Nintendo Responds To Donkey Kong Credits Debacle

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has only been out for a day but there has already been some contention regarding the game. Initially developed for the Nintendo Wii the game was remastered and re-released on the Nintendo Switch this past week. However, complaints arose when fans realised that the original development team had not been credited for their work. Nintendo has since commented. 

As shared by the folks at Eurogamer. Retro Studios is the original team responsible for developing the 2010 Wii version of Donkey Kong Country Returns, which Nintendo then published. The recently released Donkey Kong Country Returns HD omits the Retro Studios team and only lists the Forever Entertainment team in the credits. Nintendo gave a statement to the team over at Eurogamer:

“We believe in giving proper credit for anyone involved in making or contributing to a game’s creation, and value the contributions that all staff make during the development process.” – Nintendo

Despite this statement to Eurogamer, Nintendo did not justify their recent omission. Nor have they updated the credits in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD to honour the original developers. 

It’s worth mentioning that Nintendo is not the only company that has done this. Famously, Konami refused to allow the developers of the first Castlevania game (For the Nintendo Entertainment System) to add their names to the final credits. Instead, the developers added spoof credits with throwbacks to classic horror or vampire-based content that was popular at the time. Fans have theorised that this was to avoid the poaching of talented developers by other game development companies.

Hopefully, the Donkey Kong Country credits will be updated to reflect the efforts of everyone involved. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is available now and the initial reviews are in. Find out more about the reviews here.