For a game about collecting bananas and throwing barrels, Donkey Kong Country Returns is surprisingly inventive. The game, which originally launched on the Wii in 2010, takes the classic SNES side-scroller and steadily infuses it with new ideas, creating an experience that’s at times both tense and thrilling. You’ll do everything from fly a rocket through bat-filled caves to avoid the tentacles of a giant squid. It gets intense. It’s also a game that’s known for being very hard. But a new port on the Switch makes it slightly easier to enjoy all of those thrills without getting too frustrated.
It’s called Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, and it’s basically what it says right there in the title: the original game but with cleaned-up graphics. Fundamentally, there isn’t a lot of difference. The premise, which involves an evil mask turning a bunch of animals against Kong, remains the same, as do the levels you’ll explore; though, as a nice bonus, the port does include stages that were previously only available in the 3DS version of the game.
And just like the 3DS version, the Switch game has two modes to play through. One, called “Original,” is exactly what it sounds like, a straight port of the Wii game. The other is called “Modern Mode.” It doesn’t actually change the difficulty but instead offers a greater selection of helpful boosts, the option to carry nine of those items at once, and an extra heart by default. There’s also a returning feature called the “Super Guide.” If you die a few times, this option will appear, and it lets you watch a playthrough of the level so you can see what you’re doing wrong. It also lets you bypass the level altogether, so you can skip troublesome stages and come back to them later.
That’s important because, like I said, this game gets hard. There are precarious jumps to navigate, scenes where you have to fire yourself out of a barrel at just the right moment, and multistage boss battles that will test your patience. That hasn’t changed here, but the game gives you more ways to deal with the frustration.
And it’s worth it because Donkey Kong Country Returns is a delightful game. It may not have the whimsy or playfulness of something like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but that doesn’t make it any less creative. While there are standard stages where you hop around, stomping on bad guys, the best parts of Returns have an almost cinematic feel. There are perilous minecart levels that force you to react quickly as the world crumbles around you. There are levels where you’re avoiding destructive forces — like the aforementioned squid or devastating waves — as you inch your way to the goal. It can have the vibe of a high-stakes action movie, only, you know, you’re playing a giant monkey wearing a tie.
Sure, we’re at the tail end of the Switch’s life, but you could do a lot worse for the end of a console than ports of games like Returns and the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles X. The series has a sense of tension and scale that set Donkey Kong Country apart from other side-scrollers, and Returns might be the one that pushes it the furthest. Now, it’s simply a little more approachable — without losing any of its original bite.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD launches on January 16th on the Nintendo Switch.
