Someone should really send the devs (Forever Entertainment) a link to this video. For the purposes of providing constructive criticism of their 'enhanced' port. A remaster of an old game should at least have the same quality and consistency of effects and details as the original.

Out of all of the changes, the one that looks the most jarring is the smoke ring from the cannon, even the 3DS version appears to be fine on that one. Doesn't even make sense unless the ship was moving very fast.

1:23 dks arms also weren’t glitching into the ground 14 years ago

"Yo we heard you like ports. So we made a port of a port!" - Mr. Nintendo 64

This is probably a controversial opinion, but I don't get why the remastered versions always seem to tone down the shading. The colors on the Wii version also look more vibrant and less blocky in places, such as the blue lighting on the octopus and there is more specular.

Definitely outsourced to a third party that's definitely not as passionate. They read the brief, it said "Make it HD" and hit it, but didn't bother with all the things Retro artists cared about.

Hope they fix all these mistakes by the time it's available on switch!

1:20 something small that bugs me is that in the Switch version DKs fist clips through the ground, while the WII version didn't.

This game deserved more than it got. Should rival Tropical Freeze, a nearly decade old game, in looks, and add more new content. Not be a port of a 3DS game

You missed some differences, such as Rambi being smaller and thinner in the Switch version, and the stakes disappearing almost immediately in the Switch version when Rambi runs them over, when in the Wii version you could see the stakes fly back and it made for a cool effect, I really hope they fix all of these for the final version.

Donkey Kong returns returns and returns again, in HD

Oh dear. I do prefer the colours being more vibrant but the lack of effects does make this look like a rushed port.

there's one more that digitalfoundry brought up in one of their videos which is incorrect transparency on the effect that shows when Rambi breaks the hanging statues. you can see the outside edges of the square around the effect that should be completely invisible

can we point out the animation error when his left fist touches the ground at the beginning of the trailer? i has a pop and goes trough the floor, the wii version doesnt has that error. around 0:15 of the video, his fist looks like are bouncing around

It almost feels like Sonic Colors ultimate all over again. Unless Nintendo has time to patch them.

In the trailer, there are explosions with square backgrounds; possibly from using the incorrect blending mode.

Hopefully the issues present are fixed. I doubt Forever Entertainment wants to be known as a team that can't even be trusted to do a great job with a simple remaster

Maybe I’m naive, but I think most of these things will be fixed by the time the game releases. Although the reveal was rushed.

They could have done so much more with a proper remake, like the much improved character models from WiiU, adding swimming to the Beach world, dynamic camera during minecart and barrel sections, making DK visible on the Overworld like in Tropical Freeze, maybe add a New Game+ with Dixie and Cranky Barrels. They will sell this for 50$ so you could expect some effort.

A game in 2024 should not look worse than a Wii game 😭

I feel like the old water. While less realistic and detailed. Was better for the use. The dark water feel way more stormy than the reflective versions. And the clear turquoise water look better than, again, too much reflection.

The lighting on the giant Octopus really bugs me, mainly because that’s one of my favorite levels in the game. Hopefully some of these graphical setbacks do get addressed before release because this game is more than capable of looking great on an HD console.

1:58 The old water looks better. You can actually make out ocean waves with those few white horizontal lines instead of having this overdetailed white pattern on the water. The horizon also blends better.

nice to see this getting attention, people were dunking on that thread for nitpicking, but like... nitpicks add up. there's straight-up missing effects. one nitpick here and there, no biggie, but when they add up like this, it's not something that should be brushed aside, even if it ain't personally a dealbreaker. luckily there's time to polish it all so hopefully it'll look much better in the next trailer

I thought I'd have been the only one to notice this, thanks for covering it! And DAMN, didn't even notice the missing background in the minecart level, it's just an empty void now. 😭😭

What I’ll never understand is showing off a game seemingly half baked or with noticeable framerate changes for the worse (especially when it’s a HD version of a pre-existing game). HD-ify some areas but revert others to worse than the original… it feels (and I hope it is) that the trailer was rushed out of the door to meet the showcases deadline.

I knew something looked off but I couldn't tell what

At 6:15 the waterfalls in the background are completely missing. This really is unacceptable, I'm sorry.

Demeech is gonna have a field day with this news 😂

I'd imagine visual effects are lower priorities and one of the last things added, possibly just slapped together last second a trailer, I feel like they will be fixed, these are small issues.

This is a port of the 3Ds version not the Wii version, because it has the extra 3Ds levels...

Retro Studios is like: “look how they massacred my boy!”

I swear of Nintendo let's slide this im gonna be very disappointed because a 60 buck game that looks worse than the original is nefarious

Forever Entertainment showing off their pedigree lol

Maybe that's why it's only scheduled for 2025. And fixing the horrible control scheme of the wii version is already a plus

What’s probably happeningis that they started with the 3ds version because it has the most content and they are adding all of the Wii versions graphical effect over the next six months.

Good points but honestly, Well said throughout, especially in closing. Cheers Andre!

Switch version aside, this video did a great job making me aware of all the small details the devs put into the original game. They really crafted every environment with care and attention to detail.

Whoever made these matching clips did a really good job.

Well hopefully they add more polish to it in the upcoming coming months

I also noticed some of DK’s animations were missing too, like for example in the Wii version when the giant blimp near the beginning of the first level appears on screen, DK kind of looks up and stares at it, or when you’re in close proximity to a kong letter, a endgame barrel, or the tv in DK’s treehouse, he just doesn’t have those animations when he stares at them when’s he’s faced in that direction.

The octopus's body DOES still have specular highlights in the upcoming Switch port. They're just pretty small, and you have to zoom in to see them. But they're still there, at least.

I noticed some of these issues previously when looking at a side-by-side comparison video but there are way more than I realised. I hope everything gets addressed before launch. This is supposed to be the definitive version of the game.

Well, the game is not finished and most of that things are probably the last low-priority tasks to do in the development. Things like the smoke of the cannon not fading out are clearly little tweaks in the particle system that will probably be fixed in the final release. When the companies say the demos are not the final product they are not lying. The graphical polish of a game is usually the last step in the development.

Oof, they better fix that lighting on the octopus, and everything else of course.

1:47 Let’s hope IGN doesn’t notice the water…

Let’s all keep in mind that this game is still in development. It doesn’t come out until 2025. Also, this is not game breaking. I still think the game looks nice and I will be purchasing it on day one.

Good comparison video. I’m glad the game is coming to Nintendo Switch and here’s to some extra polish in the next half year!

I'm so hyped for the videos about the idle animations to start coming out lol

I never got to play this on the Wii. Can’t wait for it to come out on the Switch!

It seems they used the 3ds version as base instead of the wii version, it would be interesting to do the same comparision with the 3ds version

There is a single bubble that appears right before the last tentacle pops up covering it. The specular highlights look over blown on the Wii, and the Switch version now has this water effect that slides down the tentacles, even some around the eyes.

Some of Dry bones points feel like nitpicks, But the particle effects and lighting really need a lot of of work

You missed the effect textures showing boundaries

The game looks perfectly fine to me, and I wouldn't have really noticed. And I think the other visual upgrades outweigh (or at least even out) the visual downgrades. This doesn't justify anything for the developers, but I don't think my own experience will be ruined or anything.

I really hope they fix these issues. Everyone expressed concern over Pokémon Scarlet and Violet back before release and look how those games turned out

Curious if anyone here happens to have any game development experience and could possibly explain why such lighting/shadow issues and the like exist even when ported to more powerful hardware.

I would say that the water looks better for the cave, but outside in the ship chase scene, the water looks worse as it lacks the stylization and waves from the original. It just appears to have a generic "water" texture plastered on it, which looks worse in a situation like that.

I hope the developers fix the backgrounds and other details but Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the first video games I played so I’m still going to buy the remaster

This is a port of the 3DS version who had a few additional stages. Thats why it look worse than the Wii version. This is a 3DS game.

I noticed when DK is running along side the ship in the background he used to look towards it, in the new trailer he doesn’t.

i would have also expect for a new donkey kong country game where it returns back to the SNES Era gameplays as appose to having other kongs ride dk's back

I thought the colors looked off, but I thought that maybe I was just crazy. I don’t care much about this remaster since I already own both the Wii and 3DS versions, but for newer fans who started with Tropical Freeze on the Switch, it’s nice that they get to play it now.

If you compare all these things to Tropical Freeze you can eliminate some of them as issues or downgrades. Like lighting and shadows seem to be more consistent with Tropical Freeze.

They better fix these issues before release. They rerelease all those classic games and sometimes make 'em a little bit worse then the old ones and re sell them for the full price 😡 TBH 2:34 i like the way hoe the sunset level on the switch looks a little bit better.

Sonic Colors Ultimate, we got company.

I'd like to see a comparison showing the game emulated on Dolphin, as that would make it better to notice differences in the game itself without being limited by the Wii's original resolution.

Please fix this, Retro. I have faith in you.

DK got the Sonic colors ultimate treatment.

My guess is that this is still in development. We are not seeing a final build. Not even sweating it, I'm sure they'll fix these issues.

I’ve noticed that if it has hd in the name then it’s just a port but if it has deluxe then it adds some stuff

2:54-3:00 I agree with you, I don't see it as a downgrade. In fact, I think it looks a lot prettier.

I noticed that a lot of Switch games have less particles and VFX than the Wii counterparts. Does the Switch have a hardware limitation on particle effects that forces developers to improvise and work around the limitations?

Really curious, but also many of those changes appear to be deliberate.

There were no shadow effects in tropical freeze neither so its not a big deal. Tropical Freeze runs at 540p handheld, so as long as this one runs at 720p, ill be satisfied.

to be fair: it's still half a year off, with a January 2025 release date

It's always the lighting, colors and shadows. No remaster ever seem able to translate these properly, with the Arkham trilogy and AC3 coming to mind as beeing the worst offenders in recent memory.

There is still time, but Forever Entertainment can be all over the place when it comes to graphics and optimization on Switch. Will have to be a wait and see.

We all know how freaking lazy Nintendo are when it comes to remakes. They just port them and add something here and there, but also take something out from here and there, and you got it. Best example: Skyward Sword. That said, I enjoy your optimism saying they might change things in the following months: They will most likely not.

I'ma be honest "not seeing this as an issue" is a horrendous take The game is $60 for what has mainly been shown to be a downgrade whereas a game like Metroid Prime Remastered was a complete graphical overhaul for $40

actually the shadows aren't even a problem, since this is a new engine clearly, it uses a setting in the lighting called radius which basically adds ray tracing to your lights since it makes the lights bounce and since that's the case, the radius makes the shadows softer and less hard like in the wii version, the only reason why the wii version has those hard shadows if because lighting back then was pretty primitive and did not make use of such techniques as radius

You nailed it, this is the 3ds version, it already has the adapted controls so i may be easier to por from it instead of the wiimote controls version.

Game comes out next year. Footage is most likely early.

I'd like to see a technical comparison with Tropical Freeze in regards to effect, shadows, etc.

I really hope they fix all the problems found and further

2:23 That’s the first issue I saw in the comparison, well besides from the brighter leaves which I think look a lot worse.

I knew that cutscene was 30fps!!! It immediately striked as odd.

I never noticed a lot of these missing effects until checking out this video! It has been many years since I last played Returns, but some of these effects are a bit jarring on Switch. Hopefully, the developers can iron out and polish everything to capture all the details present in the Wii version. It just goes to show that Retro really put a lot of effort in every little aspect of Returns in the original release!

I have this game on my modded Wii. Im still going to get the HD version. Got Paper Mario and DK Tropical Freeze to add to my switch collection ❤

These missing graphical effects are a big OOF for sure, but one of my main problems with HD re-releases is since you can see the textures and models a lot more clearly, a lot of the game's cracks start to show (muddy textures, polygonal models, pixilated icons, etc.) the only games where this is not the case are those that have revamped art styles (like Return to Dreamland Deluxe for example) Lets do a comparison: Wind Waker HD vs. Twilight Princess HD. In Wind Waker's case, they added a bunch of bloom to the game, say what you want about whether they went overkill with it, but it definitely did the job in making the game feel more premium. Now take Twilight Princess HD: they did practically nothing to the game and everyone pointed out how outdated it looked. I actually argue that the Gamecube/Wii versions look better than than the Wii U version since even though its the exact same models with the exact same textures, said models and textures were built with 480p in mind and like I said above you won't notice anything wrong with the game's graphics if you play in 480p. Thankfully, the Wii U supports composite meaning if you want to play in the game"s original resolution but keep the Miiverse Stamps, Amiibo Dungeon, Hero Mode, and Gamepad Inventory Management then you can do that! I could go down a list of games, but the point I am trying to make is that not only are the missing graphical effects a bummer, but the game coming to Switch in general would have looked a tiny bit worse anyways unless it got the Return to Dreamland/Wind Waker treatment of getting a new art direction

i played the 4k mod in dolphin. its awesome

Super Mario Sunshine ran terribly on All-Stars 3D when it just came out. It took them a full year to completely iron out all the framerate issues and mistakes it had during launch.

Jesus the smoke ring from the canon looks like a flash game ☠️.

Bro the game is still 6 months away, it's clearly not finished yet lol.

the original Wii release still looks great today.

aint that the diddy model from mario kart tour? diddy is a death trap in that game once he gets the barrels that shoot bananas in front of him.

It's been building for years, but there is a real competency crisis in game dev.

It's unfortunate that just a bunch of random scenes of the game already shows these many negative differences, I wonder in the comolete game how many more things will be changed.

Not everyone knows how I felt when Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy came out!

I bet this game is just an enhanced 3DS Port.