I've talked a lot about the Donkey Kong Country games on this blog before, but there's one entry that I've always kinda neglected and that's DKC Returns. I always liked Returns but I was pretty sure that it was my least favorite of the five mainline games, since it didn't have the vibes of the SNES trilogy nor the polish of Tropical Freeze. It was a bit rougher around the edges in terms of its difficulty, and felt like Retro Studios was just trying to find their footing and bring the series back to its roots during a fairly experimental period. But recently, I decided to replay Returns just for the hell of it after primarily replaying the SNES games for the last few years, and it blew me away. I truly forgot just how masterfully Retro Studios designs 2D platformers, and despite previously remembering Returns to be a fairly derivative game, it's got a lot more sauce than I gave it credit for.
As far as the movement goes, I can't say Returns feels as tight as Tropical Freeze but it still feels pretty nice and flinging yourself around with the roll feels pretty great. I personally don't mind the infamous waggle controls much but there are plenty of ways to circumvent them in 2025. But where Returns really excels for me is in the level design which is consistently tight throughout. DKC has always had this great sense of flow and pacing to its levels, and Returns nails that pacing right from the start. Bopping across enemies and dodging obstacles always feels great, and there's a fun sense of exploration with the sheer amount of collectibles in each level. And from the Cave world onward, I'd say Returns truly excels and even surpasses the SNES games. I adore all the chaotic minecart levels in World 4, World 5 is filled with satisfying pure platforming and is capped off by a tense climax, and the Factory world especially is just nonstop banger stages from start to finish, easily rivaling Tropical Freeze's final world as my favorite in a DKC game. I remember the levels in Returns being less dynamic and creative as the ones in Tropical Freeze and that is true to an extent, but they're still immaculately designed and show off Retro Studios' signature high production values on full display.
One of my biggest gripes with DKC Returns was its difficulty, but honestly, I think that's mostly because the last time I played this game was as a kid. Upon revisit, I think most of the pure platforming stages outside of a few exceptions like Tidal Terror and Red Red Rising are tough but fair, and scale up at a natural pace. The Rocket Barrel and Mine Cart stages are somewhat held back by only giving you a single hitpoint which is especially glaring when compared to Tropical Freeze, but they're so damn fun and checkpoints are still pretty frequent that I still find them thoroughly enjoyable. The one area that I still feel is too hard for its own good are the bosses, which are often fairly lengthy and fast while also lacking checkpoints. This is an issue in Tropical Freeze as well but that game has more genuinely great bosses, where the only standout in Returns for me is Colonel Pluck.
Beyond that, I think a lot of the issues that many Donkey Kong Country fans have with Returns just don't bother me that much, or are even perks. Like the lack of Animal Buddies aside from Rambi isn't really an issue for me since I don't like the Animal Buddies much as they often felt like handicaps in the SNES games. Rambi only shows up in four stages in Returns but he's such a power trip that I'm always excited to see him, compared to DKC2 where I dread having to play as Squawks or Enguarde. The same applies to Returns' lack of water levels though I don't think this is as controversial of a take. The lack of K Rool also doesn't bother me much as while I don't think Tiki Tong is that great of a villain, I love the concept of the Tiki Tak Tribe being this force that turns the entire island against DK. They lend DKC Returns a lonely atmosphere that sticks out to me even compared to the SNES games.
And speaking of which, this was probably the biggest surprise for me when it came to Returns. I always thought of this game as feeling pretty derivative in terms of its visuals and sound, but I truly don't know how I ever thought that. DKC Returns' world is incredibly rich and detailed, with each level naturally transitioning into the next and telling a complete story solely through the environmental details. There's a reason why finding DK Island frozen in the next game hit so hard, but Retro Studios put so much care into detailing its ecosystem in this game. The visuals are obviously stellar for the Wii, but what really stuck out to me is the lighting. Most of DKC Returns has this characteristically dark shading to it that helps give the game a more moody feel, especially in some of the bleaker areas like the Cliff and especially the Volcano.
This is amplified by Kenji Yamamoto's pretty melancholic score which remixes many of the tracks from the original DKC in a more dramatic fashion. I've seen this soundtrack get a ton of flack for reusing too many of its tracks from older games, but I honestly think most of the remixes in DKC Returns are superior to their SNES counterparts, and many of the new tracks like Tidal Terror, the Rocket Barrel themes, Rickety Rails, Feather Fiend, Furious Fire, Sticky Situation, Mast Blast, and Sloppy Sands do a lot to round out the soundtrack. And that's also not to mention the tracks like Music Madness, King Of Swing, and Muncher Marathon that take bits and pieces of the original score and make something entirely new out of them. I love David Wise's music as much as the next guy, but just like with DKC3, I think passing off Returns' OST just because it's not made by him is pretty unfair. While the SNES games are noteworthy for their pensive and surreal atmospheres, and Tropical Freeze stands out for its detailed nature and expressive soundtrack, I think DKC Returns manages to have a uniquely moody atmosphere of its own. You can really sense a lot of Retro Studios' Metroid DNA in this game, even moreso than in Tropical Freeze, and I think that's really cool.
However, this does lead into my other remaining gripe with DKC Returns and that's the fact that we still don't have a definitive version of the game. For me, the Wii version is still the king despite its motion controls and lower resolution. The 3DS version does add button controls but the weaker visuals and 30fps performance hold it back for me. The HD version should have been a home run, but Nintendo made the baffling fumble of handing it over to Forever Entertainment who naturally fudged it up. So while the HD version does have both button controls and a cleaner resolution, it suffers from framerate dips, broken multiplayer, and worst of all, godawful lighting that ruins the mood of the original game. As I mentioned, the darker shading of DKC Returns is such a core part of its visual identity to me, so the HD version making everything super bright is such a colossal misfire that I'd still rather play the Wii version in Dolphin with waggle tied to a button for my ideal Returns experience. Sadly, after two remakes, I don't think we'll ever get another chance at a perfect version of DKC Returns and that really sucks considering how good this game is at its core.
So this leaves an interesting question: Is Donkey Kong Country Returns still my least favorite game in the quintology? Honestly, no, not anymore. DKC Returns' flaws are fairly obvious and its longer length means it's not quite as replayable as the SNES games, but the highs it reaches with its level design and visuals far surpass its predecessors for me. At the very least, I think I'd rank Returns over the first two SNES games, as DKC1 while replayable is still way too short and basic, and DKC2 while occasionally brilliant has way too many Animal Buddy stages and difficulty spikes I dread. While not as refined as its sequel, I think Donkey Kong Country Returns holds up far better than I initially remembered and still stands out as one of the best platformers on the Wii.
4.5/5 Stars
