{"id":1095723,"date":"2026-01-25T21:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today"},"modified":"2026-01-25T21:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T21:23:17","slug":"donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review &#8211; a formidable platformer that still holds up today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>It feels strange to be seeing out the twilight months of the Switch with an HD remaster of a Wii game from 15 years ago, but such is the position we find ourselves in with the launch of <a data-keyword=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/donkey-kong-country-returns\">Donkey Kong Country Returns<\/a> HD. Originally made by the folks at Retro Studios and now remastered by prolific Switch publisher and porting house Forever Entertainment, this challenging 2D platformer is itself an attempt to recapture DK&#8217;s glory days from the SNES, making this something of a double dip in the rose-tinted pools of nostalgia.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It feels strange to be seeing out the twilight months of the Switch with an HD remaster of a Wii game from 15 years ago, but such is the position we find ourselves in with the launch of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Originally made by the folks at Retro Studios and now remastered by prolific Switch publisher and porting house Forever Entertainment, this challenging 2D platformer is itself an attempt to recapture DK&#8217;s glory days from the SNES, making this something of a double dip in the rose-tinted pools of nostalgia. Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1095724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[12664,21,136],"class_list":["post-1095723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-donkey-kong-country-returns-hd","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-platformer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review - a formidable platformer that still holds up today | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It feels strange to be seeing out the twilight months of the Switch with an HD remaster of a Wii game from 15 years ago, but such is the position we find\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review - a formidable platformer that still holds up today | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It feels strange to be seeing out the twilight months of the Switch with an HD remaster of a Wii game from 15 years ago, but such is the position we find\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-25T21:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-review-a-formidable-platformer-that-still-holds-up-today\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review &#8211; 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