With the arrival of the first new Donkey Kong game in over a decade this year, what do you consider to be the very best game in the series, and why?

It comes down to 3 clear contenders for me:

Donkey Kong Country - for its impact
Tropical Freeze - for its platforming polish
Bananza - for its imagination

I might actually choose Bananza in the end. I'm not a big fan of the early levels, but once I reached the Snow level I was sold. That level with the giant hamburger felt like something straight out of a Banjo game too, which I loved. And Pauline was adorable; the true star of the game to me.

Tropical Freeze for me. It has the best controls and music in the series imo. Great level design and art style as well.

Donkey Kong Country 2 because its the one i like the most.

Well, objectively, I would say it's the first game since it sort of invented wheels. But for me, it's DKC. No, it didn't invent wheels, but it damn well stopped the entire industry cold in its tracks and influenced almost everything that came after. 3D modeling bled into so many games after that. Even Sega tried to jump in with Vectorman.

I have to go wtih DKCReturns. Definitely not a popular take (since most people who like Returns will like Tropical Freeze even more), but IDK. Something about Returns just feels a lot more fun. TF is certainly a far more polished experienced, but I really enjoyed it.

There is the added caveat, however, that of all the games listed here, I have only played four: DKC OG, Country Returns, Tropical Freeze, and (I guess?) DK'81. Still looking to give DK64 and Jungle Beat a chance; less so the DKC Trilogy. It's hard to enjoy those games when Returns/TF stand so far ahead.

The first DKC for me. It has the best music and atmosphere, and for me it's the most fun to play through. DKC2 is also a great game though.

I haven't played DK64 for a good few years now - really need to get round to playing that again.

What? Have you played DKC Returns or not, firebush?

Donkey Kong Country 3 is my favorite game of all time. I can't even say how many hours of my childhood I spend in that game trying to find all the secrets.

It's a shame that both Retuns and Tropical Freeze are so underwhelming when it comes to secrets and extra game content. Finishing 103% in DKC3 with the true ending was one of the best moments of my gaming life, while finding all that useless stuff in Returns was more like a chore than anything.

Hm? I said that "I have only played four: ...Country Returns..." meaning that DKCReturns would be among the four I played. Unless I'm misunderstanding?