Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, known in Japan as Donkey Kong Returns 3D, is a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer title for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a port of the Wii title Donkey Kong Country Returns, with some additional content. The game was released in North America and Europe on May 24, 2013, Australia on May 25, 2013, and in Japan on June 13, 2013. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is the 15th best selling game for the Nintendo 3DS, selling 1.52 million copies worldwide, as of March 31, 2014. It was selected to be one of the 2014 Platinum Reward choices for Club Nintendo members.

Story
The story remains identical to the original version. A volcano erupts on Donkey Kong Island, releasing the Tiki Tak Tribe who invade the jungle to steal every banana they can find and hypnotize the animals to take the fruit away.

Diddy Kong wakes up and is enraged to discover that the Banana Hoard is empty. Donkey Kong soon notices the animals leaving the jungle, taking the bananas with them. Suddenly, Kalimba Tiki peeps into DK's house and tries to hypnotize Donkey Kong, but fails. Donkey Kong kicks him out of his house, and teams up with Diddy to take the bananas back.

After traveling through the island, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong reach the Volcano. There, they meet and face the leader of Tiki Tak Tribe, Tiki Tong. After they defeat him, an explosion sends the Kongs into space. Donkey Kong punches the moon down to the island, crushing the volcano and releasing the stolen bananas. The moon is propelled back into space from rebound, the Kongs land safely back on Donkey Kong Island and the animals are hit by the many bananas that fall from the volcano, freeing them from their hypnosis.

Characters

 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Rambi the Rhino
 * Squawks the Parrot
 * Tutorial Pigs
 * Cranky Kong
 * Super Kong

Enemies

 * Tiki Tak Tribe
 * Tiki Torch
 * Tiki Bomber
 * Tiki Buzz
 * Tiki Pilot
 * Tiki Zing
 * Tiki Goon
 * Tiki Tank
 * Mimic
 * Frogoon
 * Mole Miner
 * Mega Chomp
 * Spore Chomp
 * Stilts
 * Screaming Pillar
 * Snaps
 * Firehead Ned
 * Pinchley
 * Squiddicus
 * Awk
 * Squeekly
 * Mega Squeekly
 * Kowalee

Bosses

 * Mugly (Jungle)
 * Scurvy Crew (Beach)
 * Stu (Ruins)
 * Mole Miner Max (Cave)
 * Mangoruby (Forest)
 * Thugly (Cliff)
 * Colonel Pluck (Factory)
 * Tiki Tong (Volcano)

Worlds

 * Jungle
 * Beach
 * Ruins
 * Cave
 * Forest
 * Cliff
 * Factory
 * Volcano
 * Cloud

Differences and Additions

 * After a few levels are played in succession, the game advises the player to "take a break," as "[they've] been playing for a while," much like Super Mario 3D Land, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move.

Gameplay changes

 * The port features a New Mode which:
 * Adds an additional heart to the life meter, providing three hearts in the normal game, and two in Mirror Mode.
 * However, despite offering an extra heart, Mirror Mode still removes all hearts from every level, preventing the player from recovering any damage.
 * Adds additional items in Cranky Kong's Shop, including the Green Balloon, Crash Guard, and DK Barrel.
 * The prices are lowered for the other items in Cranky Kong's Shop:
 * 1 Balloon costs 2 Banana Coins, 3 costs 5 Banana Coins and 7 costs 10 Banana Coins.
 * Map Keys only cost 10 Banana Coins each instead of 20.
 * Banana Juice only costs 7 Banana Coins each instead of 20.
 * Heart Boosts only cost 3 Banana Coins each instead of 10.
 * Squawks only costs 5 Banana Coins instead of 15.
 * Up to three items can be used in one level.
 * Banana Juice only protects against 5 hits instead of 10 because of the raised item limit.
 * If the player loses a life under the effects of Banana Juice, they will restart the level (either at the beginning or checkpoint) with the invincibility intact (whereas the original removed the invincibility upon being defeated).
 * After defeating Tiki Tong, the player can purchase the eight Rare Orbs from each of Cranky Kong's Shops for 50 Banana Coins apiece.
 * Super Guide becomes available after losing only 5 lives, as opposed to 8.
 * Any items that do not get used are returned to the player's inventory.

Level design changes

 * The first DK Barrel was removed from Jungle Hijinxs, seemingly to increase difficulty. This change was previously observed when played in Time Attack mode in the original.
 * The game introduces a new world, Cloud, as the ninth and final world with eight additional new levels; the Golden Temple, originally the ninth world in and of itself, becomes the new ninth world's final level.
 * In Mangoruby Run, there are fewer members of the Tiki Tak Tribe watching the battle.

Graphical changes

 * Upon collecting all the K-O-N-G letters in any level in Mirror Mode, the K-O-N-G icon (the circle with the black star) will become blue rather than red.
 * Presumably due to technical limitations of the 3DS vs. the Wii:
 * The game runs at 30 frames per second (with or without 3D), half of the original version.
 * The game models' textures are of slightly less quality.
 * More loading screens were added.
 * During level/world transitions, the background no longer scrolls.
 * The "DK" logo transition lasts longer than on the Wii version and the logo takes up more of the screen than it did before.

Promotional events
On May 24, 2013, to celebrate the release of the game in North America, Nintendo partnered with the Los Angeles Zoo during the Memorial Day weekend, and held a Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D experience for fans. The day's activities included a visit from Donkey Kong, feedings of the zoo's gorillas, and a place where visitors could play Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. The Campo Gorilla Reserve was officially renamed to "Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D at Campo Gorilla Reserve."

The actor playing Donkey Kong, Parker Mills, would later sue Nintendo on the ground that improper care during the event resulted in severe health problems.

Trivia

 * Of all the ports of the extended Mario series, this port has the shortest gap between the original's release date and its own release date.
 * If the player waits on the Portable DK Barrel at Cranky Kong's Shop long enough, Cranky will make a The Legend of Zelda reference, saying, "It's dangerous to go alone. Buy this!" saying "Buy this!" instead of "Take this!".
 * In the U.K., anyone who preordered the game at GAME got a free banana keyring to support the release of the game.
 * In Australia, EB Games would include a red Donkey Kong tie with the game if it was preordered.
 * This game is one of the four games Donkey Kong plays on his Nintendo 3DS XL during his idle animation in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, along with Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.