It has come to light that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came dangerously close to resurrecting Enguarde.
About Enguarde
Enguarde the Swordfish made his debut in the very first Donkey Kong Country game, and he went on to make further appearances in the game’s subsequent sequels. Donkey Kong Land 2, Donkey Kong Land III, and Donkey Kong 64 all included him as a playable character at some point. Since then, he hasn’t been seen elsewhere, with the exception of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, where he appears as a rideable animal companion. On the other hand, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze came close to reviving his career.
The announcement was made by the creative director, Vince Joly, during an interview with Retro Gamer. Joly noted that in the end, the group settled on the decision to concentrate their efforts on introducing more Kongs, notably Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong, rather than on acquiring additional animal companions. In spite of this, Enguarde was “quite close to being incorporated” to the Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze game.
Joly noted
We had the idea that it would be a fantastic approach for us to further deepen the fans’ fondness for these characters if we brought back some of the familiar elements that they had experienced in the game Donkey Kong Country Returns. We thought that doing this was the better option than introducing new companions in their place, and we thought that the addition of the other Kongs satisfied the demand for extending the character roster and providing new player mechanics. On the other hand, we really missed out on the opportunity to meet some new animal friends. Like Enguarde, for example, who was so close to getting included that it was almost laughable.
In 2014, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was made available on the Wii U for the very first time. In 2018, a version for the Nintendo Switch was made available, and it included Funky Kong as a playable character.
