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Best of the Rest: Ludwig's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Jazzpunk Jazzpunk is likely to be misunderstood, or impossible to understand, by design. You could say explanation comes as an insult to its eccentricity. The gist of it is that you're a spy completing missions in a surreal, robot-dominated world, the kind you might dream up after dozing off in the middle of a late-night Leslie Nielsen movie marathon. And while the convoluted wordplay wouldn't feel out of place in a Zucker spoof - in Japan, for example, you're asked if you prefer kimonos or kistereos – the barbs of reality are what really make Jazzpunk stick. Take its odd vision of dystopia, which is regularly mocked through one-off minigames (like a first-person shooter dubbed ... Wedding Quake). Here, you can put on a special visor that lets you see and blast nonsensical Wi-Fi passwords as they dance in the air around you. I mean, that's weird, but ... think about it. The concept is kind of weird to begin with, right here on Earth. Taken as a form of escapism, then, Jazzpunk is silly without taking you too far from the truth.
Best of the Rest: Thomas' picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved I love listening to music alone. When no one's looking, I'm free to tap out drum beats, put on emotional lip-synchs and flail in synch with a song's swelling heights. Playing Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is a lot like those solo jam sessions in the way it grants a free pass to completely lose myself in a song's components. Sure, I look ridiculous, but I have to! Matching notes with halfhearted swipes and restrained punches just leads to broken combos, as if the Kinect is the all-knowing gaze of an instructor ready to belittle a cold, tired performance. Substituting instruments and creating remixes adds a welcome element of experimentation to Fantasia, but it's the core focus of moving with music that brings me back each week. It's increasingly difficult to ignore life's noise while playing a game as I grow older, but Fantasia's peak moments tune out every distraction, leaving me with an uninhibited excuse to enjoy twisted, endearing remixes of songs that I love.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze sales reach 130K in eight days
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze sold "more than 130,000 combined physical and digital units" during its first eight days of release, according to Nintendo and U.S. sales data from consumer research group NPD. Tropical Freeze launched on February 21. Nintendo 3DS software sales increased 25 percent over the same reported period last year with the launch of Bravely Default and continued success of the Pokemon X and Y series. Life-to-date, Pokemon X and Y have sold "more than 3.4 million" in the United States alone. Wii U software sales skyrocketed 180 percent over the same month last year. Highlights going forward, Nintendo notes, are the upcoming launches of Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Mario Kart 8 and Yoshi's New Island, which Joystiq recently reviewed. [Image: Nintendo]
Joystiq Streams: Cranky takes it to the fridge in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
[UPDATE: Ludwig Kietzmann, fearing that his expert platforming skill would so incense viewers that they would riot, has yielded the stream to Richard Mitchell.] Were the Sesame Street gang to look upon the three major games released in the last week of February, they would surely sing "One Of These Things Is Not Like the Other." Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and Thief both put denizens of the night in dense, dark urban landscapes. Then there's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which lets you hop and roll through an archipelago of flowing fruit juice and big-eyed penguins. Little different. Funny thing is, Tropical Freeze is the hardest of the three, with insanely difficult platforming and rage-inducing boss fights. That steep challenge is precisely why we're putting Ludwig Kietzmann, Joystiq's Editor in Chief, against its simian cruelties. Tune in to the Joystiq Twitch Channel at 4PM EST to join Ludwig as he attempts to retrieve all the bananas. Anthony John Agnello will be hanging in the chat, feeding your questions and derision directly to him. [Image: Nintendo]
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Joystiq Weekly: Irrational Games, co-op Pokemon and a Doom beta
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Between the new Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Tony Hawk's involvement in a new game and talk of a Doom beta, this week feels like a list of lost events from the '90s. Not that we're complaining, of course - the days of platforming in mine carts, feeding arcade machines quarters and hogging family computers from siblings were pretty wonderful times. They were simpler, too - just 151 Pokemon to keep track of, with full games and expansions instead of publishers scattering in-game content to retailers and adding season passes to everything or-- Well, it didn't take us long to trip into the "back in my day" style of reminiscing. We'll excuse ourselves for a stint of warning kids passing by to stay off our lawns, but we've left you a recap of the biggest events from this week after the break. Er ... this week being in 2014, not the '90s.
New Nintendo eShop releases: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Weapon Shop de Omasse
Like the fifth/fourth/sixth world of a Mario, there's an icy theme to this week's list of eShop games. Well okay, that only really applies to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Ice Hockey, but there are ice worlds in Kung Fu Rabbit, Quell Reflect, and Sky Kid too, maybe. Let's focus on 3DS downloadable-only Weapon Shop de Omasse. It's the final game in Level 5's Guild 01 series, a series that saw the studio team up with three acclaimed designers ... and one acclaimed comedian. Guess which one the comedian worked on? The man in question Yoshiyuki Hirai of comedy duo America Zarigani, and his game places you in an item shop where heroes can buy weapons for quests. Your task is to forge those weapons by hammering them down in a rhythm-tapping mini-game, with more rhythmic forging resulting in better crafted gear. There's some terrible pun here about beat-ing the weapons into shape, but you won't see us making it. As ever, the full list of eShop releases awaits you below the break.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Review: Money in the Banana Land
If the quality of a platformer can be measured by how long it staves off the obligatory lava level, we're in pretty good shape with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Nintendo's ground-pounding gorilla now sees his home island beset by the vaguely Germanic "Snowmads," cool-climate creatures that show up by the viking boatload, set the stage, and then cover it with a slippery layer of ice. Not that we need the narrative justification to save the jungle and bop the yellow eyebrows off an evil Fiordland Penguin. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is another few-frills, breathlessly paced jaunt in two-dimensional jumping, ducking and dodging all manner of loosely thematic dangers, though it's not quite as polished as the last game in developer Retro's newly commandeered franchise.
New trailers for Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2
We got quite a bit of 3DS news from today's Nintendo Direct, but it wasn't without a few tender morsels for Wii U owners. In addition to Little Mac appearing in Super Smash Bros, Game Boy Advance games hitting Virtual Console and the announcement of NES Remix 2, Nintendo rolled out new trailers for some of the Wii U's biggest upcoming games. Settle in and get comfy for a few minutes as you take in fresh footage of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, and Bayonetta 2.
Funky Kong returns in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Following a five-year absence from gaming, Donkey Kong's surfer bro ally Funky Kong will return in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - though it's unclear what exactly he'll be doing. To date, four cast members have been revealed to be playable in Tropical Freeze: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and, as Nintendo revealed at the recent VGX awards show, Cranky Kong. Funky Kong's appearance however, was unceremoniously dumped on Twitter. "Get stoked! Funky Kong makes a radical return in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, coming to #WiiU on 2/21," it reads, making no mention of Funky's role. Whether Funky is playable, or again appears as the owner of the game's item shop, Tropical Freeze still marks his first appearance in a game since 2008's Mario Super Sluggers.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze trailer is cranky, probably needs a nap
Nintendo showed off a new trailer for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze during its Nintendo Direct presentation today. The video briefly spotlights the Wii U game's fourth playable character, Cranky Kong, who was first announced for the game during the VGX awards earlier this month. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was previously scheduled to launch this month, but was delayed to February 21 back in October. Our time with the game at E3 this year playing cooperative multiplayer was largely positive, and at some points "seemed really difficult, even by Donkey Kong standards."
Spike VGX round-up: Telltale's new projects, Cranky Kong, No Man's Sky and more
Despite ending with musical performances that closely resembled a form of torture, the Spike VGX show packed some decent surprises! Joel McHale and Geoff Keighley endured four three hours of nonstop programming, and they only seemed to want to murder each other a handful of times. Let's recap everything that was shown: Telltale Games' success with the first season of The Walking Dead seems to have granted them a Golden Key to any partnership they desire. Naturally, they've revealed Tales From The Borderlands, a collaboration with Gearbox Software that will be set in the Borderlands universe. They've also started work on a Game of Thrones series, which will be based off the HBO show. Both projects are slated for 2014. Cranky Kong has had it with these youngsters and their rambunctious romps through jungles, so much so that he's decided to chase them all as the fourth playable character in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Cranky must have gotten a few good strikes in with his cane for that delay, too, because the Kong family has settled on braving the Wii U's incoming frost on February 21. Titanfall had already shown a decent arsenal for blowing up buildings with, but in case you doubted its capabilities, Respawn Entertainment debuted two new mech types tonight. Aside from the Titans, Ogre and Stryder mechs will spread destruction across Titanfall's cityscapes. Ogres will be slow, clunky and powerful, while Stryders will focus on outrunning everyone on the field. Hello Games, the developer of the Joe Danger series, brought along the show's biggest surprise - No Man's Sky is a procedurally generated, exploration-focused sci-fi game planned for 2014. The game's trailer showcased vivid landscapes before blasting its way through asteroids in spacecrafts.
Cranky Kong brandishes cane, joins Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze roster on February 21
Following Amazon Italy's slip up with its box art for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, as reported by Gematsu, Cranky Kong was confirmed to be the game's fourth playable character during Spike's VGX show. Demo footage depicted Cranky Kong attacking spiked enemies with his cane and bouncing across pointy sections of levels (hello, Bramble Scramble). Tropical Freeze's February release window has also been clarified - Donkey Kong and friends will start mauling wildlife for bananas on February 21.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze rolls down a Retro track
"Okay, where are the minecart levels?" That's a novel, ill-advised question when it comes to platformers, but Retro Studios achieved the improbable with 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns (updated this year with a 3DS version). The side-scrolling platformer knew how to do a good minecart level, exhibiting creative design in a realm meant to be firmly on tracks – sometimes the whole track would curl up and break loose, rolling forward as you spun around a makeshift motorcycle cage. The rickety rail-jumping returns in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, along with some of the other special traits that rightly suit Nintendo's tie-wearing gorilla. I played a handful of levels set at various points of the game, getting a sense of its challenge and momentum. As before, Donkey Kong and an optional companion – the diminutive Dixie Kong joins this time – run from left to right, leaping and swinging to avoid flames, falls and the fury of nasty animals marching about. The backgrounds are a vivid mix of jungles, caverns and cloudy skies, and all benefit from Retro's graduation to HD on the Wii U.
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze slips on banana to 2014
During this morning's Nintendo Direct, company president Satoru Iwata stated Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze will be delayed until February 2014. The game was originally scheduled for December 6.
Nintendo outs release dates for Super Mario 3D World, DK Tropical Freeze
Nintendo has detailed its fourth-quarter software lineup for the Wii U, revealing that multiple high-profile games are slated to launch in the months leading up to the holiday season. The Wii Remote Plus-bundled minigame compilation Wii Party U will launch on October 25, while Nintendo's multiplayer platformer Super Mario 3D World will premiere on November 22. The Donkey Kong Country Returns sequel Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will debut December 6. Two additional games, Wii Fit U and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, are scheduled to launch "this holiday season." Nintendo notes that further details regarding both games will be released at a later date. Nintendo additionally revealed its launch plans for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, announcing that a digital download will arrive in September, ahead of a planned October retail release.
Co-opinion: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (E3 2013)
This is Co-Opinion, where two Joystiq editors play a game and discuss their experience. .portal-left { padding: 10px; background: #CCC; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right { padding: 10px; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right img { padding-left: 5px; } .portal-left img { padding-right: 5px; } Dave Hinkle: As far as piggy back rides go, I think I've had the best one of my life in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Wii U. You made me feel safe during our E3 demo, Jordan. You protected me. Jordan Mallory: Well it's Donkey Kong's responsibility to protect the well-being of his little nephew Diddy, Dave. There are a lot of dangerous viking walruses and perilous pits around this tropical paradise. %Gallery-191105%
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze hits Wii U in November [Update: Trailer]
Nintendo just revealed a new side-scrolling Wii U adventure for Donkey Kong, which also sees the return of Dixie Kong. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is barreling onto the Wii U later this year. Update: Nintendo's press release notes Tropical Freeze is bringing its Donkey Kong brand of cool to the Wii U this November.%Gallery-191105%
