Best Donkey Kong Games

One notable change in this game compared to its predecessor is its darker and creepier tone. For example, the original plays it safer, as you are just trying to get your banana hoard back from the Kremlings. In the sequel, Donkey Kong has been captured, and you are alone in an environment where everything wants to kill you.

The music itself also sounds much moodier than in the previous game. It's pretty obvious that they were taking cues from Genesis and Phil Collins for the soundtrack. Some examples include the new jack swing-sounding Hot Head Bop, the elegant Forest Interlude, the Eurodance-influenced Disco Train, and the gorgeous Stickerbush Symphony. For me, the tone itself is what matters most about this game.

Childhood at its best. A collectathon even more. It's a one-of-a-kind Donkey Kong game. No matter how bad it ages or how old it gets, it will always be the 7th best-selling game on the Nintendo 64. It's number one on my Nintendo 64 list. I don't think anyone could top this game, but it can't surpass the original DKC series.

Such a hard choice! This one has to be the best because of the world design. Not only that, but it's the last good Donkey Kong. Tropical Freeze and the Wii one are good, but they will never compare to Rareware's Donkey Kong games.

Best levels in the game:
Definitely Tree Top Town. It's just a fun level to hop across the redwood trees! Snow Barrel Blast is another good example. Blasting through the snow-covered hills is exciting. Orangutan Gang is my favorite jungle level in the game.

Worst levels in the game:
Any level where I kept dying. Stop and Go Station is a good example. With those zombie Kremlings, you're going to have a hard time. Elevator Antics is another level where I kept dying. You don't know where the elevator platforms are going! Blackout Basement is also a really hard level. The lights turn on and off at random, and enemy placement is cheap!

The soundtrack is phenomenal. Sure, it's mostly just remasters or remixes of the original game, but the remasters sound so good. My favorite is the Tree Top Rock and Life In The Mines remasters. The new songs are great as well. Music Madness, anyone? I always move my fingers to the beat of the song and mimic the hazards in the stage. The soundtrack just rocks, in my opinion!

The rocket barrel levels. AAARRGH! And what's worse is that you have to use the rocket barrel to get to the final boss of the game, Tiki Tong! But aside from those levels, it's still my second favorite game in the franchise.

If Returns was a reboot of the series, then Tropical Freeze blows Returns out of the water. It introduced two new returning characters, Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong, plus Funky Kong in the Switch version. The gameplay is tight, and the graphics are just as beautiful as Returns, with the stage Grassland Groove proving that. In fact, the whole Bright Savannah world is great. The Snowmads are a bunch of amazing new villains. I mean, come on! Their leader is a Viking walrus!

Plus, when I went to E3 2013 in the summer, I played the Big Top Bop boss stage. That's when I really wanted to have this game. When February 2014 rolled around, oh boy...

It is definitely the black sheep of the trilogy, but it serves as a great conclusion to the original trilogy as well. Kiddy Kong may not be a great playable character, but you can go nuts with his divebomb ability.

The environments in the hub worlds and levels are diverse, taking various cues from the Canadian wilderness, the American Pacific Northwest, and the state of Colorado. It really reminds me of the great outdoors.

The music has a lot of emotion, which the previous games in the trilogy rarely had. For example, the music that plays in the underwater levels makes you feel scared about what's down below the ocean, while the cliff level music conveys a feeling of adventure.

The final boss is nothing special, though, and is a major disappointment compared to previous K. Rool boss fights.

As someone who was mainly into the Donkey Kong Country series, I never really got into DK's spinoff titles. However, one really got my attention, and it's Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

I remember when I bought this game secondhand (plus the bongos) in 2013, around the time when DKC: Tropical Freeze was announced. Let me say, it was worth the wait for that game. Jungle Beat is, of course, a platformer, but it's done in a more arcade style of gameplay where the more points (or beats in this game) you get, the better you become. It's a simple concept, but it's a fun game nonetheless. The soundtrack is good as well.

My only complaint is that when you use the bongo controller, your hands can get really sore from playing the bongos or clapping your hands.

I don't know why this has so few votes. It's better than the original DKCTF, not by much, but it still is better. It's the same great game but with an extra character and mode.