Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is lacking the quality-of-life improvements and improved controls that would justify its $60 price tag. Long restarts feel antithetical to the high-speed and difficult platforming of normal levels, but the mine cart and rocket barrel levels do shine thanks to an even faster pace. It’s also plagued by tedious boss fights in each world, taking the wind out of its own sails.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Developer: Nintendo
Price: $60
Platform: Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
A Nintendo Switch code was provided for review
A Pricey Nostalgia Port
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a simple port of the Nintendo Wii 2D platformer. While I did not play the original version, it’s clear from the start of this game that this is a fairly lackluster upgrade compared to the original, looking like a slightly shiner Wii game. Under different circumstances, that might not be an issue, but as a full-priced game, it doesn’t stand up to over full priced titles that have made their way to Nintendo Switch, like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but Nintendo stills thinks it commands a full price tag, something I fully disagree with.
Beyond the semantics of whether this port is worth the price of admission, it’s also a game that doesn’t feel like it has been brought to modern standards. The motion controls have been removed, but the button layout here is cumbersome. Instead of moving the roll and the blow to their own buttons, they must be done with direction inputs on the stick while using the same button for the ground smack. This causes a ton of frustration, as it results in correct inputs fairly regularly, and there aren’t any options to move the controls to different buttons.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD demands a high level of precision, which is why the sloppy controls feel so imprecise to use. This precision feels less like a challenge of execution, and more of a learning experience in a negative way. In levels where you are moving through the environment at high speeds, new obstacles enter the screen quickly, and the hit boxes of Donkey Kong and the enemies don’t feel exact enough for you to navigate without taking hits the first time through. While the challenging platform does have checkpoints and respawns, resetting isn’t a quick process, making this process of discovery quickly shift into feeling like a chore.
Fast-Paced Highlights Amidst Frustrating Platforming
This frustration is common in the standard platforming levels, but the faster paced mine cart and rocket barrel levels feel like a better representation of what Donkey Kong Country Returns HD wants to be. The speed is dialed up on these levels and the more on-rails design, as the mine cart and rocket barrels move forward automatically, lends itself better to this trial and error design. The death animation screen isn’t any faster, but the levels themselves are, so you can quickly get back to where you died and make another attempt. While the game does feature a live system in the form of balloons, it didn’t take more than a few levels to have a pretty healthy stockpile, so it’s almost an irrelevant aspect of the game.
Every non-boss level features two sets of collectibles, puzzle pieces, and letters that spell out “KONG.” These provide added depth to the levels, although they rely a bit too much on exploration versus platforming challenges. Often these are hidden behind breakables or in secret areas, which can be interesting to find, but Donkey Kong Country Returns HD feels like it’s designed to move at a pace antithetical to checking every corner for collectibles. These aren’t required to progress in the game though, so they can be ignored if you feel like it’s getting in the way of the platforming.
The art design is nice, with the tropical island jungles and beaches feeling distinctly Donkey Kong, compared to a Mario platformer. The game does take a bit too long to get to some of the more visually different worlds, like the Factory or Volcano. The level designs of each world feel unique in interesting ways like the Factory having levels where you have to find buttons to unlock the next level or the level where waves constantly crash in on the beach.
Each world concludes with a boss fight, all of which are tedious and boring. These take place in small 2D arenas, asking you to dodge attacks until you are given an opening to deal damage. This is incredibly similar to how Mario bosses work, but here they require you to land almost a dozen hits in some cases before the boss is defeated, creating these long, drawn out fights that don’t offer enough variety to justify the length. Even the final boss only has a small handful of moves, despite being the longest fight of the bunch.
A Missed Opportunity for a Definitive Edition
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD feels antiquated and outdated, which would be acceptable in a more appropriately priced port. But instead, it’s a full priced game, offering only updated graphics and the removal of motion controls to justify that price. Beyond that, the platforming simply feels too imprecise for what’s being asked of you and tedious boss fights make finishing each world feel like a slog instead of a triumph.
The Final Word
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD doesn’t have enough improvements from previous versions to justify its price tag, and areas like the cumbersome control scheme feel like they should have been improved for this version. The core platforming suffers from imprecise controls and a process of learning level layouts that feel frustrating thanks to long restart times. Mine cart and rocket barrel levels are a ton of fun, but tedious boss fights make this feel far from a definitive version of the game.
MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Mediocre