Nintendo did it again with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD!

I guess that it takes long for Nintendo to be extremely careful as fan are as observers as ever, but due diligence seems to be annoying and with this, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a remastered version of the original game developed by Retro Studios for the Wii and later ported to the 3DS.

The remaster was handled by Forever Entertainment, but when the credits rolled, the original Retro Studios team members were not individually credited

Instead of listing the names of the original developers, the credits simply stated: “Based on the work of the original development staff.” This has caused significant backlash from fans and former Retro Studios staff.

After this made enough sound, Nintendo issued a statement to Eurogamer, saying:

“We believe in giving proper credit for anyone involved in making or contributing to a game’s creation, and value the contributions that all staff make during the development process.”

However, they did not provide a detailed explanation for why the original team’s names were excluded.

This was brought to the general attention as actually, isn’t the first time Retro Studios has faced this issue. In early 2023, the developers behind Metroid Prime Remastered were also left out of the credits, leading to similar frustrations. Senior gameplay engineer Zoid Kirsch expressed his disappointment on social media, calling it “a travesty.”

And it baffles that Nintendo didn’t expect many fans and former Retro Studios staff have voiced their disappointment and frustration over the omission. They feel that the original team’s contributions are not being properly recognized.

Despite the backlash, Nintendo has maintained its stance on condensing the credits for an entire development team into one sentence. This decision has sparked a debate about how remastered games should credit their original creators.