Fans Can’t Believe Donkey Kong HD Costs More Than Metroid Prime

Donkey Kong Country returns in HD is an enhanced version of the 2010 Wii game that’s coming to Switch in 2025, and fans can’t believe Nintendo is charging $60 for it. The price was revealed in the new eShop listing and matches last year’s Metroid Prime Remaster seems like an incredible deal in comparison.

Revealed in June’s big Nintendo Direct, Donkey Kong Country returns in HD brings the 2010 revival of the platforming franchise to a modern platform with higher resolution graphics and, based on the trailer footage, notable visual improvements to the level backgrounds that provide more detail and depth. It also comes with the extra levels added to the previous 3DS port of the game, as well as a mode that reduces the difficulty. It’s a great game in a beloved franchise that deserved a return. But $60?

Some Switch owners on social media immediately mocked the price. Many shared screenshots of a old Hard disk parody titled “Nintendo holds 12-hour meeting to decide if the company can survive selling “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze” for less than $60. Fans on Reddit were also disconcerted“I don’t understand why Nintendo gets away with this,” one user wrote. “If Ubisoft or EA did this kind of thing, we would see dozens of boycott messages per day. »

You can see the logic in the company’s thinking. Since then, Tropical gelwas priced at $60, doing the same for Donkey Kong Country returns in HD helps signal that this is a similar value proposition and deserves the same premium. On the other hand, Tropical gel was a Wii U port that added more to the previous version. It was also arguably a better game.

You can see many examples of Nintendo experimenting with varying prices for its back catalog. Mario vs. Donkey Kong was a remake of a Game Boy Advance game and it only cost $50. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp cost $60 but it included visual overhauls of two games. And then there was Metroid Prime Remasteredan impeccable rendering of the GameCube classic that only cost $40.

This is the one that makes you scratch your head the most compared to Return HD. Does Nintendo simply have less confidence in the Metroid brand or did he just want to see what would happen if it was sold Metroid Prime 4: Beyondthe predecessor at a much more aggressive price? Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Dooranother remaster of a GameCube game, was $60 after all. Such is the power of the mustachioed plumber, even when it comes to a 2D cutout. But once again, the Super Mario 3D starsa collection containing Super Mario 64, Sun, And Galaxy, cost $60 for three games. Who can know the mind of Nintendo? Not me.

It’s hard to get mad at the company for trying to preserve the value of its catalog, even if I’m sticking with my 3DS copy of the game at this price. But what it does do is create the anomaly of Metroid Prime I feel like I’m even more of a bargain. The game is even on sale right now for just $34 on the eShop. Hopefully some potential Metroid Prime 2 And 3 remasters keep the trend going. Maybe they’ll even be bundled together for $60 for both. A Nintendo fan can dream.