Also, the momentum of all the Kongs' rolls doesn't work the same way as it does in the 16-bit games. Other things to keep in mind when you're playing as Funky McMonkey: You still need to move quickly when riding ziplines and grasping moving targets.
They're worried doing so might cause the laws of gravity to kick in and kill him. Nobody wants to tell Funky Kong he's been surfing on dry land for decades.
What's with Donkey Kong Country and mine cart levels? I'm beginning to believe if there's a Hell in the DK universe, it must involve a rickety mine cart ride that never ends. I still found plenty of opportunities to cark it as Funky Kong, especially on levels where extra health is no substitute for good reflexes. So that means the game plays itself, right? Nah. Funky even comes with an extra heart (he loves you that much) and he can breathe underwater indefinitely. All Funky's talents are on-call whenever you need them: There's no need to stress out about breaking open specific Kong barrels, nor will you curse the day your mother was born every time you lose your partner-Kong outside of a two-player game. He's got the heft of Donkey Kong, the hovering capabilities of Diddy and Dixie Kong (though he loses horizontal momentum quickly), and the same double-jump and immunity to spikes as Cranky Kong. The main reason Funky Kong is accessible is because he carries all the power of his Kong brethren in his far-out surfboard and in his big, muscly bro-arms. It's a nice balance if you're used to, say, the more laid-back challenge of a modern 2D Mario game. While Funky's presence is indeed a big help for anyone who wants an easier time with what's ultimately still a difficult platformer, the hip '90s ape also moves to a rhythm that helps make ploughing through the game even more fun in 2018 than it was in 2014.įunky Kong makes Tropical Freeze easy-going, but not necessarily easy. When the reveal also unveiled the new "Funky Kong Mode" seemingly engineered for beginners, I thought "Oh, that's nice," and dismissed it as an Easy Mode option for very small kids.Īfter getting in some sweet hang time with Donkey Kong's surfer pal, however, I'm no longer dismissive of Funky Kong and his bag of tricks. Said professor tasks you with wandering around and researching a variety of wild animals by making them beat each other into unconsciousness.When a Nintendo Switch port of 2014's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was announced early this year, I was glad to learn the world would get another chance to experience one of the previous console generation's best 2D platforming games. Some child with far too little parental supervision (that's you), gets recruited by a professor who very obviously isn't answering to any IRB. I'd spend this time summarizing the story, but these things basically come pre-installed with the Pokemon sourcemaker at this point.
Pokemon has long been a series that's done the absolute bare minimum to innovate between titles, so putting out a low effort remake of a past game feels like standard operating procedure in a way. But as far as what a remake/remaster should accomplish, it's hard to view Brilliant Diamond as anything short of an absolute failure. Does that mean that there is still a halfway decent game at the core of Brilliant Diamond? Sure if you enjoyed the original Diamond and/or Pearl on DS, then you'll probably still enjoy this.
Nearly everything that a revised version of a game should do, Brilliant Diamond does not. Still, I don't think it's an unfair assessment to say that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond is one of the worst remakes, or remasterings, or whatever you want to call it, that I've ever played. Fortunately, Pokemon was happy to oblige and take the blow to ensure we all remember that Nintendo-published games can be disappointing just as often as they are exceptional. And after the release of October's excellent Metroid Dread, I was worried I might be starting to build up a dangerous amount of goodwill towards Nintendo. Yin and yang, maintaining some bizarro world sense of balance. For every Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, there must be a Paper Mario: Color Splash to balance things out. Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond (NS) - Review / 861 Views by, posted 11 hours ago Nintendo is a company of ups and downs.