Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Review

Third time's the charm?

Updated review [15 January 2025]: Another system, another version of a classic. 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns first debuted on the Wii, before 2013’s Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D spiced things up on the 3DS. Now, 2025 offers another chance to play — and with less difficulty, even compared to the 3DS version — thanks to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD on Switch.

Some of its amendments mirror changes between the Wii and 3DS versions; Returns HD allows a Modern Mode (formerly New Mode) with three default hearts (aka chances to mess up); additional options are also available for purchase at Cranky Kong’s shop, potentially making things easier still. Two players can tackle Returns HD‘s challenge in co-op, and use a mixture of button-press or motion controls in doing so.

While the original’s an easy 8.5 on our scale, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note this is the second time Nintendo has repackaged the original in 15 years, meaning ol’ DK has lost a bit of his lustre. Whether you’re a huge fan of the original, or someone new to a Nintendo, use that info to determine if this is for you or not. Maybe its $80 AUD asking price is better reserved for a partial payment on a new Switch 2 console?

Matt’s original review follows.

Original review [3 June 2013]: When it first came out on the Wii, I was very excited for Donkey Kong Country Returns. I’d never had the chance to play the older games in the series, having started my gaming career on a Mega Drive and not entering the Nintendo console world until the Wii. The series’ return to modern gaming seemed like a great way to jump on the Donkey Kong train. But MAN, that game was hard.

I realise that the difficulty of the DK series is one of its hallmarks, but I wasn’t prepared. As much as I loved playing DKCR on Wii, I found it hard to progress. Thankfully with its move to the 3DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D has seen a few tweaks to make it better suited to short bursts of gaming on the go.

The game itself is a port of the original Wii title, with all the same story and level content; an eruption of the volcano on Donkey Kong’s home island unleashes the Tik Tak Tribe, a group of living wooden masks who set about stealing his banana horde and generally causing trouble on the island, which Donkey Kong sets out to rectify.

The main changes present in this game revolve around adjusted gameplay mechanics. Chief among them is the option to choose between Original Mode, which shares the Wii version’s two-heart capacity for Donkey and Diddy Kong, or the new New Mode with three hearts apiece and additional power-up items available for purchase from Cranky Kong in the game’s shops, including the Crash guard for mine-cart levels and a portable DK barrel, to recover Diddy Kong at any time.

Monster Games were very kind in their porting efforts not to simply label this new option as Easy Mode, a fact I’m grateful for. Beyond the additional items and heart capacity, Original and New Mode share the same difficulty and level layout, meaning New Mode simply gives you an extra hit before losing a life.

And it’s a good thing, too – with no change to the game’s difficulty, there’s still a lot of trial and error as you learn the rhythm of a level in order to survive it. Thankfully it’s still easy to farm levels for banana coins as you try and fail, allowing you to stock up on extra red balloons/lives. I was extremely grateful for the extra point of health in some of the game’s later levels, as they can get brutal on precision platforming and timing.

DKCR3D has received another notable expansion in that an entire new world has been added for the post-game. After completing the final boss battle you are challenged to collect a special item from each of the prior eight world in order to unlock the ninth, a collection of even more difficult levels for those who survived the game so far. Alongside the time attack and mirror modes unlockable within the game, this adds good replay value even for those who played the game to completion on Wii.

Visually the game looks great on the 3DS – although some textures and detailing have been scaled accordingly to the platform, everything looks crisp. The game’s rare use of silhouette levels once again looks stunning, and it’s a pity this variant on the levels didn’t see more screen time. The entire game was reworked for the handheld’s stereoscopic 3D, and the effort shows. Although I wasn’t able to play with the 3D for long bouts due to eye strain (more a problem with my eyeballs than the game), the depth of the 3D has been implemented for more than just a two-layer approach.

Curiously, the game has no implementation of StreetPass. I’d say this is probably the first core, Nintendo first-party title I’ve seen on the 3DS that doesn’t have some usage of the mechanic, though I do struggle to think how it could have been used for this title in particular. Even if it had just been a way to earn the occasional extra power-up item, it seems conspicuously absent here.

All in all, I had a lot of fun playing through this game again, even after giving it a shot back in its Wii days. The ability to pick it up and put it down for short bursts was a perfect fit for the game, and helped keep my blood pressure under control for some of the endgame levels that really got me boiling over. Frustrated as I get at my own stupid thumbs for not keeping up, I could never snap my 3DS shut for more than a few minutes before giving it ‘just one more shot’. Give it a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised (and angry).

This Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D review first appeared on 3 June 2013, written by Matt Gosper. It was later amended by Steve Wright for our Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review. Both copies of the game were provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.