Nintendo Outsourcing Development Of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Posted by Damien McFerran
Monster Games responsible for porting the Wii title to 3DS
A while back, there was a rumour that Monster Games was working on a new game for Nintendo. Speculation suggested it might be another Donkey Kong title, but a lack of solid evidence made many — Nintendo Life included — dismiss the chatter as unfounded gossip.
Turns out the rumour had a little truth in it after all; although Monster Games isn't creating a brand-new title for Nintendo, it is working on a Donkey Kong game — the recently-confirmed port of Donkey Kong Country Returns for the 3DS, to be precise.
The game has just been rated by the Australian OFLC, with Monster Games listed as the developer.
The Wii version of Donkey Kong Country Returns came out in 2010 and was coded by Retro Studios. "It might have been a long wait for a new Donkey Kong Country title," said our very own Corbie Dillard, "but after a few minutes of playing Retro's new rumble in the jungle, you'll realise it was more than worth it."
Will this impact your feelings about the conversion? Does this mean that Retro is busy at work on a bigger project? Drop a comment to let us know what you think.
[via gonintendo.com]

























#1
StephenYap3 said:
That's a surprise. I thought for sure Retro Studios or Nintendo themselves was porting it.
#2
ClassicSonicFan said:
Donkey Kong Country Returns 2: Diddy in Danger for Wii U?
#3
Gen0neD said:
All this does is make me wonder, what the hell is Retro workin' on?
#4
Magnet_Man018 said:
@Gen0neD Well... Starfox... F-Zero... Metroid... Who knows?
But it has to be something really big.
#5
Void said:
Well, it means it won't impact the development of whatever Retro is working on. So that's a plus for me.
#6
OldMan-Tech said:
I don't see how they could mess up a direct port. Now if the 3d slows the game down considerably then we might have a problem. Here's hoping the frame rate stays up in 3d mode!
#7
Bulby said:
I think its good Nintendo is outsourcing remakes to other companies, gives them more time to make new games themselves
#8
GazPlant said:
Glad someone else is doing this, we need the main dev teams working on new stuff!
#9
SMW said:
Wonderful news for Retro fans like me. I can't wait for whatever Retro's next game is!
That does mean that its unlikely that Monster Games is currently working on a new Excite game or anything new, though.
Although it may still be possible that they are working on two games at once.
This port just does not interest me. I've almost entirely cleared this game on the Wii twice. I'll stick with what I have on Wii.
#10
CanisWolfred said:
Thank G-d! Now Retro Studios can put full manpower towards something new.
#11
C-Olimar said:
Come on, as if Ninty will waste Retro on an unnecessary port! This game is only being released to add a bullet point to the 3DS library. I knew someone else would be doing it.
#12
Lan said:
Yay, I love Monster Games.
#13
Mangoof89 said:
Donkeykong 64 hopefully will also be remade
#14
SparkOfSpirit said:
Aww, I was hoping Monster Games was making a new racer.
#15
Dpishere said:
@Mangoof89 That would be a dream come true!
#16
Dpullam said:
I'd love to see Donkey Kong 64 get remade. That would be so epic.
#17
luminalace said:
Monster Games has what it takes to port the game over. I can't wait because I wanted classic Controller support on the Wii version so the 3DS version will be right up my alley.
#18
DefHalan said:
I wish Monster was working on a new Excitebots
#19
seronja said:
i think retro should focus on making new titles and not remaking or porting games, so i'm more then happy to see Monster to port this game =) as for retro i hope they are working on any of my 3 most wanted games for wii u ( f-zero, metroid or star fox ).
#20
Dev said:
If it's handled by the team behind Excitebike and Excitebots, then DKCR3D must be in good hands. This still gives Nintendo the ability to make new games, and outsourcing remakes is their strategy anyway since they did the same thing with OOT 3D and Star Fox 64 3D.
I know some people are sick of remakes, but I would love a Donkey Kong 64 3D.
#21
Eien1239 said:
Now people can shut up about Retro wasting there talents(which is an arrogant statement).
#22
Oregano said:
I think the term might have some negative connotations. Monster Games has worked exclusively with Nintendo for the last several years with Kensuke Tanabe who overlooks Retro Studio games as well. It's in good hands.
#23
Xilef said:
Sounds great. They have a great track record, so they probably won't mess it up.
#24
Big-Daddy said:
Ok i'll hope for it.
#25
DarkCoolEdge said:
Too many freaking remakes/ports. What the heck is Nintendo doing?
#26
Astro said:
I think monster games should get round to releasing excitebots in EU, cos excitetruck was freaking awesome.
#27
TrueWiiMaster said:
As long as it ends up good, I don't think it matters, though this could lower the chances of any new content.
#28
Bulby said:
@Astro
As unlikely as that would be, it will be awesome. Come on Nintendo, release it as Wii U Ware or something!
#29
C-Olimar said:
@DarkCoolEdge Nintendo's making the new Mario and Zelda games. Monster's handing this remake.
#30
Pikminsi said:
Well, I just beat DKCR (main game, not 100%) so it might be a while before I pick this up. I love DKCR though.
#31
Ralizah said:
Hopefully the porting process goes smoothly. I'm looking forward to playing this.
#32
antipop621 said:
I'm down to play this again.
#33
Gilius said:
The Nintendo 3DS has been a retro gaming platform with new titles as well. I really love the fact the Nintendo 64 has been thrown in a lot.
EX: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Mario kart 7 scoreboard after finishing the race jingle, and etc.
Though, I am really curious and concerned about the game control for this game.
#34
UnseatingKDawg said:
Well, from the video footage in the eShop, it looks great. Hope it stays that way for the final product. I love the difficulty of it - took me a year to completely finish Mirror Mode.
#35
eduardopaulo said:
They haven't given any information as to when this is coming, right?
#36
MrZanctom said:
Any thing with DK in it is a game I will definitely pick up, even if it is just a port. DKCR was amazing! DKCR on 3DS; just as amazing!
#37
pntjr said:
I'm no coding expert, but don't they just have to copy+paste and modify the codes for 3DS?
#38
Zodiak13 said:
One of these years I'll try one of these Donkey Kong platformer's. Only DK game I've played wa sthe Donkey Konga series. Only slightly embaressed to say I still play them frequently, lol.
#39
Henmii said:
I am happy about this! Retro shouldn't waste time on a port, but instead work fulltime on something new and amazing on Wii u!!
#40
Shock_Tart said:
im kind of disapointed in this. i love donkeykong and i would love to see a 3d donkey kong game. but i wish it was a new DK game instead of a ported version of the most recent one.
#41
Eien1239 said:
@Shock_Tart Would you trust monster with making a new game dkc game or Retro if they are?
#42
19Robb92 said:
This is great news. That means RETRO could be working on both a new WiiU title and a new 3DS title
Can't wait to hear about their projects!
#43
Bistarish said:
Although it's a good idea, I'm not gonna buy another copy of the same game that came out like three years ago. But something that WOULD be cool is, something that used to go hand-in-hand with a DKC game; a Donkey Kong LAND Returns.
#44
nesty12 said:
@MultiMariosonic really?
#45
LEGEND_MARIOID said:
AH, so hopefully that means Nintendo and Rare are busy on other projects? Cool. Don't frack this up though Monster.
#46
AbeVigoda said:
@LEGEND_MARIOID
Rare is owned by Microsoft and has had nothing to do with DK for more than a decade
#47
gavn64 said:
ehh it was obvious retro werent porting this to 3DS come on people common sense should prevail here.
#48
Happy_Mask said:
This is good news for everybody. Still debating whether I want it again though. @_@
#49
Kirk said:
It looks like a solid port so this is fine with me.
#50
Morph said:
Feel like ive already heard this story before, has this been reported earlier?
#51
beatalLiToaD said:
What a waste of ressources.
#52
Magolor said:
Good, that clarifies things
#53
UnseatingKDawg said:
@pntjr: I would say not quite. This kind of conversion would probably require a pretty extensive amount of code, depending on how much they do with it. Multiplayer would possibly require a different kind of code to execute it, since it would require two systems instead of one. Then there's the code for the 3D effect, and if they throw in say, StreetPass for Time Attack scores, that would require additional code. If this is anything like the DKC GBA remakes, then they'll probably throw in something significantly different somewhere. I'd also put it this way - if they just had to copy and paste code, and then edit it, they would probably do that. Seeing as how the game is being re-built from the ground up, there's going to be something significantly different from the Wii version (aside from 3D and button mapping, of course).
#54
gundam00 said:
I hope Nintendo makes Retro a permanent branch of Team Nintendo. Retro has done an incredible job with the games they've done so far. I do not want to see them end up like Rare.
#55
Morph said:
They already are
#56
AlexSora89 said:
Outsourcing isn't much of a big deal when it comes to ports, save for the "Porting Disaster" article on Tv Tropes.
Now, as for "what else" Retro's working on... ain't it obvious? Whatever it is, we won't find out 'til next E3. And whether it's DKCR2, Metroid, Zelda... it's gonna be big anyway.
#57
LEGEND_MARIOID said:
@AbeVigoda Sorry, I obviously meant Retro. Brain-slip. Thanks!