Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country Returns
Also known as: Donkey Kong Returns (JP) Developer: Retro Studios Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Wii Released in JP: December 9, 2010 Released in US: November 21, 2010 Released in EU: December 3, 2010 Released in AU: December 2, 2010 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused music. This game has revisional differences.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: Supposedly there's some unused text hinting at a 4-player mode More unused music. Also, the first half of Aquatic Ambience apparently doesn't actually play in the game but is in the game files. The game attempts to read a file named "30fps.txt" from the disc. Does this have an effect? Is it present in the 3DS port?

In Donkey Kong Country Returns, Retro Studios (of Metroid Prime fame) takes on the Donkey Kong Country series, with results both fun and faithful to the originals. If you listen, you can hear it coming.

The game got a 3DS version in 2013, under the borderline word-salad title Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.

Unused Music

Labelled "jingle13", this track is a leftover from Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, where it was used in the hint movies.

Build Info

Some build info can be found at 0x5501F0 in boot.dol.

!#$MetroidBuildInfo
!#$2010/10/14 00:29 Build v74844 (F8) [EF7D27E8BEDA17B19C176852F8402560]

(Source: Ferrox)

Development Text

Present at 0x550348 in boot.dol is text for some debug displays.

MEM1: %2.2f/24.0 RcntPeak: %2.2f Peak: %2.2f
MEM2: %2.2f/%2.2f RcntPeak: %2.2f Peak: %2.2f
FRAME RATE FRAME RATE FRAME RATE
FRAME RATE FRAME RATE FRAME RATE
FRAME RATE FRAME RATE FRAME RATE
CPU .GPU .FPS: %3.0f %s.LOW

(Source: Ferrox)

Revisional Differences

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

In 2013, a version of Donkey Kong Country Returns was released for the Nintendo 3DS. This version was developed by Monster Games and contains a plethora of differences:

• Whereas the Wii version contains only the Golden Temple level in World 9, the 3DS version's World 9 is an entire world called "Cloud". It contains eight levels exclusive to this version (each stylized after each world in the game), and concludes with the Golden Temple.
• The 3DS version adds a "New Mode" that can be selected upon starting a new save. New Mode includes various changes that make the game easier than the original:
  • The player has three hearts instead of two in regular play, and two instead of one in Mirror Mode.
  • Cranky's shop has a few new items, and all items are much cheaper than they are in the vanilla game. Also, for those who are too lazy to collect all the K-O-N-G letters, after defeating Tiki Tong, the Rare Orbs become available in the shop for 50 banana coins each.
  • The player can now use up to three items in a single level.
  • The Super Guide becomes available after five deaths, instead of eight.
• If the player does not use items they selected for a level, said items are returned to their inventory.
• Like Super Mario 3D Land, the game encourages players to take a break after a few levels.
• Unfortunately, all these additions come at a graphical cost. The Wii version runs at a relatively stable 60 FPS, but the 3DS version is capped at 30 FPS and unfortunately is much more unstable than the original.
• Models and textures are of lesser quality in the 3DS version.
• There are more loading screens, and the background does not scroll during level transitions.

(Source: Mario Wiki)

Nvidia Shield

In 2019, Donkey Kong Country Returns was released on the Chinese Nvidia Shield, the system that modern Nintendo games are released on in China. This version runs through an official Wii emulator, with some enhancements and changes:

• The title screen features a Chinese logo, which is based on the Japanese one.
• The game runs at 1080p HD.
• Fortunately, there are no motion controls. Instead, the game uses the same control scheme as the 3DS version and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

Oddities

Nintendo DS Texture

The Nintendo DS Donkey Kong sometimes plays when left idle has a front graphic that is nearly impossible to see in-game.

World Order

The worlds are internally sorted in an order that differs from the way they are presented in-game, suggesting that the game was to take a different thematic route at some point. The internal order can be observed by watching memory address 8080B000 when entering a level.

Internal	Final
Beach	Jungle
Cave	Beach
Cliff	Ruins
Factory	Cave
Forest	Forest
Jungle	Cliff
Ruins	Factory
Volcano	Volcano
Golden Temple	Golden Temple