Poor old Donkey Kong. Despite having helped make Nintendo a key player in the world of video games in the 1981 arcade title bearing his own name, he's always been cast in Mario's shadow. I've often found it hard to fathom exactly why his character doesn't have quite the same appeal - it's a gorilla in a necktie, for heaven's sake! - but the apathy has snowballed over the years, so that when Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came out some four years ago on the Wii U it was met in some quarters with little more than a shrug.
Some of that apathy is understandable, admittedly. The Wii U's paltry install base meant it was never going to get a rousing reception, regardless of its quality, and there's always been a slight stigma around the Donkey Kong Country series. Rare's original SNES trio were fine games - and fine looking, of course, thanks to the ACM technique responsible for their unique look - but they never really displayed the same level of craft and ingenuity as the very best of Nintendo's output of the time.
Couple that with the sense of disappointment that developer Retro Studios was taken away from the beloved Metroid Prime series for this most unlikely of reboots back in 2010 - and the subsequent dismay that Retro Studios would also make what looked like a copy and paste sequel in 2014 - and it's no wonder that it all went a little unloved. A small shame, really - for my money, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze is a rival for the original Metroid Prime as an example of Retro Studios' very best work.
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