Donkey Kong Country Returns

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Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong Country is back!
Protagonist(s): Donkey Kong Genre(s): Platform Platform(s): Wii Nintendo 3DS Nvidia Shield Nintendo Switch Release Date: Wii NA: November 21, 2010 AU: December 2, 2010 EU: December 3, 2010 JP/HK/ROC: December 9, 2010 Nintendo 3DS NA/EU: May 24, 2013 AU: May 25, 2013 JP: June 13, 2013 KOR: December 7, 2013 HK/ROC: January 24, 2014 Nvidia Shield CHN: July 4, 2019 Nintendo Switch WW: January 16, 2025 Developer(s): Retro Studios Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: United States Series: Donkey Kong Country Successor: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a 2010 platform game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii in 2010. It was followed by Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U in 2014.

A port for the Nintendo 3DS titled Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D was released in 2013, and Nintendo Switch titled Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will be released in 2025.

Plot

An evil army of sentient masks known as Tikis attacks Donkey Kong Island hypnotizing its inhabitants and steal Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard (again). Luckily, DK is immune to the hypnosis and punches one of the masks.

With Diddy Kong's help, Donkey makes his way through the island pummeling the Tikis to recover his bananas. The two Kongs chase the Tikis to the island's volcano where they find out their bananas are being used as fuel to make more Tikis. DK defeats the leader of the Tikis Tiki Tong by crushing it with the moon and recovers the Banana Hoard, again!

Why It's A Good Return

1. After years without a new Donkey Kong Country game, this game finally delivers.
2. The game faithfully replicates the feel of the classic Donkey Kong Country games while still adding new mechanics of its own.
3. Cranky Kong's shop lets you buy items, extra lives, and keys to unlock extra levels.
4. Amazing graphics for Wii and 3DS standards.
5. The game provides a very high difficulty challenge for hardcore players, which rarely ever feels unfair or frustrating.
6. Catchy and memorable soundtrack such as "Gear Getaway", "Sunset Shore", "Clifftop Concert", the title screen, and "Music Madness".
7. The iconic Mine Cart levels return, along with the debut of Rocket Barrel levels.
8. Each world feels connected as at the start of every first level (after the Jungle), you are beginning to exit that world and enter the next one.
9. The Tiki Tak Tribe are decent antagonists and each have creative designs. They also have a better reason to steal DK's bananas than King K. Rool, as it is their life force. Plus, the song they play to hypnotize the animals is nothing short of awesome and soothing.
10. A brand new item in this game is Banana Juice. Using it will give both Donkey and Diddy a shiny, golden coating and make them invincible for 10 hits. This item also returns in Tropical Freeze.
11. Many levels look and play creatively, especially the Cliff and Factory levels.
12. Creative and challenging boss fights that often change their attack patterns as the fight progresses.
    • Donkey Kong (or Diddy Kong in multiplayer) defeats the bosses and Tiki Tong in a hilarious way by beating them up and then punching them so hard that the punch sends them flying far away.
      • It's also optional to punch the tiki away as if you stay put for a short period of time without punching it, the tiki will come flying towards the screen.
13. Squawks the Parrot has a new role in the game in which he helps the DK and Diddy locate Jigsaw Pieces.
14. Sillouette levels debut in this game, and they're beautiful to look at.
15. Epic ending cutscene where DK punches the moon out of orbit to crush Tiki Tong Tower and retrieve his bananas (It's even funnier when using just Diddy Kong as he uses his head to push the moon, but this is only accessible in multiplayer and if Donkey Kong hasn't been respawned).
16. There is a new mode; Super Kong. If the player loses too many lives in a level (which is bound to be a lot), they can choose to watch a tutorial of a white furred, blue tied, DK complete the level for them. They only downside is that this will not actually finish the level by itself.
17. The 3DS port allows you to play the game in either the original difficulty or on easier mode. In easy mode, you have three hit points, new items are available, and coins to buy lives are more plentiful. These changes make the game more accessible, but still difficult.
    • Additionally, there is also an actual World 9 with levels that are based on the 8 Worlds.
18. After completing World 9, you unlock Mirror mode, which is a mode where you have only one heart and no Diddy Kong.

Bad Qualities

1. The Wii version forces you to use motion controls without any other options to use a Pro or GameCube controller. Luckily, the 3DS version fixes that.
2. The game at times can be too hard. The Time Attack and Mirror modes are massive difficulty spikes (for an already very difficult game) with close to zero margin for error. The Temple levels also don't have checkpoints, making them harder to complete.
3. The Rocket Barrel and Minecart levels can be hard sometimes, especially since you die in one hit. Luckily, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze fixes this.
4. Bonus Levels aren't as interesting as they were in the original Donkey Kong Country games, since they only use the same limited kind of objectives instead of always being unique.
5. Rambi, while he does make his return to the series, is the only playable Animal Buddy.
   • Instead of Ellie the Elephant returning, the intro cutscene just uses a generic giant elephant. She would've worked great for some of the volcano levels.
6. Despite WIAGR#10, The Tiki Tribe aren't very interesting antagonists either, as they recycle the "Banana Theft" plot already done by the Kremlings in the original Donkey Kong Country game, and they hypnotize different animals to fight the Kongs, instead of doing any fighting themselves.

Reception

Donkey Kong Country Returns received critical acclaim both by critics and fans and is considered one of the best Wii games as well as one of the best 2D platformers ever made.

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