Unsurprisingly, DKCR’s multiplayer is very similar to Nintendo’s other multiplayer platforming gem, New Super Mario Bros. The game’s difficulty ratchets up steeply, turning simple challenges into arduous tasks that could strain an otherwise healthy cooperative relationship. When two players are separate, the screen size is small enough to create some perilous blind jumps and mad dashes that will leave a slow monkey behind.
At these points, two players are essentially playing a single player game while putting two lives at risk. All the levels in the Cave world are on rails, literally, forcing both players into a single cart that either person can control. A misfired barrel could hurl both players to their doom, and there are a lot of them. Unfortunately, Diddy and Kong each have only two hearts and share cumulative lives, decreasing their survivability while doubling the opportunities to die and earn yourself a game over.Ĭooperative DKCR is nearly an entirely different and disheartening experience. It also helps to have an extra set of hands to snag puzzle pieces, combo into enemies, and snatch up stray banana coins. The second player can still mount DK, allowing Diddy to shoot his peanut gun while giving the first player the ability to hover with the jetpack. When two players occupy the screen, each character becomes less than the sum of their parts. Both characters can roll, slam the ground, and make all the same mistakes. Besides the two very helpful additions increasing the gorilla’s survivability, the game plays essentially the same. Diddy also adds two hearts to the player’s total, representing Diddy’s personal life meter. Having Diddy along for the ride, perched atop DK’s back, allows players to temporarily sustain air time by using Diddy’s jetpack.
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When playing alone, Donkey Kong can free Diddy and gain his assistance by finding and destroying DK barrels.
DKCR is legitimately difficult, noticeably more so than New Super Mario Bros Wii, and later levels will absolutely test even the most seasoned platforming veterans, particularly if 100 percent completion is a goal” ( “ Donkey Kong Country Returns“, PopMatters, 14 January 2011). As Subramanian states: “Like its predecessors, this is a solid, old-school platformer through and through. The single-player campaign of DKCR is unapologetically demanding. When difficulty is a factor, cooperative gaming fundamentally alters a gaming experience and not always for the better. Many games are improved with a second player by your side, but Donkey Kong Country Returns is not one of them. I absolutely adore most attempts at couch co-op. Notably absent from Subramanian’s review, however, is mention of DKCR’s two-player mode, in which one player controls DK while the other flits about as Diddy. PopMatters own Arun Subramanian reviewed DKCR, giving it a well deserved eight out of ten.
Donkey Kong Country Returns brings back the Nintendo icons replete with the colorful textures and joyful score, recreating the charm DK’s and Diddy’s first jovial romp. Seventeen years after Donkey Kong swung through the trees and into our hearts in Donkey Kong Country, the lovable ape and Diddy, his similarly simian sidekick, have indeed returned.
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