Hobocop

A bit surprised no one’s mentioned two of my favourite games/series. First, TimeSplitters 2/3, which probably have the best multiplayer cast of any FPS I’ve ever played. The enemies (and allies for that matter) in both the story and multiplayer always have me laughing; for example, the dialogue when you use the flamethrower on the snowman who is flying around on a magic carpet. Other enemies include a cactus sheriff, gingerbread man, sock puppet, and of course various kinds of monkeys. Second, the Parodius series makes me laugh as a whole, but that’s probably due to how seemingly random it all is. The boss designs in particular. Video:

Still using my seven year old Creative Zen Vision: M. It works just as well as the day I got it whereas if I had an iPod I am certain I would have had to buy multiples over this time period. It's durability reminds me of the old Game Boy. It's fallen onto concrete multiple times mid-sprint, skidding and/or tumbling at least 50 metres each time; been submerged under water for 5-10 seconds more than once (no not toilet); and been lost under snow for a few minutes. If it ever died I'd go with Cowon for sure - best sound and no iTunes. iPods are so overrated =|

I was hoping the Toys R Us deal would apply to us to take the cost down a bit but it was a no go Instead I got the Best Buy deal ($10 off two games) and $30 for Rayman at Costco... good enough for me. And like Damned said, I've been surprised that prices are equal to those of the US as well. And EB Games isn't even charging $5 more for first party games like they always do! As for the 3D, I wasn't immediately impressed admittedly, but it really grew on me. I later played for hours on end with no eye problems (yet). Also, Faceraiders is epic the first time you play it

Nice! Every time I see a DKCR speed run I can't help but wonder why new Sonic games can't be more like this...

I'm still waiting for someone to mash up Stickerbush Symphony and Children by Robert Miles. Shameless self plug

Looks like this game is starting to have a healthy speed run community too. Some of the videos on this guy's page are insane. http://www.youtube.com/user/JoeFenix

There's no way you're not going to be using the roll jump frequently if you're going for 100%. Many of the puzzle pieces require the technique, it's unavoidable. It just sucks when you are near the end of a difficult stage (knowing it takes a few minutes to get there from the last checkpoint) trying to get the last piece and your roll jump doesn't register despite giving it a good enough shake. The music isn't horrible, but it fell far short of expectations for a lot of people it seems. The original tracks get better later in the game admittedly (like the Cliffs, Volcano), but the remixes are just so shallow. The only track that is an improvement over the original, in my opinion, is the main bonus room theme (and maybe some of the mine cart and Northern Hemispheres ones are close). The music feels more like an afterthought than an evolution... either way I hope sales are great and they make another soon.

I think I'm going crazy because I can't stop thinking about Quacker Jack's music from the NES Darkwing Duck game when I hear this.

As someone who also fits that demographic, I'd recommend it as a rental. In my opinion, it's a good game, one of the better Sonic games in the last decade. The graphics and environments are great, and some of the music is among the best I've heard this console generation. But you could always just download it and be done with it. I kind of wish I didn't buy it. I like it a lot, but unless you want to memorize the levels and go for speed run records, it won't have too much replay value (discount the multiplayer right off the bat, it sucks). It's a pretty short game and is missing a bit considering the price.

Depends what you're looking for... defeating Bowser at the end of Galaxy 2 in one try was disappointing. The last boss in DKCR is crazy hard and it feels great beating the game. I just wish they did to DKCR's music what they did for Galaxy. Not to mention there is no sign of anything past the first game here...

I'm 99% sure that's not the boss music. The other 1% isn't sure because the boss music here is so forgettable. They should have just stuck this in there

Well, I use the Wiimote sideways, and a little tap isn't enough you actually have to move it a fair amount for it to register. So pressing left or right, plus 1 to run, then shaking the Wiimote followed by a quick jump using 2 gets way too clustered. This is compounded by the fact that you want to minimize the amount you shake the Wiimote so you have more time to use the jump... it can get bad (sometimes it doesn't register for example, and you just run off the ledge). And as posted above sometimes you have to use the long jump after a long period after having reached a checkpoint, so it can become very frustrating. And on the subject of music, I'm a little disappointed. I played DKC1/2 the day before I got this (didn't have enough time for three ), and that music, especially the bass, is still unbelievable. This music sounds kind of cheap as if it was an afterthought, and lacks the kick in the subwoofers the originals had. Also, the original music sounds too generic (like the beach). There are some great surprises though (possible minor spoilers)... I thought that the Stormy beach level would have been great with DKC2's water music, but when the music from the snow levels from the first game started playing ... honestly I thought that track would have been overlooked but it fit in great.

Yeah seems like everyone is complaining about those motion controls (even though it could have been a lot worse), so the people at Retro had to know they weren't a good idea. I'm guessing someone at NCL imposed them onto the game

Wow I take back any doubts I had with this game, it is soooo good (at least thus far). Once you get used to having to waggle to roll - which really sucks at first, especially if you're going for time - there are few issues if any. For those worried about replay value, I spent 2-3 hours on the first three levels alone (to be fair a good portion of that was spent seeing all the different things Cranky says), and there are supposely over 70 levels. Anyone worrying it might not feel like DKC should also put those worries away. The secret areas and bonus rooms are cleverly placed and finding everything in each level gives this game a feeling that it was a great investment (I've gotten more out of the first zone than I did out of Sonic Colors, and I actually liked that game).

I bought Sonic 4 about a week ago, played it for maybe 45 minutes and quit. I found it to be really bad. That had me thinking it was a mistake to preorder Colors (which I mainly did for the hat...). But I'm happy I picked this up, so far it's great The physics are at times problematic but I really encourage people to try it out, it's the best Sonic game for a very long time. And almost every level I've played up to this point is one I'll revisit to improve my time/score with enthusiasm, something that hasn't happened for me since the Sonic/Shadow levels in SA2.

I think one of the (relatively minor) issues I have with the music (and this is true for the levels as well) is that every piece/place I have heard or seen so far reminds me of the jungle. Sure it's DKC, but perhaps the greatest thing about the original games were that they were able to make you feel that you were in far off landscapes, even within the island... this time it feels like there is too much continuity between the levels shown and that is reflected in the music. I mean, it seems like there are cave levels... in a jungle. Canyon levels... in a jungle. Volcano... in a jungle. Then again that's not necessarily a bad thing for everyone, but I really hope the various settings are even half as strong as the originals.

I was about to say the music should be great considering who's doing it, but those samples provided earlier... I don't know, seems like those tracks were made more shallow. I hope I'm wrong but I'm apprehensive at this point.

So... with all the cross promotional copies breaking the street date, anyone get one yet? Game Informer was the first to review it and the game got a 9.5 It also got Game of the Month, and there are scans of the article around now. Edit: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/9213/scan0004q.jpg The last paragraph states "I've been looking forward to this game for months, but the final product blew me away. It's gorgeous visuals, awesome boss battles, varied stages, and cleverly hidden secrets guarantee gamers will have a great time revisiting this classic franchise... One of the best platformers I've ever played"

The only thing that surprised me when I saw this earlier today was that it took so long. Not especially extraordinary considering the industry climate, and I think that many of the comments on the link you provided are way too sensationalistic and over the top (someone refusing to buy their child this game over this? Sigh). On the other hand, I do love how Retro tried to spin this as an exciting development and as a show of respect from Nintendo towards their newest revival: http://retrostudios.com/news.asp Regardless, can't wait for the game ... over 70 levels and aquatic ambience remix

Tanabe: From the very beginning, there was a very strong desire on Mr. Miyamoto's part to offer up those original songs. Those original melodies. So those are the core of the music for this brand-new Donkey Kong Country. Retro: Just an interesting note, the same composer that did all the Metroid Prime stuff is working with Nintendo's composer on the NCL side, Mr. Yamamoto. We have a long relationship with him, and the goal was to use the familiar melodies but bring them into a more contemporary sound. We didn't want it any other way. How do you have DKC without that soundtrack? So we updated it, using the staff we've used with all the other games we've worked on. Sounds more substantial than that, in my opinion. And sorry if I gave off the impression that I thought every song in the originals would be preserved :s There are just some that are more familiar than others, and parts of that article seemed to put those "original songs" in an ambiguous area for the moment.

I'm also worried about the music from the water levels... they said they want to retain the key themes of the series but some of the best songs were from those kinds of levels. Interesting to see how they show up, if they do. I'm also wondering why they always respond with "there are no crocodiles/alligators in this game" instead of just outright saying K.Rool isn't in DKCR. It's not a game breaker if he isn't in the game, but it's interesting to see these answers. I know I'm looking too far into it, but the fact that they referred to K.Rool as both a crocodile and an alligator in seperate interviews makes me wonder if they are playing with semantics. Also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdUNrVzT97s

An uplifting read, in my opinion: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6266844.html I stopped playing Nintendo after my Wii broke about 2-3 years ago, and only missed it because I couldn't play my GC games. I got a 360 in the meantime which I never thought I would... But I got it fixed in May, and after E3 I'm really happy I did. The article makes me realize what Nintendo was planning all along. I thought they had abandoned the demographic that had kept them afloat through all the hard times, but they were just collecting enough money to come back with what we all really wanted... Nintendo is kind of like the father that leaves his kids one day and comes back a few years later to spoil them.

That's the analogy I thought of as well, but at least this game isn't that big of a stretch.

As mentioned in the post above, it's really unlikely. The developers said no in two seperate interviews. One is linked in the first post, the second is here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-donkey-kong/700682 Hopefully they are just lying to preserve surprise in the game though. Who knows, really. They seem to have overlooked a few big things (not necessarily bad in some cases), but they are getting a lot of small things right. One of the things I really liked about the old games was the level names (as discussed earlier in the thread). It seems that Retro even got that right; the first four levels of the game (besides Jungle Hijinx) are named Poppin' Planks, Rickety Rails, and Mugly's Mound. When I was in elementary school, the students in the highest grade put on a haunted house in the gym each year, and I remember calling our section Gloomy Gulch, after DKC2. Who says games aren't educational? On a similar note, I hope the overworld map screens are just as imaginative this time around. As for the bosses, I think they got a little better (for the most part) as the series progressed. The first game mostly had a beaver, a vulture, a bee and a barrel of industrial waste. The third game had an evil snowman with the best laugh ever. I miss that guy. Mugly looks a lot like Gnawty (the beaver), so I hope that Retro lives up to the bosses in lieu of the Kremlings. Edit: At 2:10 in that interview, does anyone know the music that is playing? It's soooo familiar but I just can't identify it. I know I've heard it a lot before... Edit 2: I figured it out! Why are they playing WWE music in an interview video for Donkey Kong :s

Don't forget Dumb Drum and King Zing Sting!