An easy remaster that struggles to outshine the Swap port of Tropical Freeze, however Returns HD continues to be a difficult and satisfying platformer that stands the take a look at of time.
It feels unusual to be seeing out the twilight months of the Swap with an HD remaster of a Wii sport from 15 years in the past, however such is the place we discover ourselves in with the launch of Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD. Initially made by the parents at Retro Studios and now remastered by prolific Swap writer and porting home Perpetually Leisure, this difficult 2D platformer is itself an try to recapture DK’s glory days from the SNES, making this one thing of a double dip within the rose-tinted swimming pools of nostalgia.
Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD evaluate
Writer: Nintendo
Developer: Perpetually Leisure
Platform: Performed on Nintendo Swap
Availability: Out on sixteenth January on Nintendo Swap.
However having performed Returns on the time, and once more when it got here to the 3DS in 2013, it’s nonetheless considerably heartening to understand that, sure, this wasn’t only a nice platformer in its personal proper a decade and a half in the past – it stays a cracking platformer even now, standing the take a look at of time with its demanding athleticism, pitch-perfect timing and warrens of devious secrets and techniques. Seen in isolation, that is as value taking part in at the moment because it ever was, and a stark reminder of simply what an awesome Donkey Kong Nation sport might be.
Nevertheless, it is so uncommon we will view issues in isolation as of late, and it feels doubly unusual to be returning to this when its superior sequel, Tropical Freeze, was ported to the Swap again in 2018 (and nonetheless prices a sizeable £50 like Returns HD does). Again then, we have been simply over a yr into the Swap’s lifespan, however to bookend the console with its simplified and barely drabber-looking predecessor? You possibly can’t assist however really feel the 2 video games ought to have arrived the opposite manner spherical, and if I needed to choose one DKC sport to play for £50 on the finish of a console technology, it will be Tropical Freeze, no questions requested.
Nonetheless, let’s not get forward of ourselves unnecessarily. As I mentioned, there’s loads to suggest Returns HD by itself deserves, particularly because it incorporates a few of the 3DS model’s added extras, akin to its extra forgiving problem mode the place gamers have further well being and gadgets, and extra moreover. And proper from the off, Returns HD pulls no punches relating to placing gamers via their paces, requiring a dextrous understanding of Donkey Kong and Diddy’s respective talents and limitations to sort out rigorous run-and-jump gauntlets that shock and enjoyment of equal measure.
In some respects, the 3DS nonetheless feels just like the extra pure residence for Returns. Significantly early on, DK will frequently barrel over to plunder bits of background surroundings for collectible KONG letters and hidden puzzle items (the latter of which is able to progressively swell the ranks of the sport’s monumental sound and picture libraries if all of them get rooted out in a single stage). That surroundings may even frequently cascade into the foreground too, as pillars of stone domino down a cliff face to bridge looming chasms earlier than you, whereas kraken tentacles snake via slim sea caves to dam your path and pesky moles chuck lethal bombs from rival minecart tracks in crystal-encrusted tunnels.
It is a fantastic collision of the senses, your fingers flying by the seat of your Pleasure-Con buttons to maintain up with the sights and sounds of being hurled at you from entrance and behind. A dynamic digicam frames the motion with a deft and elastic lens, pulling in shut for tense and frenetic precision work, earlier than zooming out to seize each final crumb of its ornately drawn spectacle. And it is all set to the bombastic tunes of David Smart’s unique soundtrack, reworked right here by Aleksander Jastrzebski. This dramatic to-ing and fro-ing is a sensation that is not at all dulled on the Swap, however when most of my time was spent taking part in in handheld mode, it took me proper again to cranking up the 3DS’ stereoscopic slider to drink all of it in.
I used to be additionally reminded simply how a lot it leaves you to find the finer nuances of its platforming, too. Whereas useful tutorial pigs will sometimes pop as much as let you know some primary controls – seize onto a vine, say, or slam DK’s fists into the bottom to interrupt fractured scene furnishings – classes on apply a few of its extra superior platforming methods are by no means fairly as forthcoming. I am going to admit, I had 15 years of muscle reminiscence to assist me out right here, and so I already knew that urgent soar once more on enemy heads Mario & Luigi-style would let me acquire further top, whereas rolling would assist me velocity as much as soar throughout bigger gaps.
A few of this you will inevitably be taught by glad accident, as fortunately it is a world positively teeming with little moments of magic like this. Slamming a suspicious platform and having it flip to disclose a hidden barrel to certainly one of its many secret rooms, for instance, or crouching all the way down to blow a puff of air, just for it to launch a tiny, barely noticeable propeller seed into the air with a bunch of bananas or puzzle piece in tow. Small, incidental actions like these make every stage really feel alive with wide-eyed risk, and the way in which that data then ripples out to the way in which you strategy later ranges on Kong Island stays certainly one of Returns HD’s best strengths.
The extra probably situation, nonetheless, is that you will be taught the majority of those methods the laborious manner – via grit and tears and by dying repeatedly to a few of its most difficult platforming segments the place exact utility of those expertise is your solely path to success. Minecart ranges – as soon as the spotlight of DKC video games – are notably unhealthy for this, although curious banana and collectible placements do at the very least assist to nudge you towards some form of revelation, nonetheless irritating. Nonetheless, when one foot unsuitable is usually all that stands between you and a hasty restart, there are occasions when Returns HD can really feel exasperatingly abstruse – one thing you may need hoped would have been ironed out for this remaster – and no quantity of additional well being in its decrease problem mode will assist to melt the blow right here.
Purists will say that is par for course with Returns. It was, in any case, notoriously troublesome at launch, and stays so now, even for a triple-dipper akin to myself. It’s noticeably tougher than most different platformers on the market proper from the get-go, although not insurmountable by any stretch – merely gathering bananas and cash to spend at Cranky Kong’s store to purchase further lives are greater than plentiful sufficient to make sure you by no means really see a real sport over display. Equally, after a number of deaths in a row, these tutorial pigs will finally supply to deploy the returning Tremendous Information operate to skip you to the top as properly (albeit at the price of any collectibles you have gathered, and any remaining delight you’ve got).
Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD accessibility choices
Two problem choices. Separate sliders for music and sound FX quantity. Selection of two management schemes. Non-compulsory movement controls. On/off toggle for HD Rumble, and sensitivity slider.
Persist via these aches and pains, nonetheless, and there is nonetheless an eminently satisfying platformer to be discovered beneath – one the place mastery is regularly rewarded, and discovering its finer particulars elicits the most effective form of glowing gratification. It stays an excellent online game, even when it should inevitably really feel like one thing of a step backward for many who have already performed and cherished Tropical Freeze, whose handsomer visuals and extra formidable set items simply trump this somewhat simple, no-frills remaster. In the event you missed it again within the day or just cannot resist the lure of nostalgia, there’s nonetheless a superb time available with Returns HD. However actually, should you’ve but to play both of Retro’s DKC video games at this stage within the Swap’s lifecycle, you need to most likely simply skip straight to Tropical Freeze. That is a Donkey Kong sport on the peak of its powers, whereas Returns HD stays extra of a warm-up act.
A replica of Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD was supplied for evaluate by writer Nintendo.
