Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a platform video game for the Nintendo Wii game console. It was made by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo. It was released in North America on November 21, 2010, in Australia on December 2, 2010, in Europe on December 3, 2010, and in Japan on December 9, 2010. It follows Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, which was released in 1996, making the time between these two games the longest timespan between releases of Donkey Kong Country games.

Story
The plot involves the Tiki Tak Tribe hypnotizing the animals of Donkey Kong Island. The hypnotized animals steal Donkey Kong's bananas. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong go on an adventure to take back their bananas from the Tikis.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Donkey Kong Country Returns is very similar to that of the Donkey Kong Country Games. The game consists of 9 worlds on Donkey Kong Island: Jungle, Beach, Ruins, Cave, Forest, Cliff, Factory, Volcano, and Golden Temple (Cloud in 3DS version). In each world, players traverse a series of levels while collecting items such as bananas, banana coins, and KONG letters along the way. Banana coins act as currency and can be used to purchase items from Cranky's Shop. Puzzle Pieces appear for the first time in this game, and each level has 5, 7, or 9 of these items. Collecting all of the puzzle pieces in each level unlocks images in the image gallery. Defeating the boss at the end of each world gives players access to the next world. If players collect all of the KONG letters in all the levels in each world except for the boss level, they will unlock a secret temple stage. Completing the temple stage provides players with one of the 8 rare orbs needed to access the last world of the game. Collecting all 8 rare orbs unlocks the last world. 

Time Attack
After players complete a level once, they can replay it in time attack mode, where the objective is to finish the level in the fastest time possible. Upon finishing the stage, players will earn a bronze, silver, or gold medal based on their time. The times for these medals are given. If the players finish the stage within a certain time within the gold medal time limit, sparkles appear on their the gold medal. Players often call these medals "Shiny Gold medals". Time attack mode does not affect the game clear percentage, nor does it unlock any artwork.

Mirror Mode
After players beat the game, collect all the KONG letters, and complete the last level of the game, they unlock mirror mode. In mirror mode, players cannot use Diddy Kong or inventory items and they only get one heart. Completing mirror mode is necessary for 200% completion and is required to unlock some images in the image gallery.

3DS Port
On February 14, 2013, Nintendo announced a Nintendo 3DS port of the game called Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. It was released in North America and Europe on May 24, 2013, in Australia on May 25, 2013, and in Japan on June 13, 2013.

References

Category:2010 video games
Category:Donkey Kong Country
Category:Retro Studios games
Category:Cooperative video games
Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games
Category:Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Category:Nintendo 3DS games
Category:Nintendo Switch games
Category:Side-scrolling platform games
Category:Video game sequels
Category:Video games developed in the United States
Category:Wii games