Donkey Kong Country Returns HD: A guide to unlocking the secret world

Although we have a couple of 'buts', Donkey Kong Country Returns HD feels like the definitive version of Retro Studios' classic. Forever Entertainment's adaptation doesn't come with too many extras of its own, but at least it compiles everything that came before it in an unprecedented form and with better HD graphics.

For example, you can have two players on the same screen or use the optional motion control (two Wii features that were lost), but you can also enjoy the "Modern Mode" to lower that devilish difficulty or explore an additional hidden world (two features that were added in the Nintendo 3DS version).

So what is this bonus world? We're talking about World 9: Cloud, which adds precisely nine courses to make a total of 80 levels in the Switch game. If you played on Wii, World 9 was just the Golden Temple and its one single level, which now becomes the key to the new world. But let's break it down; here's the total list of courses in DKCRHD:

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for Nintendo Switch - Worlds and levels

These are all the levels in the Switch version of DKCR, including the number of puzzle pieces they hide and sorted by world:

World 1: Jungle

1. 1-1 Jungle Hijinxs (9 puzzle pieces)


2. 1-2 King of Cling (7 puzzle pieces)


3. 1-3 Tree Top Bop (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 1-4 Sunset Shore (5 puzzle pieces)


5. 1-5 Canopy Cannons (5 puzzle pieces)


6. 1-6 Crazy Cart (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 1-B Mugly's Mound


8. 1-K Platform Panic (5 puzzle pieces)

World 2: Beach

1. 2-1 Poppin' Planks (5 puzzle pieces)


2. 2-2 Sloppy Sands (7 puzzle pieces)


3. 2-3 Peaceful Pier (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 2-4 Cannon Cluster (7 puzzle pieces)


5. 2-5 Stormy Shore (5 puzzle pieces)


6. 2-6 Blowhole Bound (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 2-7 Tidal Terror (5 puzzle pieces)


8. 2-B Pinchin' Pirates


9. 2-K Tumblin' Temple (5 puzzle pieces)

World 3: Ruins

1. 3-1 Wonky Waterway (7 puzzle pieces)


2. 3-2 Button Bash (7 puzzle pieces)


3. 3-3 Mast Blast (7 puzzle pieces)


4. 3-4 Damp Dungeon (9 puzzle pieces)


5. 3-5 Itty Bitty Biters (7 puzzle pieces)


6. 3-6 Temple Topple (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 3-B Ruined Roost


8. 3-K Shifty Smashers (5 puzzle pieces)

World 4: Cave

1. 4-1 Rickety Rails (5 puzzle pieces)


2. 4-2 Grip 'n' Trip (5 puzzle pieces)


3. 4-3 Bombs Away (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 4-4 Mole Patrol (5 puzzle pieces)


5. 4-5 Crowded Cavern (5 puzzle pieces)


6. 4-B The Mole Train


7. 4-K Jagged Jewels (5 puzzle pieces)

World 5: Forest

1. 5-1 Vine Valley (7 puzzle pieces)


2. 5-2 Clingy Swingy (5 puzzle pieces)


3. 5-3 Flutter Flyaway (7 puzzle pieces)


4. 5-4 Tippin' Totems (7 puzzle pieces)


5. 5-5 Longshot Launch (7 puzzle pieces)


6. 5-6 Springy Spores (7 puzzle pieces)


7. 5-7 Wigglevine Wonders (7 puzzle pieces)


8. 5-8 Muncher Marathon (5 puzzle pieces)


9. 5-B Mangoruby Run


10. 5-K Blast & Bounce (5 puzzle pieces)

World 6: Cliff

1. 6-1 Sticky Situation (9 puzzle pieces)


2. 6-2 Prehistoric Path (5 puzzle pieces)


3. 6-3 Weighty Way (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 6-4 Boulder Roller (7 puzzle pieces)


5. 6-5 Precarious Plateau (5 puzzle pieces)


6. 6-6 Crumble Canyon (9 puzzle pieces)


7. 6-7 Tippy Shippy (5 puzzle pieces)


8. 6-8 Clifftop Climb (5 puzzle pieces)


9. 6-B Thugly's Highrise


10. 6-K Perilous Passage (5 puzzle pieces)

World 7: Factory

1. 7-1 Foggy Fumes (7 puzzle pieces)


2. 7-2 Slammin' Steel (5 puzzle pieces)


3. 7-3 Handy Hazards (7 puzzle pieces)


4. 7-4 Gear Getaway (7 puzzle pieces)


5. 7-5 Cog Jog (9 puzzle pieces)


6. 7-6 Switcheroo (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 7-7 Music Madness (5 puzzle pieces)


8. 7-C Lift-off Launch (0 puzzle pieces)


9. 7-B Feather Fiend


10. 7-K Treacherous Track (5 puzzle pieces)

World 8: Volcano

1. 8-1 Furious Fire (5 puzzle pieces)


2. 8-2 Hot Rocket (5 puzzle pieces)


3. 8-3 Roasting Rails (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 8-4 Smokey Peak (5 puzzle pieces)


5. 8-5 Bobbing Basalt (7 puzzle pieces)


6. 8-6 Moving Melters (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 8-7 Red Red Rising (5 puzzle pieces)


8. 8-B Tiki Tong Terror


9. 8-K Five Monkey Trial (5 puzzle pieces)

World 9: Cloud

1. 9-1 Crushin' Columns (7 puzzle pieces)


2. 9-2 Gushin' Geysers (7 puzzle pieces)


3. 9-3 Spiky Surprise (5 puzzle pieces)


4. 9-4 Mischievous Moles (5 puzzle pieces)


5. 9-5 Topsy Turvy (7 puzzle pieces)


6. 9-6 Tar Ball Fall (5 puzzle pieces)


7. 9-7 Robo Factory (9 puzzle pieces)


8. 9-8 Lavawheel Volcano (7 puzzle pieces)


9. 9-9 Golden Temple (5 puzzle pieces)

How to get the rare orbs

Now that you have the list of all the worlds and levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for Nintendo Switch at hand, we can tell you about the Golden Temple, the K.O.N.G. letters and the rare orbs.

What are the K.O.N.G. letters for?

The characters K-O-N-G are a collectible item in every regular level (i.e. not a "K" level or a "B" Boss level) introduced by Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. In the Nintendo Switch game, to unlock the K level of each world you need to have collected all the KONG letters in all its standard levels.

So that you don't have to look in the Pause Menu Summary, you'll see a star icon next to each level that has the KONG letters collected.

• Tip: Note that although KONG letters are generally less hidden than Puzzle Pieces, they are not saved when you lose life balloons in a level. That is to say: once you pick up a Puzzle Piece, you can retry the level as many times as you want (as many balloons as you have left) without having to pick it up again, and it will be saved forever once you complete the level even if you exit. However, the KONG letters are lost with each balloon popped from the start of the level or from the last checkpoint of Professor Chops (the little pig), and you have to pick them up again on your next attempt until you get them all in one go.

You will see that we have marked in bold all the K levels in the game, world by world. Well, at the end of each K level Donkey will embrace its corresponding rare orb, for a total of 8. And where to place these rare spheres?

Opening the Golden Temple

"They say there's a banana out there that not only tastes great, but also takes you to another dimension! Let's see if you can find it".

Cranky Kong, wise old man, gives you the clue, but of course! But if you reach the conclusion of the game and defeat the final boss Tiki Tong, you'll see an extra post-credits scene telling you what to do.

Spoiler alert: you defeat Tiki Tong and see the first ending of the game with Donkey Kong punching the moon to finish him off once and for all. The bananas that his tribe had stolen rain down all over the island and the animals come out of their hypnosis. That's when the credits for DKCRHD start to roll. And when they end, you will see that, on the back of the volcano, four mystical statues are activated, forming a laser diamond to give way to a banana yellow building, which emerges from the earth. "The Golden Temple has appeared!"

Donkey then approaches its door, but it is locked. In it, he finds a circular panel with eight holes, almost like the end of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. You know what those holes are for: you will have to return with the 8 rare spheres in your possession to activate the mechanism.

"You will need eight rare orbs to access the secrets of the Golden Temple".

When you finally succeed, the entrance to the Cloud world will open before you, and you'll find the magic banana that old Cranky was referring to. In one bite, DK will be effectively teleported to another dimension, World 9: Cloud, with its nine levels inspired by all the previous worlds, nine special "greatest hits" challenges. And if you also complete World 9: Cloud, that's the end of the game? No, you still have an even bigger challenge, the ultimate challenge. This is Donkey Kong Country, or what did you expect?