If you already own Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Nintendo Wii, like I do, then going for the Nintendo 3DS version is questionable at best. Maybe you are curious about the additional levels. Maybe you want to play through this excellent game with some novelties. Or maybe you will be just getting this for your collection...
Whatever the reason may be, it doesn't leave a good first impression due to its halved frame rate. At times it even goes clearly below 30FPS, which is unacceptable for a game requiring precise reactions. While it is impressive in itself that Monster Games, the studio behind this port, managed to bring this Wii game onto the Nintendo 3DS, this comes with a cost. And not just the price tag on the box... It just doesn't play as well, especially when you're used to the smooth 60FPS of the original or in Tropical Freeze.
It's also questionable what details were preserved and what not. They certainly were liking the rich backgrounds, which can be rather distracting on the 3DS, while the shadows below enemies are now gone. And we're not talking about complex shadings, but simple "circle below butt" shadows, which were mainly there to give you information with enemies that are above the ground. Those can be critical at times, especially with the final boss, where there was a part that required you to stand right at the edge of its shadow. At least the bubbly background is still there being bubbly...
At least the controls got improved overall, mainly because there aren't any motion controls this time, which originally were used for ground pounding, rolling and blowing (based on your direction). The rolls are the critical part here and they could be a source of frustration with the Wii title, since inputs may not be registered or accidentally triggered. And using a button is simply more precise and reliable. If you can get used to the lower frame rate, then the 3DS version will be more fun to play.
However, this is only true on an XL system, because it may not play as well with the small buttons of a normal Nintendo 3DS. And even if it does for you, then the small screen will still pose a problem, which wasn't really taken into consideration for this port. There are several sections that put you into the backgrounds of the levels, making you very small. Too small for a normal Nintendo 3DS.
The control options also aren't ideal, because you have to pick between the slide pad and the D-pad, they are not active at the same time. Curiously, this also changes the button layout, where the slide pad lets you roll with X or Y and grab with L or R. With the D-pad this gets swapped for no good reason. Why not make it like in Tropical Freeze, which lets you freely set up everything as you want it.
Some of the other improvements from Tropical Freeze have made it into this, though. One of them are the three new items:
- the Crash Shield protects your mine carts and rocket barrels for two times
- the Green Balloon saves you from a fall
- the portable DK Barrels can be used at any time
But these are only available in Cranky Kong's Shop when you play the new "Normal Mode", which also adds an extra heart to both Donkey and Diddy. This mode feels more balanced, actually, and it even adds a heart to Mirror Mode, making that one much easier, which you may even need. Similar to Tropical Freeze, there is now an incentive to collecting the KONG letters in Mirror Mode again, because their trophy icon will then turn blue. So, there is some additional challenge to be found there.
In addition, if you play in Normal Mode, you will be able to purchase the pearls in each world, which are normally gotten at the end of the super-challenging K-levels. They are now required to enter the ninth world, which previously was just a single level (the Golden Temple), but now was expanded with eight new levels on the Nintendo 3DS. So, if you want to check them out without going through the hardship of completing all the difficult temples first, then this will be a welcomed option.
None of these new purchases will be available in the "Classic Mode", which works mostly the same as on the Wii, which means that you will only have two hearts per Kong and so on. It also comes with the additional levels, but they cannot be easily unlocked here. Oh, wait... technically they can, because they've also added the Super Guide to the temple levels just in case, which is extremely annoying. The optional K-levels were designed to be mastered step by step and you will therefore die a lot. To have the little piggy appear after a few deaths, offering you help, just feels like the game is taunting you at this point. (This personally frustrated me more than the levels themselves.) If someone picks Classic Mode, they clearly don't want the additional help, so this was uncalled for.
Whatever path you choose to get into the new "Cloud" world, you won't be missing out much in any case... It's this typical theme-recycling in a final world or area, which you have seen in many Nintendo games before. You will find eight islands in the clouds and each island is based on the stuff from the game's normal eight worlds, without really doing anything with the whole sky theme. That's exclusive to the final level, which already existed on the Wii. So, you get a jungle level, a beach level, a temple level, and so on.
These new additions are well done, but they wouldn't stand out if they were just part of the original worlds. You may not even notice that they are new in that case. Only the factory level truly shines, where you assemble a gigantic Donkey Kong robot in the background, which takes action at the end of the level. This is a memorable highlight, but otherwise these additions are rather forgettable and not a real reason to purchase the 3DS version. They may even feel like filler, padding the game before you can play the Golden Temple and unlock Mirror Mode. But they are still better than nothing...
The Good:
- No motion controls
- Eight new levels, though slightly unimaginative
The Bad:
- Bad frame rate
- Some important details are missing, like enemy shadows
- Things get too small on a normal Nintendo 3DS
- Super Guide is even more annoying
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