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The ART and MUSIC of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (screen dump incoming!)
- Thread starter Neiteio
- Start date
Whoooooooooaaaaaaaaa
This is nice. Seems to go 2 min before looping, too.
I think I still prefer the SNES Rockface Rumble, tho.
Speaking of GBA DKC3, there are a few tracks out there that are still in their original state before being run through the audio meat grinder that was the GBA
Arich
Mill Fever
Water World
Arich
Mill Fever
Water World
David Wise is the best, but the non-Wise DKC3 tracks by Eveline are perfectly wonderful in their own right. Especially DKC3's Water World -- equal parts wonder, mystery, and menace.
Thematically, Tropical Freeze feels more like a spiritual successor to DKC3 than anything else. In particular, TF's World 2, World 4 and World 5 feel like thematic progression of DKC3's World 1 (countryside), World 3 (beach coves) and World 4 (industrial forest), respectively.
Clearly Retro is saving the best for last: A Returns 3 that channels the dark pirate adventures of DKC2!
Thematically, Tropical Freeze feels more like a spiritual successor to DKC3 than anything else. In particular, TF's World 2, World 4 and World 5 feel like thematic progression of DKC3's World 1 (countryside), World 3 (beach coves) and World 4 (industrial forest), respectively.
Clearly Retro is saving the best for last: A Returns 3 that channels the dark pirate adventures of DKC2!
Frankenstrat
Member
Fiending for that soundtrack on Spotify.
Anyone know much DKCR sold on Wii, and then how much DKCR3D sold on 3DS? Just wondering what the potential sales might be for a hypothetical Switch Edition of Tropical Freeze. I imagine the original"s potential was limited by the WiiU's low install base.
Also, would someone please photoshop this screen onto a Switch:
I will pay you (in smiles).
Also, would someone please photoshop this screen onto a Switch:
I will pay you (in smiles).
Anyone know much DKCR sold on Wii, and then how much DKCR3D sold on 3DS? Just wondering what the potential sales might be for a hypothetical Switch Edition of Tropical Freeze. I imagine the original"s potential was limited by the WiiU's low install base.
Also, would someone please photoshop this screen onto a Switch:
I will pay you (in smiles).
I whipped up this one pretty quickly, but I can see the appeal for porting this game (along with it's Wii predecessor) to the Switch.
Oh man, thank you thank you THANK YOU!
The great thing about this is it shows how perfect TF's co-op would be on Switch.
Just slide off a Joy-Con and hand it to a friend or random befuddled person next to you on the plane, and they can be your Diddy/Dixie/Cranky!
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
Oh my, Neiteio, that OP is a thing of beauty. Pure, concentrated, beauty! This is a 10/10 thread for a 10/10 game!
My favourite song is probably Scorch N' Torch. It's so epic and most reminds me of DKC1 and 2. My favourite worlds are probably 2 and 5.
I've been a full-time career journalist for eight years now. Not ready to cross over to the dark side of PR. Besides, I genuinely like the stuff I gush about!
I do sometimes think about starting a website or Youtube channel, though.
FutureLarking
Member
I'll give you there's a lot of variety and stuff going on, but I really, really think the art style they went with does the amount of effort spent a massive disservice. Technically it's good and there's a lot in there, but when I play it it doesn't feel interesting or like it has distinct personality. (Apart from a few obviously stand-out stylistic levels or areas like Savannah). Most of the grass / jungle-y levels just blend into each other and I can't recall anything specific about any of them.
I know we have at least one Retro Studios staffer here... He sent me a PM once telling me that David Wise himself saw my fan fiction posts about him and had a good chuckle, which had me over the MOON!
Maybe he can chime in on how these levels are assembled? Their visual elements are so entwined with the gameplay itself — the elaborate environmental props doubling as interactive elements that move, collapse, etc, creating the very level on which you run and jump. It makes me wonder how they approach the design for these levels: Is the art created parallel to the level design, or do they hash out the flow of the level, and then flesh out the look and feel with the foreground and background elements?
The amount of work on display seems staggering. So many layers of pretzeling tree branches and tangled vines... Dense canopies and intricate rock formations... Rickety wooden structures and rusty mechanisms being reclaimed by nature... It all comes together so elegantly — easy for the eye to read, yet dense with detail to digest at length.
This game deserves a proper hardcover art book... And a Switch edition! Did I mention a Switch edition?
Maybe he can chime in on how these levels are assembled? Their visual elements are so entwined with the gameplay itself — the elaborate environmental props doubling as interactive elements that move, collapse, etc, creating the very level on which you run and jump. It makes me wonder how they approach the design for these levels: Is the art created parallel to the level design, or do they hash out the flow of the level, and then flesh out the look and feel with the foreground and background elements?
The amount of work on display seems staggering. So many layers of pretzeling tree branches and tangled vines... Dense canopies and intricate rock formations... Rickety wooden structures and rusty mechanisms being reclaimed by nature... It all comes together so elegantly — easy for the eye to read, yet dense with detail to digest at length.
This game deserves a proper hardcover art book... And a Switch edition! Did I mention a Switch edition?
Nocturnowl
Member
Amazing, the Wise One has seen our tributes.
As insane and terrifying as they may often be.
Speaking of which, your reminder that Wise has already given us some TF style tunes this year...
The entire Snake Pass OST of quality over quantity
Yooka-Laylee
Swamp Minecart theme
Galleon Galaxy Minecart theme
Based Wise!
Kamek Koopa
Member
Don't forget these three from YL:
Track Attack
Tropic Trials
Glitterglaze Glacier Kartos challenge
First one could perfectly fit some snowmad boss battle and the other two are just pure joy.
Awesome screens, Chad. A few of my screens are uncannily similar to yours (except for certain details like positioning, etc). Looks like some of the same things caught our eyes. 
edit: Actually, at least one of your shots is pretty much exactly what I posted (the Amiss Abyss one with the light-up fish; the cheese one also looks the same).
Maybe I got that from you in 2014? I'll adjust the OP credit disclaimer to be safe.
edit: Actually, at least one of your shots is pretty much exactly what I posted (the Amiss Abyss one with the light-up fish; the cheese one also looks the same).
Maybe I got that from you in 2014? I'll adjust the OP credit disclaimer to be safe.
Awesome screens, Chad. A few of my screens are uncannily similar to yours (except for certain details like positioning, etc). Looks like some of the same things caught our eyes.
edit: Actually, at least one of your shots is pretty much exactly what I posted (the Amiss Abyss one with the light-up fish; the cheese one also looks the same).
Maybe I got that from you in 2014? I'll adjust the OP credit disclaimer to be safe.
I was actually hoping I'd see some of my screens in there. You know I feel honored whenever you use them
Also, on the topic of this game
the shade of green Retro used for the giant vines is so freaking gorgeous, it just pops right off the screen and really catches your eye.
I agree, Chad the colors really pop. Juicy Jungle is especially dazzling. The game benefits from 2D's inherent ability to frame each scene, but part of me longs to explore these worlds in 3D. Can you imagine a (well-paced, well-designed) DK64-II with this art direction? I do seem to recall the game's producer musing he'd like to make another 3D Donkey Kong at one point, but he says a lot of stuff (including a desire to make a new Metroid Prime focused on Sylux).
TheMoon
Member
surprised you're not aware of Celine's thread
DKCR - 6.53mil
DKCR3D - 1.76mil
DKCTF - 1.12mil
(all as of updated December 2014)
Composition:
Eveline Fischer: 1.01, 1.04, 1.05, 1.10-14, 1.18-20, 2.01-20
David Wise: 1.02, 1.03, 1.06-9, 1.15-17
http://vgmdb.net/album/147
02 DIXIE BEAT
03 CRAZY CALYPSO
[...]
06 WRINKLY'S SAVE CAVE
07 GET FIT A-GO-GO
08 WRINKLY 64
09 BROTHERS BEAR
[...]
15 BONUS TIME
16 BONUS WIN
17 BONUS LOSE
I've never really followed sales data. I'm here to discuss games! But yeah, in this case I was interested because I'd really like the Retro DKC games on Switch, and sales might give us an idea of whether Nintendo would consider such a thing.
The fact that TF sold one-sixth of DKCR probably has more to do with the WiiU's limited install base than anything else.
TheMoon
Member
well we had that "why the failure/dismissal" thread about it yesterday discussing exactly that
TheMoon
Member
So this is David Wise, remixing a Koji Kondo theme, on an Eveline soundtrack...
I feel like I'm in Inception!
It doesn't get mentioned alot, which I suppose makes me love it that much more, but I really do adore Seashore War. Just a magical and soothing piece.
https://youtu.be/Boqy0Q-4c_M
https://youtu.be/Boqy0Q-4c_M
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
As much as I love DKTF and everything else Retro have delivered since the cube, Retro just can't do dioramas. There, I said it.
Nocturnowl
Member
Oh, are you guys talking about the world dioramas you can unlock? Those are OK. I was more interested in the character figurines unlocked via the capsule machine in TF, but disappointed it was only Snowmads. I wanted to see the other baddies too, like those gnarly grasshoppers in 1-1.
You can tell this game was crafted with love, really hope there will be a Switch port or something.
Man, this post and my recent starting of a playthrough of Returns just serves to remind me of how well Retro managed to make just about every level in the games unique in both their mechanics and set design, though moreso in TF for the latter.
AtomicShroom
Member
Waddle Dee
Member
All these recent Tropical Freeze threads reeeaally make me want to playthrough the game again. A streamer I watch has also been playing through Returns and it's made me want to replay that game, too!
Retro has done such a terrific job with their DK games! I'd love to see them tackle the challenge of making a 3D DK game as their next project.
Retro has done such a terrific job with their DK games! I'd love to see them tackle the challenge of making a 3D DK game as their next project.
MisterGrey3000
Member
As long as it's not a sandbox collectathon thing, I'd be pretty damn hyped for that.
I'd love to see the dynamic camera work and spectacular set-pieces from Returns/Tropical Freeze translated into a 3D space.
Exploring a place like Juicy Jungle in full 3D is the dream, man. The dream!
Speaking of Juicy Jungle, and Tropical Freeze in general, I love how the background in each stage tells a story. Like each level in Juicy Jungle is its own factory making tasty treats fruit-flavored drinks, gelatin, popsicles, etc and you can pretty much follow the industrial process from start to finish by paying attention to the contraptions in the scenery. Especially going from one stage to another, you can see how the fruit are gathered, sliced and diced, and squeezed, their juices flowing into factories where they're converted into oversized desserts.
Or take Frantic Fields, in the third world. You start out in the fields of a savannah during a gathering storm, and as the the storm escalates, you find yourself dodging lightning and flying livestock as you're swept high into the sky, where you continue to platform across floating chunks of terrain. And following the storm in Frantic Fields, we see the aftermath in Scorch 'N Torch, where we're now trying to survive a raging brushfire spreading across the savannah after the lightning strikes of Frantic Fields. It's so cool!
Speaking of Juicy Jungle, and Tropical Freeze in general, I love how the background in each stage tells a story. Like each level in Juicy Jungle is its own factory making tasty treats fruit-flavored drinks, gelatin, popsicles, etc and you can pretty much follow the industrial process from start to finish by paying attention to the contraptions in the scenery. Especially going from one stage to another, you can see how the fruit are gathered, sliced and diced, and squeezed, their juices flowing into factories where they're converted into oversized desserts.
Or take Frantic Fields, in the third world. You start out in the fields of a savannah during a gathering storm, and as the the storm escalates, you find yourself dodging lightning and flying livestock as you're swept high into the sky, where you continue to platform across floating chunks of terrain. And following the storm in Frantic Fields, we see the aftermath in Scorch 'N Torch, where we're now trying to survive a raging brushfire spreading across the savannah after the lightning strikes of Frantic Fields. It's so cool!
Kamek Koopa
Member
Absolutely. That was an idea lightly explored in DKCR (where the beggining of each world showed coherently the transition between the previous one and the following), but Tropical Freeze fully expands it with some great combinations of levels within the same world. I see something similar in two moments of Autumn Heights:
-The branching path of that world leads you through the almost side-story of the mice that live in the caves of the mountain (2-A) and sometimes stop by the near temple to steal some cheese (2-B).
-In addition, I love how 2-4 (Sawmill Thrill) is ambiented under a violent storm and 2-5 (Alpine Incline) shows the peace that remains after it in the forest, with the cloudy weather, the wet fir trees and the calm and melancholic music.
I really think this is the best kind of "stories" that a 2D animal-platformer like this can cleverly achieve to tell, without relying on cutscenes, lore or dialogues. A pure reward to observation and a sensitive way to make the world feel alive.
Stormhammer
Member
the look + the music is damn amazing. my only minor gripe is that the ui feels like it clashes a bit with the look of the game itself
Lovely game, lovely thread.
The game is really strong on level design, underwater controls, art direction and music.
Level 3-1 is quite an experience, it was my go-to-level when I needed lives, not because of how many lives I could there but because it was just too beautiful not to be played again.
In spite of its greatness, there are a few things to take not and improve on a sequel:
The game is really strong on level design, underwater controls, art direction and music.
Level 3-1 is quite an experience, it was my go-to-level when I needed lives, not because of how many lives I could there but because it was just too beautiful not to be played again.
In spite of its greatness, there are a few things to take not and improve on a sequel:
1. Make the levels more friendly to multi-player. I played it with my girlfriend who doesn't have much experience in platformers and it often frustrated her that she couldn't do some of the long roll n' jumps, causing us to lose all our shared lives.
2. Make more varied bonus rooms, as they were in the original trilogy.
3. The enemies look good and funny, but some of the bosses do not feel menacing at all. Last boss had me wondering if he really was the last one due to his looks. Make the enemies more evil-looking.
2. Make more varied bonus rooms, as they were in the original trilogy.
3. The enemies look good and funny, but some of the bosses do not feel menacing at all. Last boss had me wondering if he really was the last one due to his looks. Make the enemies more evil-looking.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
STOP! How did I not pick up on this?!
World 5 fruit:
It then goes through a factory to make it liquid:
It's then made into jelly:
It's then turned to frozen jelly:
All for the boss to enjoy a frozen treat:
Mind. Blown!
I got all that from this video: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Level Design. It's definitely worth a watch!
World 5 fruit:
It then goes through a factory to make it liquid:
It's then made into jelly:
It's then turned to frozen jelly:
All for the boss to enjoy a frozen treat:
Mind. Blown!
I got all that from this video: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Level Design. It's definitely worth a watch!