Summary
One of the many announcements made during the newest Nintendo Direct was that ofDonkey Kong Country Returns HDfor 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 helpDonkey Kongreach 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 ofDonkey Kong Country Returnscame out in 2010. It was a surprise announcement by Nintendo at E3 2010, and the announcement was only made stronger when it was revealed thatRetro Studios was the team making the reboot. Prior toDonkey Kong CountryReturns, Retro Studios had grown to prominence by developing theMetroid Primegames.Returnswould 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 Direct Reveals First New Mario & Luigi Game In 9 Years
Mario and Luigi: Brothership, the first entry in the series in over nine years, has been officially revealed by Nintendo during the recent Direct.
Nintendo Keeps Porting & Remaking Old Donkey Kong Country Games
Tropical Freeze Is A Decade Old
Nintendo is leaving theDonkey Kong Countryseries to flounder without new games, a problem highlighted by the success of the port ofTropical Freezeon 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, andit doubled the Wii U sales by December 2022, according toVGChartz. 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 gamesannounced 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 toDonkey Kongmore than once, as one of the early Switch releases in 2024 was theremake ofMario 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
One of the biggest frustrations about this lack of a new game is that theDonkey Kongfranchise isn’t the most complex series from which to make a new game. In the case of theDonkey Kong Countryset 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 differentand forces the player to think about what is in front of and behind them.Tropical Freezeeven 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 aDonkey Kong Countrytitle is there: the mine cart levels, the DK barrels, the precision platforming elements, etc. Following the success ofReturnsandTropical Freeze, many believed that Retro Studios was working on a third game, but that’s long since been proven false, especially sincethe studio was brought in to saveMetroid Prime 4, which got anew 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 ReturnsHDisn’t coming out until January 2025. That meansthis 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.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3Dsold nearly 3 million units, according toVGChartz.
Even still, that doesn’t justify not making a newDonkeyKong title. In just the Switch’s lifetime, there will have been severalLegend of Zeldatitles, including the newly announcedEchoes of Wisdomstarring Princess Zelda, numerousPokémongames, threeXenoblade Chroniclestitles and their expansive DLCs, twoWarioWaretitles, 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, theDonkey Kongfranchise 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.
