Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, known in Japan as Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze (ドンキーコングトロピカルフリーズ), is a side-scrolling 2.5D platform game developed by Retro Studios for the Wii U. It is the fifth game in the Donkey Kong Country series and the direct sequel to the Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns. Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong appear as playable characters, similar to Diddy Kong's role in Donkey Kong Country Returns, while the main antagonists, the Snowmads, are based on stereotypical Vikings, and appear as animals such as penguins, walruses, and owls. The game was originally slated for release during November 2013 before being pushed back to December 6; it was later pushed back again to February 2014.

Story
The story begins at Donkey Kong's hut, where the Kongs are celebrating his birthday. Suddenly, one of the balloons flies off the Kong house and over the sea, where Snowmad ships are stationed. Far away from the island, a Pointy Tuck watches over them, locating the Kong house and relaying info to their leader, shrouded in a dark silhouette. Upon the leader nodding their approval, the Pointy Tucks bring him a horn which he blows, creating a large amount of wind, as well as an ice dragon.

Just as he is about to blow the candles out, Donkey Kong notices a mysterious snowflake appear and put out the candle on his birthday cake. He turns away with a frustrated look on his face as he hears an uproar, and he and the other Kongs exit the house. The ice dragon from earlier flies toward Donkey Kong Island, turning the sea under it to ice. The Kongs are then blown away from the island by the ice dragon's intense winds, landing on the Lost Mangroves island. Afterwards, a large ship stations itself where the Volcano from Donkey Kong Country Returns used to be, and the Snowmads seize Donkey Kong Island for their own, turning it into a frosty area with continuous snowfall.

After traversing across 5 islands with each posing its own threats, the Kongs finally arrive at Donkey Kong Island under control of the Snowmads. The Kongs make their way through the frozen fortress until they encounter the leader of the Snowmads, Lord Fredrik, who challenges the Kongs to a final battle deep in the depths of the volcano. After a long battle, Donkey Kong delivers the final punch to Lord Fredrik, which sends him flying out through the roof of the Snowmad's ship, destroying it in the process. The Kongs wander out of the remains of the ship and look out from the mountainside to see the end of Lord Fredrik's fall. Lord Fredrik crashes into the remainder of the Snowmad ships out in the seas of the island, defeating the entire Snowmad clan and freeing the island from their control. Donkey Kong then notices the horn that was used to freeze their island fell out of Lord Fredrik's hands during his fall, which he catches and blows into, producing a breeze of flowers that carries the Kongs to the bottom of the island. The Kongs watch and rejoice as the breeze of the flowers flutter around the island, melting all of the ice and snow, returning Donkey Kong Island to its former glory.

Gameplay
The gameplay of the title is very similar to that of its predecessor, Donkey Kong Country Returns. Still, it features more playable characters, including Dixie Kong, who can use her ponytail to go up in midair and glide, and Cranky Kong, who can use his cane to destroy some obstacles, such as Spikes. The game also presents ice and underwater levels, which were absent in the Wii game. The swimming ability returns in this game; in the Wii game, touching water meant instant death. A new air gauge is implemented in water stages, requiring the Kongs to find air bubbles to avoid drowning.

For the first time in the series, the camera angle can change dynamically in some levels where Blast Barrels or minecarts are found, showing more areas and perspectives of the scenery. A new feature in this game is the Kong POW attack, which turns all enemies on-screen into items. This move can only be performed when 100 bananas have been collected, and when there is another character on Donkey Kong's back.

When the player has completed every level in the game, an additional game mode, Hard Mode, is unlocked. In Hard Mode, the player can use any of Donkey Kong's partners, but they will only get one heart, and can't use any items. Also, checkpoints are removed, and only one player can play.

Bosses

 * Pompy, the Presumptuous (Lost Mangroves)
 * Skowl, the Startling (Autumn Heights)
 * Ba-Boom, the Boisterous (Bright Savannah)
 * Fugu, the Frightening (Sea Breeze Cove)
 * Bashmaster, the Unbreakable (Juicy Jungle)
 * Lord Fredrik, the Snowmad King (Donkey Kong Island)

Enemies

 * Snowmads
 * Tucks
 * Speedy Tucks
 * Tuff Tucks
 * Pointy Tucks
 * Archies
 * Boom Birds
 * Painguin Tucks
 * Papa Painguins
 * Big Sphens
 * Soaries
 * Fluffs
 * Tuff Fluffs
 * Hareys
 * Harolds
 * Hootz
 * Hot Hootz
 * Pufftons
 * Tufftons
 * Blue Hootz
 * Waldoughs
 * Walnuts
 * Walbricks
 * Chum Chucker Charlies
 * Fish Poker Pops
 * Dozies
 * Punchy Paddies
 * Thug Slugs
 * Wild Wendells
 * Sour Dodos
 * Chompasauruses
 * Blue Finleys
 * Red Finleys
 * Mama Saws
 * Porcupals
 * Swooper Doopers
 * Urchins
 * Gordos
 * Jellyfish
 * Fritz
 * Snaggles
 * Super Snaggles
 * Mimics
 * Big Mimics
 * Cheesy Chesters
 * Squiddicus
 * Screaming Pillars
 * Lemmingtons
 * Bouncelisks
 * Buckies
 * Buzzies
 * Pufftups
 * Monocle Monicas
 * Schnautzels
 * Toucan'ts
 * Electroids
 * Buffaloafers

Worlds and levels
The game has seven total islands, consisting of six "main" islands and one secret island (Secret Seclusion), which serve as the game's worlds. Though the course of each world, the Kongs can visit Funky's Fly 'n' Buy item shop, where Funky Kong sells life balloons and other balloons, portable partner barrels, banana juice, hearts, crash guards, and figurines of characters in the game that a player can get at random through a capsule toy machine.


 * Lost Mangroves
 * 1-1: Mangrove Cove
 * '''1-2: Shipwreck Shore
 * '''1-3: Canopy Chaos
 * '''1-4: Trunk Twister
 * '''1-Boss: Big Top Bop
 * '''1-A: Zip-Line Shrine
 * '''1-B: Busted Bayou
 * '''1-K: Swinger Flinger


 * Autumn Heights
 * '''2-1: Windmill Hills
 * '''2-2: Mountain Mania
 * '''2-3: Horn Top Hop
 * '''2-4: Sawmill Thrill
 * '''2-5: Alpine Incline
 * '''2-6: Wing Ding
 * '''2-Boss: Mountaintop Tussle
 * '''2-A: Crumble Cavern
 * '''2-B: Rodent Ruckus
 * 2-K: Bopopolis


 * Bright Savannah
 * 3-1: Grassland Groove
 * 3-2: Baobab Bonanza
 * 3-3: Frantic Fields
 * '''3-4: Scorch 'N' Torch
 * 3-5: Twilight Terror
 * 3-6: Cannon Canyon
 * 3-Boss: Triple Trouble
 * '''3-A: Rickety Rafters
 * 3-B: Bramble Scramble
 * 3-K: Precarious Pendulums


 * Sea Breeze Cove
 * '''4-1: Deep Keep
 * '''4-2: High Tide Ride
 * '''4-3: Amiss Abyss
 * '''4-4: Irate Eight
 * 4-5: Sea Stack Attack
 * 4-6: Current Capers
 * 4-Boss: Fugu Face-Off
 * '''4-A: Rockin' Relics
 * '''4-B: Shoal Atoll
 * 4-K: Spinning Spines


 * Juicy Jungle
 * '''5-1: Harvest Hazards
 * '''5-2: Reckless Ride
 * '''5-3: Fruity Factory
 * '''5-4: Panicky Paddles
 * 5-5: Jelly Jamboree
 * '''5-6: Frosty Fruits
 * 5-Boss: Punch Bowl
 * '''5-A: Beehive Brawl
 * '''5-B: Jammin' Jams
 * 5-K: Platform Problems


 * Donkey Kong Island
 * 6-1: Homecoming Hijinks
 * 6-2: Seashore War
 * 6-3: Aqueduct Assault
 * 6-4: Blurry Flurry
 * 6-5: Forest Folly
 * 6-6: Cliffside Slide
 * 6-7: Frozen Frenzy
 * 6-8: Meltdown Mayhem
 * 6-Boss: Volcano Dome
 * '''6-A: Dynamite Dash
 * '''6-B: Icicle Arsenal
 * 6-K: Slippy Spikes


 * Secret Seclusion
 * 7-1: Levitation Station
 * 7-2: Rocket Rails
 * 7-3: Crazy Clouds

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong's 8-bit sprite, holding a Wii U gamepad, appears at the end of Aquaduct Assault stage.
 * Donkey Kong Jr.: The levels in Secret Seclusion feature music that originated from this game.
 * Super Mario World: The map styles movements are like in the said game but the worlds however are not connected.
 * Donkey Kong Country: The music theme "Aquatic Ambience" is covered. In the Canopy Chaos level, Cranky's record player from this game can be found and when ground pounded in front of it, it plays this games' title theme. The music theme "Jungle Groove" has two covers: one during the loading screens between levels and another during some levels.
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: Dixie Kong returns from this game which marked her first appearance. Bramble levels and swamp levels return. Part of the music in the Irrate Eight level contains a cover version of Lockjaw Saga from this game. The music theme Stickerbush Symphony is covered. One of Dixie Kong's idle animations in multiplayer involves her playing some air guitar could be a possible reference to her playing her electric guitar from this game.
 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble: Water skipping returns. In the remake of this game, Cranky has a minigame at his dojo making his first playable appearance in the series.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns: Being a direct sequel to this game, the levels in Secret Seclusion have a remix of the music from the single Golden Temple stage in this game (which itself was remixed from Donkey Kong Jr.). Also, the design of Donkey Kong Island is based off its appearance in this game; all of the worlds from this game can be seen. Finally, a number of sound effects from this game are used. In the level Blurry Flurry, Mega Squeekly has a cameo still alive in the background while frozen solid in an iceberg. The giant Eyeball from Handy Hazards makes a cameo in the background of the level "Frozen Frenzy" frozen in place. In the level Rocking Relics, a part of the music has a cover of the Boombox beat from Donkey Kong's hut.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: One of the games Donkey Kong plays on his Nintendo 3DS during his idle animation is this game. During the animation, he can be heard passing a Goomba and collecting a coin.
 * Mario Kart 7: Donkey Kong sometimes plays it during his idle animation. He is heard playing as himself, picking up a Super Leaf item, and avoiding a Green Shell.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: The Crash Guard, Green Balloon, and Portable DK Barrels originated in this game. Also, this is one of the games Donkey Kong plays on his Nintendo 3DS during his idle animation. He is heard in Cranky Kong's Shop, as well as activating a secret path in a level.

Trivia

 * The name "Tropical Freeze" is a pun on the term "tropical breeze".
 * In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Donkey Kong is shown playing a Nintendo 3DS with one of the following games: Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.
 * Funky Kong makes a Legend of Zelda reference for the Crash Guards (very similarly to how Cranky Kong does in Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D with the DK Barrels) by saying, "Vehicle troubles? It's dangerous to go alone - take one of these!"