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Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

"But Nintendo games are for kids". Behold the return of the Dark Souls of Nintendo platformers...

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Donkey Kong Country Returns was my very first review for Gamereactor, a whopping 14 years ago - how time flies! With it, Nintendo knew how to take advantage of the talent that remained at Retro Studios after the Metroid Prime series and, as the title suggests, bring back the ape in a platformer with a beastly personality. The game later arrived in a rather limited adaptation on Nintendo 3DS, while Retro was preparing the brilliant sequel Tropical Freeze for Wii U (now available on Switch too).

That means I'm here again, reviewing this platformer for the third time to tell you how it's aged, how Polish studio Forever Entertainment's adaptation has fared, and whether we're looking at the definitive version of the game. Spoiler: yes, but with buts.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
But wasn't the statue in the background holding a Wiimote?
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The first thing you need to know about Donkey Kong Country Returns is its character. In their quest to reclaim its personality, and therefore separate it from all the Super Mario platformers, Retro were keen to make it feel like a very physical experience. The whole game is built around the concept of inertia, the power that DK is capable of unleashing, the so-called momentum. Don't expect an immediate response when you want to turn around or run: you have to pick up momentum. This feeling was accentuated on Wii, where you would shake the controller to slap the ground and other actions, ending up exhausted but immersed into the game.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a very, very difficult game. There is no time-attack like in Mario courses (at least not by default), but the precision required, despite the above, is literally brutal. That's why we'd recommend starting with "Modern Mode", which was introduced on 3DS back in the day to keep people from pulling their hair out. In this mode, Donkey and Diddy add a third heart to their hits before they die, vehicles also give you more chances instead of killing you with every mistake, and there are special aid items in old Cranky Kong's shop.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HDDonkey Kong Country Returns HD
Rocket barrel levels can be very frustrating because you're out with a touch. The police are still looking for the guy who designed the one with the big bat...
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Donkey Kong playing on his Nintendo Switch.
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But if you get wild, like this writer, you'll want to play in "Original Mode", because that's how the game was conceived and because you're so brave. And because it's on, like Donkey Kong. And if you do, be prepared to start losing life balloons as soon as you've gone through a couple of worlds and to swallow your pride to understand the shop as a survival resource management and not the place where you just go to get the key of the day. Not to mention the final worlds, the better-hidden collectibles if you want to complete the game with all the puzzle pieces, the K levels, or some of the Mine Cart or Rocket Barrel challenges: you'll easily lose 20 lives by way of retries.

Actually, I don't have a problem with a game being too challenging, it's just a warning. My problem with DKCR is that, 14 years later, its difficulty seems to me to be too much based on the same principle: you have to memorise every hazard and execute the jumps at the exact moment with pinpoint accuracy. In other words, it feels a bit too scripted for today's times. And this, in the long run, can get boring when you have to take another long walk to repeat a section. Yes, it's classic flavour and who better than Donkey Kong to bring it back, but you'd better stock up on patience because this will be your first love-hate relationship of 2025.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HDDonkey Kong Country Returns HD
Right: Some bosses will push you to the limit...
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
DKCRHD is full of nods and references. Look who's working hard in the background!

The other little problem I see has to do with the timing. This series is like Terminator, Star Wars or The Godfather: the second instalment is much better. And while it's true that we're assessing this game for what it is, I think it's an important context for those approaching DKCRHD from new or coming from its successor. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is by all accounts one of the best platformers of all time. A sequel to the game at hand but releasing earlier on the Switch, it's much more varied, accessible, beautiful and interesting because it expands and refines the formula that Returns introduced. Having more monkeys from the Kong family or being able to explore the levels in a more intuitive way - including those aquatic ones that were a hallmark on the SNES - makes the original pale a little more. That is to say, if you're only getting one out of curiosity, you know which one it should be, although it's great to have the whole Country (and Donkey Kong) collection on one platform.

As for the port itself, I want to defend Forever Entertainment's work in several respects. The game looks beautiful and performs great on both TV and handheld (the volcano world sees its lava glow on the Switch OLED), and it even impressed me 14 years later. Also, while it's true that some effects and details have been tweaked or removed, other omissions seen in early trailers have ended up incorporated into the final product. True, there are some "radioactive" colours or a couple of weird shadows (and some ugly fonts), but the whole thing looks and plays better than ever thanks to everything else, including motion control for those who want to mimic the Wii. That being said, I was particularly annoyed that DKCRHD doesn't include surround sound, as Tropical Freeze does and it is the norm for Nintendo's major releases, and I was hoping for slightly shorter loading times.

Otherwise, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a cult platformer, with some memorable levels (the Forest or the Factory are exquisite) and some very fun ones, which is very enjoyable on handheld and allows you to play again in co-op on the TV. It has all the content released to date (80 levels, 9 worlds), including the 3DS extras and all the cutscenes in HD, and if this is your genre or you're a DK fan, you can't miss this classic that, if you want, can test you like no other on Switch.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
You will spend the whole world 8 with lava around your neck, literally.
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
Nice restoration work on portable and TV. Already a classic platformer. Some legendary levels. Very physical, unique style. Incredible challenge for anyone looking for it.
-
Too scripted, ages worse than Tropical Freeze. No surround sound and long loading times. Some questionable tweaks. Long walks in devilish levels.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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