Donkey Kong Country Returns does a lot of things right. Aesthetically, it is a very good game. The world's are very beautiful, each differing from the previous, and the music consisting of new and remixes of old is very nostalgia filled. However, for me, that isn't enough. When I look at a video game, I'm looking at the gameplay itself. Besides from the occasional mine cart and barrel ride here and there, it follows a very simple concept layout which doesn't offer much of a challenge. It's a very easy game, and I find myself breezing through levels without even noticing. Because it doesn't take much effort to beat it, I don't really feel engrossed in the game. The fact that I'm literally able to have 50+ lives where - for some god awful reason - I can buy even more lives without any problem at all considering how vast the supply of banana coins is is a problem to me. It doesn't add any degree of caution when you play the game because when you are playing you don't have to worry about dying, as you can literally just buy more lives. In that respect, I feel like that's a broken game element.
You asked me what things matter in the genre of platforming, and that's my answer. I don't want to feel like I'm able to just walk through a level like it's not a problem. That's why games like Mega Man and Super Meat Boy are so fun because they offer in my eyes a real challenge; they make you work to get to the end of a level and it takes real skill to achieve it. In Mega Man specifically, there is no buying of extra lives. If you lose all of them, it's game over and you have to start right from the beginning. In Super Meat Boy, while there isn't a life system implemented, at the end of each level when you complete it, you can replay your gameplay and see how many lives it actually took to complete it. These core elements is what I like in a video game; the fact that r cautious with every move you take and you're penalized for every mistake you make, as well as the accomplishment you feel in completing each level after many, many tries. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, you don't have to worry about that.
I keep bringing up the preferences point because neither your opinion nor my opinion is what defines a great platformer. We can argue all we want, but there will always be something that one person prefers over another which gives that game the edge in their minds.
