18th June 2013, 6:09 AM
They ported the game to the 3DS very recently. The graphics are almost unchanged, excepting interface changes and the lower resolution of the 3DS screen (which is starting to become the system's Achilles heel, aside from the lack of a second stick, heck it can have two heels, most people do).
There are a few big changes. The big bullet point from Nintendo is an additional "lost world" full of new levels. That's good, but what gets swept under the rug are the controls. The Wii version was a 2D platformer that, like a lot of Wii 2D platformers, had wiggle and waggle dumped into it where it wasn't wanted. Otherwise awesome games like Kirby's Return to Dreamland and New Super Mario Bros. Wii had rather important control features assigned to "shaking about the wii remote with no rhyme or reason". While NSMBW and KRTDL (wow, those are unwieldy acronyms) used it pretty sparingly, DKCR ended up being the worst offender, with 4 rather important moves being assigned all at once to shaking the controller about. These moves, like "rolling", were used often and with precise timing, and as such you just didn't get the precision you needed for a lot of challenges, which had to be attempted over and over again anyway due to the game's pleasantly high difficulty.
Well no more! The 3DS does have motion controls built into the system, but fortunately the 3DS version assigns ALL of these functions to L and R instead (or X and Y, depending on your control scheme). This is a welcome relief. Suddenly parts that were incredibly frustrating due to control issues are now much easier. (Others are still tough for waggle-unrelated reasons.)
Also, the 2 player game was done very well, but the camera was somewhat annoying. Someone can shoot too far ahead of you and you're running entirely blind, partly because of the level design which kept them from coming back for you half the time. The new game is on the 3DS, so camera issues are negated. The fault here is that both players need a copy of the game for co-op to work. No "download mode" to be found here.
In short, the game looks as amazing as it did on the Wii (the 3DS is a portable Wii in terms of power, aside from a lower screen resolution), has better controls, and better camera management during multiplayer. Oh, and an extra lost world. If you didn't get the game on the Wii, this is the version to get. If you DID get it on the Wii, these changes might be enough to warrant picking up this version. I for one would love to see "New Super Mario Bros. Wii 3D" and "Kirby's Return to Dreamland 3D" to fix similar control issues, but those games weren't nearly as bad with the wiggle and waggle as DKCR was.
There are a few big changes. The big bullet point from Nintendo is an additional "lost world" full of new levels. That's good, but what gets swept under the rug are the controls. The Wii version was a 2D platformer that, like a lot of Wii 2D platformers, had wiggle and waggle dumped into it where it wasn't wanted. Otherwise awesome games like Kirby's Return to Dreamland and New Super Mario Bros. Wii had rather important control features assigned to "shaking about the wii remote with no rhyme or reason". While NSMBW and KRTDL (wow, those are unwieldy acronyms) used it pretty sparingly, DKCR ended up being the worst offender, with 4 rather important moves being assigned all at once to shaking the controller about. These moves, like "rolling", were used often and with precise timing, and as such you just didn't get the precision you needed for a lot of challenges, which had to be attempted over and over again anyway due to the game's pleasantly high difficulty.
Well no more! The 3DS does have motion controls built into the system, but fortunately the 3DS version assigns ALL of these functions to L and R instead (or X and Y, depending on your control scheme). This is a welcome relief. Suddenly parts that were incredibly frustrating due to control issues are now much easier. (Others are still tough for waggle-unrelated reasons.)
Also, the 2 player game was done very well, but the camera was somewhat annoying. Someone can shoot too far ahead of you and you're running entirely blind, partly because of the level design which kept them from coming back for you half the time. The new game is on the 3DS, so camera issues are negated. The fault here is that both players need a copy of the game for co-op to work. No "download mode" to be found here.
In short, the game looks as amazing as it did on the Wii (the 3DS is a portable Wii in terms of power, aside from a lower screen resolution), has better controls, and better camera management during multiplayer. Oh, and an extra lost world. If you didn't get the game on the Wii, this is the version to get. If you DID get it on the Wii, these changes might be enough to warrant picking up this version. I for one would love to see "New Super Mario Bros. Wii 3D" and "Kirby's Return to Dreamland 3D" to fix similar control issues, but those games weren't nearly as bad with the wiggle and waggle as DKCR was.