SWITCH REVIEW | Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

This is the first Donkey Kong game I play ever since the old game boy days and even the first Donkey Kong Country at a friend’s house. So everything you read below is from a pair of pretty fresh eyes, taking the game at core value without much nostalgia at play.

Donkey Kong Country Returns originally released back in 2010 for the Wii, and while I did own that platform (who didn’t, at the time?) I focused heavily on games that felt natural for me to control with the WiiMote and this didn’t feel like one of them to me. So I am glad I get to finally experience it on a console where it feels at home, and the HD layer of polish certainly doesn’t hurt as it looks amazing on the Nintendo Switch OLED in handheld mode.

Things I liked!

• Visual polish | I can’t compare to the original version for reasons stated in the intro, but DKCRHD (I wanted to abbreviate it for efficiency, but it’s still a mouthful!) looks amazing on the Switch. It has great contrast, lots of dark levels where the OLED version especially shines through and the level designs, while unchanged, still feel fresh. Now, I did see some complaints on social media that this version lost some details, like the foam on water in the background, or other small polish touches weirdly omitted from the remaster. But as a new player, I didn’t mind one bit and never thought the game looked subpar.

• Tons of content | There are around 80 levels in the game, each with optional things to collect that unlock even more levels and when you’ve fully beaten the game, you can even replay them in “mirror mode”. That’s fun for fans, but doesn’t really act as a big selling point for me. That being said, the game feels a bit longer than the averae 2D/3D platformer and has plenty of level variation to keeps things interesting.

• Upbeat tunes | Every region of the game had its own soundtrack that felt appropriate and while I’m not exactly looking it up to add to my Nintendo Music favourites, it matched the gameplay and that’s all I really need in a game.

• Diddy Kong | You can play the game with 2 people if you choose, which does bring an extra layer of enjoyment if you have someone living with you that wants to pick up the P2 controller and control Diddy Kong separately. I tried it with my son, but sharing the screen isn’t super handy and if I move further to the right, I’d string him along and cause him to fall to his doom or run into enemies. So best played with someone at an equal skill level. I felt like Mario Wonder was a lot more forgiving with this. I played 95% of the game by myself though and then Diddy Kong acts as an extra level of health and also unlocks a glide jump via his jetpack. It’s really easy to get used to this moveset though and assume you can always use it, even if that is not the case.

• I give up mode | This one was a lifesaver for me and a big reason I even beat the game. But there were so many annoying levels where I just couldn’t make it past a challenging section (for reasons explained further down) and after a few deaths, you unlock the option to call in Super Kong and have a grey version of Donkey Kong beat the level for you. It doesn’t give you any collectables, but at least you can continue your progress in the game.

Mixed & disliked!

• Collision Detection | Weirdly I felt like there were a lot of jumps that didn’t quite react the way I expected them too. Like still being able to make a jump that didn’t seem feasible, or hitting my head against spikes on the sealing that still felt a safe distance away. Same with enemy hitboxes, the game often registered a collision when I thought I still had some space from the visual info. Most of my deaths felt unfair, and that’s pretty frustrating, especially because of the next topic:

• It’s pretty hard | Well, don’t get me wrong, it’s not SUPER challenging all the time, but there are levels or sequences here that got me so frustrated, I had almost quit the game. I played in Modern Mode, which gave me an extra heart, and that helped, but most of my deaths were the instant kind where I jumped to my doom and had to start over (see above). Checkpoints in the game are also far and few between, so you’ll end up replaying some parts of some levels more times than you’ll care for. and this complaint also channels into the next one…

• It doesn’t save all progress mid-game | Coins and bananas you collect get saved, but KONG letters do not. Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal until you need to replay something over and over and have to go out of your way for the missing letter each time. Especially frustrating if you had to collect it through completing a mini-game.

• Shop for items | I don’t like the focus on single-use items that is so prevalent in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. You quite easily collect special coins that can be traded in for balloons (extra life) but also keys to unlock an extra level per region (this is good) but the part that frustrates me is the single-use invincibility for your minecart ride, buying extra hearts for a single level, or a “use anywhere” barrel for calling in Diddy to come to your aid. I’d have much rather had a system where the coins were more difficult to obtain but that I could trade them in for permanent upgrades to my health.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 10 hours
How long to beat the story? 8-12 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Other Donkey Kong titles, Super Mario Wonder, Stitchy In Tookie Trouble

CONCLUSION

Score: 74/100 – Donkey Kong Country Returns HD can be pretty frustrating at times, and if there is one thing I don’t like in my games, it’s frustration. There is a lot of content here and especially for people like me who never played the original you’ll keep busy for quite a while. But there are better 2D platformers under Nintendo’s wings and I recommend playing them first.