Classic Nintendo Wii Game Just Received New Content 16 Years Later

A classic Nintendo Wii game that launched on the console in 2010 has now received new content. In recent years, Nintendo has started to make a stronger push to bring back some of its best games from the Wii era. This has resulted in titles like Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land all getting remastered or remade for Switch hardware. Now, one of the more recent remasters of a popular Wii game has received a new wave of content that Nintendo fans surely weren’t expecting.

As of this week, Nintendo has pushed out a substantial new update for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. This remaster of the original Donkey Kong Country Returns launched on Switch last year and made the fantastic platformer more easily accessible than ever. Now, almost one year exactly after its release, Nintendo has released some substantial improvements to the game via a free patch.

For starters, this update to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD makes the game run better than before on Nintendo Switch 2. This means that visuals have been upgraded and load times are shorter when compared to the Switch. In addition, Switch 2’s GameShare function also now works with the game, which means that players can play with others who might not own DKC Returns HD themselves.

Play video

Other than these Switch 2-exclusive improvements, Nintendo has also added Dixie Kong as a new playable character to the game. This feature is the most notable to join Donkey Kong Country Returns HD alongside that of Turbo Attack, which is a new mode that allows players to race through levels as fast as they can. These options have never been seen in any previous versions of DKC Returns, so for them to be added to the game well over 15 years after its original release on Wii is quite the surprise.

Read Next

The Best Nintendo Game From Every Console Generation

If you’d like to check out the full list of changes to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for yourself, you can find the patch notes for this update as follows:

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update 1.1.0 Patch Notes

General

• You can now play as Dixie Kong. Her action when jumping is different from when jumping with Diddy Kong.
  • When playing alone, as you grab a barrel, you can switch between either Diddy Kong or Dixie Kong as the character that appears.
  • When playing with two people, P2 can switch between Diddy Kong or Dixie Kong by pressing the stick (the L Stick in the case of playing with both Joy-Con 2 or Joy-Con controllers) on the world map.
• A Turbo Attack mode where you can race through the stage at high speed has been added.
  • If you clear the course once, it will appear at the same time as the Time Attack mode.
  • If you can clear it within the time limit, you will acquire a turbo medal.
• Now supports Brazilian Portuguese language.
  • You can switch the language in the “Language” setting in the “System” menu of “System Settings.”
• Several other issues have been addressed and image quality enhancements have been made to improve the gameplay experience.

Switch 2 Updates Only

• Now supports “GameShare (Local User).”
  • You can select “GameShare (Local User)” from “2 Players” on the game start screen or the menu screen of the world map.
• Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.
• The loading time is now shorter.