Nintendo handed its Donkey Kong characters over to British studio Rare, which married the best parts of Mario and Sonic platforming with breakthrough 3D-rendered graphics. The Donkey Kong Country series dates back to a time when Sonic the Hedgehog was helping Sega’s Genesis crush Nintendo’s SNES, and TV ads made Mario look uncool. Even so, I wish every future Nintendo game had a Funky Mode, because it’s a great idea with a fantastic, fun-sounding name. Retro succeeded in making the game more accessible, but not in making the levels fully kid-friendly, unless just skipping parts of the game all the time strikes you as a good solution. But once my kids started playing, I knew I’d be asked to wield the controller through Tropical Freeze’s many hard parts. I was excited about Funky Mode, and so were my kids, who wanted to play what looked like a Pixar movie. Above: As tight as the controls are during the platforming, they’re floatier underwater and downright challenging during barrel rocket rides.

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