Considering how there are basically no more Wii U games left to be remastered and released on Switch (as a friendly reminder, at the time of publishing, Xenoblade Chronicles X is due to finally drop in a few months), Nintendo’s console has been receiving a surprising amount of remasters of titles from the Wii and Gamecube era over the past few years, as I completely understand they don’t want to dedicate too much of their time on new titles when the Switch 2 is due to come out sometime in 2025.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the latest remaster to be released in this category, after a successful Paper Mario re-release in 2024. Considering it’s its actual third time being released (there was a 3DS port released after the Wii original), how does it stack up against its other versions? How good of a remaster this actually is, considering it was actually outsourced to Forever Entertainment this time around, and not developed in-house by Retro Studios, the original creators of the game?

Forever Entertainment, you read that right. The people behind the remakes of Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead, as well as – and I’m not joking here – the Care Bears game I reviewed last year, were actually given a shot by the house that Shigeru built to come up with a remaster of this Wii platformer, in an effort comprised of not only getting rid of the formerly mandatory motion controls included in the original, but also porting it to a brand new engine; in this case, Unity.

Now, Unity’s history with the Switch hardware is a bit controversial, but there have been some notable success stories. The one I usually point out is Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, which actually managed to run as well as any other port, at a staggering 1080p, 60fps, without a hiccup. Ironically enough, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is actually a spiritual successor to Donkey Kong Country, developed by the same people behind the SNES originals. As much as I don’t want to, I feel like comparisons between it and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will be inevitable, so this is your warning.

So, about Donkey Kong Country Returns HD; it’s a remaster of the first game in the franchise to be developed by someone other than Rare, more than a decade after the release of Dixe Kong’s Double Trouble. In it, the Kremlings are not the main villains. This time around, Donkey and Diddy (the only Kongs to appear in this game alongside Cranky) are fighting against a tribe of sentient tikis who have hypnotized all the animals in Kong Island, turning them into their banana-stealing slaves. As always, it’s all about the nanners. In true Nintendo-endorsed 2D fashion, explore linear levels, collect the occasional hidden item, search for extra levels, and defeat a boss at the end of each world. Simple, straightforward, and without mandatory gimmicks in this version.

The original Donkey Kong Country Returns featured mandatory motion controls which haven’t aged well. You had to waggle the Wiimote in order to either perform ground points or roll towards enemies. In Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, you can perform both actions with the Y button; whilst I appreciate the streamlining of an unnecessary gimmick, I have noticed some input delay whenever pressing it, something I simply wasn’t expecting from a Nintendo-published title. There’s a noticeable lack of polish in the controls which certainly wasn’t on my bingo card for this particular review.

I’m not saying that the game runs poorly. In this regard, Forever Entertaiment did a good job at recreating the game on an unproven engine. It’s the control responsiveness and hit detection which really got on my nerves. As mentioned, when compared to Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, that game had vastly better control responsiveness and polish, whilst being an actual original title with a lot more stuff happening onscreen. I legit died a few times whilst playing Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, and very rarely did it feel like my fault; it’s not something that felt like a complete dealbreaker, but in this regard, the game needed some extra weeks in the oven.

It looks pretty much the same as the original; I don’t think that the textures and lighting effects have seen any kind of meaningful improvements. In fact, there was one level (the one with a sunset effect) in which the visuals looked worse than the original, mostly due to how apparent it was that there wasn’t a shadow effect implemented on every asset onscreen, just a mere textural swap. It still looks fine, I suppose. I am not a big fan of the generic “tropical island” themes in the game, but the game has charm and color. I am not a big fan of the new characters, though; I surely miss the vastly more expressive Kremlings.

Most of the soundtrack is actually comprised of rearranged versions of classic Donkey Kong Country tunes. The instrumentation is… passable, I suppose. The compositions are so good that I didn’t mind the somewhat uninspired rearrangements. You can’t ruin “Aquatic Ambience” or “Jungle Hijinxs” even if you were playing them on a $200 out-of-tune Epiphone. The new tunes are obviously inspired by these better tracks, but don’t sound anywhere near as inspired. All in all, it’s still quite good, even though it lacks the magic only Grant Kirkhope and David Wise can bring to the table.

And for what’s new in this package… well, there isn’t. Besides the brand new control scheme (which is actually more of an adaptation of what the 3DS port offered), what you had back in 2010 is what you’re getting here. There are a few unlockables and extras, but they’re nothing out of the ordinary. You are getting the content and technology of a Wii game from 2010 with a better presentation… for the price of a AAA game. Once again, Nintendo feels out of touch with pricing decisions and what they can get away with. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair cost half of this game back at its launch. Nowadays, you can grab this much better game for peanuts during a sale.

It’s still a good game. It did not wow me, and I honestly think there are much better games in a similar vein out there (and for a fraction of the price), but Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a decent remaster of a well-put platformer. I just don’t think that, just like many other recent Switch outings, it justifies its really steep pricetag. You are able to purchase a used copy of Tropical Freeze, a discounted digital copy of Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, and even a month of Nintendo’s Online service in order to play the SNES originals, for the same asking fee. It’s a bit lackluster in terms of polish and additional content. With that being said, if you are a big fan of Donkey Kong, or just want to play a well-crafted 2.5D platformer on-the-go, you could do a lot worse.

Graphics: 7.5 When comparing it to the Wii original, its framerate and resolution have been buffed, but it still largely looks the same. It has charm and color, but I am not a fan of the level design and the sheer lack of Kremlings.	Gameplay: 6.5 Whilst there is no mandatory usage of motion controls (thank goodness), I noticed an annoying amount of input delay and faulty collision detection. Nothing that makes this completely unplayable, but I expected a bit more polish.
Sound: 8.0 Most of the soundtrack is actually comprised of rearranged versions of classic Donkey Kong Country tunes. The new tunes are obviously inspired by these better tracks, but don’t sound anywhere near as inspired. All in all, it’s still quite good, even though it lacks the magic only Grant Kirkhope and David Wise can bring to the table.	Fun Factor: 7.0 It’s still a good game. It did not wow me, and I honestly think there are much better games in a similar vein out there (and for a fraction of the price), but it’s a decent remaster of a well-put platformer. Nowhere near as epic as older Donkey Kong Country games, or even Tropical Freeze, but a neat title regardless.
Final Verdict: 7.0

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is available now on Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD was provided by the publisher.