Nintendo fans, Donkey Kong is back! One of the biggest Nintendo characters (literally) is getting his well-deserved time in the spotlight again in Donkey Kong Country Returns, developed by Retro Studios. There were 4 levels in the E3 demo of the game and I was able to play the first one and the last one. The first level immediately brought back memories of the first Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. The levels are beautifully designed and feature fully rendered 3D graphics in a 2D perspective like the original Country games. There are also plenty of secrets to be found and mini-games that will have you competing for Kong coins, bananas, ‘KONG’ letters, and more. Diddy Kong is also back and assists Donkey Kong on his journey. You can even have a second player join in and play cooperatively.

Eli and I played 2-player co-op for the last level of the demo (the boss level) and it was a lot more difficult than we thought. We probably died more than 10 times trying to beat the boss which was a warthog/frog beast. It was a challenging battle and one that made me feel confident that Donkey Kong fans will love every minute of DKC Returns.