Donkey Kong Country Returns was released back in late 2010 for the Wii. It’s been nearly 16 years since then.
The sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, was released a little over three years for the Wii U after that. Like any sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze expanded on the features and playability of Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Though Donkey Kong Country Returns only allowed players to use Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze expanded the playable roster to Donkey, Diddy, Dixie and Cranky.
Back in June 2024, it was announced that “Donkey Kong Country Returns HD” would be coming to the Switch. It was later released on January 16, 2025. Thanks to the backwards compatibility feature, it’s also playable on the Switch 2.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Nintendo announced and released version 1.1.0 for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. This was actually a fairly major update as it ported Dixie Kong from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze as a playable character and powerup into Donkey Kong Country Returns HD.
For the Switch 2 specifically, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD also improves upon the graphical fidelity and loading times. Put simply, the game is now able to better take advantage of the Switch 2’s improved processing power over the original Switch.
Of course, this is actually continuing a trend where Nintendo updates games that were originally intended for the Switch on the Switch 2 in order to make the new console look more attractive to consumers.
At this point, all but one of the top five best-selling games for the Switch — Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (69.56 million sales), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (48.62 million sales), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (36.93 million sales), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (33.34 million sales) and Super Mario Odyssey (29.84 million sales) — have received either the sequel treatment or updates exclusively for the Switch 2.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (which is already an enhanced Switch port of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U) has been succeeded by Mario Kart World for the Switch 2. It certainly makes sense for Nintendo to push the sequel to the best-selling game for the Switch as a launch title for the Switch 2.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons received the version 3.0 update and also released an HD port of the game. This unlocked new features for the game as well as enhanced the experience for Switch 2 users.
An enhanced port for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (and its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) was also released for the Switch 2. It doesn’t add any new features to the game, but it dramatically improves the graphics and frame rate.
Aside from an emergency patch (version 13.0.4) that fixed a crashing issue involving the Mii characters for the Switch 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the only game within the top five of the Switch’s best hits that has not received an update specifically for the Switch 2. For now, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is simply backwards compatible on the Switch 2, with no enhanced features.
Could this end up changing in the future, or would Nintendo prefer to release an entirely new entry of the Super Smash Bros. series for the Switch 2? It’s worth noting that Masahiro Sakurai has recently finished up development on his latest game project, Kirby Air Riders, with no plans to add DLC in the future.
As such, Sakurai has likely already written up a new proposal for whatever Nintendo wants him to work on next. Whether that be an enhanced update of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a new entry in the series or something else entirely remains to be seen.
We’ll just have to keep an eye out for more news in the future. Who knows? Based on how Nintendo just randomly dropped the update for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the same could end up happening for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Perhaps in the meantime, Nintendo could even consider adding an extra character or two to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Speaking of which, Dixie Kong is a character that’s currently absent from Smash Ultimate’s roster…