In some really exciting news regarding E3, Nintendo announced that fan favorite composer David Wise has returned to his roots and is now composing the music for the also announced Donkey Kong Country Returns Tropical Freeze. For those who are not following me at the moment, David Wise is the chap that created the music for the Donkey Kong Country trilogy of games back in the Super Nintendo era. He joined Rareware back in 1985, with him being the only composer until the arrival of Robin Beanland, Graeme Norgate, and of course, Grant Kirkhope. All those memorable tunes in the Donkey Kong Country games were created by this fellow; Jungle Hijinx, Aquatic Ambience, Stickerbrush Symphony and, my personal favorite, Forest Frenzy.

Donkey Kong Country – Forest Frenzy | David Wise

That being said, the last Donkey Kong Country game he composed was released in 1996 and, other than the ports of the DKC series to the Game Boy Advance, he hasn’t been doing much more Donkey Kong work. So, what has David Wise been up to in the period between the DKC trilogy and his upcoming soundtrack for Tropical Freeze? People say he doesn’t really get enough work but, actually, he has had plenty of work; it just hasn’t reached the popularity levels that Donkey Kong did. This piece of writing, however, is going to shed some light onto what he has been working on before his glorious return to the Donkey Kong franchise.

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