Nintendo 3DS

[Exhuminator]

Didn't have any waggle-roll deaths.

What happens to me is often the designers put those flowers that you blow on to find hidden items at the edge of ledges. Well to blow on the flowers, you have to duck and then waggle, and then Donkey will blow. However, if you have any momentum at all when you duck and waggle, instead of blowing Donkey does his roll... and off the ledge you go. It's obvious to me the designers knew about this issue and hence why they put flowers on so many ledges throughout the game. Sadistic trolling IMO.

"did not register waggle attack so I end up running face first into the enemy"

Yep I got plenty of those too.

It all boils down to being forced to waggle. Why you can't just use buttons without waggle at least as an OPTION I just do not understand.

[CavZee]

I for one will be buying AA:DD and PLVSAA as soon as they hit the eShop. Considering Shu Takumi himself was the main designer behind the latter I'm sure it will be great.

As for DKCR on Wii, the game is definitely a mixed bag. Lots of clever level ideas and nice graphics, but the inertia in the character movement causes landing problems not to mention the accidental waggle-roll deaths. The 3DS is probably the way to go for reliable controls.

I found the level design dull and repetetive. Didn't have any waggle-roll deaths. Quite the opposite in fact. Had many "did not register waggle attack so I end up running face first into the enemy" deaths.

Not much DKCR love in here. =/
The waggle is definitely pretty annoying in it's implementation but I I thought the level design was really good. It's also more challenging than most platformers these days.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

It wasn't as awesome as the first Donkey Kong Country, but I thought DKCR3D was a really fun game. My only complaint is that the levels were too short. I absolutely loved how much precision you needed to play it.

[Gamerforlife]

What happens to me is often the designers put those flowers that you blow on to find hidden items at the edge of ledges. Well to blow on the flowers, you have to duck and then waggle, and then Donkey will blow. However, if you have any momentum at all when you duck and waggle, instead of blowing Donkey does his roll... and off the ledge you go. It's obvious to me the designers knew about this issue and hence why they put flowers on so many ledges throughout the game. Sadistic trolling IMO.

Pretty much sums up why I hate the game, as most of the level design feels like that. I've played DKC and DKC 2 on the Super Nintendo. Those were relatively easy, fun, relaxing games (especially the water levels). The decision to make Donkey Kong Country Returns so hard irritated me because there was no precedent for it. If you're bringing back a classic series, you need to stay true to the spirit of that series. Donkey Kong Country Returns doesn't do that. So I give it a failing grade. They tried morphing Donkey Kong Country into something they wanted it to be instead of what it actually was. I never came to this series for hardcore platforming. There are other series I can play for that, and they do it better(as in challenging but not cheap).

It all boils down to being forced to waggle. Why you can't just use buttons without waggle at least as an OPTION I just do not understand.

There actually was a way to turn it off, because I remember playing the game without it. That was never my main issue with the game, but I understand it annoying others.

[Gamerforlife]

There were other things they did too that made it NOT feel like Donkey Kong Country. There was very little animal riding. There was no water levels. Diddy stopped being a playable character and just effectively became an extra hit you could take. The enemie designs were bland compared to the original games. The list goes on and on. I feel like the developers never played a Donkey Kong Country game for more than like five minutes before they started developing DKCR

EDIT: Compare that to Sly 4 Thieves in Time. New developer, but they get it. They carried over almost everything the Sly games are known for.

[Violent By Design]

There were other things they did too that made it NOT feel like Donkey Kong Country. There was very little animal riding. There was no water levels. Diddy stopped being a playable character and just effectively became an extra hit you could take. The enemie designs were bland compared to the original games. The list goes on and on. I feel like the developers never played a Donkey Kong Country game for more than like five minutes before they started developing DKCR

EDIT: Compare that to Sly 4 Thieves in Time. New developer, but they get it. They carried over almost everything the Sly games are known for.

So you're taking off points for them making DKCR into their own game, as opposed to it being a rehash? The difficulty was nice and rewarding, and really just an improvement over the original trilogy imo. The original trilogy was shallow and really just got by on graphics (which wouldn't work now). I don't see how Retro didn't do the game justice, it's clearly very well crafted to me.

What did Diddy Kong do that was so special in the original trilogy? At least in the new one you have the option for Co-Op.

[CavZee]

I know DKCR is a relatively challenging game but, tougher than the SNES games? Huh? Did we play the same games?

I played DKC2 for the first time ever the week before I started up DKCR. DKCR is easier in every way. Even the rocket levels people seem to have trouble with.

I've even played the original DKC numerous times and if I were to pop it in right now I'd probably have a few issues here and there.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Whoa whoa whoa, those are fighting words!

I played Donkey Kong Country on GBA, while I was playing PS2 games, and still loved it. I didn't care about the graphics, I liked to ride dangerous animals and shoot out of cannons and throw barrels at lizards. It's a really fun game, and it would be just as fun with traditional 2D art, right?

[Gamerforlife]

Yeah, the original trilogy wasn't shallow. They had good level design and some nice gameplay variety.

I don't know about DKC2 being hard. I never had trouble with it, and I've beaten it with all secrets found and I didn't use a guide or faq to do it. I just found the SNES games fun to play. DKCR just wasn't. It felt more concerned with being hard than fun. Challenge is good when it adds to a game rather than detract from it.

[Gamerforlife]

Honestly, the changes made in the new mode in the 3ds version of DKCR feels like an admission that the original version just wasn't fun to play