Donkey Kong Country Returns -- Initial Impression.

I'll be sticking to the Wii for my next game with Donkey Kong Country Returns. The game was developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo. Donkey Kong Country Returns is a new entry in the series created by Rare for the Super Nintendo. The original Donkey Kong Country titles were among the best selling Super Nintendo games and featured much ballyhooed for the time advanced computer modeling based graphics. They also featured some great platforming gameplay focused on collection and offered some of the best music the Super Nintendo ever put out courtesy of David Wise's awesome score. The reveal trailer at E3 2010 for Donkey Kong Country Returns was a huge surprise for most fans of the series, myself included, as they fully never expected to see the series again given Rare's split with Nintendo. Fortunately Retro Studios was there to get the barrel rolling after completing their Metroid Prime trilogy for Nintendo. They've proven they can update a classic Nintendo series but will they be able to do it again with the big gorilla? From what I've played so far, which amounts to completing the first two worlds, it seems the series is in good hands. Donkey Kong Country Returns seems to have everything that made the originals great. Now with waggle. Donkey Kong's ground pound and roll are now waggle based. A new move, blowing, is also waggle based. Waggle plus the stick to either the left or right for a roll. Waggle with the stick to center for the ground pound. And waggle with the stick in the down position to blow. So far the waggle controls seem to work very well. I haven't really had any deaths because of them. They also don't seem to take a great effort to initiate like some other games. A very slight but fast movement is all it takes. The collection based gameplay has remained intact. You'll be collecting the letters to spell Kong in each level, as well as various puzzle pieces. Bananas still litter the stages and collecting one hundred gives you an extra man. Initially the game's challenge seems tough. It's clearly a throwback to the days when games were tougher. I'm initially rather impressed with Donkey Kong Country Returns. Let's see if it maintains that level of quality for the duration.