Donkey Kong Country Returns Opinion from Old Fans of the Series

Yeah I played through DKC Returns. (also ripped the game’s music as well, granted it was more fun then the actual game.) I’ve played DKC 1,2,3 and I have to say my standards were pretty low after I heard Rare wasn’t going to design the game but instead Retro Studios. With all of these high score reviews, I couldn’t help but write a truthful one myself. Check out my review for the real deal. It’s pretty brutal.

Donkey Kong Country Returns Review | The J-Show (http://www.thejshow.com/site/2010/11/28/donkey-kong-country-returns-review/)

I’d like to hear your guys comments and feeling on my review or the game.

Here’s my comment: Thread 82085

Yeah I played through DKC Returns. (also ripped the game’s music as well, granted it was more fun then the actual game.) I’ve played DKC 1,2,3 and I have to say my standards were pretty low after I heard Rare wasn’t going to design the game but instead Retro Studios. With all of these high score reviews, I couldn’t help but write a truthful one myself. Check out my review for the real deal. It’s pretty brutal.

Donkey Kong Country Returns Review | The J-Show (http://www.thejshow.com/site/2010/11/28/donkey-kong-country-returns-review/)

I’d like to hear your guys comments and feeling on my review or the game.
Rare have been pretty shit for a long time. Everything Retro Studios touches is gold.

It almost seems to me like you had your mind made up about the game before you even played it.

I liked the game a lot though. It’s a little different from the original trilogy, so it’s hard to compare. I probably like it as much as DKC2 and more than DKC1 and 3.

Rare have been pretty shit for a long time. Everything Retro Studios touches is gold.

It almost seems to me like you had your mind made up about the game before you even played it.

I liked the game a lot though. It’s a little different from the original trilogy, so it’s hard to compare. I probably like it as much as DKC2 and more than DKC1 and 3.

Rare’s golden age was at N64. Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, etc..
Star Fox Adventures on the other hand was kinda boring imo.

I enjoyed DKCR a lot!

Rare have been pretty shit for a long time. Everything Retro Studios touches is gold.

It almost seems to me like you had your mind made up about the game before you even played it.

I liked the game a lot though. It’s a little different from the original trilogy, so it’s hard to compare. I probably like it as much as DKC2 and more than DKC1 and 3.

Well actually I kept a close mind about it, to see if Retro Studios could bring something different to the table. The 1st level was pretty fun to play through until the minecart where instant-deaths began to just rack up. I don’t know about Retro Studios turning everything to gold, they only invented the FPS style metroid before remaking DKC. Yeah it’s not about Rare turning to shit, but Retro not living up to the standards of Rare during the SNES era. I mean the game plays like it was made for Diddy who can hover over death instead of Donkey whose slow and drops to his death which probably makes it more accessible in co-op rather than single-player. And I only had one wiimote and nunchuck.

Question: How can any Remade title live up to anyones nostalgia, which is always enhanced by Nostalgia Goggles to a point where nothing can beat the original?

Answer: They can’t…one company can only do what THEY can, not what a different company did with a title previously.

And this is the problem with Remaking something that ‘dear’ to people…those people they design it for/around expect the same game/ideas, when that just almost never happens.

Question: How can any Remade title live up to anyone’s nostalgia, which is always enhanced by Nostalgia Goggles to a point where nothing can beat the original?

Answer: They can’t…one company can only do what THEY can, not what a different company did with a title previously.

And this is the problem with Remaking something that ‘dear’ to people…those people they design it for/around expect the same game/ideas, when that just almost never happens.

Well technically NSMB did live up its name to remake the original SMB. It gave everything its original did and added gimmicks, a momentum building run, and coop. It didn’t take things away and try to recreate everything. It was made a simple platformer and was remade in that very same image. DKC Returns however changed so much that it feels like a completely different game then what was already made. Then again the DKC series never valued itself over nostalgia but instead improvements.

the only people who can give an honest review are those who havent played the originals.
as for me, i absolutely HATE donkey kong (the character), i didnt like DKC that much, but dkc2 was awesome and challenging. i like to pretend there was no dkc3.

as for returns, it was a pretty fun game. it didnt feel like i was playing a copy-pasta’d remake.

and you know why? because you have to treat it as an entirely new game.

Theres no problem that you like this game better than the original, the problem is that they label it DK Country which in meaning, is meant to please the original audience in this day of age. If it was King Kong’s Adventure, it probably wouldn’t be so bad to take in though it also wouldn’t gross such excessive scores either.

dont get me wrong, i played the previous DKC when they were new.
but to ME, dkcr is more like dkc4, not a remake.

dont get me wrong, i played the previous DKC when they were new.
but to ME, dkcr is more like dkc4, not a remake.

I dont think it was intended to be a remake, if it was, its kinda dumb, but would make sense, since I heard that Nintendo doesnt have copyrights on the Kremlings (if anyone can confirm this, if its true, that sucks).

But either ways, I’m on world 7 in the game and near completion in terms of storyline, it is nostalgic, but very original in terms of gameplay and mechanics. I really like what they did with the mechanics, but I found some parts of the game like around worlds 5,6, and 7 to be a bit tedious, the way the environment works (i.e. platforms etc), but that gives a new level of challenge to the series I suppose, no complaints on it though , thats a good thing.

At first I didnt like the fact that there were no enemies from the original DKC series nor any "descendants" like DKC2 and DKC3 had of the original enemies (like they had a Krusher and a Zinger in each DKC game). The whole Tikis taking over a island storyline with different shapes and uses, reminds me of Super Mario RPG’s Smithy Gang which is a +, although weird for DKC Returns xD.

The music is very nostalgic, I can remember every single song I’ve heard in the game that were in the original DKC, the remixes were well done (except for the factory theme, I found the original version to be better xD).

One thing I didnt like about the game was the game’s view was like wide or something, and would make DK way too small when he’s shot back in the background. I dont know, made my eyes hurt abit from time to time unless I stand closer to the screen.

In terms of how I rate games like on GameSpot, this is what I would give the score as:

Story: 7
Characters: 9
GamePlay: 9
Graphics: 10
Music (OST): 10
Sound (effects): 10
Length: 8
Replay Value: 8
Player Value (in general): 10
(+10)
———–
Total Value: 91
Score: 9.1