Metroid Prime engine/tools were used to make Donkey Kong Country Returns, 3D Donkey Kong a possibility
Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh commented on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze’s new 3D camera and how the Metroid Prime games influenced the company’s Donkey Kong titles as part of an interview with GamesTM this month. In doing so, Kelbaugh revealed that Metroid Prime’s engine and tools were used to make Returns.
Kelbaugh told the magazine:
With every game we make, we get better. In that sense, yes, the experience we gained working on the Metroid Prime franchise was invaluable.
Specifically answering your question about 3D to 2D, what you may not realise is that we constructed the levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in very much the same manner as we did the levels in Metroid Prime. However, levels in Returns and Tropical Freeze are much, much larger and more detailed. And I’ll share this with you; we used the Metroid Prime engine and tools to develop Returns, so technically, the lessons learned on Metroid Prime were directly applied.
On the topic of Returns’ ability to keep things things fresh while paying homage to the SNES games, Kelbaugh mentioned, “the challenge is always how to keep the original style that the fans expect; yet introduce something new and exciting.”
GamesTM also spoke with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze producer Kensuke Tanabe. Speaking about a potential new Donkey Kong title in 3D, Tanabe remarked:
Maybe the Donkey Kong series over time will also feature both 2D and 3D like as in the Super Mario series!
The style of the next Donkey Kong Country title would also depend on the game design.
