Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Is Great, But I Hope A Wholly New Game Is On The Way

At the latest Nintendo Direct Showcase, we learned that Nintendo will be releasing Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a Switch remaster of the 2010 Wii game that previously saw a re-release on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. One of the best titles in the fantastic Donkey Kong Country series, this new release will bring this challenging but riveting adventure to a whole new audience on Nintendo’s ever-popular hybrid device. It’s definitely a game to look forward to in the early part of 2025 while we wait for Nintendo’s next console.

Now this is all well and good, but I can’t pretend I’m not chomping at the bit to get a wholly new Donkey Kong game at some point. It’s been a decade since the last entry in the series, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and six years since we last heard from the franchise when this game received a re-release on the Switch. Furthermore, it’s been the topic of several rumors over the last few years, so it seems like Nintendo could very well be making a new entry into the franchise. Hopefully, it will be ready soon, because it’s high time for Donkey Kong to get a new game.

Maybe Donkey Kong Should Jump Back to 3D?

Personally, I would love to see Nintendo try something new in 3D with Donkey Kong. Sure, Donkey Kong 64 has aged in a lot of areas, and I think some of the collect-a-thon elements will need to be toned down, but Donkey Kong has not gone 3D since then. Between 2005’s Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Retro Studios’ Donkey Kong Country duology on the Wii and Wii U, mainline Donkey Kong titles have largely stuck to a 2.5D style. Maybe it’s high time for Nintendo to try to experiment with another fully 3D title in the franchise.

After all, Nintendo has had no trouble bringing largely 2D franchises into the world of 3D as of late. It was just two years ago that Kirby finally had his first fully 3D title in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, coming after well over a decade of Kirby being a prime 2.5D series for Nintendo. Even during the same Nintendo Direct where Donkey Kong Country Returns HD was announced, we saw the announcement of Mario & Luigi: Brothership, which is set to be the first entry in the Mario & Luigi franchise to have fully 3D gameplay. Given how long it’s been, Donkey Kong deserves his time to shine, and it feels like he’d shine even brighter if given the chance to topline a fully 3D title.

Rumors have previously stated that the next Donkey Kong game will be developed by the team at Nintendo that previously made Super Mario Odyssey. This team clearly showed their love and care for Donkey Kong in Odyssey with New Donk City, a town featuring several references and odes to the original Donkey Kong game where Mario made his debut. You even get to meet the original Donkey Kong game’s damsel in distress, Pauline, who is the mayor of the city, and the final section of the level sees you facing off against Donkey Kong, designed after his sprite from the original arcade title. If any team could bring Donkey Kong back in a compelling 3D title, it’s definitely the team that made one of the Switch’s finest titles.

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How About Mario and Donkey Kong? No, Not That Mario and Donkey Kong.

Perhaps an even better idea for a new Donkey Kong game would be one that combines Mario and Donkey Kong…no, not like that other series. Mario vs. Donkey Kong is plenty of fun, and it’s certainly a great little puzzle game with platformer elements, but it would be cool to see these two come together in a full-blown 3D platformer. After all, Mario made his debut in Donkey Kong, so the two franchises are almost intrinsically tied to one another. Given their deep history, it would be pretty awesome to see the two of them come together with a proper 3D platformer that lets them play off of one another in their own special ways.

We already got to see something of a sneak preview of this in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where Mario has to travel to the Jungle Kingdom to recruit Donkey Kong in his quest to stop Bowser. The duo spends a fair bit of the movie together – at one point even going to blows with one another in an epic battle scene – but there’s one standout scene where the both of them do a bit of “platforming” together, culminating in Donkey Kong himself even picking up a Fire Flower. This one small scene feels like a great preview of what a joint Mario and Donkey Kong platformer could look like, and how a new game could have Mario and Donkey Kong playing to their own unique strengths, while also implementing a thing or two from the opposite franchise.

After all, the Super Mario and Donkey Kong Country franchises both have their own unique elements. The Mario platformers rely a lot more on contextually appropriate power-ups that help Mario advance through specific sections of levels, while the 3D titles are built on a greater sense of exploration than the typical Donkey Kong game. Donkey Kong, on the other hand, is built more on set pieces such as mine carts, and on animal buddies that help Donkey Kong through levels. Yet at the end of the day, their platforming gameplay still has a fair bit of similarity to it, and combining all of it together, I’d love to see how well Mario and Donkey Kong could play off each other in a new game, one that seems them coming together instead of duking it out.

Regardless of whether Mario is there or not, though, it’s about time for Donkey Kong to go on a whole new adventure in a brand-new game. The series has sat quietly for over a decade at this point, only popping back in to say hello when it’s time for a new re-release. Hell, it was just three years ago that Donkey Kong celebrated his 40th anniversary, and Nintendo did absolutely nothing about it. Given the historical significance of the Donkey Kong series – and how it helped Nintendo’s other flagship franchise get on its feet – it’s particularly shocking that Nintendo barely acknowledged this anniversary back in 2021. These re-releases are nice and all, but let’s give Donkey Kong a proper chance to shine with a brand-new mainline game.

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