Lack of online co-op Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze explained

CEO Michael Kelbaugh says the developer didn't want to "shoehorn" the feature into the game.

[MrSwankSinatra]

It's not about shoehorning it's about what makes sense. Most people are not going to go to a friends house just to play couch co-op of a Donkey Kong game. An to add to that "Why not have both?" I mean DK is not a very demanding game, you mean to tell me you can't put in a online co-op function while still having a Couch Co-Op function? This is why people say Nintendo doesn't get it, because they are so far behind the curve, whereas Microsoft & Sony are just excelling at a very fast rate. Nintendo needs to get off their butts a realize that sometimes their creative visions are not too accommodating to the gamer of today. Now, do note i'm not saying the next "Zelda" should have multiplayer mode or anything like that, i'm saying if it makes sense to add online/co-op to a game then why not? i bet you if any of these games have certain online functionality then Nintendo would probably would sell more copies of games.

- Super Mario 3D World
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Super Mario Bros. U
- Super Luigi U

These games not having online were missed opportunities IMO. hopefully nintendo doesn't continue with this trend.

[PurpHerbison]

"Most people are not going to go to a friends house just to play couch co-op of a Donkey Kong game"

We did it when we were kids? Unless of course you live away from civilization, then I can see why online is important.

[-Foxtrot]

What about if your friend is away at Uni, moved away to a different part of the country, lives too far away, what about if you've just got in from work and are too tired, what about if your have a kid much means traveling or spending time with friends is unlikely to happen often.

You get where I'm going with this, back when we did it as kids

1) Online gaming hadn't been invented

and

2) We were kids....we had much more free time then we do these days.

[MrSwankSinatra]

Um no i have a life and so do my friends and family, when we do get together were not gonna spend our time playing video games. i don't know what world you live in, but i live in a world of reality.

[SilentNegotiator]

We didn't have a CHOICE when we were kids.

But it's 2014 and co-op should be available both local AND online. Unfortunately, Nintendo is stuck in the past.

[PurpHerbison]

How old are you guys? I had online play available to me since age 9.

[SpiralTear]

There are games that are best experienced with local multiplayer, if any multiplayer at all. Some games work best in the frantic nature of online, where there's room for a small lack of precision and less demand for perfect gameplay.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a difficult platformer. A VERY difficult platformer, so there's no room to mess around with connection issues and a lack of precision. It's a recipe for constant deaths. It's a game that demands tight access and straight-ahead game design. It doesn't need online co-op.

If it was a game like Smash Bros, Mario Kart or even Metroid, I could argue for online, but no one should be losing their minds over Tropical Freeze not having online co-op. It's a ridiculous argument.

[-Foxtrot]

Is this guy serious....shoehorning? HOW THE HELL IS THAT SHOEHORNING...it's built up for co-op, it has local co-op play, it's not shoehorning at all, it's just them being lazy to be honest if that's there excuse.

The game is one of those games where online co-op would be a no brainer decision...it's that obvious.

I'd understand if it was a game like Dead Space 2 or Bioshock 2 where they obviously shoe horned the multiplayer/online into the game....because in those types of games it didn't need it, there was nothing in those games which screamed out for co-op.

However when you have a game built up the idea of co-op, playing with your friends then yeah you need it, it's not shoehorning at all.

[REDBEARD]

To be fair, DKCTF is mostly a single player experience. The co-op in the game is very much a mixed bag. You have to time jumps, pay attention to the environment, etc and it gets really chaotic if you have another player with you. If Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. doesn't have online play then I would understand the complaints. However, with DK it is not needed.

The game wasn't built for co-op. It was just an option for the less experience players.

[DC777]

Well unfortunately even after Iwata's big speech last month I don't see any changes. There is no news except some decent support for MK8. They still seem to be stuck in the old way of doing things. Still making great games but they are few and far between. They could be doing so much more.

[AnEwGuY]

Translation: "As everyone knows, Nintendo sucks at teh internets...sorry".

[wls1012]

yep that's a bunch of bullshit,Nintendo keeps on droping the ball with online gaming, time for heads to roll.

[PygmelionHunter]

Online gaming is getting out of hand, developers lose focus on their games simply because they feel the need to integrate some POS multiplayer.

I say it's actually good for Nintendo to draw the line and decide whether the games need online multiplayer or not. Mario Kart and Smash Bros NEED it, Donkey Kong does not.

[jonatan221]

I can agree with you on some games being fine without MP because sometimes it really is shoehorned, but the issue I have with DK is that it already has couch coop, why can't they implement Online coop as well?

[PygmelionHunter]

@jonatan221

They could have, yes, the same could be said for Mario and Rayman Origins/Legends. The game would still require more time in development and testing before getting released, and I'd much rather have my games come out faster, heck, these still take a long time to develop for me to wait any longer.

And to be honest, I'd rather play Donkey Kong by myself, these games are known to be quite difficult to beat and co-op in platformers has proven to complicate things even more. Of course that's also only my opinion, I'm not trying to make anyone think the way I do.

EDIT: By the way, the only recent example in which I think Nintendo should have actually implemented online co-op would be Pikmin 3, I wouldn't find much use in it, but it had potential, I reckon.

[bobsmith]

wish there was online for 3d world and this
at least I hope there will be voice chat for kart 8 and smash

[jholden3249]

This game does NOT need online. It's a platformer. Like Rayman Legends, which ALSO did not have online multiplayer.

This is not a game you want to play with other people. This is a single player game, meant to challenge you to the core. Local co-op is barely even used by people in this game. It's hard enough not dying on your own.

DKC Tropical Freeze, like Super Mario 3D World, is one of the best video games I've ever played in my entire life. Ever. People wanna nit pick reasons to miss out on that, go right ahead. By all means.