Rare.

Rare's trilogy by far, each of those games stands above Retro's two games. Not that I'm knocking Retro here, they have made two good platform games and TF surprised me with how much I enjoyed it, the Wii U had a few really good platformers and this is one of them. It's just that the original trilogy are some of the best games ever, maybe the best in my opinion. They are two pretty different beasts though, despite being inspired by Rareware's work, Retro made their series quite different. It took me a while to accept DKCR until I stopped expecting it to be a continuation of the SNES trilogy.

I enjoy both and hope Retro get to make another game in their style.

This!! 

Both of Retro's DK games are fantastic and they have a lot in which to take pride...
Having I said that, I have to give it up to Rare...
DKC1 is great; there isn't much to be said about it that hasn't already been said...
I didn't play DKC2 until 2007, and I didn't need nostalgia for it to become one of my all-time favorite games...
I played DKC3 in 2008, and expected a vastly inferior experience to the first two games, but ended up preferring it to DKC1...
I know plenty of people hated Kiddy Kong, and the learning curve is definitely more forgiving than the I first two games, but I loved the change in atmosphere, I think the bosses were trickier, and when the game did get challenging, it was pretty brutal (who can forget Ripsaw Rage and Kongfused Kliffs???)...

Rare ? I haven't played both.

Retro did a fantastic job of capturing the feel of that original trilogy.

I think overall Tropical Freeze is probably the best of the bunch.

Rare easily. Found them a lot more enjoyable and memorable.

Personally, I'm gonna have to give it to Rare.

All 5 games are excellent, and in terms of minute-to-minute gameplay I feel Rare and Retro's differing interpretations can match each other blow for blow.

If I had to pick one aspect that gives Rare the edge though, it's atmosphere. The SNES trilogy had such a rich, immersive mood, something Retro's games, superb though they are, don't quite have.

Also, DKC2 remains for me the pinnacle of not only the series but the 2D platforming genre.

Not even a question, the answer is Rare.

Some statistics:

#1 selling game released in 1994: Donkey Kong Country
#1 selling game released in 1995: Donkey Kong Country 2
#5 selling game released in 1996: Donkey Kong Country 3 (#1 if counting 16-bit home console only).
#6 selling game released in 1999: Donkey Kong 64

#22 selling game of 2010: Donkey Kong Country Returns
#81 selling game of 2014: DK Tropical Freeze

The DKC Trilogy by Rare was the peak of videogaming at the time. They were phenomenal and influential. They were the first games to popularize pre-rendered 24-bit graphics on home console. Super Mario RPG would follow, and this would eventually lead to Final Fantasy 7 and a whole slew of PSX games using the technique. They were truly state of the art and ground-breaking; and to this day some of the best 2D platformers to play.

 Retro's are, frankly, unimportant.

Both are brilliant, though I enjoy playing through the Rare trilogy more frequently than Retro's.

A few things always bothered me about the Retro games..

• the crap bonus rooms and how the levels music restarts after you do it
• no animal buddies other than rambi
• DK, Diddy, Dixie and particularly Cranky are all soulless compared to the Rare games. Cranky isn't even Cranky. In complete contrast I like how much love Ubisoft has given DK and Cranky in the new rabbids DLC.