Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Review (Switch)
Summary: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the third iteration of the 2D platformer and the game continues to be another brilliant Kong quest. A ton of diverse levels, an ample amount of replayability, exceptional controls, noteworthy audio design, and rambunctious gameplay effortlessly fills your heart up with joy. The difficulty may still be a bit harsh for some and lack of updates is extremely underwhelming, but Donkey Kong Country Returns HD proves that Donkey Kong is still going strong! Okay!
3.8
Barrel Of Fun
Blast across the skies in barrels and bust through barricades on top of a rhino in this exciting remaster of a Donkey Kong classic! Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a remaster of the 2010 Wii platformer developed by Forever Entertainment, published by Nintendo, and released on January 16th of 2025. The original game was released in 2010 and there was a 3DS version that was released in 2013. While the graphics and frame rate weren’t up to par with the Wii version, the 3DS version added an easier mode called “New Mode” that included a variety of things that made the game more palpable than the former more hardcore gameplay mode as well as extra levels. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the best of both worlds by combining the games and having great graphics and a smooth framerate as well as all of the additions from the 3DS game. Get ready to roll into opponents and slam the ground to open up hidden pathways to reclaim your banana hoard from the hypnotizing Tikis!
Donkey and Diddy Kong are seemingly living peacefully when a nearby volcano erupts. The explosion awakens the Tik Tak Tribe, an evil band of Tikis that hypnotize the animal inhabitants of the island. A Tiki puppeteers some animals to steal the stockpile of bananas the two primates have accumulated. The Tiki tries to hypnotize Donkey to no avail and gets a nice wallop from the burly gorilla. Now Donkey Kong, with the accompaniment of Diddy, venture off around different areas to retrieve what was theirs and take down the Tik Tak Tribe in the process.
The gameplay of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is similar to other Donkey Kong Country games. The main goal is to reach the end of the 2D level. Along with the many platforming challenges and enemies you will face there are collectibles to collect like puzzle pieces, individual letters to spell out the word Kong, bananas to snatch up, and red balloons to fetch before they fly away to gain an extra life. There are bonus stages to tackle and the levels play with the scenery by either sending you to the background of a level or making an entire level a silhouette, providing some high contrast colors and a great artistic style to the already well versatile selection of environments.
Controlling Donkey Kong feels great and there are a plethora of things he can do. Donkey Kong can run, jump, and roll and these basic skills will get him pretty far. He can also slap the ground, hang on to strips of grass either on the ceiling of a cave or on a rotating wheel, and kneel down to blow flower petals to reveal a secret. Minecarts are back with a vengeance in demanding levels that require the utmost timing and precision and Donkey Kong’s trusty steed, Rambi the Rhino, is available to ride in certain levels to trample over enemies and demolish walls to open up hidden routes.
Picking up and throwing a barrel with DK’s initials on them will release Diddy into the mix. With Diddy Kong attached to your back, you gain more hearts and an extra hover boost ability to ease the stress of some jumps thanks to Diddy’s jetpack. While playing Donkey Kong Country Returns HD in co-op mode, the second player will control Diddy Kong and get access to his Peanut Popgun that he can fire onto incoming foes. While Diddy Kong has a slight advantage over Donkey Kong since he has a jetpack, the two characters still play roughly the same and it is not like in Donkey Kong Country 2 where Diddy’s cartwheel attack had an extra boost to it.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD demands your attentiveness as it is arguably the most difficult Donkey Kong game to date. Pulling off advanced moves like rolling off the side of a ledge and jumping in midair is a must if you want to collect all of the well placed collectibles. While some levels, like the minecart levels, can be annoying due to their trial and error design, the immense gratifying sense of achievement of simply completing a level is rewarding in itself. I would sometimes lose on purpose so I can restart and try to make it past collapsing totems in the most flawless way while collecting all of the rotating collectibles. While it may be hard at times, especially on the original mode that is a lot more strict, it is still fun to master given the quality of how good the controls behave.
Graphically, the game looks pretty good overall, but edges could have definitely been smoothed out more, specifically with the character models. The environments are all varied and look fantastic. Including the additional 3DS levels, there are 80 stages all together across 9 worlds. You’ll roll past the Jungle, skim across the Beach, and dive into the depths of the Ruins. The levels offer up a lot of new aspects and puzzling conundrums to bypass while being uniquely engaging and beautiful to play through. Unfortunately, the absence of underwater levels is noticeable and sorely missed if not for the music alone, but Donkey Kong Country Returns HD still offers up a lot and keeps things fresh throughout the game. The audio sounds fresher and crispier than ever before in this new version of the game. Donkey Kong’s thumps on the barren ground and the feeling of jumping on top of an enemy sound exemplary. Atmospheric music that mixes natural sounds and rhythmic drum beats will forever sound amazing and fits in perfectly in the scene of Donkey Kong parading through jungle environments.
This was the perfect time to add even more things to this Switch version of the game like how Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze added a playable Funky Kong, but alas, there is nothing new here. The “Modern Mode” is basically like an easy mode that gives you more hearts and if you die too many times, Super Kong will finish the level for you as a demonstrating aid. Cranky Kong’s shop also has more items that you can buy to help you throughout the levels like making your minecart invincible. While Modern Mode makes the game more bearable, the checkpoint system is still relentless so improving your competence is still important.
Final Thoughts?
Even though I love Donkey Kong, having the only games starring Donkey Kong released on the Switch being rereleases of older games is disappointing. Not only that, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has the least amount of extra content to it compared to games like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. That doesn’t dismiss the fact that this game is extremely fun and still has a great amount of content. If you haven’t played the Wii or 3DS version of Donkey Kong Country Returns, then the HD Switch version is a must-play as it is one of my favorites in the series, but returning fans might not care for the touch ups that much.
About the Author
Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.
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