I won't raise any eyebrows by saying that the Wii's upcoming platformer Donkey Kong Country Returns draws heavily from its 16-bit forebears. The game is pure nostalgia for gamers aching for the days of intense banana collecting and barrel cannons. But you may be surprised to find out about a different -- and very unlikely -- potential inspiration for DKCR: Sony's God of War series.
During a demo at Nintendo's offices earlier this week, Bitmob's Dan Hsu and I played a level called "Stormy Shore." In it, a giant octopus flailed its tentacles in the background as we made our way past tenacious crabs and across the broken-up remnants of ships. Occasionally, those tentacles burst into the foreground, necessitating some precision jumping skills -- and DKCR's new wall- and ceiling-grab maneuver -- to avoid them.
Sound familiar?
Maybe this will jog your memory:
Seems like someone had God of War 2's iconic Colossus of Rhodes battle on their mind when working on DKCR's level design.
Bonus Connection: Need further proof of God of War's influence on Donkey Kong? Another level we played, "Sunset Shore," threw Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and their enemies into silhouette as a rather gorgeous sunset tinted the background. You could point to this summer's indie darling Limbo as inspiration, but I'm not sure if DKCR's designers knew of that game when they built the level.
I prefer to think that same level designer playing through God of War 2 was struck by a beautifully horrific sequence near the end of the game, after Kratos unleashes the Phoenix. A brief 2D battle takes place in silhouette as Kratos pounds a former ally into pulp:
The similarities are eerie, no? They're also merely cosmetic; don't expect to see Donkey Kong bust out his Bananas of Chaos this November. But I like to see designers taking inspiration from other genres -- and from other consoles, too.
