Donkey Kong Country Returns HD - Review

I can still recall heading to my local Kmart, back when they sold games, to pick up Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. There was something about the game that caught my eye in the magazines of the day, so when it was available, I took my pocket money and went and bought it and from the end of the first world, I was hooked. So when Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii, I took notice, but like many the mandatory motion controls marred the experience. Now that the game is back, without motion and in HD, does the King of Swing still have it, or like his banana horde did it split?

There are no story changes here, so if you played through the Wii original of the Nintendo 3DS release, then you will know what you expect. The Tiki Tak Tribe has hypnotised the animals on Donkey Kong Island and made off with DKs glorious banana horde. When one member of the Tiki Tak Tribe attempts to take control of the titular ape, they soon find out that Donkey Kong and the members of his family tree are immune. With the bananas gone, DK and Diddy, set out to defeat the evil music shaped beings and reclaim the stolen fruit. Much like the other Donkey Kong Country games before it, the story is bare, it is just a means to get you moving across the island. For that point it serves its purpose, but those coming in for some stroke of literary genius are going to be left wanting.

The reason to play this game is for the gameplay which is honestly a lot better than the Wii version, even though they are the same game. Well it is mostly better than the Wii version and I will get to that in a moment. The big change is of course the lack of motion controls, but that was already removed in the Nintendo 3DS release, though they did have some touchscreen elements there. What makes this better is that you can now just press a button when you want DK to slam the ground, rather than looking like you are having a seizure on the Wii. For context on the Wii version, you had to shake the Wii remote and Nunchuck, which was weird. Outside of the lack of motion here, there really are no major changes to how the game plays out, everything else is mostly the same.

The issue with the controls is that there are still a lot of weird decisions left in place, for example the roll and slam moves are tied to the same button. It was the same on the Wii, but there they were working with a smaller amount of buttons, so I can understand some crossover, but the Switch does not have that limitation. There were countless times where I was wanting to slam the ground, but as I was still moving, even if extremely slowly, I would just roll forward and usually off the edge of a platform. Another reason that vexes me about why this input style was left in place is that every action has two buttons to trigger it and yet there are still buttons un-used, so they could have done more. I do understand not wanting to change things, which is why they could have done another mode with a more comfortable control scheme.

Speaking of another mode, that is a good time to talk about the games new ‘modern’ mode, which again if you have played the Nintendo 3DS release, won’t be all that new to you. The base game gives your character two hearts, four with Diddy with you, and one inventory slot for an item to come into a stage with you. The new ‘modern’ mode gives both characters an extra heart meaning you can have six with both DK and Diddy out and you can take 9 items into a stage, which is up from the 3 from the Nintendo 3DS release. The problem is that apart from the extra hit, the stages where extra help would matter, like the minecarts or barrel ones, still do instant death if you hit anything. You can buy an item to give you a one hit protection, but that item could have just been added to the base mode as well. Honestly the new mode is not worth using, unless you know you will take an extra hit, because everything else requires an item to access, which makes it pointless, unless you have the coins to buy them. Yes, the cost of the items in the ‘modern’ mode is cheaper than the regular mode, but you still need to earn the coins. Perhaps what makes this truly upsetting is that we have already had an entry in this series hit Switch and offer a perfect way for younger players to enjoy the game, Funky mode and it’s lack of inclusion here feels like the biggest misstep ever.

As for the visuals I want to say things look great, but honestly, they look average. In 2019 a port of the Wii version of the game was brought to the Nvidia Shield TV in China and it offered up most of the same additions as the 3DS release, but for a larger display and the game here looks the same as that. There were times when I would see textures swap out between high resolution and low, and the backgrounds in almost every stage look as if they are still the exact version taken from the Wii. But more annoying is that the load times are just too long for the level of quality we are getting, on average it takes 18 seconds to load into a stage. Now I will admit that once you are in a stage, things run smooth, but the load times in and out of them is just too long.

The sound side is still amazing and that comes down the classic Donkey Kong score, a lot of the tracks are modern takes on iconic Super Nintendo tracks and they sound wonderful. One of the best parts of the game for me has been the music player, because it means you can enjoy the music, without having to worry about taking a hit. With David Wise being the composer on all five entries in the Donkey Kong Country series, there is a welcome sense of familiar from the tunes and that hits here just as well as it did on the Wii.

If you have never played Donkey Kong Country Returns before, then it is worth playing here. The levels are still fantastic and the challenge is ever present, but for a HD version of the game, it misses the mark quite a bit. Most of the ‘modern’ changes are barely a step up from the Nintendo 3DS release and what steps they have taken to make things a little easier for those players who want that, require more steps to achieve. The game also really doesn’t look that special, there are so many textures that look too low res for what it should be, which is made even worse when you compare it to Tropical Freeze on the Switch. The game is still a fun challenge, but if you have conquered it before, there is little reason to head to this tropical island.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

Not having motion controls in the mix makes things much easier to enjoy

The inclusion of the Nintendo 3DS elements, the extra stages and items is nice…

The Cons

…but they make the modern efforts feel pointless, as there is very little new

There is very little HD about the release, with the game looking pretty average time times