Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (NSW) Review

I've been meaning to--ahem--return to this game to give it the SPC review treatment. It's a good thing I waited, as when I originally was going to review Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the early 2026 update hadn't come out yet. No one knew it was even a thing until it released! If I had reviewed this game prior to the patch/update, my thoughts on this HD remaster would have been less, for sure. Read on to see exactly why that is with this, the SuperPhillip Central review.

The Definitive Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong has no doubt been making a bit of a comeback in the spotlight. Not to say he's been totally ignored these past several years, but with a monumental (and absolutely excellent) Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive 3D platformer, appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (with a movie of his own coming down the banana chute), and a dedicated space in the Super Nintendo World theme park, Nintendo's great gorilla is getting quite the resurgence in fame. 

No doubt as a means to capitalize further on DK and friends was Nintendo's recent patch and update to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, which originally released on the Nintendo Switch early last year. Adding a slew of new--and most importantly FREE--features to the game, I felt it was more than well worth returning to Returns for a fourth (!!) playthrough.  

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD begins with a new threat besieging Donkey Kong's island, the Tiki Tribe, hypnotizing the isle's residents and having them take DK's prized banana hoard away. They attempt and fail to hypnotize DK, resulting in him rushing out of his home to reclaim his rightful banana prize. While nowhere near the popularity of the Kremling Krew, the Tiki Tribe do offer themselves as decent enough villains all the same. 

Returning to Donkey Kong Country... Dixie Kong!

If you've played Donkey Kong Country Returns in the past, whether the Wii original or the Nintendo 3DS port--or heck, even any Donkey Kong Country game previously--you probably know what you're in for. Returns HD sports eight worlds in its story, with a ninth being unlockable. Only through collecting KONG letters in each level of a given world will an extra level in that world open up. Through beating all eight extra "K" levels, one in each world, the final unlockable, purely optional world unlocks.

Donkey and Diddy Kong opt to ruffle these birds' feathers.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD's eight worlds each contain a variety of levels and theming to them. From world 1's Jungle that introduces players to the game and most of its gameplay mechanics, to world 2's Beach which brings forth a new mechanic in one of its levels, that of the rocket barrel. This has players carefully pressing and letting off of the B button to raise and lower the barrel as automatically moves through auto-scrolling levels. The aim here is to evade and avoid walls, ceilings, and other hazards, as one hit means the monkeys are dead meat immediately, then.

Don't be fooled by DK's three hearts--it only takes one hit to perish on a rocket barrel!

The levels themselves each introduce a different kind of gimmick to them, and I say "gimmick" in a complimentary and positive way rather than a negative one. Players will find themselves constantly seeing new level mechanics throughout their adventures with the Kongs. These are iterated on wonderfully throughout each level--whether that's running away from a horde of pursuing spiders, carefully avoiding the rising tide that hopes to wash away errant Kongs, or moving through a labyrinth of switches that when brushed up against, changes which platforms are solid and which disappear.

Really, the design with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is so phenomenal, and Retro Studios did a fabulous job with making fun, engaging, and also quite challenging levels. The only real gripes I have with the adventure, and these remain the same since the Wii release, are that bonus areas often repeat through the same dozen or so variants and that world 4 is a tiring endurance run of mine cart and rocket barrel levels. I still don't really enjoy world 4 because of that reason. 

Rambi rides again, but unfortunately he remains the only playable animal buddy in Returns HD.

I mentioned in the tagline that Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the definitive version of the game that originated on the Wii. It has readily available local co-op play for two players like the Wii original, and has the bells and whistles of the Nintendo 3DS port, including a more accessible difficulty mode, helpful items to bring along inside levels, and the eight 3DS-exclusive levels that unlock after the initial credits have rolled. And of course, the Wii original's motion controls are totally optional this time around.

However, the Nintendo Switch version was not always definitive. It was only until a recent patch/update (as of earlier this year) that remedied a rather large problem with co-op play. In the original Switch version prior to the update, bouncing off an enemy would defeat it immediately, meaning if a second player was following closely, they'd end up falling down below with no recourse. With this recent update, when the first player bounces off an enemy, there's a little delay for the second player to be able to bounce off the enemy as well before it's defeated. This makes co-op SO much better, and it wasn't an issue in the Wii or 3DS versions of the game.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a difficult game, make no doubt about that, but the inclusion of the 3DS's additions can make it less troublesome of an experience. It still won't be a cakewalk, but the burden will be lessened all the same. These additions include a modern mode to allow Donkey and Diddy an extra hit of damage to both of them, as well as the ability to purchase helpful items from Cranky's shop. These are things like being able to take more than one hit in a rocket barrel or mine cart level (fixing one of my issues with world 4), being able to get rescued once from falling into a bottomless pit, and the ability to take Squawks the Parrot with you in a given level. The latter will literally, well, squawk when players are near a hidden Puzzle Piece. These Puzzle Pieces are much more challenging to find than the KONG letters, so it's nice to have that option to get some extra assistance. 

Unlike Tropical Freeze after it, the bosses in Returns don't outwear their welcomes.

And that's really a pleasant thing here--none of these accessibility features from the 3DS version are mandatory to use. In fact, you can completely make a save file without them by using Classic mode as opposed to the new Modern mode. But to make an already deviously difficult game less of a frustrating one is always welcomed, especially in an optional fashion like Returns HD offers.

No doubt you've already perused the screenshots and captions attached to this review and noticed something--or someONE--different. The aforementioned update to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD also brought with it a brand-new playable character for Returns in general: Dixie Kong! She makes the game even less of a headache thanks to her ability to twirl her ponytail to provide an upward float to catch some extra height. This is unlike Diddy Kong, whose jetpack provides horizontal distance as opposed to Dixie who provides both horizontal and vertical distance. It makes getting some of the secrets and hidden goodies within Returns HD a much easier experience. While having Dixie Kong aboard DK doesn't quite hit the levels of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze's Funky Mode, it does lessen the challenge a little all the same.

Dixie makes a lot of the platforming challenges much easier to handle.

The final new addition this year's update brought to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is that of "Turbo Attack" which basically is a speed-runner's delight. It speeds up the gameplay of levels, bosses, and more, making for a much faster, but also much more punishing experience. This is alongside the already present ability to play through the game in Mirror Mode, once the initial game is 100% complete. This Mirror Mode turns everything around, backwards, but also makes it so DK is by his lonesome and must play through levels without taking a single hit. A challenging mode, and one I avoided for obvious skill-based (or lack thereof, for me) reasons. 

The animations, visuals, colors, lighting--all of it--are just delightful in DKC Returns HD!

Whether you're running through the game casually, aiming for a 100%+ save file--and whether THAT be solo or in co-op with a friend or family member--you're going to have a good time with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. That is, if you know what to expect from the game on a challenge level. Returns was always a tough game to beat, and it's one of modern Nintendo's toughest platforming offerings to date. The inclusion of the 3DS's optional accessibility features do lessen the blow of the difficulty, but it won't completely absolve you of a challenge, for sure! 

The very recent additions of Dixie Kong, Turbo Attack mode, and fixes to the co-op (the latter of which Returns HD introduced as a problem) make for a platformer in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD that is a superb, stellar, and banana slamma' of an experience. Fans of Nintendo's great ape are like DK after getting his banana hoard returned to him; they're eating well!

[SPC Says: A-] 

Review Round-Up - March 2026

Between tennis and golf, mascot-driven sports game fans were well served this month!

It's time for your monthly recap of reviews on SuperPhillip Central. For the site, March came in like a lion with some big reviews of some enjoyable games. It may be April 1st today, but we're not fooling around with that previous statement!

Things started on an indie note with the Zelda-inspired Under the Island, which proved to be a fun island excursion indeed, earning a B. 

Following up with adventuring on an island to adventuring in a world of tennis, we gave Mario Tennis Fever some coverage. Its Adventure Mode was rather anemic, but everything else about the game impressed me, so it scored a B with its serve.

Diving into another indie adventure, we set sail and entered the deep platforming waters and world of Demon Tides, and it managed a B as well for its excellent efforts. 

Things started to take a downward turn in review grades for March, but still saw some worthwhile titles get covered, such as Disney Golf and the clever Piece by Piece (not to be confused with the release of the same name released the same week). Both of these games got C+ grades.

Finally, things unfortunately went downhill from there with our lone subjective stinker of the month with Snowboard Kids 2. The CPU was too crafty/challenging/cheap/whichever adjective you'd like to put in there, it works! A white whale of a game I wanted to play, and the experience ended up to be disappointing at best. A D+ was the game's given grade.

All in all, a lovely month to ring in spring with! As always, check out the SPC Review Archive for every review ever posted on this site. Some of them are like my GameFAQs days more than a decade ago: volatile and cringe-inducing--for real! Ha-ha, but also oof!

Under the Island (Multi) - B

While its combat is a bit too loose, and its dialogue a bit too much in general, all in all, Under the Island won me over big time. I was able to tolerate those small-to-medium sized quibbles to fully enjoy and complete the game. There's such a wonderfully enjoyable world to explore with Under the Island's... well... island, that tracking down every last Heart Coin, every last item, and making Nia one lean, mean, baddie-defeating machine through upgrades discovered around said world was something I thoroughly loved doing. If you're yearning for a new, highly competent, top-down, traditional Zelda-like experience, Under the Island will fulfill that yearning indeed.

Mario Tennis Fever (NS2) - B

Camelot Software doesn't exactly serve an ace with its first Nintendo Switch 2 offering, but Mario Tennis Fever serves in general as an excellent starting point all the same. The tennis gameplay is great as ever, the amount of characters and rackets means that you'll have loads to experiment with to find the best character and racket that suits your play style, and the level of content is absolutely satisfying this time around. The Adventure Mode disappoints once again, but the rest of the package is more than worthwhile.

Demon Tides (PC) - B

Demon Tides is a superb and ambitious 3D indie platformer that casts a wide net of adventure. The ability to customize your playing experience through the helpful talisman system is a pleasure to have. It truly assists in making the game more enjoyable and less frustrating when control and camera quibbles try to ruin the fun. While these problems do rock the boat a little bit, making for a non-ideal experience, all in all, Demon Tides offers more of a smooth ride rather than one in abundantly choppy waters. There's more fun than frustration to be found in Demon Tides. And like many of the locales in the game, there are clever level and gameplay concepts and a robust repertoire of moves that are mostly well executed to discover throughout Demon Tides, making it one I recommend 3D platformer fans to play.

Disney Golf (PS2) - C+

With nine playable characters, six courses, standard modes, and basic gameplay that doesn't reinvent the wheel--or deviate from the norms of arcade-style golf for that matter--Disney Golf is a nice enough game that is accessible enough for casual players and veterans alike. The latter may find the game a bit too easy mechanically, but Challenge Mode's abundance of impairing power-ups used by the computer can frustrate even the most levelheaded player out there. ..I'm glad I spent time with Mickey and friends on the links, and if you're a fan of the genre like I am, you probably will be glad to spend some quality golfing time with the Mickey Mouse crew, too.

Piece by Piece (PC) - C+ 

Piece by Piece doesn't waste the player's time with filler or linger too long on a given gameplay idea. It's a clear, concise, and clever puzzle-platformer with a fabulous concept to it that is iterated on near-perfectly throughout its six hour length. Once you clear the game, you might not have too much of a reason to return to it, but what an experience it was during those six hours for me while the game lasted! 

Snowboard Kids 2 - D+

Snowboard Kids 2 is relentless in its cheapness masquerading as "challenge", and for a game I yearned to play for the longest time, I step away from the snowy slopes, as a player, left out in the cold. What started as a game that I was open to enjoying quickly turned into one that gave me quite the frosty reception.

Two indies, two gals with orange hair, and two satisfying adventures were found 
with Under the Island and Demon Tides this past month!

[VIDEO] Top Ten Nintendo 64 Racing Games

We're going retro to end the month of March on SuperPhillip Central with some rare video content. The Nintendo 64 through its life had less than 300 games total to its name, and a lot of those were in the racing genre. This video top ten list talks about my ten favorite N64 racers, what I consider to be the best of the best. I hope you enjoy this video, and I encourage you to like, subscribe, and provide any feedback you might have, as well! 

Snowboard Kids 2 (N64) Retro Review

Let's pause from modern releases for a brief moment and take some time to look back at a Nintendo 64 racing game that trades in your typical ride with wheels with one that is flat and stiff as a board. Because it literally is a board--a snowboard! Let's carve through the snow with this retro review of Snowboard Kids 2.

A Nintendo 64 racer that seamlessly shreds the slopes at first but ends up wiping out in the end.

Fresh off the release of Snowboard Kids the year prior, the sequel, Snowboard Kids 2, took to shred the slopes with the familiar cast of the previous game for more snowboarding in a variety of fantastical locations. Atlus certainly was chasing after that Mario Kart money with the Snowboard Kids series, and taking the character racing genre and putting it on snowboards was an incredibly creative concept. While the execution oftentimes stumbles, it's creative nevertheless. That said, I unfortunately found that my experience with the sequel mostly went all downhill from there, both figuratively and literally. 

Right away when sliding downhill for the first time on the first course of Snowboard Kids 2, I noticed how slow the gameplay felt. You definitely don't move with great speed, and it's absolutely agonizing when you get hit with an item or stumble into a fall, because getting up is even slower. Having to jump repeatedly to pick up any semblance of speed is also--you guessed it--slow, too. 

Snow time like the present to carve a path to the finish line.

Pulling off tricks off of jumps is a risk versus reward proposition in action, as it sees you holding a direction on the analog stick as you leap. This is simple enough to pull off--perhaps TOO simple, as I often found myself mistakenly flipping when trying to make small jumps. Of course, this resulted in my character crashing and burning, meaning yep, more slow jumping to gain what Snowboard Kids 2 calls "speed". 

Successful tricks earn you gold, which is used outside of races to purchase new boards, but also used in races to pick up items. There are two types of items in Snowboard Kids 2, red and blue items. Each uses a different button on the Nintendo 64 controller to use. Red items generally come in the form of projectiles, such as ice shards that freeze players in place, parachutes that send players flying into the air and slowly falling to the ground, and snowmen that when a player is hit by one, their turning ability is impaired considerably. Meanwhile, blue items are usually for support, whether summoning a jet for your board to speed past opponents more easily, a pan item that falls on top of all opponents to crush them--immediately stopping them in their place--and a small rock which can trip up an opponent that passes over it.

One lovely touch in Snowboard Kids 2 is depending on the course, characters will change their outfits appropriately.

I found the counter system in Snowboard Kids 2 to be less than ideal. To avoid or evade an item that is homing in on you, you have to jump at the right time. A trick will send it flying back at your opponent, but this is understandably much more difficult to do correctly. Most of the time, you'll have to just surrender and take a hit like a champ, resulting in the agonizing wait for your character to get up and build up speed once again.  

There are two primary modes within Snowboard Kids 2: Story and Battle, the latter of which allows up to four friends to play any race against one another whenever and however they choose. Meanwhile, Story takes your character of choice through a series of races, one after the other, with intermissions in between each race to explore the small arctic town hub to purchase new snowboards with money earned through races, as well as take on different challenges. Serving as basically bookends before and after races are short and cute vignette cutscenes that see a certain troublemaker causing problems for the Snowboard Kids crew. 

Jungle boogie your way into the lead, but good luck keeping it with this AI!

Story mode features nine race courses, and most of these aren't limited to snow-themed excursions. Instead, you also have a tropical beach that leads into an undersea voyage, a royal castle, a haunted house, and even a trek through outer space. Each race is three laps, and upon reaching the bottom of the course, you ride a ski lift that takes you back up to the top of the race for the next lap. With such a small gate to enter the ski lift, you can bet that there is a lot of jockeying for position and pushing other players out of the way. This can be a bit frustrating for the player pushed out of the way, but it adds to the chaos all the same.

The end of lap one is ahead, so a ride up the mountain on the ski lift awaits as well.

Speaking of frustrations, Story mode's CPU opponents start off innocently enough, but by the mode's latter half, they become utter bullies. It feels incredibly cheap, really, as the CPU will know just when to use an item to screw you over, thus making you have to play catch up for an entire lap. Of course, as soon as you do that catching up, something else happens to make for an overly aggravating time. 

Seriously, I didn't understand what the point of some of the races was when every time I'd make some headway, I'd get screwed over in the race somehow. With races that can take upwards of five minutes to complete, this can just frustrate further, as it's pretty much not only a crap shoot if you win later races, but it also feels like a total waste of 5+ minutes each time to lose in a cheap manner at the last lap. It would be fine if this happened occasionally like in Mario Kart, but no, it happens more often than not within Snowboard Kids 2. Some might just say to "get good", but unless the RNG gods are in your favor, giving you proper items to evade attacks and having the CPU not use items at the absolute wrong times, it's more luck than skill-based in Story mode.

Borrowing a page from Diddy Kong Racing in a sense, there are a handful of bosses interspersed within Story mode. These are less races, though, and more battles, requiring you to whittle away at a retreating boss's health to zero with offensive items before they can cross the finish line. These battles are more annoying than fun, though, as obviously bosses shoot myriad items back at your character as well. Factor in how slow it is to recover, and you have another needlessly irritating time.

A boss battle. Oh, joy.

Really, Snowboard Kids 2 is a deceptive game. It has such a cute and charming presentation with its colorful cast of big-nosed characters, crisp and vivid courses, and an especially admirable amount of draw distance as well to see all of the graphical goodness that the game has to offer. But peeling off this cozy and cute layer and going deeper into the game out from a superficial level, inside, Snowboard Kids 2 is just a dang bully of a game. When a lot of it is encountering pure, opportunistic jerks of CPU opponents, contend with the RNG of the game in general, and facing frustrating gameplay--especially recovering from falls and from getting hit by items--it's simply not the best time.

Someone must have known we were coming because they baked a cake!

That's why I'm so disappointed with the game, overall. Snowboard Kids 2 is relentless in its cheapness masquerading as "challenge", and for a game I yearned to play for the longest time, I step away from the snowy slopes, as a player, left out in the cold. What started as a game that I was open to enjoying quickly turned into one that gave me quite the frosty reception. Tracking down a copy for the price the used market asks for now is in no way worth it unless you have a side of masochism to you and your wallet. I'm more than happy to give the cold shoulder to Snowboard Kids 2, because while it was not a broken racing game gameplay-wise, it felt that way from an AI point of view, making it all in all quite a disappointment.

[SPC Says: D+] 

Piece by Piece (PC) Review

No, no, not THAT Piece by Piece. The OTHER Piece by Piece. Funnily enough, TWO games with the same title released about two weeks ago on Steam, and the developers of each took notice and opted to make a Steam bundle with both games on sale in said bundle. They couldn't be further apart in what they are, what they offer gameplay-wise, or what they set out to do, but the names are similar indeed in a fun way. I'm opting to currently cover the jigsaw puzzle-related Piece by Piece with this, the SuperPhillip Central review.

A puzzle-platformer concept you might just love to pieces.

Puzzle games run the gamut of means and methods to bust a given player's brain. Piece by Piece is one game that will do just that, getting some platforming into the mix, all the while offering routinely fresh ideas, levels that will possibly positively stump even the most spatially aware mind out there, and an overall gameplay mechanic that works remarkably well throughout.

Piece by Piece takes a relatively simple but conceptually clever idea and runs with it quite quickly through its relatively short runtime. The game tasks you, the player, with organizing levels in the shapes of jigsaw puzzle pieces on the fly as you maneuver a character from the start of the level to the goal. This is performed by picking up and connecting pieces that can be properly assembled to make a connected bridge for the character to move through, also manually done by the player. It's a puzzle-platformer at its most essential essence.

That's no Jiggy on the other side of that wall, so call off Banjo and Kazooie, all!

Along the way to the goal, each level houses a golden puzzle piece, and while some of these are optional to collect, you'll really want to go out of your way to aim for obtaining most of them. That's because these are gatekeepers for later collections of levels, and only upon having the required amount can you unlock and open the books containing these levels.

At the start of Piece by Piece, you're simply arranging puzzle pieces around, connecting, disconnecting, and shuffling the pieces around as needed, while moving your player character through the levels. Most early levels don't take but a handful, if that, of puzzle piece manipulation and movement to properly solve. 

However, Piece by Piece in its brisk runtime picks up the pace with relative speed. With 100 puzzles total, the game does a fantastic job of not lingering on one concept or mechanic too long, while also not overwhelming the player with too many new gameplay ideas in an overly fast fashion. You generally get a series of three books of levels per level selection page. The first two books each introduce a new gameplay mechanic, having you learn it, get accustomed to it enough through experimentation, and before you know it, that book is complete. The third book is where your mastery is pretty much required, as it combines both previous books' mechanics into each level. 

Get ready for a flippin' good time in these levels and Piece by Piece in general.

What mechanics and concepts does Piece by Piece introduce, you ask? Without spoiling too terribly much so prospective players can discover the majority for themselves, the game starts with simple puzzle piece shuffling and jostling around to connect, disconnect, and reconnect as required. Not before too long, you're able to rotate certain pieces, flip them over, and that's not even mentioning in-level mechanics, such as blocks your character can drill through, portals that teleport your character from one section of level to another, and gravity-based affairs as well. 

Each set of levels gives you a specific themed character to play as, too.

Each set of levels also features its own visual style alongside those previously mentioned mechanics. One of my favorites is set in the pages of a '90s era high school notebook, complete with sketches like those mysterious-in-origin "S' designs that my generation doodled in their books upon boredom. The art style in this particular book is so striking and appealing to me, and that's just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Each book also houses its own music, but no matter which book you enter to solve its oftentimes complex and sometimes convoluted puzzles (said with the utmost of positivity there), you're going to hear some incredibly chill tunes that do little to annoy or distract the player.

No time for doodling, I'm afraid, as there are levels to solve!

I played Piece by Piece with my preferred controller of choice, but I overall found the controller experience a bit clunky and clumsy. Selecting puzzle pieces is done by holding a trigger on the controller and using the analog stick. It's unfortunately the same stick used for character movement, so I'd often be stumbling and fumbling with moving my character when I wanted to move a puzzle piece or conversely moving a puzzle piece when I wanted to move my character. Frustrating to say the least. So, while the controller setup isn't ideal, it works overall. Though, players may find the keyboard and mouse controls easier to work with in tandem than that of a standard controller. 

As stated, Piece by Piece isn't a long game. It took me just under six hours to complete all of its puzzles with all of its achievements knocked out. I appreciated the game for its cheeky approach to achievements. Sure, there are ones for fully completing a given book of levels--standard fare and expected for an achievement checklist--but you also get achievements of the cheekier variety. Being in the same level for ten minutes is less of an achievement (but still a literal achievement to complete) and more of an expectation for how complex and complicated later levels can get. In fact, the last set of levels took me basically a third of my total playtime of the game to beat! And good luck getting the no-death run achievement, even though--well, your character literally can't die in Piece by Piece whatsoever--but maybe YOU can be the player that fails doing it! Take THAT, ironic achievement!

Kidding aside, Piece by Piece doesn't waste the player's time with filler or linger too long on a given gameplay idea. It's a clear, concise, and clever puzzle-platformer with a fabulous concept to it that is iterated on near-perfectly throughout its six hour length. Once you clear the game, you might not have too much of a reason to return to it, but what an experience it was during those six hours for me while the game lasted! And sometimes you don't need a reason to return to a game, either. It can simply be one and done and be appreciated for that. I definitely do appreciate Piece by Piece for being mostly all-killer and no filler. Additionally, I recommend you don't just aim to take a piece (by piece) of the game, but just go ahead and enjoy the whole thing instead!

[SPC Says: B-]