Developed by Drowning Monkeys, Castle Kong is a homage to the classic Donkey Kong that was one of the best arcade games back in the 1980s. The game follows the concept of using a coin for playing the game with no additional lives or checkpoints in the game and every time, you die, you have to insert another coin to start afresh. Since there are no coins involved here, you still get only three lives to get the highest score possible while trying to finish the game as well. This is our review of Castle Kong on Nintendo Switch in which we try to finish this brilliant throwback to the arcade-era platformers with the best high score.
The story of Castle Kong revolves around a young boy called PauperBoy who is trying to rescue PrincessGirl from the evil BaronMan. The boy fairly looks like Robin Hood and the BaronMan stops at nothing to keep the two apart from each other. The game features cutscenes that are focused around the story of the game but similar to the classics, these feature in-game visuals as well with slow camera work and animations that are fairly slow just to stick true to the overall game’s theme.
While the story is pretty much non-existent in the game and trust me, you will not be playing the game for its story. Your main goal here is to complete the story and get the best high score possible while doing so as well. Considering how hardcore the classic titles were, Castle Kong is no slouch, and this is where it really shines. Considering the fact that the levels are not that tough themselves, your main challenge here is to understand the game mechanics.
If you have been playing games for a really long time, especially when the industry was just starting, you would know that these classic titles followed a special pattern for everything and once you understood the pattern and got into its groove, the game would open up to you. This is the case with Castle Kong as well. The obstacles and challenges are not too challenging here on their own but you must learn their patterns and understand how the game mechanics work.
In today’s gaming, we are used to fast-paced gameplay and quick, responsive controls that are crisp and precise. This was not the case with the classic titles from where Castle Kong takes its inspirations from. Back then, you could have only completed a game if you were good at it. There were no shortcuts or anything. Castle Kong demands similar treatment and time with a clear understanding of its mechanics. Right from your very first jump in the game, you can easily tell that it is not something that feels anything like a modern platforming.
Castle Kong’s animations are slow and that requires an even more precise control input by you. The obstacles range from dodging attacks from the evil BaronMan or various platforming jumps which are actually quite a lot in the game. In addition, if you fall down even a small bit, you do not survive in the game and you die. To make matters worse, you only have three lives to complete the game and there are around 22 levels each bringing new and unique challenges for you to face and complete.
Each level also faces a pitchfork which is similar to the original Donkey Kong’s hammer which your character uses automatically in the game and will destroy all of the incoming projectiles and attacks from the evil BaronMan. It has a timer and will automatically go away once the timer is up. During this time, you cannot jump or climb stairs as well, so you have to compromise on upward movement while you have the pitchfork equipped in the game. Everything that you avoid or jump over in the game will give you a score that counts towards your bonus and the main score of the game.
The gameplay is continuous and fairly straight-forward as you overcome the obstacles on the level and reach the top of the level or bottom in some levels, where the evil BaronMan takes away the queen once again. The goal remains the same and if you want a little extra challenge, you can also collect the alphabets scattered throughout a level to complete the word KONG and earn some big highscores for that particular level. Castle Kong is a pretty challenging game for today’s standards mostly because we are not used to this particular gameplay style anymore. It is an excellent throwback title and sits perfectly on the Nintendo Switch with its beautiful retro visuals and soundtrack.
Castle Kong is ultimately a challenge of your patience, quick reflexes, and precise control of your control in a game that offers classic controls and slowed-down animations. This results in very challenging gameplay that not many modern players are used to and this is the very reason what makes Castle Kong a very unique title in today’s gaming industry. It is also one of the toughest high score chasers available on Nintendo Switch as everything in the game screams high-score and at the end, you get a score that you can compare with your friends and people all over the world.
Final Verdict:
With the influx of modern platformers and roguelikes that challenge the players to be really good, Castle Kong brings back a tried and tested formula that is both challenging and satisfying to master. Castle Kong is a brilliant throwback to classic titles and if you grew up playing Donkey Kong or similar titles, Castle Kong is a nostalgic ride for you straight back to the 1980s. For players who never got to experience the rise of video games, Castle Kong offers a brilliant way to try the classic formula on modern consoles and experience what sort of video games paved the way for today’s booming video game industry.
Final Score: 8.0/10
