There’s no sense of history repeating in the game’s six multi-stage worlds (plus a bunch of hidden, extra hard stages in each) every new location feels fresh.Įxhaustive attention to detail in every little scene and level makes Tropical Freeze seductive to the eye. The African Savanna-style world has you jumping between giant giraffe puppets in one stage and throwing aloe-oozing plant bulbs to put out fires the next. Then Donkey’s off to an island that’s been converted into a giant fruit juice processing plant, a place where moving platforms are giant graters shredding enormous berries. All of it is rendered with an emphasis on style that would make even Don Bluth nod in approval. Snowmads – those jerk penguins, walruses, owls, and other Nordic critters that have jacked the Kong clan’s land and fruit – glow with cartoon life, all ruffling feathers and surprised eyes.

Kongs Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky all have personalities that shine through in the way their mechanical differences are represented.ĭixie spins her ponytail like a helicopter’s rotors to catch air and hover while Diddy does the same with his jetpack. Cranky pogos around on his cane like a slower NES-era DuckTales Scrooge McDuck. More impressive are the subtle quirks, such as the way Donkey Kong kicks his feet while swimming underwater and the way his fur ripples in the current. Playing feels as good as looking, though it takes some getting used to. The controls are at least flexible you can customize your button layout and leave motion controls turned off if you wish. It’s acclimating to the staccato rhythm of the game’s platforming that takes time. Has announced a new Phase 1 grant award from the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).Īccording to a news release from the company, the grant supports the development of a novel small-molecule retinal tracer targeting the biomarker TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).ĪLS is a neurodegenerative disease that can be challenging to diagnose due to clinical overlaps with other conditions.You’ve got three different buttons for jumping, running/grabbing barrels or enemies, and rolling/ground-pounding.

Currently, no definitive diagnostic technology is available for ALS and FTD. At a molecular level, the accumulation of cytoplasmic TDP-43 occurs in ~97% of ALS cases and is believed to play a role in disease pathogenesis. The company noted that FTD and ALS overlap genetically, clinically and pathologically, with approximately half of FTD patients manifesting cytoplasmic TDP-43 aggregates similar to those seen in ALS.Īn early and non-invasive diagnostic test that can detect the presence of TDP-43 aggregates in CNS tissue would greatly enhance diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of ALS and FTD, and aid in guiding therapy and assessing the state of disease pathogenesis in vivo at the molecular level. This would be transformative for physicians, patients, and their families.

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