Forgot password?  |  Register  |    
User Name:     Password:    
Blog - Staff Blog   

Donkey Kong Country is back!!


On 02/27/2015 at 11:23 AM by Jamie Alston

See More From This User »

This month I've been completely absent from blogging.  Sorry I couldn't participate in BaD this year.  But I just had to share this in case others aren't aware yet.  Last night, I was treated to a nice surprise upon booting up my Wii U and visiting the eShop.  I saw the following:

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

Donkey Kong Land (3DS eShop)

Donkey Kong Land 2 (3DS eShop)

Donkey Kong Land III (3DS eShop)

this was a huge deal for me because I had been interested in getting the DKC games on the VC because the physical cartridge versions tend to cost more money than I'm comfortable paying.  But as most of you may remember, the DKC series was removed from the Wii Virtual Console store in 2012 without any explanation from Nintendo whatsoever.  One theory holds that this may have been Microsoft's doing since they now own Rare (developers of the DKC series), but nothing was ever confirmed.

In any case, I wasn't aware that the series had been de-listed when I started getting back into retro gaming last year.  I had no reason to look into back when it first happened because I still had the cartridges back then.  so you can imagine the shock and bewilderment I felt when it dawned on me that I had missed the boat by a long shot.  Researching the issue on Google just depressed me more because I saw news that Europe and Japan saw re-releases of the DK Country and Land series in October and November of 2014 on the eShop for those regions.  Yet, nobody seemed to know if or when it was coming to North America for the Wii U.

Nintendo wasn't saying squat about it and just left us eagerly awaiting customers to wonder.  Now I have an idea of how EarthBound fans felt over the years.  It's really odd how they love to play coy with the North American audience like that.  Anyway, I was quite delighted to see the DKC trilogy available, and I promptly got all three of them.  The characters in the game look a little pixelated in HD, but you can tell they were really meant to be played on Wii U gamepad because they look perfect on it.  I'm mad about it though.  Still beats buying on eBay and Amazon in my book.  I'll probably get the Land series on the 3DS at some point too.


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/27/2015 at 11:33 AM

Yeah, my friend Robbie revealed they were on the eShop when he posted on facebook for his gaming site yesterday. He never played them, which surprised me.

mothman

02/27/2015 at 11:33 AM

I picked up the DKC games as soon as they dropped on Wii VC. I had a couple of the carts but have since sold them.. It's kind of dumb that the Wii U VC didn't have them at launch.

I laughed that they are offering DKC Returns on 3DS for 30% off if you buy those games. They gave it to me for free on Club Nintendo last year.

Nicoleb1989

02/27/2015 at 11:42 AM

I'm glad these titles are on the eshop, I'll definitely buy the country series on Wii U down the line. Now if they would get Donkey Kong 64, that would make me even more happy.

Aboboisdaman

02/27/2015 at 12:37 PM

I have the first two on SNES. So this wasn't that big a deal for me. I'm glad they are there though. And Earthbound too. That game costs WAY too much lol. Sometimes I wonder why Nintendo just doesn't put everything on the VC. I guess because of licensing issues. Undecided

goaztecs

02/27/2015 at 12:46 PM

I'm happy you got to pick up games you really wanted to play without paying the resell price. The only DK game I've really played was the recent one offered up as a reward on Club Nintendo last year. 

Cary Woodham

02/27/2015 at 06:33 PM

I liked the SNES DKC games, but not enough to buy them on virtual console.  They were fun games, but maybe a tiny bit overrated at times.  My favorite story about those games was when I showed DKC to my brother Jeff when he was only one year old and could barely talk.  He was so facinated by it that when my mom came into the room, he started babbling to her and pointing at the TV.  By the end of the summer, he leaned to say "Donkey Kong" so he could let me know he wanted to watch me play it.  Granted he said it more like "Konky Konk," but Donkey Kong was one of his first words!

Alex-C25

02/27/2015 at 09:31 PM

Very nice. Now, if only Nintendo bothers to bring the Eshop to my country.....

SanAndreas

02/28/2015 at 05:54 PM

I'd say the DKC games getting yanked from Wii's VC probably did have something to do with legal issues between Nintendo and Rare/MS, and the two parties came to some sort of agreement so that Nintendo could post them on the Wii U VC.

KnightDriver

03/02/2015 at 01:01 AM

Oh that's good. I was wondering what they were doing with those games. I may need to get them sometime, because I don't have the original carts anymore.

Log in to your PixlBit account in the bar above or join the site to leave a comment.