Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS HD WAS SWITCH'S TOP SELLING JANUARY GAME"

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz dives into Donkey Kong Country Returns HD's January 2025 performance in the US. Debuting at #8 on Circana’s sales charts and #1 among Switch titles, it sold over 500,000 physical units despite a lack of hype. With a Metacritic score of 85/100, the remaster faced pricing backlash ($59.99) and developer credit controversies. Analytic Dreamz explores its 1080p/60 FPS performance, industry trends like a 45% hardware sales drop, and what its success signals for Donkey Kong’s future on the anticipated Switch 2.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Now, how in the world did a game that came out November 21st, 2010? In 2025, it is currently the top selling game on Nintendo. Now, of course, the game I'm particularly talking about is, of course, Donkey Kong returns HD, as this game did initially come out November 21st, 2010 for the Nintendo week, developed by retro studios and published by Nintendo. But if you don't know, this is the fourth game in the Donkey Kong country series. Because of course, when it comes to Mario and his cast of just his overall storyline and their own storylines, it tends to have a lot of success because of the popular IP.

Because if you don't know, Mario and then a branch of Luigi's Mansion. And of course, you have the Donkey Kong series in itself being very immensely popular. As when it comes to the return of Donkey Kong country, basically January 16, 2025 is when the Nintendo's switch version came out. So if there's any confusion on how 2010 game is now currently the top selling game on Nintendo, well, now you have it. Well, there you have it because, of course, when it comes to different platforms, as far as the Nintendo Wii, as far as the Nintendo 3DS, which this game came out on May 24th, 2013. And of course, when the Nintendo Switch version came out January 16th of 2025,

you come to realize that this is a very pivotal game in a Nintendo legacy because of the fact that it has so much longevity and very comparable to just Mario in itself. Because if you don't know, Mario currently has two games in the top five. And you don't need me to tell you time and time again that Mario literally saved gaming to the point where now Mario may just be the flagship character when it comes to video game industry and saving it and also dominating his own platform. Mario is probably one of the more pivotal characters ever in video game history. So with that out the way, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is topping the charts right now as when you're, When it comes to reception, there's been a lot of high scores. This IGN gave it a 9 out of 10.

Game Informer gave it a 9.5 out of 10. GameSpot gave it an 8.5 out of 10. And some of the tip is that these conglomerates are saying is basically the game has exquisite level design and of course with the high difficulty it makes it even more pivotal to learn the mechanics. But they did state that it's nothing of a standout performer compared to the previous Donkey Kong games. So when it comes to the brilliant art design and of course the level designs, that is basically what Nintendo is known for. I don't know what other platform as far as PS5, Xbox or PC.

I don't know if they could ever compete with the high level platforming that Nintendo gives the gaming community time and time. again because of course right now astrobot is by far in a way the best platformer that's released in the past two years to the point where people are comparing astrobot to mario isn't that crazy so even when you do come out with a phenomenal platformer people automatically go to the comparisons of if your game is as good or even better than mario which of course i still think mario is better but i think i do believe there's a discussion for Astrobot being up there as far as the goat platformers because of the developers basically being ex-Nintendo developers. So they kind of know a thing or two about making platforms. And when it comes to that, of course, when it comes to the full price, that received a lot of backlash because if you don't know, whenever you're putting out a remaster, usually you don't want to sell it at the same $70 price tag or even $60 price tag that used to be to know. norm but for this donkey con country HD switch port they chose to make it the full price which a lot of people were upset about and comparisons to tropical freeze that was the counter argument because that launched at 50 dollars on the switch so i don't know what those 10 dollars is going to do for the masses

but hey they were upset that donkey con country came out at a full price tag under the switchport so It's basically another remaster. A lot of Nintendo fanatics, they basically want not more of an original title, but they don't want to see remasters time and time and time again because Nintendo has so many IPs under their legacy that they just completely neglect to either put out another Smash Bros, to put out another Mario game because, of course, like I said, Mario just completely carries the Nintendo brand.

and of course the video game brand so with that being said they focus a lot on mario but there's a lot of ipes that nintendo have to where they can end up dominating the space not only with mario but with other ipes i mean obviously you have zelda as far as one of the other uh popular ips but as far as the i'm trying to see i'm trying to see what other ips they have besides mario and zeld because i know there's a lot as far as stuff they have you to touch so they have mario of course the face of um nintendo and then you have pokem i can't forget pokem on how pivotal they are to the point where i believe pomech go is still one of the top selling mobile games in the world currently so as far as the actual position it is okay so currently is actually the most popular

mobile game on the platform it changes all the time of course because it's a mobile platform but but right now, Pokemon Go is the most popular. So you have Mario, you have Pokemon, you have Legend of Zelda, of course, you have Animal Crossing, you have Splatoon, which I don't know, what's the last time we've received a Splatoon game? Because if you really think about it, the reason why I'm diving into these different Nintendo IPs is because I don't know if you're heard, but the Nintendo Switch 2 is about to come out, which, you know, if you want to hear my coverage of that, just type in Nintendo Switch analytic dreams with the Z and it should pop up on whatever platform you listen to podcasts on. So with that being stated, I just wanted to let y'all know that they also have Kirby, Metroid, Fire Emblem, and I do believe I saw Metroid on here. So it's not like people don't, it's not like people are tired of Metroid because Splatoon 3 is the 16th most play game on the switch.

And I don't see Metroid anywhere on here. Okay, so maybe people are tired of Metroid. But of course, Minecraft is the fifth most play game on a platform. You don't need me to go through all the popular games currently on the platform just to let you know that they have a lot of IP that they're just put into the wayside. I mean, they have Fire Emblem. I think I already said Kirby. Metroid. And of course, Donkey Kong, what we're covering right now, which is, you know, even though it just came out, it's still very impressive to top the charts as far as the Nintendo Switch platform because Mario is usually number one.

And if you want to know the top five is Donkey Kong returns HD. is Super Mario Party Jamboree, which I cover that as well. Mario Car 8 Deluxe Urban Legend Dismantling Center. What the world? And then fifth, rounding off the top five is Minecraft. So when it comes to fans winning an original title, I think that's just a testament to the way of Nintendo, basically heavily leaning on their top five IP to carry the brand,

which is not a bad move. It's definitely a safe bet. But when it comes to safe, I think a lot more fans will appreciate if they went outside the box and basically came out with a revolutionary title as far as one of their previous IPs being neglected, right? Because Pokemon found themselves in a very interesting situation where when Power World came out, pun intended, it took over the world. Powerwell was putting up monumental numbers, breaking all type of records. And of course, as of right now, it's nowhere to be found. But that did not stop Nintendo for basically suing the pants off of, I think it's pocket pair that develops power. Let me see who develops power.

Yeah, pocket pair. So Nintendo sued pocket pair because of their claims of copying character designs, the whole captioning a monster with a ball type mechanic. like they was they was wilding in the lawsuit like i remember covering that as well as far as uh pocket pair versus nintendo because that was a very huge deal because if you don't know power was putting up numbers to the point where people was thinking this is going to be the successor to the point where the next Pokemon would have had to copy um power world's overall mechanics as far as the i think it was more of a i forget what you actually call it but it's more of a survival game than it was just capturing monsters and battling people

like it was a survival game along with the Pokemon mechanics. So that's why it was so pivotal. And when Nintendo, yeah, they sued pocket pair back in October 22nd, 2024. That's why I covered it. And basically, I don't know what's going to come about that lawsuit, but let's just say power was already down and now Nintendo's just basically trying to put it to bed that they would never be competitors with Pokemon because of their accusations of copying them.

So back to this Donkey Kong game. So when it comes to resolution, of course, it runs 1080, 60 frames per second. The loading times are 10 to 15 seconds longer than the whee's 5 to 7 seconds. That's pivotal to point out because, of course, if you use the new hardware, you would think that the loading times would be shorter, but I guess not. So new features include a modern mode, which is easier difficulty with extra hearts and items, includes the 3DS exclusive cloud world levels. There's no online co-op.

There's local multiplayer only, which is always a common complaint for Nintendo players out there. And then of course, when it comes to the broader statistics of this particular video game, it was the best selling in January 2025. No, Call of Duty, Black Opsix was the bestselling. But as far as on Nintendo, it was the bestselling game to come out for last month. So when it comes to success, even though it didn't have a lot of hype, people are still enjoying the game. They do criticize it for, of course, the full price point, like I was saying. But overall, when it comes to Switch's late generation phase, I don't know if they would have benefited from waiting until the Nintendo Switch 2 came out to release this game.

or I don't know if they're just trying to get this game out the way so they could put out a new Mario or Zelda game because of course with the Switch 2 coming out there's probably going to be a new port for this Donkey Kong game and I would probably assume that they were going to just remaster it again and put it out on a Nintendo Switch 2 instead of making a you know a unique Donkey Kong game or just a new Donkey Kong game that the fans are clamoring for so but all that being stated is still

the top selling game on Nintendo and when it comes to physical copies alone it's secured its number eight ranking as Nintendo don't actually disclose digital sales but under circana data that's basically why i get all my analytics from and that's where they were basically saying that it's doing pretty good on a Nintendo platform even from a physical copy standpoint so that's not too much again too besides that so click my link tree in my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about Donkey Kong country returns HD and at the end of the day what IP would you like to see Nintendo bring back to the Nintendo Switch 2