Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii proved that the veteran Nintendo mascot wasn’t resting on his laurels: the big ape has plenty more adventures to go on and countless bananas to recover. Beautiful visuals, spot-on platforming, a wonderful variety of levels, and Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong at the helm once again made the Wii title an instant classic.

Barrel blast ahead to 2013 and we have Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: a port of the game to the Nintendo 3DS. Amazingly, the 3DS version converts everything the original game had to offer, as well as adding a handful of exclusive new levels to challenge the heartiest of DK lovers. Unfortunately with this transition, Returns 3D manages to also retain some of the flaws of the first game and creates its own faults in the process. (more…)