

[AuthenticM]

Next-gen consoles need to have mandated 21:9 support.

They won't; but they need to.

It's so fucking beautiful.

 

[ZeroX03]

Can't do stretched UI, and am generally of the feeling that a wider field of view is cheating in a game like this. Looks stunning of course.

Next-gen consoles need to have mandated 21:9 support.

They won't; but they need to.

It's so fucking beautiful.

Not even 1% of Steam users use 21:9 resolutions, and multi monitor setups are no use with consoles. Throw in that most players are on basic TVs, it'll stay a PC only thing.

Best you'll get are games choosing to use black bars, and look how that turned out for The Evil Within. Could be interesting to see a game on Pro/XBX try and utilize 3840x1646.

 

[pswii60]

Yeah it looks great and everything, but I can't cope with the stretched aspect ratio on the UI overlay, that really makes me feel like a volcano of anger is about to erupt out of me at any moment.

Strangely it also doesn't look as colourful as a remember either. Somehow it looks like its undergone a 'generic PC platformer' makeover and ended up looking more like something the creators of that shitty Giana Sisters reboot would push out.

 

[_Clash_]

What a game

 

[Dario ff]

Can't do stretched UI, and am generally of the feeling that a wider field of view is cheating in a game like this. Looks stunning of course.

It pretty much is cheating for this game.

But the cheating feels so good. (And it's a single player game so whatever floats your boat)

Strangely it also doesn't look as colourful as a remember either. Somehow it looks like its undergone a 'generic PC platformer' makeover and ended up looking more like something the creators of that shitty Giana Sisters reboot would push out.

The game was never much of a looker back in its original reveal either when it comes to its materials. It just makes up for it with good texture work for the most part, but it does look rough at parts.

As for color, I have both my Wii U and PC hooked up to the same monitor and I've hardly noticed any significant difference aside from the usual Full/Limited RGB shenanigans. Maybe it's just that last-gen quality catching up to you in 2017.

EDIT: I should mention the reason the stretched UI hardly bothered me is because it's just at the corner of the screen, which you really don't notice that much at regular viewing distance on a 21:9 screen. It's definitely more apparent in the screenshots.