Drack

I stand by what I said. You can beat this game without using a single roll jump, and there really aren't many secrets that need it. Think back to Twilight princess where every sword strike requires the same waggle, or SMG and NSMBWii where every spin jump needs the same waggle motion. You do those actions in those games way more than you need to roll in DKCR. Is it annoying? Yes, especially in time trials. Would a classic controller option with buttons for roll and pound be one of my suggestions for improving the game? Absolutely. But raising a ruckus about it when waggle is a much smaller part of the game than it is in Zelda:TP, SMG, NSMBWii, etc is making a mountain out of a molehill.

Retro studios delivers. Waggle is only used as a button replacement, a la SMG or Twilight Princess. It's not a big deal, and you don't really need to roll a lot anyway. I don't know why you guys are complaining about the music either. Just listen to a song like this one and you know that the groove is still very much intact. Many of the songs are , whether you like that or not is up to you, but I like it.There are only 2 things "missing" imo: Kremlings and water levels. The bosses are much deeper (about three or four patterns per boss, and there's usually a "berserk" form as well), the platforming is the same good ol' DKC style we know and love, and the fact that they used Super Guide in this game lets them ratchet up the difficulty to beyond what they'd be comfortable putting in a "casual" game. I definitely like Super Guide for this reason, though of course I never use it. This is a true DKC sequel, and an instant must-have for any fan of the series. As far as the "feel" of the game goes, it's feels much more like DKC1 than it does DKC2 or DKC3. I'm on the final boss. EDIT: The youtube link that some of you thought was the first boss music was pulled .. . The first 30 sec or so is intro cinematic. It's nothing special, but it's not hideous. OST Youtube Playlist

Thread is back? Awesome! Lemme post a few more pics (click for flickr links).

I don't recall reading in this thread a huge change: TMs are reusable. Holy crap. There is no excuse not to use them when they help. Naw, it's mostly full of steel types. Still annoying though. Have I mentioned how awesome some of the music for this game is? Check out this track, or this track. Sweet. New game mechanic: ========== Critical Throw. You'll know it when you get it. You throw a pokeball and instead of the normal "whoosh" sound when you throw it, you get a "SHINK!" sound like you're unsheathing a knife. The pokeball sucks them in as usual, but it vibrates a bit in midair before settling down. It then only rocks ONCE before capture, though it can still fail if you wouldn't have made it to 2 rocks. This is a rare occurrance, maybe 5% of throws. ==========

There's a BUG with the battle animations. Even when you turn battle scene off, you still get animations for random things like leech seed and hitting yourself from confusion. ＝＝6th gym== It has cannons reminiscent of Mario 64's .. though you can't aim them freely. Still pretty cool gimmick =========

Bring lots of max repels (ゴールドスプレー) with you when you go to the electric rock cave (電気石の洞穴). The wild encounter rate is ridiculously high and you'll likely run out of PP before you're done if you don't. Seriously it's commonly 1 wild encounter every 2 steps. What the hell, game freak?

I feel like I'm the only one with a legit copy (imported). I also feel like I'm the only one in this thread who knows Japanese. >_< In case I'm mistaken about the latter, I swear, whenever ゲーチス (The team plasma spokesperson) talks, I learn a bunch of new words. Even the other NPCs comment on how eloquent he is. I now call him "The vocabulary guy" Anyway, I've been playing rather slowly, as I'm looking up words to make sure I understand all the text. That, and I'm also working full time. I'm just past 5th gym atm. I will say this though. The fire starter is by far the strongest, at least from what I've played so far. Definitely easy mode. New game mechanic: ========== Rotation battles. You and your opponent send out 3 pokemon at once. However, you only attack with one per turn. Any pokemon can attack at any turn (no switching penalty), and you don't know which pokemon of the three your opponent is going to use. Once you and you opponent have chosen which 'mon and which move you attack with, they "rotate" into position so that the chosen pokemon are attacking and defending, and the moves are played out as if it were a single battle. This continues each turn until all three pokemon on one of the teams have been defeated. ==========

Definitely feeling this. The game has a lot of polish, but the designs of the 'mons are really disappointing. EDIT: The evolution animation is really stupid. Your pokemon DISSOLVES and REASSEMBLES in the evolved form.

Well, I don't want to get into a debate about whether it's a quality game. It is. I just don't like it. -Don't like the controls. It may be because I only played the beginning, but the player character felt very constrained and not easily maneuverable. I have the same complaint about Resident Evil (and sometimes MGS) games too, though, so take that any way you want. -Don't like the frailty of the character. The initial boss kills you in 2 hits, not even enough time to figure out the pattern. Ok, I can understand frailty in and of itself, that's a big part of Ninja Gaiden, for example .. but in NG you don't have the first problem. Your character is fast and nimble and when I got hit I genuinely thought I could have avoided it by playing better. In demon's souls when I got hit I felt like the game had forced me into it by making my character as clunky as possible, then the excessive damage killing me off in punishment for the game's own faults. Not a recipe for fun. -Random death traps (like bottomless pits) that don't even look significantly different from the other scenery. Seriously, punish me for going to the sparkly thing, sending me back 5 minutes with an instant death? Way to go, game. -It seems that playing along with the game's parry system wasn't worth it, and didn't fare significantly better than regular attacks. That's why I didn't like it. You asked for it, and I bet you disagree. I'm not interested in debate, it's just my opinion. The same friend whose house I went to to play demon's souls also had Darksiders. That game I liked much, much better. It actually felt like a proper action game, with much carnage and over-the-top attacks. Thumbs up for Darksiders.

IMPORTERS: THIS GAME IS REGION LOCKED, IT WILL NOT PLAY ON AMERICAN DSi OR DSi XL. It will play on any DS fat or DS Lite, though. I didn't realize this before finding it out on another site because I'm playing it on a DS Lite. Anyone mind if I don't use spoiler text for obvious non-spoiler things? For those who are studying Japanese, at the start of the game you can select to have everything in kana or to use kanji No furigana is provided (and you can't touch for readings either as text is on the top screen). Everything is so much easier to read with kanji, though it's a bit cramped with 11 pixel fonts. Shops are inside pokemon centers now. The trainer battle music changes when you're low on HP. The annoying beeps are actually in rhythm to the music now. It's a lot like how the music changes in Skies of Arcadia during boss fights depending on how well you're doing. The current villainous team (Team Plasma) is taking an interesting stance. They're saying that humans and Pokemon should live apart, and protest you "imprisoning" them in your pokeballs. Seems like Team Plasma is the PETA of the pokemon world. You do a battle in the school in the first city ... but the classroom is perfectly fine afterwards >_< Seems as though the room-wrecking capabilities of pokemon only apply when they're in YOUR room. =====New game mechanic===== Tall, dark grass. In it, wild pokemon can appear in pairs. Double battles =====First Gym===== First gym has 3 leaders. Fire, grass, water. I picked grass as my starter, so they picked fire as the leader I had to challenge. Good thing one of the trainers in the area to the right of the city gave me a water monkey (Hiyappu)! =====

ROFL. You do your first battle INSIDE YOUR ROOM. The pokemon tear it up completely, with footprints all over the walls etc.

An online name is a first impression. No more, no less. Is it the right impression? That's for you to decide.

Speechcraft has to be one of the dumbest game mechanics in any game ever.

Importing this on Japanese launch (2 weeks!). I know Japanese, so I may be able to answer some questions about it.

Fantastic music, Willrock. Thanks!