Donkey Kong Country Returns HD removes the original developer from the credits

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Summary

  • Nintendo has excluded individual developers from Retro Studios from the Donkey Kong Country Returns HD titles.

  • Nintendo's history of cutting credits in remastered games has been criticized by developers in the past.

Upcoming release Donkey Kong Country returns in HD confirmed that the game's original developers from Retro Studios were left out of the remastered version's full credits. Release is set for January 16, 2025, Donkey Kong Country returns in HD presents a remastered version of the 2010 Wii platform for Nintendo Switch owners.

Thanks in part to its portability and large library of classic Nintendo titles, the Nintendo Switch is a strong contender for one of the best retro gaming platforms out there right now. Nintendo itself has also gotten into the trend of remastering and remaking beloved classics, adding new content and graphical enhancements to refresh them for fans and newcomers alike. In recent years, we've seen things like an improved remake Super Mario RPG and remasters of classic series like Preliminary wars. Even underrated narrative games such as Famicom Detective Club titles have experienced a renaissance on the Switch.

Donkey Kong Country returns to HD a missed opportunity

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This slate includes Donkey Kong Land series. with Donkey Kong Country returns in HD release date looms, early access news outlets have confirmed that Nintendo has dropped employees of Retro Studios, developers of the original 2010 Wii, from the full credits Donkey Kong Country returns in HD. As reported by Nintendo Life, the credits screen only contains credits for the staff of developer Forever Entertainment, who ported and enhanced the original game along with the content of the 3DS version for Switch. Instead of showing the full credits for Retro Studios, the credits screen shows a line saying that the remastered game is “based on the work of the original development team”.

Nintendo omits Retro Studios from Donkey Kong Country returns HD credits

Credit Condensation Decision Donkey Kong Country returns in HD it's in line with how Nintendo handles other Switch-based re-releases. In 2023, developer Zoid Kirsch, who was a programmer and lead game engineer at Retro Studios for the first two Metroid Prime games, criticized Nintendo for excluding full original titles from Metroid Prime Remastered on the switch. At the time, he said he felt “disappointed” that Nintendo decided to leave out the names of members no longer working at Retro Studios during the development of the remaster. Fellow developers chimed in, saying that excluding the original teams from the credits of remasters and remakes was “bad practice”.

Credit is a hot topic in the gaming industry due to the importance of credits in building a game developer's career. Even in the field of remastered titles, crediting the original developers also acts as a gesture of appreciation that acknowledges the efforts of the teams who put years of their time into popular titles. Nintendo has also been accused of not crediting translators or harassing translators and translation partners with restrictive non-disclosure agreements that prevent them from saying they worked on key series such as The Legend of Zelda. With a growing number of developers and fans publicly calling out inappropriate crediting practices across the industry, it may be time for publishers, Nintendo included, to change their ways.

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