Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Doesn't Fix Nintendo's Current DK Problem (2024)

One of the many announcements made during the newest Nintendo Direct was that of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for the Nintendo Switch. While the game was a hit on its original platform of the Wii and helped restart the franchise in many respects, getting it on Switch doesn’t help Donkey Kong reach new heights as a character or as a franchise. In short, Nintendo has a DK problem, and it's seemingly not being addressed.

The original version of Donkey Kong Country Returns came out in 2010. It was a surprise announcement by Nintendo at E3 2010, and the announcement was only made stronger when it was revealed that Retro Studios was the team making the reboot. Prior to Donkey Kong Country Returns, Retro Studios had grown to prominence by developing the Metroid Prime games. Returns would go on to have great success on the Nintendo Wii, and it would spawn a sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, on the Wii U. However, after that Wii U release, the franchise hasn’t had a new entry.

Nintendo Keeps Porting & Remaking Old Donkey Kong Country Games

Tropical Freeze Is A Decade Old

Nintendo is leaving the Donkey Kong Country series to flounder without new games, a problem highlighted by the success of the port of Tropical Freeze on the Nintendo Switch compared to the Wii U version. The Wii U release came in 2014 and had good sales. Then, in 2018, the Switch got a port with some small upgrades and additions, and it doubled the Wii U sales by December 2022, according to VGChartz. By all accounts, it was a highly successful Switch port, proving that people were still interested in the franchise. Yet, Nintendo didn’t make a new game, but ported an even older one to the console.

While the Nintendo Switch has been praised for its incredible lineup, including some of the new games announced during the Nintendo Direct, many critics have also called it a port machine. During both the early years and in 2024, Nintendo has been more than content with porting or upgrading past games versus making new ones. That applies to Donkey Kong more than once, as one of the early Switch releases in 2024 was the remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a title that was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

The Donkey Kong Country Reboot Should've Been A Trilogy

Small Changes Helped Make Retro Studios' Take Unique

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One of the biggest frustrations about this lack of a new game is that the Donkey Kong franchise isn’t the most complex series from which to make a new game. In the case of the Donkey Kong Country set of titles, it’s very much a 2D platformer with various elements that separate it from titles with Mario. There’s finding the KONG letters, riding various animals to get through levels or unlock secret areas, and collecting bananas. Plus, in the Retro Studios titles, there were only minute changes to the formula from the SNES games.

For example, Retro Studios didn’t just upgrade the graphics to fit modern times, but took the visuals and gameplay to interesting places to make the most of each level. In multiple stages, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are rendered in silhouette form, which makes the level feel completely different and forces the player to think about what is in front of and behind them. Tropical Freeze even has four playable characters, adding Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong to the lineup in a series first. Then, there were the Tikis and the Snowmads, who were entirely new enemies compared to King K. Rool and his minions in the SNES entries.

Just about everything else one would expect from a Donkey Kong Country title is there: the mine cart levels, the DK barrels, the precision platforming elements, etc. Following the success of Returns and Tropical Freeze, many believed that Retro Studios was working on a third game, but that’s long since been proven false, especially since the studio was brought in to save Metroid Prime 4, which got a new trailer during the Nintendo Direct. Donkey Kong should’ve had an all-new entry for the Nintendo Switch, but instead, he only got ports and remakes.

The Need For A New Donkey Kong Title Is Growing

Other Franchises Have Flourished On Switch

Arguably adding another big nail to this coffin is that, despite being a port of a nearly 14-year-old title, Donkey Kong Country ReturnsHD isn’t coming out until January 2025. That means this port will be one of the last big games for the Nintendo Switch before the transition to the Switch 2. The game had also already returned previously when it was ported to the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. The Switch version will actually combine all the levels from the previous two versions into one.

Even still, that doesn’t justify not making a new Donkey Kong title. In just the Switch’s lifetime, there will have been several Legend of Zelda titles, including the newly announced Echoes of Wisdom starring Princess Zelda, numerous Pokémon games, three Xenoblade Chronicles titles and their expansive DLCs, two WarioWare titles, an almost uncountable number of games headlined by Mario, and so on. With how prolific many series have been in the Switch era, it's rather confusing to see Nintendo not publish another new title featuring Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, and the rest of the Kong family.

In the end, the Donkey Kong franchise is technically continuing with the upcoming HD port, which means that, in a small way, Nintendo is showing love for the series. However, compared to the love it's showing to other franchises, including ones that weren’t big sellers in the past, it's curious why te company isn't elevating Donkey Kong and his family. His games have been proven sellers on multiple platforms, which is usually enough to get new titles. Whenever the Switch 2 comes around, this particular problem needs to be solved.

Source: VGChartz

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Franchise

Donkey Kong Country

Platform(s)

Wii

Released

November 21, 2010

Developer(s)

Retro Studios , Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Genre(s)

Platformer