It's sad to see Returns get so much flack when it brought the DKC brand back to life and made Donkey Kong relevant again. Prior to DKCR, DK fans lived in a dark age of bongos and other experimental spin offs. Returns might be one of the most important DKC games ever and saved the franchise. Cut it some slack.
Highly agreed. I'm striking a balance to let people air their grievances but I absolutely loved DKCR. The only DKC I wouldn't return to (lol) is DKC1 since it's too basic for my tastes nowadays, which is fine cuz it's the 1st one, but the rest all have something special going for it.
With DKCR I thought the Banjo-Kazooie style partnering was clever; we played as both Kongs at once. I didn't exactly see Diddy as a powerup and Jungle Climber was the first game to do this, but DKCR gets the most flak for it. It solved the logistic problem of the inactive Kong trailing behind. Yes I would've loved to play as Diddy solo, but having him back in a platformer was a step in the right direction.
Nobody seems to acknowledge this, but Returns also had the best minecart stages in the series, as well as the most. Bombs Away and Prehistoric Path blew my mind with how they made the cart go off-rails. They constantly shifted our understanding of the level and kept my adrenaline pumping throughout. Grip & Trip and Roasting Rails deserves a ton of credit for combining clinging with fast-paced cart stages as well.
Most stages are far more dynamic than any from Rare's trilogy too, and not just cuz of updated graphics. Weaving in and out of the fore, middle and background was excellent and makes the stages feel far more alive; it stretches what we took for granted as 2D platformers and gives the game depth, especially when most others of the genre are flat obstacle courses. Longshot Launch was jaw-dropping when I first played it. Using barrels to shoot deep into the forest for what appears to be miles in treetop town was exciting. In the first DKC, Treetop Town used barrels extensively, so having Longshot Launch take it to the literal next level and fire you dynamically through the stage was something we've never seen. And Music Madness? We've always loved DK's music, but nobody's ever thought to weave a soundtrack with a level and have it sync with the obstacles. It was impossible to play that level without being impressed, AND we got a mesmerizing remix of Fear Factory from it. I'd happily replay all those levels and more. There's dozens I could name: Handy Hazards, Tippy Shippy, Clingy Swingy, etc...
Another thing worth mentioning, is that DKCR gave us the silhouette levels. That was something we'd only see from indies, so a big-budget platformer pulling it off was exciting. Sunset Shore set an atmospheric tone, and the Beach section was a welcome addition, because it told us early on that we'd be visiting new areas of DK Island in addition to the jungle, temple, cave and factory. The Beach brought us Mast Blast, Rocket Barrels, Sloppy Sands, Stormy Shore and Tidal Terror; honestly the locales were beautiful at the time, so it hurt even more to see it ruined by the Snowmads. I cannot imagine a DKC without silhouette levels now and we have DKCR to thank for it.
With bosses, Retro stepped up what I expected from a DKC. I don't like any from DKC1 aside from King K. Rool; resizing beavers, vultures, a bee and an oil drum + giving them more hitpoints isn't fun, and the 2 recolor bosses aren't either. DKC2 did much better with theirs; the only one IDC for is Kapain Krow, but his ghost is much better. Kleever, Kudgel, King Zing, Kreepy Krow and Kapt. K. Rool were excellent fights, but DKC2 was the lone exception in that trilogy because none of DKC3's bosses were fun to fight either. Fighting The Mole Train, Mangoruby, Thugly, Col. Pluck and yes, even Tiki Tong was really fun. We FINALLY got a minecart boss, and they combined that with lethal Wack A Mole. Clinging was a brand new mechanic, and they threw a boss at us (Mangoruby) that made us navigate using it. Thugly was just a fun fight overall with all his tricks, and we all know how fun Col. Pluck was. Fighting a giant robot chicken and giving him crotch shots was hilarious. Tiki Tong was serviceable since we've seen that concept done to death but still it was a solid fight nonetheless.
Lastly we have enemies. The main faction is wack, but I like their cohesive theme. Their musical element is a nice touch, and they have a more coherent reason to steal bananas than K. Rool did. Both are nonsensical, but tikis using it for magic surprisingly makes more sense, and we recently learned that Rare put no thought into why DK's bananas got stolen outside of: umm, he's a monkee. Most of the tikis are garbage; outside of bosses there's nothing going for them beyond musical motifs and who they're possessing. They don't have the charm of Kremlings, or even whoever we beat up in Jungle Beat, but they don't bring the game down and are mostly meh than anything else.
Overall, Returns was an excellent game and far from generic. Any given level from Returns has more going on in it than NSMB Wii--which IS generic--or Rayman Origins, which isn't generic in the slightest but is near-completely 2D. A generic game has nothing going on in its fore or background. Rayman and DKCR have tons of things going on and are far more immersive; with either of those games you feel involved and yet you're free to blast through the stage or slow down and appreciate what's happening. Retro even said they avoided random floating platforms, and made everything integrated into their level. Handy Hazards's obstacles are all controlled by an AI that's tracking you while you navigate the stage. There are literal essays about the immaculate detail these stages have, and Rare wouldn't dare attempt that level of cohesion if they could. Each level tells a story; for instance when you enter a new World (AKA Section), it contains elements from the previous one. It's an organic transition that we rarely see in other games, so people calling it bland is honestly inaccurate. The gameplay was slick, tight and gave us the first action-packed DKC. All that held it back was motion controls honestly, and no water levels despite Jungle Beat giving us a great example of such is no excuse. Tropical Freeze kicks DKCR's ass but to downplay it as some half-hearted cash grab in NSMB's league is misguided at best.
Retro packed more detail into DKCR than they did Metroid Prime 3. Let that sink in. Reading their interviews and Iwata Asks made it clear they took the franchise very seriously and put their best feet forward. The aesthetic changed from Rare's era, but that's to be expected from a new studio, much like Crash 4 and I won't fault them for not being a pixel-to-pixel match of Rare's trilogy. Despite the aesthetic differences, the Jungle, Temple, Caves, Forest, and Factory felt very much like the ones from the 1st DKC and are certainly the same location. The Kremlings missing is no doubt disappointing, but overall they would've been an excellent icing on an already very delicious cake. DKCR was one of the best platformers of its gen.
