Donkey Kong Country Returns HD dominates switch charts, are more remasters to come?
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the best-selling game published by Nintendo in January 2025, at least in the US. We don’t know how many copies the game sold, but having been released midway through the month, it must have sold a lot, and very quickly. According to games industry analyst Mat Piscatella, this remaster ranked eighth in the list of highest-selling games in the US last month, and that’s without counting digital copies. It also took the spot of highest selling Switch game of January. That’s hardly surprising for a remake of a popular Nintendo title. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD sold over 4 million copies on Switch. Even remakes like the poorly timed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, released on the unsuccessful WiiU one year before the Switch, managed to cross the 1 million copies milestone. Image by Nintendo Nintendo remakes rarely add much to the original. The Donkey Kong remaster comes with an oddly named “Modern Mode, ” and the game does look better and run smoother than the original, but that’s it. The only major exception is TLoZ: The Wind Waker HD, a full remake of a not-so successful title which could probably be ported as-is on the Switch and sell like hot cakes. So why are there so few Nintendo remakes on the Switch? They sell millions of copies at full price and are relatively cheap to produce, so why are Mario Galaxy and Mario Sunshine only available in the discontinued Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Some, like Rare’s n64 titles, are hard to license, but first-party games like Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Prime 2 and 3, Fire Emblem, Wario Ware, and many more should be a no-brainer. Some might say that it’s not a problem if a company decides not to make all the money in the world, and they’d be right. But the problem isn’t leaving money on the table; it’s leaving fans without easy, legal access to older games and seasoned developers unable to show everyone the fruits of their work. Ultimately, the problem is that I, personally, have to keep a Wii around for when I replay Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. The post Donkey Kong Country Returns HD dominates switch charts, are more remasters to come? appeared first on Destructoid.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the best-selling game published by Nintendo in January 2025, at least in the US. We don’t know how many copies the game sold, but having been released midway through the month, it must have sold a lot, and very quickly.
According to games industry analyst Mat Piscatella, this remaster ranked eighth in the list of highest-selling games in the US last month, and that’s without counting digital copies. It also took the spot of highest selling Switch game of January.
That’s hardly surprising for a remake of a popular Nintendo title. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD sold over 4 million copies on Switch. Even remakes like the poorly timed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, released on the unsuccessful WiiU one year before the Switch, managed to cross the 1 million copies milestone.
Nintendo remakes rarely add much to the original. The Donkey Kong remaster comes with an oddly named “Modern Mode, ” and the game does look better and run smoother than the original, but that’s it. The only major exception is TLoZ: The Wind Waker HD, a full remake of a not-so successful title which could probably be ported as-is on the Switch and sell like hot cakes.
So why are there so few Nintendo remakes on the Switch? They sell millions of copies at full price and are relatively cheap to produce, so why are Mario Galaxy and Mario Sunshine only available in the discontinued Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Some, like Rare’s n64 titles, are hard to license, but first-party games like Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Prime 2 and 3, Fire Emblem, Wario Ware, and many more should be a no-brainer.
Some might say that it’s not a problem if a company decides not to make all the money in the world, and they’d be right. But the problem isn’t leaving money on the table; it’s leaving fans without easy, legal access to older games and seasoned developers unable to show everyone the fruits of their work. Ultimately, the problem is that I, personally, have to keep a Wii around for when I replay Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
The post Donkey Kong Country Returns HD dominates switch charts, are more remasters to come? appeared first on Destructoid.
