Details on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze are as follows:
– Dynamic camera
– Ground pound ability is back
– Blowing move is gone
– This is now replaced with a handle-grabbing pull, allowing Kong to pull up platforms and levers
– Diddy is found in a barrel
– Diddy adds hearts and gives his jumps extra horizontal movement
– Mixed into the typical platform mechanics are the usual array of collectibles, tucked into every corner and under every floor board
– Barrels propel you in every possible direction, even pulling you into the backgrounds of levels and into entirely new areas
– Greater, more dynamic purpose to how this game moves through its levels
– Donkey Kong’s new opposition, invading Vikings, have an immediate impact, in part because they’re simply something different, but mostly because they have incredible personalities imparted strictly through their in-world appearance
– Penguins fire fish arrows as you move from barrel to barrel
Details on Mario Kart 8 are as follows:
– Hovering karts and bikes
– Gliders and under-water propellers are back
– Tracks now spiral and twist out of control, splitting and careening into hidden areas, side paths and everything between the two
– More possibilities and roads
– Collect coins to boost top speed
– Items include red shells, banana peels
– Courses include: Mushroom Kingdom/Mario Circuit, course that takes inspiration from Delfino Island, Wuhu Island, and real-life cities like San Francisco, “Boo House”
– Multi-tiered power sliding
– Boo House has branching paths, jumps that required a smart use of a kart’s glider and obstacles like undead skeletons with hammers
– Tunnel has you propelling through water
Details on Super Mario 3D World are as follows:
– Simultaneous 4-player mode
– New costume gives cat-like abilities
– With it, Mario can pounce, scratch, and climb objects, including walls and flag poles
– Access secret areas and objects with the cat costume
– Play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach in 4-player mode
– Each has its own attributes
– Toad has a different weight and fast speed
– Peach can hover for a brief time
– Wider isometric camera angle
– Anyone that is KO’d will be returned to the field in a bubble, all power-ups and coins are fair game for all players to acquire, and anyone falling behind will be pulled ahead to join the others
– When played alone, the isometric view can be pivoted slightly, either through the second analog stick or by pressing a touch point on the GamePad and rotating the controller slightly
– Translucent pipes play a big role in 3D World, allowing players to not only see where they’re going, be redirect their trajectory mid-pipe warp, allowing for branching paths and even enemies in what was once considered a “safe” space in the Mushroom Kingdom
– Mario and his friends can fight back, and even shoot fireballs into pipes, causing the fiery projectiles to blast out the other side
– Boss fight: worm-like dragon protected by a handful of smaller-yet-similar worms with plates on their heads
– Scale the worms to leap from plate to plate, making your way to the dragon’s head
– Dragony things move around, objects fall from the sky and other various problematic situations arise
