Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is the Nintendo 3DS remake of the Wii title Donkey Kong Country Returns. The game is a side-scrolling platform title where the player takes the role of Donkey Kong (helped by his friend, Diddy) and tries to recover his stolen banana stash by completing stages. The player will embark on a quest through various parts of an island and battle different enemies in multiple themed areas, such as jungle, beach, forest, caves, and volcanic environments.

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D brings the acclaimed title to Nintendo 3DS and retains all of the original content, as well as extras and adding a 'New Mode' that makes the game slightly easier with the addition of extra items and more energy for Donkey and Diddy Kong. The game also brings back the multiplayer mode found on Wii and allows two players with two copies of the game and two 3DS systems to play together as Donkey and Diddy Kong. Players can navigate the levels separately or as one unit where Diddy rides on Donkey Kong's back and hops off whenever he pleases – in this way novice players can be guided though challenging areas.

Giving fans of the franchise something to run, jump, race, and roll around about, in Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D you'll need to traverse the platforms and environments of Donkey Kong Island if you are to rescue our hero's beloved stash of bananas from the troublesome Tiki Tak Tribe. Grab as many banana bunches as you can while riding rockets and rhinos, avoiding tricky traps and perilous pitfalls, and stomping all your enemies as you go. In addition, you'll have to familiarise yourself with Donkey and Diddy Kong's special individual skills in order to switch between them and overcome all the obstacles that come your way. This might mean using Diddy to hop on to Donkey Kong's shoulders and using the Barrel Jet to hover over large gaps; either that, or just roll your way to victory by trampling everything in your path.

As you tear through the trees, blaze across beaches, and leap from place to place, remember to look out for things to collect around you – grab the letters that spell K-O-N-G, snaffle puzzle pieces hidden across each stage, and unlock all sorts of extra content and difficult trophy levels. If you manage to unlock and complete all of these, there are even more special surprises that await you! Play alone or team up together in local play and barrage your opponents with Diddy's very own Peanut Popgun. You can also hover using the Barrel Jet or slam your enemies with the Donkey Kong Ground Pound. If that doesn't work, why not try doing a Barrel Roll?

Features of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

• Faithful remake of the popular Nintendo title for Wii, with added extras
• Faithful modernisation of the classic games with extra fan-service
• Vibrant colours, beautiful graphics, and fun characters that are both nostalgic and draw new players in
• Using two systems, two people can play together at the same time, one as Donkey Kong and the other as Diddy Kong
• Hidden items, puzzle pieces, and other surprises are found all throughout the game
• In New Mode, Donkey and Diddy Kong have three hearts each, thus making the game easier. There are also additional items available in Cranky Kong's Shop: the Green Balloon saves the player from a fall once (but not all the time), the Crash Guard prevents the Mine Cart and the Rocket Barrel from being destroyed by allowing them to take two hits, and the DK Barrel allows the player to use a DK Barrel any time

The history of the Donkey Kong franchise

Donkey Kong first appeared in Nintendo's popular 1981 video game of the same name. Kong debuted at the same time as Mario (then known as Jumpman) in the original Donkey Kong game, before moving on to Donkey Kong Country platform games for the Super Nintendo. Since then, he has appeared in over 20 games in his own series, as well as in some games in the Mario series.

The first Donkey Kong Country game was revolutionary in that it was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered 3D graphics. This, together with a strong marketing campaign, made sure Donkey Kong Country was very successful on release, eventually selling 8 million copies.

Donkey Kong Country Returns was released for the Wii in December 2010 in Europe to great critical and fan acclaim. The game was appreciated for its retro but interesting art style, and for its challenging difficulty.