Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Nintendo Switch)

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a platformer game for the Nintendo Switch. The game is a port of the 2014 Wii U game of the same name, making this game the only reissue in the Donkey Kong Country series to be released on a home console, rather than a handheld console, unlike the reissues of previous titles in the series. It includes the new Funky Mode, a beginner-friendly mode which features Funky Kong as a playable character. The game was released in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on May 3, 2018 and in North America, Euorpe, and Australia a day later on May 4, 2018.

Differences from the Wii U version

 * The port introduces a beginner-friendly mode, the Funky Mode, which centers on Funky Kong. Here, the player can select the main playable character to be either Funky Kong or Donkey Kong. The Original Mode, which is set apart from the Funky Mode, represents the default mode of gameplay, with Donkey Kong as the main playable character. The following are the exclusive features of the Funky Mode:
 * Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Cranky Kong, and vehicles can each withstand an extra hit, increasing their heart amount to three.
 * As a new playable character, Funky Kong has five hearts, and can perform continuous roll attacks and underwater corkscrew attacks. His surfboard grants him a number of additional abilities as well, such as a Double Jump, a slower descent, an immunity to most kinds of Spike Traps and the ability to jump on most enemies that the other Kongs cannot safely jump on. He can also breathe indefinitely while underwater.
 * A parrot named Tawks appears in the Funky's Fly 'n' Buy shop. When playing as Funky Kong, Tawks replaces him as the shopkeeper. He impersonates Funky and gives him an employee discount.
 * While playing as Funky Kong, Kong Barrels only display the FK initial. This prevents Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong from joining Funky Kong outside of two-player mode, but Funky Kong can still heal himself by breaking them.
 * Likewise, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong cannot hop on Funky Kong. On the map screen in two-player mode, Funky Kong holds onto one of the three Kongs on his surfboard, including in the map screen idle animations.
 * The player is allowed to select and use items purchased from the shop while in a level. In the Original Mode, this is only possible on the map screen.
 * KONG Letters do not have to be collected again should the player lose a life before reaching the next checkpoint or the end of the level. In addition, they appear permanently translucent when the player re-visits the level where they were collected previously, similarly to the Puzzle Pieces.
 * A figurine of Tawks can be obtained from the Capsule Toy Machine. It is listed under the "Kong Family" section.
 * All bosses have fixed attack patterns, instead of being RNG-based.
 * The arrangement of "Stickerbush Symphony" that plays halfway through the game's credits is replaced with an original melody, featuring voice clips of Funky Kong. During that part of the credits, in-game pictures of Funky Kong are preponderantly shown.
 * Donkey Kong's nose in his in-game model is now more emphasized and defined, matching his appearances in recent Mario games.
 * Donkey Kong gets a new idle animation in which he pulls out and plays a Nintendo Switch, replacing his original idle animation where he played a Nintendo 3DS. Also, if Diddy or Dixie are with Donkey Kong when he pulls out his Switch, they play along with him, whereas Cranky expresses contempt for the console when offered a chance to play.
 * The Crash Guard has changed from blue to green for unknown reasons, and the star on the Banana Juice has changed from red to green.
 * Funky Kong's toy in the Figurines Gallery shows him holding the red surfboard he uses in Funky Mode instead of the blue stylized one from the Wii U version. However, the icon that appears when the figurine is obtained from the Capsule Toy Machine still displays the original blue surfboard.
 * The physical version comes with a reversible cover featuring Funky Kong.

Promotion
The Play Nintendo website features a skill quiz, a personality quiz, and a match-up activity related to the Nintendo Switch release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

Sales
The Nintendo Switch version of the game debuted at the #2 spot in the UK. It was noted that the Nintendo Switch version debuted 53.7% higher than the original release and that its sales already accounted for 17% of all physical copies of the game in the country. In Japan, it was the top-selling game for its week of release, doing more than double the launch of the Wii U version with 96.754 copies sold. In the United States, it debuted at #5 for April 2018 and was the 2nd best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch according to NPD data. By December 31, 2021, it had sold 4.12 million units worldwide.