Nintendo’s mastery of their own ubiquitous 3D format continues, as the port of Retro’s Donkey Kong Country Returns (a 10/10 on the Wii will attest to its quality) displays perhaps the most constantly impressive display of depth we’ve seen on any format for some time. DKCR’s focus on Kong sitting centre on the display means that the world behind him sinks into the distant and the in your face elements are reserved for occasional dramatic effect rather than anything constant.

This gives the game a tremendous sense of scale with the 3D slider on maximum. The game always hinted at this on the Wii, with the countless layers of parallax scrolling, but on 3DS it’s masterful use of technology that far too many developers get completely wrong. As a result, it’s never tiring on the eyes and the lack of any shortcomings in this mode (the frame rate remains locked at 30fps and the image quality is superb regardless) means that we can’t imagine playing the game in 2D again.

That said, it is largely the exact same game most will have already played on the Wii. There’s a handful of new levels integrated at the end of the game and there are optional concessions to difficulty, such as an extra hit point for both Kong and Diddy and the usual, overly generous Super Guide that has become a mainstay in Nintendo products of late, but it plays exactly the same. That’s despite the lack of motion control – the stomp move is now mapped to a face button, sensibly.

Even with the added lives, DKCR is still a difficult game. It’s testing right from the off, with the often perfect level design offset by tricky platforming and demanding timing. It gets brutally tough near the end, too, clearly a throwback to the SNES-era games on which this is based but a jarring shock to those raised in the 32-bit years. Checkpoints are ample enough, but this is a platformer that requires utmost concentration and skill, despite its colourful, chirpy exterior.

But for, or because of, all of this, it’s still brilliant. Retro’s original remains one of the best platformers you can buy, the sheer breadth of the experience surpassing that even of stablemate Mario’s recent outings, and this 3DS version, ported by Monster, improves on it in literally every way. It’s slick, progressive and utterly gorgeous to look at, and massive (in terms of file size, too – if you’re downloading it you’ll need at least a 4GB card).

It’s released on the 24th of May.

9/10