Donkey Kong Country Returns HD: A solid Switch port with some unexpected flaws

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the latest in DK’s return series, bringing the original Wii-era adventure back to Nintendo Switch as the platform heads into the sunset. It’s also an interesting project because Nintendo handed the reins over to Forever Entertainment, who then rebuilt the whole thing to run on the Unity Engine.

The Return of Kong Returns is certainly a choice, but there’s some logic here: the more enjoyable DKC Tropical Freeze already exists on Switch, so bringing the game to Wii means you can experience both of Retro Studios’ Kong adventures in one place.

It was their first game outside of Metroid Prime, released back in 2010, and was a turning point given the difference in genres. Personally, I liked the game back then, but it felt a little lacking in controls compared to the Super NES games, and the soundtrack felt like a cheap imitation of the originals. Three years later, the game was ported to the Nintendo 3DS, which required changing the gameplay from 60 frames per second to 30 frames per second, with Excite Truck developer Monster Games handling the port.

As for the current Switch port, I was a little nervous about the game’s prospects given Forever’s track record, which includes slightly subpar remakes of Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead. However, I shouldn’t have worried – this is, in fact, Forever Entertainment’s best work to date.

The remastering is tasteful, and the new textures overall look excellent and authentic to the original. What’s more, as a Unity game on Switch, the resolution and framerate are surprisingly stable, especially considering how poorly previous Forever games performed on Switch, but there are some unexpected shortcomings.

Let’s start with the introductory FMV. It has been greatly improved and might even have been completely remade if the original assets still existed. This may seem like a small thing, but the processing of video assets usually says a lot about the quality of the conversion. When little attention is paid to FMV quality, it usually means corners have been cut, at least in my experience. Fortunately, this is not the case here.

First impressions of the game are also positive: the remaster remains faithful to the original visual design. The focus here is on new textures, modified effects and updated character models, while the basic geometry of the stage remains largely unchanged. The new textures are much sharper, hold up well at higher resolutions – 1080p in docked mode and 720p in handheld mode – and the image quality is acceptable. I love the new sky textures and I’m glad they sharpened the background scenery to avoid the low-resolution effect. Rain and water rendering has also been significantly improved.

However, the closer you look, the more you begin to notice some oddities. The visuals that were missing from the original trailer have been implemented and improved, but minor issues still remain – the clouds of dust that rise when the DK symbol is hit are reduced, and the barrel destruction animation when the DK fires it is a bit sloppy.

You might not notice things like this while playing, but you’ll probably notice the lack of sunset in the third stage, less glowing floating KONG letters, and simplified shadows in the intro to the first boss fight. Fixes and tweaks like these are present throughout, and while they’re minor changes, it’s still strange to see a game released on a much more powerful system with fewer effects and details.

If it were the magnitude of the change, I’d be more likely to shrug and just roll with it, as the end result is still pretty good, but there are two more problems. Firstly, loading time. They’re not too bad, but they’re almost twice as long as the disc-run Wii version. Of course, asset sizes have increased, but this still seems like a big step back.

Secondly, it’s frame rate. It’s important to note that we’ve seen Unity games run at 1080p and 60fps on Switch, including Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair with better graphics, but most Unity releases tend to run with performance glitches or more low resolution, so 1080p at 60fps is still worth celebrating. But the Wii version of this game runs mostly flawlessly, so some areas of slowdown are noticeable. The fact that this game performs worse than its more technically advanced sequel doesn’t sit well with me.

This is why this game is so difficult to discuss. On the surface, Forever did a better job here than anything else in their back catalogue, but it still doesn’t live up to what Retro Studios did with their Switch ports, and at this price there’s no compromise required.

On top of that, while the game is okay, I think it’s the least interesting game Retro Studios has made to date. This is very conditional; the controls and trajectory feel much less satisfying than the classic DKC games, and the level designs are repetitive compared to Tropical Freeze. However, the biggest sin is the music, which I honestly didn’t like due to the rather calm melodies and poor instrumentation in some of the updated tracks.

So what is the conclusion here? The reality is that this release is both good and disappointing. The remastering effort is mostly successful, but the areas where it falls short seem less acceptable when you consider the age of the original. When you consider the technical precision you’d expect from a real Retro Studios game, this is perhaps even more disappointing.

If you’re itching for DKC Returns and haven’t played it yet, this is a good version of the game that allows you to play without the controller-shaking antics of the Wii version. If you’re already familiar with the title, there are more exciting retro remakes to pass the time with.