Ever since its inception, Nintendo has never had much of a presence at Spike TV’s VGAs. When it was announced this year that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime would show up at the newly christened VGX, fans got a little too excited. In fact, that excitement may have led fans to being more crushed than usual at the rather timid announcement.

On Saturday night, it was revealed that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will feature a fourth playable character – Cranky Kong. This will be the first time the character’s been playable since his first appearance in Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. He can use his cane a la Scrooge McDuck to pogo bounce his way across obstacles.

While Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze looks excellent, most of the demo was devoted to Geoff Keighley trying to get more information out of Reggie. The subject soon turned to Metroid – a franchise that’s been dormant since Metroid: Other M – and Reggie revealed that he was wearing a Metroid-themed pin on his jacket. Of course, this led to more awkward conversations as Keighley tried to get more information out of Reggie while celebrity host Joel McHale made jokes about how much money Nintendo makes.

In short, Nintendo’s appearance at the VGX was one of awkwardness and disappointment. None of this is to say that they showed off a bad game, but many viewed this as a chance for Nintendo to win back the core gamer. A character reveal for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze might not do that.

You can check out the full 11-minute demo and mini-interview below:

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze launches February 21 exclusively for Wii U.

[Image: gametrailers/YouTube]