One of the best games on the Nintendo Wii has made its way over to the Nintendo Switch at last, right as Nintendo announced a Nintendo Switch 2. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a remaster of a game that was on the Wii and then on the Nintendo 3DS. I played both versions, and also this newest version. Donkey Kong’s a great game, but Nintendo should reconsider how it prices classics like this in the future as we approach Year 9 of the Switch Family’s lifecycle.
Figuring out which Switch games are “new” and which are old can be confusing, especially since Nintendo’s in the business of rereleasing and remastering classic games all the time. Sometimes, the new versions are worth every penny of the price: Mario Kart 8, for instance, felt just as new on the Switch as it did on the Wii U. Donkey Kong Country Returns, on the other hand, while still really fun, hardly feels like it should be a $60 game in 2025.
Donkey Kong Country Returns is a lovely-looking side-scrolling platformer with 3D graphics, spanning multiple worlds on an island. It can be tough at times, but also there are assists to help you skip forward if your kids are feeling frustrated.
DK Country Returns has tons of secret areas and extras, and finding them is a big part of the fun. Nintendo’s games often are full of secret things (Luigi’s Mansion, Mario, Kirby, and so on), but it really does feel like you need to bonk on every piece of ground and blow on fires and flowers all the time to make sure you don’t miss anything.
The game’s two-player co-op mode is fun, and the game includes bonus levels that were added to the Nintendo 3DS version – but there’s nothing else brand-new onboard this time.
Even though I’ve played before, I had some fun.
All the level designs are clever, the graphics still feel fresh, and with Super Nintendo World and a Donkey Kong ride hitting Universal Studios Florida this year, the timing seems perfect. But $40 or less seems like a far more fair price for a third rerelease of a game that first came out back in 2010 (here’s my original review). Even then, I thought the game was a charmingly retro experience that felt a little bit too complacent. In 2025, that feeling’s even stronger.
I’d love more Donkey Kong games, and there’s already a sequel on the Switch: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, which was originally a 2014 Wii U game. You can play plenty of older Donkey Kong games on Nintendo’s Switch Online virtual console apps, too. It’s probably time for a whole new DK game sooner or later, but that’s hardly what this is. Instead of something new, Nintendo’s giving us more of the old.
Next time, maybe release all the DK games together for one more reasonable price? Or release the games as DLC extras? I don’t think anyone wants to keep buying the same games over and over again. Something to consider as Nintendo plans a whole new console and, maybe, starts to rethink how it approaches its vast catalog of classics, too.