Donkey Kong Country Returns

It’s amazing how radically society's perception of things can shift over the course of a decade. Approximately ten years before the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns, American developer Retro Studios were signed on by Nintendo to ignite the new generation of Metroid games after the franchise’s long absence, making up for lost time on the Gamecube while its peers had already received the 3D treatment on the N64. Instead of sheer elation that should’ve been warranted from Metroid’s resurrection, the fact that Retro Studios was an amateur developer working on Metroid’s 3D launch as their debut effort with their ambitious visions for the deferred franchise resembling a first-person shooter petrified all of their fans. Retro Studios were predestined to join the dingy, abysmal ranks with the likes of Jar Jar Binks for ravaging an IP upon its resurfacing, causing fans to wish that Metroid had remained dormant as a faint, but delightful memory. Of course, this collective panic attack was much ado about nothing as Retro Studios astounded fans with what could be argued as Metroid’s finest outing. The fans then had to apologize profusely for the bombardment of death threats, letter bombs, and boxes of fecal matter mailed to their PO Box. Well into the Wii generation later that decade, announcing that Retro Studios were at the helm of Donkey Kong’s third wind of relevancy made Nintendo fans ecstatic just on the fact that Retro Studios were behind the title alone. Did Retro Studios find it fit to reshape Donkey Kong into something the big ape hadn’t tested before like a real-time strategy or survival horror experience? No, but Retro Studios proved with this title that they can also stick to traditions just as masterfully.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is also more apt of a title for Donkey Kong’s third comeback than one might initially think it to be. Despite what I had made it seem, Donkey Kong had still occupied at least an iota of the limelight among Nintendo’s IPs throughout the 2000’s decade. No, I’m not referring to his tangential role as a playable character in various Mario sports and racing games. The king of the Kong clan had his own racing game sans Mario, two rhythm games, and an attempt to revitalize Mario and Donkey Kong’s earliest rivalry with the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games. I don’t even know how to classify Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. While Donkey Kong was still cashing checks, it isn’t a stretch to state that Donkey Kong was kind of slumming it throughout this time because none of these titles were all that exemplary (except arguably Jungle Beat, if you’re willing to be patient with its bongo controls). Even though Mario (and Kirby, I guess) is the prime representative for the platformer genre in Nintendo’s catalog, Donkey Kong should’ve been taking the plumber to school in the 2D platformer realm as it was back in the days of the SNES with the “country” moniker attached. Perhaps Nintendo had finally moved on after feeling jilted when that hussy Rare ran off with Microsoft (and a lot of good that decision did them!) and decided that Retro Studios was a sufficient surrogate as an overseas subsidiary developer once they overcame their trauma of losing the original creators of the DKC trilogy on the SNES. Donkey Kong never faded from the spotlight, but the emphasis on the “country” portion of title signified that he was ready to continue his reign as a viable contender in the celebrated ranks of Nintendo IPs.

Almost fifteen years onward, Donkey Kong still has his priorities straightened out. Bananas remain as DK’s ultimate source of joy and accomplishment in his unpretentious life in the jungle (the eponymous country, if you will). For someone who lives a life of humdrum leisure eating bananas, Donkey Kong sure has a lot of enemies who know exactly how to hurt him. For once, it isn’t that meddlesome Kremling king King K. Rool causing a raucous, succeeding his pirate and mad scientist schtick with another getup gimmick. In DKC Returns, the new villains are a sentient tribe of masks that emerged from a volcano eruption on the island. These masks are adept with the power of persuasion, hypnotizing the animals of the jungle when its eyes turn into spirals. It attempts to sway Donkey Kong into its animal puppet army, but the same method proves ineffective against him. I don’t think the developers are suggesting that Donkey Kong possesses some kind of strong, heroic mental fortitude here; rather, he should be fortunate he’s a strapping lug because there isn’t much going on upstairs. Donkey Kong’s main passion in life are just bananas after all, which the Tiki Tak Tribe recognizes and steals his banana hoard to slight the big ape. Because Donkey Kong naturally isn’t going to let these bodiless pieces of wood and fabric usurp his life’s work out from under him, he now must spring into action and take back what is rightfully his…again. Even though King K. Rool’s kremling minions have already spurned Donkey Kong in this manner before, I’ll allow it to be repeated again because there is no other franchise in gaming where this silly premise could cause genuine plot conflict and make sense.

Judging from the first few seconds of gameplay in DKC Returns, Retro Studios has established some core idiosyncrasies for the big ape’s subseries. Donkey Kong Country is a 2D platformer resembling the Mario series design construct of surviving the steep platforming challenges until they eventually reach a goalline. The “country” is divided into six to eight “worlds” with a boss at the end, and secrets to uncover in at possibly every step of each level. Obviously, all of these gameplay facets are carried over from the original SNES trilogy. Still, the developers transporting all of these for their own creative project cements a staunch formula that gives any Donkey Kong game with the “country” label a definitive identity. However, Retro Studios found it vital to give Donkey Kong the utmost precedence than he ever had before. Ironically enough, Donkey Kong was never the focal point of Donkey Kong Country throughout the SNES trilogy. He was predominantly featured as a playable character in the first game, a “distressed dude” (a male damsel in distress, apparently) in the second, and just collected royalties by the third game. Hell, him and Diddy Kong shared an equal stake in gameplay as the player could theoretically complete the game with just Diddy without breaking a barrel to revive Donkey Kong. As absurd as it sounds, Retro Studios biggest effort to go against the grain of Donkey Kong Country tradition is placing the titular character front and center for once.

Because Donkey Kong isn’t divvying up the weight of the franchise anymore, Retro Studios has given him a new arrangement of maneuvers to supersede the standard jumping and rolling that all Kongs can execute. Donkey Kong can now use his signature ground slap move from Super Smash Bros. to either shake enemies off the ground right side up onto their heads or daze them with its thunderous, rhythmic fury. Borrowing a move that another franchise made synonymous with Donkey Kong is a no-brainer, but I still can’t fathom how the developers thought gingerly blowing on objects to either douse flames or power wind-related contraptions would be appropriate for the lumbering gorilla. An example of the duality of the character? Who knows. Still, regardless of whether or not Donkey Kong is channeling primal aggression or odd gentleness, the multifaceted maneuvers will remind everyone that Donkey Kong Country Returns is indeed a Wii game because they are all triggered by wiggling the Wiimote while it’s being held horizontally. Because the maneuvers only require straightforward kinetic involvement, I do not mind the motion controls like some people would. However, shifting the roll move to a motion controlled swipe of the Wiimote does admittedly make every long jump more unwavering to execute. Considering that Donkey Kong still tends to sink like an anchor when he jumps, the player will have to leap in tandem with this somewhat finicky control scheme. While Donkey Kong is now officially now the main character of his own series, Diddy Kong still bursts from the barrels around the field and accompanies Donkey Kong until the player sustains too many hits or clumsily falls off the map. Everything should conjure up nostalgic wonderment for the very first game, except for the fact that Diddy Kong now functions as a glorified upgrade like Aku Aku instead of a playable partner character. Diddy clutches to Donkey Kong’s backside and boosts him over gaps with his jetpack like a furry, simian Clank. Doing Diddy dirty like this leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially since he has more DKC tenure than the titular Kong. Still, putting Donkey Kong at the helm for this revival entry is more apropos to the “returns” context the game presents and is less likely to confuse new players.

The setting of DKC Returns also reverts back to recalling the first DKC game. At first, the country of Donkey Kong Country was a sprawling selection of pastoral, agrestic lands consisting of humid jungles, snowy mountain peaks, ancient temple grounds, and the coral reefs of the ocean. Industrial factory levels were also incorporated into the mix later in the game to present a clear juxtaposition of level themes. As the series went forward, the DK clan ventured off beyond the modest confines of Donkey Kong’s backyard to scale the towering masts of pirate ships, cavernous honey hives, and deadly carnival attractions to name a few. DKC 3 even modeled its levels entirely from a defined temperate climate template that directly contrasted the country of the first game. Like Donkey Kong returning to his rightful place as the main protagonist, DKC Returns rewinds all the ground DK’s mates had covered across the original trilogy back to the most familiar of familiar territory. However, the way in which these classic DKC levels are presented is much more organized. DKC Returns consists of eight main worlds, and each of these worlds is defined by an ecological theme seen in the first DKC game. Donkey Kong naturally begins his quest to reobtain his banana hoard from his residential district of the jungle, and then progresses to a beach world, forest world, ruins world, to a cave world almost entirely comprised of mine cart levels. The notion of this theming will have half of DKC’s fanbase ecstatic while the other equal portion will gripe profusely like a middle aged woman whose deli coupon got declined. The developers even incorporated a factory level near the end as if the connection between DKC Returns’s levels and those of the first game wasn’t clear enough already. Regardless of how DKC Returns retreads familiar territory, each level is designed as superbly as the ones from the SNES trilogy. I especially enjoy the galleys commanded by squadrons of crab pirates sailing on the shores of the beach levels for their bombastic presences, and finding hidden three switches across the factory levels to power the path to the world’s boss is an intuitive additional facet of gameplay never seen in the original trilogy.

The persistent reuse of the first DKC’s level themes almost defines DKC Returns as a soft, quasi-3D reboot, almost to a pastiche degree. However, DKC Returns avoids the stark retread label by implementing a smattering of innovations devised by Retro Studios. On top of the series staple minecart sections, DKC Returns supplements the most acquired taste of DKC vehicles by augmenting the rocket barrel seen in one level of DKC 3 into a fully fledged vehicle that Donkey Kong rides while auto scrolling through the air. Blasting off the makeshift contraption and dodging the oncoming obstacles like a sillier version of Gradius (sans the bullets) is just as exhilarating as calamitously careening on a set of train tracks. Stil, the often hesitant acceleration rate of the rocket might also draw as much ire from the faction of fans who decry the minecart. Something more puzzling Retro Studios have added is the occasional silhouetting of a level, darkening Donkey Kong and his surroundings to the point where only their shadowy outlines and Donkey Kong’s red tie are discernable. I have no idea what prompted this periodic artistic rendering, but the contrast between the dim foreground and the background retaining its color is a pretty cool aesthetic choice in small doses. The familiar four letters in each level that spell out KONG are also newly accompanied by caramel-colored puzzle pieces hidden in the concealed passages and rewards for completing bonus sections of each level. As gratifying as finding these pieces are, the reward of concept art in the menu’s gallery might be deemed unworthy of the effort to collect them. If the player is seeking a more tangible reward for their meticulous platforming and exploration, collecting every KONG letter per world will unlock an additional level that all share a theme of excavating a temple’s inner sanctum. These “K” levels consistently have the most challenging platforming sections the game offers even in the first world, so let the buyer beware. Once the player manages to complete all of the arduous platforming excursions, an endgame addendum will be unlocked in the form of a ninth world called the Golden Temple where Donkey Kong is raptured away to his depiction of Shangri-La where giant fruits make up the platforms. If the player is willing to go the distance and is having trouble finding any of the extras, the DK clan’s ol’ parrot companion Squawks will chirp up on the field if a collectible is nearby. As happy as I am to see Squawks again, his relegation to a purchasable item is quite disheartening as a fan of the original trilogy. Actually, while I’m on the subject, DKC Returns is severely lacking in animal buddies, as Rambi is the only one to return and function the same way he did on the SNES. Were they all bewitched by the Tiki Tak Tribe? What a bunch of maroons.

Even if Squawks refurbished functionality doesn’t appeal to the player, they will most likely be visiting Cranky’s shop in each world where the doddering (and now widowed) OG Kong tells his grandson that he aint shit from his rocking chair anyways. The coins that are commonly found in the levels can be used to buy extra lives, and these lives will most likely be exhausted in a matter of a few levels because DKC Returns proves to match the notoriously steep difficulty of the original trilogy. Jumps will be mismatched, hitboxes will be debated, and objects will come hurtling at Donkey Kong before he has time to react. While DKC Returns will conjure up old frustrations, a mix of hindsight and modern advancements have at least assuaged the old struggle significantly. For one, the consistent bouts of endurance in completing a number of levels before reaching a save point has been redacted. Completing one level is now enough of an accomplishment to warrant the player taking a breather. I neglected to mention that the life balloons in Cranky’s shop can be bought in bulk for what is a meager amount of coins. I think I can speak for every veteran DKC fan when I say I appreciate Retro Studio’s consideration, but do all of these enhancements render DKC Returns facile and unengaging? Surprisingly, no. Despite all of the nifty perks DKC Returns has added, Retro Studios has still managed to make their creation as strenuous as the SNES titles through painstaking level design. The first instance where I started to sweat was swerving around the sonic sonar blasts of a giant bat on the rocket barrel in the fourth world, and the game never let up from there. Notice how the volcano world in particular resembles the fiery terrors of hell? Well, the constant barrage of obstacles, tight windows of opportunity to hop on platforms, and sporadic minecart sections make this collective of levels arguably harder than any of the base game levels from the SNES games. In the midst of my frustration, I really have to commend Retro Studios for achieving this difficulty curve organically.

However, if there is one aspect from the original Donkey Kong Country that this revival title does not carry over is the ease of the boss battles. All cocky veteran players who think the bosses will be inadvertent sources of respite as they were in the first game are in for a rude awakening. From the stampeding Mugly and its advanced breed Thugly, the great train chase of Mole Miner Max, to the crabby trio of the Scurvy Crew, every world’s boss battle requires a considerable amount of consideration and even memorization to defeat. The automaton mech of Colonel Pluck will especially catch the player off guard once he suddenly scurries erratically after stomping around the arena. Once Donkey Kong delivers the final blow to the boss, the mask possessing them will reveal itself in a defeated daze, and Donkey Kong will rid their manipulative presence from the animal host by launching the menace up in the sky with a fierce uppercut. The one exception to the laughably breezy batch of lame boss battles in the first DKC game was the final boss of King. K Rool, who tripped up many players' sense of relief upon his defeat with a fake scroll of credits. The spiritual, vengeful mask demon that the Tiki Tak Tribe resurrect for the final boss does not pull any dastardly tricks to the same extent, but it is still wise to keep Donkey Kong on his toes for a formidable fight that will require swift reaction time before Donkey Kong delivers the final blow by punching the moon at the apex of the volcano temple. Overall, not only do these varied and stimulating boss battles undoubtedly best those from the first game, but they manage to be the greatest bunch of baddies across the entire series.

As simple and direct as the title ”Donkey Kong Country Returns” is, there couldn’t have been a more apt one for this game. The effort of Retro Studios to revive the big ape’s relevance with the subseries that elevated his dominion in Nintendo’s esteemed library of IPs past his historical role as proto-Mario’s nemesis in the early 1980s more than rivals the quality of the exemplary trilogy on the SNES. With a new developer's fresh perspective and generations of hindsight since Donkey Kong had been rendered in the 2D platformer format, DKC Returns will please every old fan who has been waiting with bated breath for another chance to traverse through the charming and intense world that Donkey Kong resides in. A few notable changes will have returning players scratching their heads, but they do not adulterate the base of a DKC game too drastically. The kongmeister is back, baby, and has made his return with flying colors.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a modern platformer in the Country series and is split up into multiple levels spanning the multiple worlds; Jungle, Beach, Ruins, Cave, Forest, Cliff, Factory, and Volcano. The levels are crammed full of danger, with moving platforms, crumbling platforms, swinging vines, rising lava, and plenty of enemies.

Despite looking like a child friendly game, it is fiendishly tough, and even though its frustrating at times, it is very addictive and you come back for more. With a bit of practice and patience, levels can be completed and will provide a huge sense of achievement.

Throughout the levels, there is plenty to collect and many secret areas to look out for. Bananas are the basic item and 100 of them gives an extra life. Coins are mainly in hidden locations and allow you to purchase items such as extra life balloons from Cranky Kong. Jigsaw pieces and the letters K-O-N-G are usually placed in hidden or slightly out of reach areas. To collect these, you will have to carefully look out for them and potentially risk your life to attain them.

In addition to the platform levels, there Mine Cart and Jet Barrel levels. In the mine cart levels; you ride along a set track, jumping over broken tracks and dodging enemies until you reach the end. In the Jet Barrel levels you have control moving upwards and have to let gravity bring you down. Trouble is, there are plenty of hazards to dodge and often requires trial and error to find the correct path through the dangers.

The levels are very busy and wonderfully designed and the game has some of the best graphics on the Wii. An amazing feature is how the levels change dynamically as you play. Objects from the background fall into the foreground, platforms crumble, barrels fire you into the background which creates a marvellous experience.

You play as Donkey Kong throughout, although Diddy Kong will hang on once collected from the DK barrel found at certain parts of the levels. Diddy adds extra health and a bit more control. If Diddy is in play, you can use his jet pack to hover in the air adding extra distance to your jumps, or allowing you to stall mid-air and avoid danger. When rolling to attack, having Diddy adds extra length to the rolling process. Both DK and Diddy have 2 health icons and so being hit twice will lose Diddy, and a life will be lost once DK is defeated. Falling off the screen is instant death though, and you will be returned to the start of the level, or to the last checkpoint if applicable.

The game can be controlled with the remote on its own or by the Nunchuk and remote. Most people favour the latter but I felt both control schemes worked well. By shaking the remote, you will perform a ground pound, will roll if holding a horizontal direction, or blow if holding down. These moves are sometimes necessary to interact with the environment, and there are plenty of objects to interact with to collect extra bananas, coins and to find the jigsaw pieces.

If you have enough patience and want a challenge, Donkey Kong Country is a must own because it probably is the best game on the Wii. The graphics are superb, it is challenging, fun, and has a high replay value because there is a lot to collect, and time trial challenges to complete.

It's hard to know what to expect when a developer like Retro Studios takes over a franchise as highly regarded as the Donkey Kong Country series. But with the Metroid Prime trilogy behind them I knew that they had the capability to go above and beyond the framework that RareWare set out for the platforming juggernaut. With Donkey Kong Country Returns; Retro raises the bar not just for the series, but for all 2D platform games with it's mastery of ALL areas of design. From tight controls that allow for precision manoeuvring, outstanding level design, and a picture perfect difficulty curve. Retro also introduces new elements to the series like Diddy's jet pack function, interactive foreground and backgrounds, and creatively destructive environments. With this review I'm going to attempt to put into words why this is my favourite 2D platformer ever!

The mechanics in this game are very sound. It's a weightier game which makes the pace of the platforming faster than your average game but the directional control is so intimate that precision jumps are easy to pull off so long as your coordination is on point. There are two control schemes (one with and without the nunchuck), I preferred using just the Wiimote since I found that the less buttons you have to manage the better. On paper, flicking the Wiimote vertically to roll sounds like a nightmare, but in practise it works wonderfully as the motion controls are surprisingly responsive. Diddy's jet-pack hovering adds an extra layer of complexity to the controls and is simply a blast to use.

The level design in Donkey Kong Country Returns is arguably it's greatest strength. Almost all of the game's 72 stages feel expertly crafted and present a unique challenge to the player. You'll encounter everything from a giant octopus, crumbling canyons, a mine-shaft full of dastardly moles, killer tsunami waves, and a factory full of bionic hands (to name just a few!). The famed mine-cart and Rambi levels return and are as intense and difficult as ever before! And this game introduces a new type of auto-scroller by way of the rocket barrel levels which presents some of the game's funnest moments. The controls for using the rocket are so simple yet manoeuvring through the often outrageous obstacles proves to be a challenge not suited for mere casual players. >: )

The boss battles are fairly consistent throughout this game. Some of these encounters include a trio of crab pirate captains, a chicken in a mech suit, and the foreman of the mole mining coalition. These are some creative boss fights that are honestly quite challenging! Although Donkey Kong Country Returns is a consistently challenging and patience testing game, it never feels unfair. This is (again) because the controls are so tight and stuff like the level designs and enemy placements are so carefully calculated. But it's also because of the game's buttery smooth difficulty curve that increases at a rate that really allows for player growth and skill refinement. In terms of longevity this is the longest DKC game at 72 stages (8 worlds), and there's a f*** ton of secret puzzle pieces to find and special challenge stages to unlock by way of collecting all 4 kong letters in every stage for each world.

To be frank, the story in this game is pretty minimal. Essentially what happens are some strange tiki creatures invade Donkey Kong Island and hypnotise all of the island's inhabitants to steal all of Donkey Kong's bananas. Donkey Kong and his pal Diddy must then scale the island (just like in the original Donkey Kong Country) to ultimately break the curse. The story really just presents itself as an excuse to make all of these areas and levels but it's still pretty cute all the same. Presentation wise the game sports a fair art direction with some really cool "silhouette themed" levels thrown in for good measure. The soundtrack is pretty decent as well, mostly consisting of reworked versions of classic tunes from the original SNES game, my favourite being the return of Life in the Mines!

Simply put Donkey Kong Country Returns is 2D Platforming poetry. It's the gold standard to which I judge all other games in the genre. Never have I played a game that demonstrates so much of what makes games fun, gratifying, and fair. Sure it's hard, uncompromising even... But so rarely do we see game developers now'a'days make games without constantly pampering us and slapping on training wheels. Retro dares to give us the benefit of the doubt by letting us prove that we can best even the most awesome challenges through hard work and determination. This is the type of game that an accomplished gamer puts on their resume, well done.

(Note: I have tried both versions, but didn't finish the game until playing the 3DS port. It's a definite improvement, but the controls are problematic in both.)

Retro Studios did a great job converting Metroid to 3D, so I was very excited when I saw they were bringing back Donkey Kong Country. The videos of Returns made it look just like the old trilogy, which were all good if not stellar games, but bring back many memories when I play them today. After finishing the game, my verdict is that it stands up well with the first three games from a design perspective. Other issues hold it back to the point where it is my least favorite of them.

Where DKCR shines is in its stage design. Rayman Origins is the game I'll most readily compare it to, and in many ways it's more like that game than DKC. Levels are fast-moving, brutally challenging, and place little secrets or enemies directly in the appropriate places. One of the things the DKC games did well was having a natural flow. Particularly in DKC2, levels were designed so the player would succeed if they kept moving and timed their jumps well. Hesitation and fear often kept you from finishing a stage effectively. This sense of design is still present in DKCR, though describing what happens in said stages in words is both pointless and as challenging as the game. Like with Metroid Prime, Retro Studios clearly knew the series they were reviving well enough to catch what made the games special. The use of the first game's music is a nice touch too, though a few tracks from the other games might have been nice to hear and the new original songs are forgettable. Overall, I think DKCR is a far more interesting game and has a lot more heart in it than the millions of 2D Mario games Nintendo has been pumping out of its programmer slave labor factory in recent years.

While the Donkey Kong Country series had its flaws, I always loved the way the characters controlled in the originals. Rolling, jumping, and bouncing on enemies felt smooth and made levels have a fun and breezy pace. This helped make up for the games' shortcomings compared to better platformers at the time, most notably the needless saturation of bonus games with stupid hiding places. This is unfortunately where DKCR drops the ball.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is an odd duck in its series, that's for sure. It's practically the antithesis of the SNES games. Figuring out how to get all the "KONG" letters and locating puzzle pieces is fun and rewarding even when hair-tearingly difficult, but by the end of the game I lost all drive to do so. Sadly, this game's controls and in some places its physics are poorly conceived. They weren't bad enough to keep me from beating the last boss, but I was glad to see it over with at that point. In the original games, rolling and jumping are mapped to the same button. While that might seem like it could cause some confusion about what button to press, it actually works great. Mario grabbed things and ran with the same button, and so did DK. To a player like me who grew up on those platformers, the idea of pressing a shoulder button or shaking the Wii remote to perform something you want to do as often as a roll is baffling and obtuse. Maybe kids these days think this works, but I sure don't. Many jumps in DKCR require getting a running start, rolling, and then jumping. In all three control schemes provided by the two versions of the game, I think maneuvers like this are uncomfortable and awkward. Minor physics problems pop up too. Sometimes bouncing on an enemy's head just doesn't work as consistently as it should. Sometimes DK's lack of directional influence in the air feels a bit off. A lot of the issues are minor, but they are noticeable when a player is used to better physics in games like Yoshi's Island or Super Metroid.

I've always thought of Donkey Kong Country as an above-average platformer series, and Returns didn't change that. The game has a lot of cool stage designs and some neat aspects going for it, but it's harmed by nonsensical control scheme choices and some lame boss sections. I enjoyed playing the game, but didn't feel like putting in extra time to play all of its secret stages. I will recommend it to platformer fans, but it's no masterpiece; just a good game to play if you don't mind a little (okay, lot of) stress.

Pros
+Keeps true to the platforming style of the originals with minimal waggle.
+Hidden objects and incentives to continue playing after completion.
+Co-op is even more fun when playing at the same time (instead of switching out) and without bumping into each other like New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
+Retains plenty of the challenge of the originals

Cons
-Despite being more fun in co-op, some of the levels don't seem meant for it. In most minecart and all rocket levels, it is easier to have one player control while the other does nothing. In addition to this, every death costs two lives.
-Later minecart and rocket levels become a test of memory rather than platforming skills.

In Summary
Overall a very recommended platformer, especially if you are going to play with a friend, though they may be bored during a few rocket levels.