Does the look of the DKC series match the gameplay?

[Zac]

Just want to interject there and say in the most classic DK game, you just see him throw barrels, climb a ladder with Pauline and stand there.

And yet he was one of the most innovative characters in platforming in that appearance, with his in game graphics describing narrative in one of the earliest examples for the genre.


As for DK's newer appearances (and I'm using tropical freeze as my main frame of reference here), this making him a tough guy thing really feels like it takes away from his characterization.  Situations were the characters might of previously been visibly and comically scared or depressed now just hit this stale note where they are all indignantly mad when they approach a boss, and it makes games like tropical freeze (which I think is really well done over all) very predictable in terms of characterization in  a bad way.  I think that extends a bit to the enemies as well, most of them hitting one flat note in situations were they might of came off more ambiguous and neutral before.  And this might not take away from DK as a character specifically so much if all the other kongs didn't act almost the exact same as him now (with the only differences in their disposition being slightly different expressions before they shift to the same determined death stare)


It may seem strange to compare really advanced games to DKC 1 or something in terms of characterization, but even though theres only a few animations to really draw from for DK or Diddy's character originally they paint very intentionally different characters complemented by the limitations of the game they exist in.  I think those singular and simple traits that go into good cartoon characters, that were necessary even for the original donkey kong or dkc to communicate anything given their limitations, are sort of lost in the huge and almost limitless cgi endeavors that we see with the new dk games.