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Rumour Vicarious Visions was working on an open-world 3D Donkey Kong game called 'Donkey Kong Freedom' for Nintendo Switch back in 2016

ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
NLG's track record is a little weird and hit or miss. I don't think the new Mario Strikers was well received and Federation Force obviously was not.
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I honestly think they were hamstrung by the decision to make Strikers a live service game. They launched to barebones content wise, and it never got the sales to justify them actually filling out the content. There's a solid foundation there, there just isn't enough game.

I remember a YouTuber comparing it to Smash Brothers launching with just final destination and 10 characters.
 
Professor Chops said:


@LiamRobertson Great video! I had no idea the game was going to be Burton-esque. Now I'm even more upset.
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Thank you! That’s just one developer’s testimony re: the art style. Not sure if the Bala’s would have described it that way but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
Probably someone who wanted to fabricate details to make it seem cooler.
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I definitely want to give DK Vine the benefit of the doubt. A lot of what they said I was able to corroborate like the vine grinding. If I wasn’t able to substantiate something, it doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t true.
 
I'm not really a DK fan. I play and enjoy Destiny and VV's work on it really saved the game. But the studio deserved better. Fuck Activision.
 
LiamRobertson said:
Thank you! That’s just one developer’s testimony re: the art style. Not sure if the Bala’s would have described it that way but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.


I definitely want to give DK Vine the benefit of the doubt. A lot of what they said I was able to corroborate like the vine grinding. If I wasn’t able to substantiate something, it doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t true.
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Great video and thank you for your work! (but now I’m so sad for VV team T_T )

Ps: no joke, i totally can see Miyamoto worrying about DK feet 😂
 
Lugia667 said:
man I remember what high hopes people had for VV after N-Sane
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It also paints a picture how different things can be at a dev studio when a game is done versus how the fans receive the game. You could be playing one of the best games of the year while your favorite studio is being suffocated regardless of their success. The worst part is how Activision basically got all the reward from N.Sane while VV got the axe.
 
It’s so funny to see posts (and drama) I followed in real-time be featured on a semi-notable YouTube channel lmao.
 
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Sin & Punishment said:
Next Level Games could easily make a great Donkey Kong game.

Also, I'm not expecting Retro Studios to ever touch the franchise again. For Prime 4 they staffed up big time on vets of Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, etc. I don't think you make a DK game with that type of personnel on hand.
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People didn't think they were doing DK when they were hiring folks from Naughty Dog, Vigil, etc. Retro have also hired people who worked primarily on cartooney games for Prime 4 as well. Even someone from Pixar.
 
I can only hope Microsoft grants Vicarious Visions (now named Blizzard Albany) their independence like they did for Toys for Bob and they can join their ex-coworkers at Velan. But it seems things aren't going well at Velan either as they had to cancel a project recently and had some layoffs.

For DK, it seems to be that revival of the franchise can only happen through Retro. They need to get on the Country series once again once the work on Prime 4 ends.
 
9-Volt said:
I can only hope Microsoft grants Vicarious Visions (now named Blizzard Albany) their independence like they did for Toys for Bob and they can join their ex-coworkers at Velan. But it seems things aren't going well at Velan either as they had to cancel a project recently and had some layoffs.

For DK, it seems to be that revival of the franchise can only happen through Retro. They need to get on the Country series once again once the work on Prime 4 ends.
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A new DK can get made by any studio Nintendo approves a pitch from. It's not "Retro or nobody".

But there's no way the former VV gets it's independence like Toys for Bob. They're too integrated into Blizzard now.
 
Hailinel said:
A new DK can get made by any studio Nintendo approves a pitch from. It's not "Retro or nobody".
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Well... 10 years and still nothing. It appears they might have rejected pitches if there were any.

Of course, there are better options for DK outside of Nintendo family, but DK's best shot of grand revival from the Nintendo owned studios should be Retro.
 
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VV has been absorbed into Blizzard these days. The best thing is to hope for more interesting projects from Velan. I hope they make it through this rough patch of downsizing.
 
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Stilt Village said:
Next Level Games:
  • Great at making detailed environments
  • Great at cartoon characters
  • Has no idea how to design a platformer
  • Do not have anyone who can do the music justice

Retro Studios making DKCR:
  • Great at making detailed environments
  • Cannot do cartoon characters
  • Has no idea how to design a platformer
  • Do not have anyone who can do the music justice

If they were afforded the same resources and room for iteration, I think it would be fine. ...Not that I expect NLG to ever make a DKC.
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The step up between returns and tf may be one of the largest gaps between a game and its sequal ever in terms of quality.

Returns felt like a nsmbifiction of dk to me and then tf came out and got rid of that feeling entirely.


Anyway atp I think Nintendo makes dk themselves
 
Djehuty said:
The step up between returns and tf may be one of the largest gaps between a game and its sequal ever in terms of quality.

Returns felt like a nsmbifiction of dk to me and then tf came out and got rid of that feeling entirely.
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Damn Returns was already a top five 2D platformer of all time, but Tropical Freeze makes everyone retroactively shit on it lol

The world themes and music were mostly generic, but each individual level's environment design and assets were uniquely crafted. I won't let this slander stand 😢
 
Lord Azrael said:
Damn Returns was already a top five 2D platformer of all time, but Tropical Freeze makes everyone retroactively shit on it lol

The world themes and music were mostly generic, but each individual level's environment design and assets were uniquely crafted. I won't let this slander stand 😢
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Yeah, I think Returns is a lot better overall in terms of progression and world design. The controls and soundtrack are hard to get past for a lot of people unfortunately.
 
Lord Azrael said:
Damn Returns was already a top five 2D platformer of all time, but Tropical Freeze makes everyone retroactively shit on it lol

The world themes and music were mostly generic, but each individual level's environment design and assets were uniquely crafted. I won't let this slander stand 😢
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That’s fine. I’m going to keep slandering it anyway. I’m happy it exists but returns is easily the worst 2d game In the series and it’s not even close.

The og trilogy still hold up amazingly
 
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MisterSpo said:
THIS CHRISTMAS

for 2D DK
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honestly I'm still more likely to believe the rumor of EPD tokyo working on both a 2D DK and 3D Mario rather than Nintendo EPD taking an external studio project internally.

Especially when said project would have just been in development for 6 months meaning really no useable assets and even basic gameplay concepts would still to be prototyped more.

And at least if you consider development timeline that'd mean something that'd been gestating since 2017 (tho I can't discount the possibility of the project simply being put in the backburner tho that seems a bit dubious imo)

And finally with the EPD Tokyo rumors we still had some legit job postings for a 2D action game back in 2020 :


[Project Hiring] "Level Designer for a new 2D action game" (Tokyo office) has been posted.
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To not confuse with EPD Kyoto job postings back in 2019 for also a 2D game which was most likely Mario Wonder.
 
Great video. The way things went down, this project makes wayyyy more sense as a pitch rather than a commission. I can believe that for sure.
 
Mer.Saloon said:
While Liam couldn't confirm many of the specifics from DKVine's coverage I'm now more inclined to give Hyle the benefit of the doubt on the more specific Miyamoto details just 'cause, who on earth reaches out to a Donkey Kong fansite to spill the beans first? Unless they were someone really really close to the project and really pissed about it being cancelled.
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It's the nature of compartmentalized games that don't see fruition
 
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