Summary
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Nintendo excluded the individual developers from Retro Studios from Donkey Kong Country Returns HD credits.
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Nintendo's history of condensing credits in remastered games has been criticized by developers in the past.
The imminent release of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has confirmed that the game's original developers at Retro Studios have been omitted from the remastered version's full credits. Released on January 16, 2025, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD presents a remastered version of the 2010 Wii platformer for Nintendo Switch owners.
Thanks in part to its portability and Nintendo's vast library of classic titles, the Nintendo Switch is a strong contender as one of the best modern retro gaming platforms. Nintendo itself has also gotten into the trend of remastering and remaking beloved classics, adding new content and graphical flourishes to freshen them up for fans and newcomers alike. Recent years have seen things like the improved remake of Super Mario RPG and remasters of classic series such as Advance war. Even underrated narrative games like Famicom Detective Club titles have enjoyed a renaissance on the Switch.

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Donkey Kong Country Returns HD misses the opportunity to revive a fun tropical freeze mode
Although Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will be its definitive version, it missed the chance to bring back a beloved Tropical Freeze feature.
That board includes Donkey Kong Country series. With Donkey Kong Country Returns HD release date approaches, news outlets with pre-release access have confirmed that Nintendo has left the staff at Retro Studios, the developers of the 2010 Wii original, out of the entire credits of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. As reported by Nintendo Life, the credits screen only includes credits for the staff at developer Forever Entertainment, who ported and enhanced the original game, along with the content of the 3DS version, for the Switch. Instead of showing full credits for Retro Studios, the credit screen shows a line saying that the remastered game is “Based on the work of the original development staff.”
Nintendo omits Retro Studios from Donkey Kong Country returns HD credits
The decision to condense the credits of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD falls in line with Nintendo's treatment of other Switch-based re-releases. In 2023, Zoid was developed by Kirsch, who was a programmer and senior game engineer at Retro Studios during the first two Metroid Prime game, criticized Nintendo for excluding full original credits from Metroid Prime Remastered on the switch. At the time, he said he felt “let down” that Nintendo chose to leave out the names of members no longer working at Retro Studios during the remaster's development. Other developers chimed in, saying it's “bad practice to exclude original teams from the credits for remasters and remakes”.
Crediting is a hot topic in the gaming industry thanks to the importance of credits in building the careers of game developers. Even in the case of remastered titles, crediting original developers also serves as a gesture of appreciation, recognizing the efforts of teams who put years of their time into beloved titles. Nintendo is also accused of not crediting translators, or slathering 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. As an increasing number of developers and fans publicly call out improper crediting practices throughout the industry, the time may come when publishers, including Nintendo, must change their ways.