The first thing players will notice upon booting up Donkey Kong Bananza is that its titular ape looks pretty different.

The Donkey Kong Country series is just the tip of the iceberg. Spin-offs like Donkey Kong Land are also worth playing.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a phenomenal platformer and a must-play Nintendo Switch title, but it could be skippable for the fans that own the 3DS port.

For the better part of 44 years, Nintendo's 1981 arcade classic Donkey Kong was understood to have a single, definitive endpoint: a "kill screen" where a bug ensures that Mario will inevitably die ...

But as it so often does, eventually, a person looks at a title and goes, “How did they come up with the name?” In the case of Donkey Kong Country, that’s a bit fair to wonder.

The original Donkey Kong Country Returns title was released back in 2010 by Nintendo on Wii. Donkey Kong Country Returns received a lot of praise from gamers back in the day.

Originally released for Wii in 2010, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a platforming title that brings a third adventure starring the ever-charismatic Donkey Kong.

As seen in Siliconera’s Donkey Kong Country Returns HD review, this is a solid remaster that doesn’t try anything too wild.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD’s gameplay still holds up to this day but more new features would make it a worthier remaster.

The initial hype about Donkey Kong Country, which was released for the Super Nintendo 30 years ago this week, was centered on its impressive 3D-ish graphics.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a little easier on the Switch — but still hard as hell Some new and returning features combine to make the side-scroller less frustrating this time around.

Fortunately, for those looking to get ahold of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a slight discount on the Switch title can now be taken advantage of.