How DKCR3D came to be, Retro was impressed with Monster’s tech abilities
A 3DS version of Donkey Kong Country Returns wasn’t something that Nintendo had always planned. Interestingly, the idea came about when Monster Games conducted an experiment following the completion of the Wii game.
Nintendo’s Hiro Yamada revealed to ONM:
Actually, we hadn’t planned for this from the beginning. We felt that the DKCR graphics matched well with 3DS, but the hardware specs were very different. Because of this, we spoke with Retro who also said that it would be difficult to do a straight port. The truth is, it all started when Monster Games ran it as an experiment after DKCR was completed.
Monster Games was eventually settled on as Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D’s developer. Retro was busy making its Wii U game, but the situation worked out well thanks to Monster’s previous experience with the handheld.
Other than Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D’s framerate dip of 60 FPS to 30 FPS, it’s very much the same as the Wii game from a technical standpoint. Retro even relayed that they were impressed with Monster’s “technical ability”.
We wanted to use Retro’s development resource for another new title, so we talked to Monster Games about porting this title. They were comfortable with the 3DS technology and had development experience on 3DS with Pilotwings Resort 3DS , so they heartily agreed.
In actual fact, their technical ability was at such a high level that Retro was also impressed, and although the frame rate had to be dropped from the Wii version’s 60 frames per second to 30 frames per second, almost all other aspects of the game were ported to the 3DS brilliantly.
