If You Love the DKC Trilogy, Buy Kaze and the Wild Masks

I learned about Kaze from Snoman Gaming.

I love and play the DKC trilogy every year, both for nostalgic reasons and because the games are really damn good, and the whole trilogy can be completed in 3 hours. I’ve always been looking for DKC4, but it never happened and that’s okay. Three stellar games is enough to enjoy.

I was disappointed with the Wii(U) games, feeling that there were several bad game design choices.

I played Returns three times, a normal run on Wii, a 100% run after that, and then a normal run on 3DS several years later, but have never been drawn to playing it again.

I felt the platforming was clunky, the rolling especially being unnatural–instead of a natural increase of speed, it was a sudden lurch forward, and I never really got used to it, especially on the Wii, where it was mapped exclusively to motion controls. I didn’t like the reliance on blowing and arm clapping, feeling that it killed the pace of the game.
I didn’t like that you now had a meter when you were underwater, where before you could just swim.
I didn’t like that you only had one animal buddy now, so levels were less dynamic than they were, especially in DKC2 and 3 where you played levels as the animals.
I didn’t like how long the levels were, necessitating multiple checkpoints.
I didn’t like how long the bosses were, usually being slow and having too many stages.
I didn’t like the rocket stages and felt that the hit box of the rocket barrel and the control mechanism was clunky.
I didn’t like that Diddy wasn’t a playable character but served as a soft easy mode.
It was a 3/5 game, one that I played a couple of times but haven’t really gone back to.

Tropical Freeze had a Dixie and Cranky Kong problem, where it felt like the level design didn’t accommodate them at all, rendering much of the platforming irrelevant. I’ve only finished Tropical Freeze once, feeling no desire to go back.

Kaze on the other hand feels like a Bloodstained/Castlevania situation, where it’s a love letter to the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. I bought it during this week’s sale, sat down to play the first level, and finished the first world, a smile on my face the entire time.

The platforming feels smooth, feeling very similar to the SNES trilogy. Kaze plays exactly like Dixie did.
There is no blowing and arm clapping for items, you air stomp for secrets, which is much more fluid and natural.
There is no meter for swimming underwater.
You have animal buddies (in the form of the titular masks), so you transform into a parrot and swordfish, complete with a charge attack and acceleration.
The levels are short, with only one checkpoint each.
The boss was short, with only three phases required.
The game is designed around your ability to hair-twirl hover. You don’t get a boost like you do the Wii(U) titles and many platforming sections require it.

In the first world, many of the levels have themes from the trilogy, like an evolution of Stop and Go station from DKC1, Bramble Scramble from DKC2, and Barrel Shield Bust Up from DKC3. The boss is a combination of two bosses from DKC3.

I’ve only played the first world, but I had a great time with it and anticipate making it a yearly ritual, in a way I didn’t feel while playing the Wii(U) DKC titles.

It’s $20 on Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/kaze-and-the-wild-masks-switch/

Also 75% off on Steam ($5)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/829280/Kaze_and_the_Wild_Masks/

by MarcusQuintus