Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

 3DS
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 278 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 225 out of 278
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 278
  3. Negative: 26 out of 278
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  1. kjcw64
    Nov 26, 2013
    4
    I've played the old Donkey Kong Country games for years. I grew up with them. When I saw that there was a new Donkey Kong platformer, I purchased this game after reading some reviews. I am very displeased with this game.

    For starters, none of the game mechanics feel right. Donkey Kong doesn't jump as far as he usually does, and it can really throw the player off. Your roll attack now    I've played the old Donkey Kong Country games for years. I grew up with them. When I saw that there was a new Donkey Kong platformer, I purchased this game after reading some reviews. I am very displeased with this game.

    For starters, none of the game mechanics feel right. Donkey Kong doesn't jump as far as he usually does, and it can really throw the player off. Your roll attack now has a distance on it. The game places 3 enemies in a row, your natural reaction is to roll through it. You get through 2 of them, and take damage from the 3rd. Did I mention that you have health now? You'll need it because you're gonna end up getting hit multiple times.

    At least Diddy Kong doubles your health. And also gives you the ability to hover for a short distance. Which is great and all, but it's one of the only ways that the game is playable. Take away Diddy's hover and you're stuck meticulously misjudging every single one of Donkey's jumps.

    One of the things I wanted to find in this game was classic style controls, because honestly, I hate playing 2-d style platformers with the circle pad. Thankfully, there's a control pad option so you can control with the d-pad, but it changes every single one of the other controls. With the circle pad you can roll with y, but for some random reason when you switch to control pad you have to use the shoulder buttons. I tried to switch over to have a more classic style experience, but was left with having to meticulously re-figure out the controls while standing still.

    This game loses a lot of the old flow the old games had. All of the fun in the old Donkey Kong games was running through them as fast as possible, collecting bananas and Kong letters. It was fun. This game feels more like I'm doing housework, or it's reminding me that it's a kid game and I have to take it slow. Then it puts you in a fast paced level as you watch Donkey's pathetic athletic skills as he ambles and stumbles his way across the level.

    The game has it's cool points, don't get me wrong. The wall clinging feature is really neat, and the parts where you go into the background is pretty cool, if not difficult to see. The game looks great. It's just not a Donkey Kong game. I'm as much confused as I am disappointed with this title. If you want to play it, rent it. Don't shell out the 30 bucks to purchase it.    … Expand
  2. TemplarGR
    Sep 10, 2016
    2
    Mediocre game with nice graphics and production value, but with some framerate issues and unresponsive controls on the 3DS.

    The original Donkey Kong Country was fun 22 years ago, but let's be frank, it sold mostly on its graphics, even back then. Those were the main attraction, the gameplay was nothing special even by '94 standards. So how come this remake which is more or less the same    Mediocre game with nice graphics and production value, but with some framerate issues and unresponsive controls on the 3DS.

    The original Donkey Kong Country was fun 22 years ago, but let's be frank, it sold mostly on its graphics, even back then. Those were the main attraction, the gameplay was nothing special even by '94 standards. So how come this remake which is more or less the same thing with updated graphics, and its inferior port on the handheld, get so high reviews? Is it Nostalgia? Is it the Nintendo brand name? What?

    This game is totally overrated, and unless you just love platformers, you can safely skip it. And if you own a Wii, definitely get it on the Wii, as the port is bad.    … Expand
  3. budwheizzah
    Jul 25, 2013
    4
    I've rarely been put down so quickly by something that was presented as one of this console's "AAA" titles. The control is awkward, the game play is stale and the difficulty varies at complete random even within a stage itself. I could easily compare this title to Rayman Origins, but the only result of this would be I'd recommend Rayman Origins instead, period. Mario, Rayman, you simplyI've rarely been put down so quickly by something that was presented as one of this console's "AAA" titles. The control is awkward, the game play is stale and the difficulty varies at complete random even within a stage itself. I could easily compare this title to Rayman Origins, but the only result of this would be I'd recommend Rayman Origins instead, period. Mario, Rayman, you simply handle this genre way better and Donkey Kong.... nnnnot soooo muuuuch (Borat voice).… Expand
  4. nibiru7
    Feb 25, 2014
    0
    All and all this game is ok, it stays true to the whole 2D side scrolling concept but falls short of entertaining. I have more fun playing Zelda, Mario, or Monster hunter currently and playing this game just feels like a choir. I would stay away from it and hope for a more innovative donkey kong country game to be released. Feels like a cheap mobile phone game. If the 3Ds would justAll and all this game is ok, it stays true to the whole 2D side scrolling concept but falls short of entertaining. I have more fun playing Zelda, Mario, or Monster hunter currently and playing this game just feels like a choir. I would stay away from it and hope for a more innovative donkey kong country game to be released. Feels like a cheap mobile phone game. If the 3Ds would just release SNES titles on the 3DS already I would just pay for the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country, heck I would even pay $30 for the SNES version on the 3Ds over this garbage. I am rating this a 0 just to bring the score down as many of these reviews of a "10" is over nostalgia and may miss lead others into paying for this title. My honest score is a 5.… Expand
  5. harryjc
    Jan 9, 2019
    4
    Not too fun, because of poor design decisions.

    THE GOOD: - This is a beautiful game. One of the best you'll see on the 3DS. - No water levels! - The bonus levels are fun. - I enjoyed the dioramas, and art gallery, although it's rather difficult to unlock everything. - The cartoons were nice. - This game's hard to play, so the super guide is helpful. - I like going into Cranky    Not too fun, because of poor design decisions.

    THE GOOD:

    - This is a beautiful game. One of the best you'll see on the 3DS.
    - No water levels!
    - The bonus levels are fun.
    - I enjoyed the dioramas, and art gallery, although it's rather difficult to unlock everything.
    - The cartoons were nice.
    - This game's hard to play, so the super guide is helpful.
    - I like going into Cranky Kong's shop, and buying items to help me out. You need this!
    - To me the game is a mixed bag, but when I enjoyed myself, I enjoyed myself. The best levels were reminiscent of the older Donkey Kong Country games.

    THE BAD

    - Not as good as other Donkey Kong Country games.
    - Even though Donkey Kong has a rich history what you can do in these games is limited.
    - The only animal you get to use in this game is the rhino, and you don't get to use him much. But riding the rhino is really fun! I wanted to use more animals!
    - You can't play as Diddy Kong. Only when you're in two player mode, which requires a second 3DS, and extra copy of the game.
    - The controls are odd. Control scheme one only allows you to use the circle pad, and the second only the d-pad, but it moves around the buttons on the right.

    - Donkey Kong feels so fat, and slow. He is not very responsive, and doesn't jump high. He isn't agile.
    - To get through this game you need to have Diddy Kong on your back, but he doesn't stay with you. He is constantly disappearing, and you lose him.
    - So many cheap deaths. There is a lot of falling, and one hit deaths. This is how this game creates replay value. Not through extra content, but making you play certain levels a dozen, or several dozen times.
    - You need precision timing to beat this game, but the 3DS controls don't help. They should have modified the game with the 3DS' controller in mind. There needed to be more forgiveness. The circle pad sucks, and it doesn't feel right with the d-pad.
    - A lot of times you have to spring off the enemies, but the window of time you can do it in is so tight that often you miss. Not a huge problem though.

    - When you roll to knock away enemies, you can't keep rolling like Sonic the Hedgehog. You get abruptly stopped, and then lose a heart from getting hit. You don't get to keep you momentum. Lame.
    - When you collide into a wall for the first time you think that you can jump off walls, but nope. Donkey Kong just falls straight down. He's so fat, and stupid.
    - There are so many mine cart levels, but they aren't that fun. Jumping off, or with carts, with perfect timing isn't my idea of fun. It feels punitive, because one hit, or one mistake, you have to start all over again. Though to be fair there is a potion you can use to make this task easier.
    - The barrel rocket levels are creative...but again not fun. I think they really wanted to make one button levels, but it just doesn't feel right. It feels like there's a lot of luck involved, even though that isn't true.
    - At times you need a magnifying glass to know what is happening in the game. This game definitely belongs on a big TV screen. By the way, I played this on a New Nintendo 3DS XL.

    - I didn't like how the health meter was in the top left of the upper screen. There should've been an option to move it down to let you see better.
    - I'm a fan of 3D, but this game didn't really pop out. It felt somewhat flat (compared to other 3DS games). This is me nit-picking though.
    - I was disappointed in the mirror mode. I thought you would get to play the levels backwards, doing the last parts first, and the first parts last. Nope. It's literally just mirrored. You do everything the same, but you go right to left instead of left to right, and it's way more difficult because you have one less heart, no Diddy Kong, and no extras.
    - I didn't like how hard it was to unlock all the extras. When you 101% the game you don't unlock all the extras. Nope. You have to 200% it, and you're forced to play the game again, but in mirror mode. Unlocking all the extras is extremely convoluted. You have to do so many different things with no clue as to how you should do it.

    CONCLUSION: Not really a bad game, but not a great game either.    … Expand
  6. SuperClaudio64
    Apr 22, 2023
    3
    Volevo rivalutare DKC Returns, visto che mi aveva deluso molto quando lo giocai su Wii e.... Credo di avere un opinione più negativa ora di questo gioco, dopo averlo rigiocato sul 3DS.
    Per iniziare, Retro studio ha cambiato completamente la formula della trilogia classica, dove gli elementi chiave erano due Kong con abilità differenti da gestire, diversi aiutanti animali che rendevano i    Volevo rivalutare DKC Returns, visto che mi aveva deluso molto quando lo giocai su Wii e.... Credo di avere un opinione più negativa ora di questo gioco, dopo averlo rigiocato sul 3DS.
    Per iniziare, Retro studio ha cambiato completamente la formula della trilogia classica, dove gli elementi chiave erano due Kong con abilità differenti da gestire, diversi aiutanti animali che rendevano i livelli più variabili e interessanti, 1 punto ferita per personaggio e abilità di coppia dei Kong. In country returns tutto questo non è presente, ed inoltre i livelli Bonus sono ripetitivi e generici, mentre una volta erano tematici e divertenti.
    Aggiungiamo che la colonna sonora è un remix delle musiche del primo DKC con poche nuove aggiunte musicali molto dimenticabili.
    Poi, sia in DKC Returns che nel suo sequel, i Kremlin non sono presenti e in questo gioco la tribù Tiki che funge da antagonista, si rivela generica sopratutto nel design, al punto che nelle boss fight sono presenti solo nelle cutscene.
    I Boss del gioco hanno dei pattern e delle fasi molto lente, che rallentano il gameplay sopratutto quando vanno riprovate e alcuni dei boss (Tipo i granchi) sono basilari e molto poco ispirati.
    L'unico aiutante animale presente è Rambi che per la maggior parte del tempo serve per lo più per rivelare delle stanze Bonus, non è nemmeno stato integrato in una boss fight. I Puzzle collezionabili sono per lo più inutili e sbloccano solo illustrazioni, oltre al essere 1/3 delle volte presenti alla sinistra del inizio dei livelli.
    Diddy kong è diventato un power up, che è praticamente essenziale visto che ora Donkey ha una fisica pesante ed è molto scomodo da controllare, specialmente perchè la rotolata e il GroundPound ora sono mappati sullo stesso tasto, con l'unica variabile che la rotolata si esegue se si sta muovendo donkey, ma il più delle volte viene registrato l'altro input e spesso questo porta a dei KO istantanei in certi livelli di fuga.
    Alcuni dei livelli segreti sono stupidamente basati sul Trial and error e mancano di Checkpoint, il che li rende solo frustranti da completare.
    Insomma, a mio parere il gioco è un disastro, non è divertente, Donkey non si controlla bene come un tempo e tutti gli elementi positivi della trilogia sono stati modificati.
    Non capisco perchè questo gioco sia così apprezzato, per me rimane il peggiore della serie, ma posso dire che Tropical Freeze è un buon gioco che ha migliorato molti aspetti negativi di Returns.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best 3DS Game of 2013
12
#12 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2013
10
#10 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 62
  3. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. Games.cz
    Nov 2, 2013
    80
    At a glance a cute and charming little platformer that will eventually become with your insight one of the most challenging and deepest contemporary platform games. A great remake that's annoying only because of its occasional troubles with controls and because of its complicated multiplayer game.
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  2. GamingXP
    Sep 16, 2013
    81
    Still one of the best platformers of the last years – even though there is not a lot of new stuff to be found in the 3DS-version.
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  3. Level7.nu
    Sep 10, 2013
    80
    Donkey Kong Country Returns for the 3DS is basically the same game that launched on the Nintendo Wii for nearly three years ago. The smaller format has made some of the levels harder to navigate but it shouldn’t discourage anyone from checking out this portable version of one of the best platform games of all time.
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