Despite playing game my entire life, I have – like most people – gaps in my experiences when it comes to certain games and franchises. Donkey Kong sits squarely in that area as the only Nintendo consoles I ever owned where the portable ones and those were basically, exclusively Pokémon playing machines for me.
With a brief excursion into the franchise with Tropical Freeze all the way back in 2018, I still count myself as mostly alien to the series but now, with the Nintendo Switch 2 around the corner, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD arrives.
Despite my unfamiliarity with Donkey Kong, I have heard endless praise for Country Returns over the years, with this enhanced offering an easy way for me to try it out for the first time. It can sometimes be lost on franchise veterans that re-releases aren’t always to satisfy them, as they also offer a way for newcomers to get their hands on the series.
This also offers an opportunity for a review of this new version of the game free from nostalgia, to see if the game can still stand on its own two gorilla feet.
Right off the bat, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD looks and sounds amazing. I’d also known that the Donkey Kong games have legendary music, and I was not disappointed hearing it here. The visuals are also good, but to a lesser extent. “HD” is right there in the name and, aside from the added accessibility of the game being on the Switch, an increase in fidelity is a massive draw of this game.
On that front Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is less than impressive. It’s very clear that this is just a bog standard back end upscale and not something like a remake where all the assets are re-made for higher resolutions. While that is quite clear in the marketing of the game, this harsh truth is worth keeping in mind when we circle back to the price of this game at the end.
The game looks fine enough and, thankfully, the actual gameplay is great.
Jumping and movement, arguably the two most important pieces of any 2D platformer, are both up to snuff and the levels do an amazing job at making the most of the tools available to the player. It’s amazing how much variety and twists the game manages to pull off despite the fact that the core gameplay is actually very simple.
There’s even some light strategy involved too, if you can call it that, as collected coins can be used for powerups that the player can utilise that their discretion. Every level and all its challenges, however, can be beaten without them, so these purchases feel more like a way to decrease the difficulty.
On the note of difficulty, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD gives players a choice right at the beginning to decide on how hard they want the game to be.
“Play the game as it was first designed for the Wii system or reduce the difficulty for extra hearts and other goodies to make your journey a little easier,” reads the official description on the game’s store page.
The difficulty “customisation” continues with the KONG letter and puzzle pieces in each stage. Finding them all is a massive task of both skill and exploration, especially in fast-moving levels where you have very little time to scout around or react to challenges in order to collect these. The levels feel made to be played multiple times as many of the letters and puzzle pieces are quite well hidden, and some are not at all intuitive to find.
Combine this with great level design, a decent chunk of enemy variety and many limited-use gimmicks, and it’s difficult to be bored with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. The only real repetition and frustration can come from some of the difficult levels and instances where checkpoints are placed far apart.
I’ll take this opportunity for the audience to boo and throw expired food at me by saying that I didn’t care for the mine cart levels at all. I know it’s a beloved staple of the series (see below where it’s even prominently featured in art for this game) but these levels feel like they’re meant to be neigh impossible to beat on your first try with instant death around every corner, which is unlike the rest of the levels in the game.
Sure I can just get good, but instead of being a fast-paced shakeup to regular levels, ever minecart section to me became a boring game or trial and error.
On the other hand, the boss fights were easier to complete, much more fun and always a treat to find around the next corner. The weird creatures and characters that make up these bosses really let the game artists flex their muscles and it made some of the tougher ones less grating to defeat given their fun designs and unique gameplay.
We can now return to the topic of price mentioned at the top. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, despite not being a full remake, is a full-priced game. That means the full fat $60 overseas and a similarly high R1 129 in South Africa.
This is simply too much money for this game. While a game’s price has not and will not influence a review or the final score, it’s worth noting when a title has an iffy value proposition. I can’t help but feel like Donkey Kong Country Returns HD would have been a much better fit for the $40 price point. The $60 price would have been easier to swallow if, for example, this game was included in a two pack with another Donkey Kong game upgraded for HD.
Not only does the high price make this game look bad in comparison in 2025, it also makes it look bad when compared to older games. The original Donkey Kong Country Returns released in 2010 and less than a year later we got Rayman Origins which you can still buy today on multiple platforms at a fraction of the price that this “new” game demands.
And that’s just one example because, in the 15 years since 2010, countless ground-breaking 2D platformers have been released and even the ones from Nintendo can be bought now for much less money in exchange for huge advancements in every metric.
All of this isn’t even mentioning that many gamers, especially hardcore Nintendo fans, will be saving their money right now for the inevitable Nintendo Switch 2 reveal and expected release this year. With all that in mind the $60 price comes up again and again as a hinderance to this game’s success.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a fun game. A great game, even, and I can tell why people love it and this franchise and why it has enjoyed this success over the decades. Looking at it without the nostalgia glasses still shows me a piece of art worth making note of, but I can also see and experience a game that is from a different era that has only been minorly touched up for 2025.
The fantastic gameplay and musical foundation is so good, however, that I can still see this new offering bringing in the bucks and delivering smiles to both veterans and newcomers like me, I just wish it was priced better to accommodate that or more was done to justify a new full price release.
FINAL SCORE: 7 OUT OF 10.
