Retro Staff Credits Removed From Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Forever Entertainment Confirmed As Devs – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpMonkey businessDonkey Kong Country Returns HD is just around the corner and, now that the embargo on our review coverage has lifted, we can officially confirm that developer Forever Entertainment is responsible for the porting duties on Retro Studios’ platformer.However, much like Metroid Prime Remastered before it, Nintendo has opted to omit the original Retro Studios development team from the credits of the new release. Instead, it simply states ‘Based on the work of the original development staff’.The removal of Retro Studios’ staff from Metroid Prime Remastered caused quite a stir with some key developers from the original team, with engineer Zoid Kirsch stating that he felt “let down” by the exclusion, and technical lead engineer Jack Mathews going one step further and calling it “a travesty”.Despite the backlash, Nintendo has maintained its stance on condensing the credits for an entire development team into one rather dismissive sentence. You can see exactly how this appears in the credits via the below screenshots:It’s a shame, but it seems clear at this point that this is now Nintendo’s standard practice regarding remasters and ports. The company has also attracted some controversy for its similar stance on keeping its partner developers hidden from public view until close to their games’ release dates.Knowledge acquiredLink’s Awakening Switch players won’t be surprisedUpdate: Another OG dev calls it a “travesty”What are your thoughts on the exclusion of Retro Studios from the credits of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD? Leave a comment down below and let us know.About Ollie ReynoldsNintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.Comments 105Sorry but that is just disrespectfulForever Entertainment is always bad news. A real shame they were chosen to remaster this game.This keeps happening at Nintendo for remakes/remasters. It’s wrong and it needs to changeMaybe it’s good that the OG team isn’t credited for making the game worse? Please have a separate thing with the wii/3ds developers!I hate this practice so much.Did the subtitles on the DKC articles get switched?Come on, how hard is it to credit the OG team? I love Nintendo, but this is just bad form.Wow, I can’t believe that Forever Entertainment created one of the greatest platformers on the Wii! I’ll take 200 million stocks in Forever Entertainment, please!I like Nintendo but they can’t keep doing this. All those people who worked on the original project deserve just as much credit as to those who worked on the remaster.BOOOOOOOOO.I know a lot of people are going to dismiss this, but I don’t think it should be too controversial to want to see people rightfully credited for the work they put into a project – even if it’s a remaster.Surprise surprise, it’s the same folks who slaughtered House of the Dead…Is everyone here gonna stop buying Nintendo games and hardware now that this terrible, horrible information about names missing from the credits has come to light?Unlike the “keeping its partner developers hidden from public view until close to their games’ release dates” there’s absolutely no good reason to not fully credit the original teams, just make the credits skippable for those who don’t care and let those interested check them out without booting up the original games!@JohnnyMind It’s pretty easy to find them online so no need to boot up the original.Why’s it always Retro Studios that’s getting humped in these re-releases? It’s bad practise and needs to be addressed going forward. Especially as we’re firmly in the age of ports and remasters now due to lengthy development times for new titles.@ArcadeSixties Nope, but I will not be buying this game.@ArcadeSixties Complaining about this will let Nintendo know that we’re not happy about it specifically even though it’s far from guaranteed that they will do something about it, not buying their games and hardware will just make them think that we don’t like those, simple as that… not to mention that the already not credited teams definitely don’t need the games they worked on to not be bought and so potentially not being hired for future ones!@BenAV In the case of such a famous game sure, but in the case of a less known one? And again, why not include it in the first place anyway when it’s a win-win for everyone involved?Very simple, Nintendo only credits people who worked on this version of the game. They do that with every remaster / remake. And still people get angry?@Jamie64326 And they got all the credit they desrved, in the original game.Forever entertainment? Interesting how both Nintendo and Sega are happy for this company to work on their titles. And yet in both cases the titles just miss there mark!I didn’t buy Prime Remastered for this reason and I won’t be buying this for the same reason too. Retro made the game this Company just did minor tweaks. Very disrespectful as far as I’m concerned.Did Luigi’s Mansion 2 remove Next Level? I mean it was one thing when Metroid Prime did it cause that was from the ground up, but there’s no way Forever rebuilt DKC7 back from scratch. This is a port with a fur texture.Also, we’ve know Forever was the dec since it was announced because Forever had to put out a press release under Polish tax law.Nobody cares (outside of this comment section).@JohnnyMind The credits for every Nintendo published game except ones that lack a credits sequence are online. A couple of the non-English ones might be hard to find but they are almost all on mobygames, Nintendo Wiki and Kyoto ReportI’ll be in the minority saying this it seems, but we know it’s a remake/remaster/port, and should anyone care to see a longer list of names scroll on-screen they can boot up the original game and/or Google the developers.It’s not like it’s a secret or the names are suddenly unavailable anywhere.Yes, Nintendo could add the list, but let’s be honest, what added-value does that bring to the credits compared to the message “based on the original work of…”?It actually brings the focus to the teams who actually “made” this version.Lame. You’d think remastering credits was impossible based on the way these ports have been operated!Total d*** move.@sanderevThis remaster wouldn’t exist if not for the original people who made it. They should be in the credits end of.If this is a standard practice, why are people surprised?There should be a separated “original credits” in the options really.I’m not too bothered about it since MobyGames has so many credits you can look up.They credit the people that worked on this specific version of the game, a game which is based on the work of a different development team. Exactly as the credits state. Not sure this is worth all the fuzz.The only reason they don’t credit the original devs is because they can’t be bothered composing one new song to play in the background of the new credits. Ocarina and Majora 3D did this the right way.I don’t think it’s entirely wrong to write “based on the work of the original staff team”. Because that’s really the case, the original team didn’t work on the remaster. Then it may happen that a developer of the original title is not happy with the work done with the remaster. He might be annoyed to see himself in the credits of a title that he considers a bad porting work.@astrogamer Still think that Nintendo could and should do better but anyway, thanks for pointing that out!I mean, should they include the full development staff for both the Wii and 3DS versions, as well as the Switch staff? Even though it’s just a port, is the work of every single original staffer represented in the Switch version? Do you include the QA staff for the Wii and 3DS versions as well?A lot of people saying ‘Retro Studios this’ and ‘Forever Entertainment that’ but no one giving Monster Games credit for the 3DS levels. C’mon comments section, do your research 😛Hate when companies do this. I actually love seeing credits show respect to both teams as someone who actually designed a level deserves a shout out more than someone who copied it to look better in 2025.Removed – trolling/baiting; user is bannedI know we love ourselves a dogpile but the original game still has the credits for the team who worked on it. Said team didn’t work on this version. And if this version turned out to be terrible their name could be attached without their approval. A nod to the original version is just fine.Meanwhile, with older films (and TV shows), it’s typically the reverse, where only the original credits are shown, and none of the staff responsible for restoring/remastering/remixing the film are credited.I think key creatives ought to be wholly credited, but the “worker bees”, so to speak, received their credit the first time around.I think if you want to remove the original dev team from the primary credits, you should preserve the original credits in an options menu or something. I get the reason could be that the credit music isn’t long enough or something, but just have two sets of credits.Absolute garbage, that’s a no buy for me. I’ll stick with the original thanks.🤓Forever Entertainment is almost a shovelware company, but do still have some great games.It’s the same one who do the House of the Dead remasters i think.
I wouldn’t trust this release until there are reviews.I’m not surprised or anything, just disappointed. Nintendo, for all their pride in internally developed projects, has a legacy of leaving ‘other’ studios high and dry, even down to simple things like acknowledgement.I’ve kinda known that since Rare walked off in 2002.At this point I don’t really care, it’s stupid, but also people are overreacting. So, like with Metroid Prime Remastered, I’m still getting this game. The only thing that’s actually bothering me is that this is a full-priced game. At least Metroid Prime was cheaper…and that game had a lot more work put into it for the remaster. this is just…the Wii version but in HD it seems.”It’s a shame, but it seems clear at this point that this is now Nintendo’s standard practice regarding remasters and ports.”Is it? Not trying to condone this of course, but I can only think of two other instances where this happened: Metroid Prime Remastered and (I think) Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Switch. Are there more that I’m not aware of?Shameless! Shame, shame, shame on you Nintendo!@sanderev No, they don’t do this for all remasters/remakes. The credits for any Zelda remaster, for example, have both the original staff and remastered staff listed. When it comes to games made by Retro though, the original staff never seem to get credited.I think I’m more miffed by the wording this remaster is “based” on the original game. Heck—this IS that game.While it’s clear that Retro Studios was the original team that work on this game, the porting duty for this specific version is handle by an entirely new team so it make sense to give attention to the new team. Still a mention of based on original work by Retro Studios would had sound much better than simply say based on the work of the original development team. Who’s the original development team Nintendo? Still been vague ain’t gonna help, you know who they are just mention them.@MikeP Rare didn’t walk off, they got sold off. There’s a difference.But why? The only reason I can think is that, if Nintendo credited the original developers, Nintendo would owe those developers additional contracting fees or payment or something. Maybe it would open them up to financial or legal issues they’d rather avoid. Otherwise, what do they care? So the credits roll for a bit longer. Who cares?Disappointing but not surprising :/I wasn’t going buy this game anyhow,
but now I’m going to pretend that this is the reason why.Unpopular opinion: I don’t care. I don’t get credit for work I did at past jobs either. I collected my paycheck when I worked there, and now I work somewhere else and collect my paycheck from my new employer.Dude this thing is a joke on all fronts. They removed visual effects. What is even happening?@AgentGuapo that’s not how art works.Nintendo is still actively working with Retro. Don’t they want to maintain a positive relationship and realize this could cause a drop in morale? At the very least they could have mentioned Retro instead of “the original development team”. Those who don’t already follow gaming would never know Retro made this game.So, like, the people who actually made it?Not the choice I’d make, but calling it “dismissive” is a bit much.Classic Nintendo…. Stupid of them to do so.But probably, they’re just setting themselves up for when they’ll release a ‘remake 6, definitive edition 3’ of a game or something. Impossible to have credits that take 20 minutes to scroll through.This would not stand a chance in court in the music industry.
The video game business is a whole different culture where everyone has a short memory and low standards for manners apparently.I’m glad Nintendo Life keeps reporting about this (as others do). People saying this is not a big deal is the proof that it actually is worth reportingNintendo cheaping out on their port houses these days or what?The real story is that Forever Entertainment were the developer. Blech.@DiggleDog ExactlyI wish Nintendo would do the original and new credits.I mean, it’s wrong but there’s far worse things going on in the world of gaming, let alone the world outside gaming.Ugh. Those idiots.Forever Entertainment … really? really Nintendo? You could have gotten like Saber or Panic Button? I’m glad the Retro Name isn’t on this BAD BAD BAD BAD PORT.@LikelySatan not according to Nintendo.This actually doesn’t bother me, I know I’ll be in the minority but I actually don’t care about it. Maybe this is done for financial or contract things, still doesn’t bother me.That’s a shame. It’s even worse considering the 3DS remake had no problem listing Retro Studios as well as Monster Games.This along with not crediting composers in Nintendo Music makes Nintendo’s recent attitude about crediting quite bizarre. Who cares about long staff rolls?I mean… I hate this.
At the VERY LEAST the credits could have a special thanks or acknowledgement to the development staff at Retro.
Even movies based on books will say “Based on the novel “Wiffle Stir” by Marcus Wiversham” or whatever in the credits.
Saying “original development staff” seems like Nintendo are very purposely not crediting them.They couldn’t even say retro studios. Shame on them. Just for that, I’m going to buy it used.Jeez. It’s one thing to not credit each person individually… but to not even mention the original development studio at all? Would it have killed them to say “based on Retro Studio’s game”?Nintendo is using the work of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people that put years of commitment and hard work to make the company money. The least Nintendo can do is say “thank you” to them.The lack of respect from companies these days, man.@ArcadeSixties uh, no? Retro were properly credited in the original game, I’m not particularly offended that they aren’t crediting each and every developer on a remaster that they were not involved in. Potential employers wouldn’t be looking at this remaster when hiring Retro devs anyway.I think few people sit and watch the credits. Credits have gotten out of control with special thank yous, babies born during development, thank you to PR teams,catering teams, etc.. they are just too long. Maybe just thank the core team and leave everyone else out. Should do the same with movies.I agree that’s its disrespectful but it’s not going to turn me away from buying the game@LexKitteh People who likely don’t know (and seemingly can’t be bothered to use Google in this analogy) likely do not care and are just scrolling on their phones when the credits roll.This, along with Nintendo’s practice of not revealing developers until close to release, is incredibly disrespectful to the people who actually work on these games. It really needs to end.People can really overreact. Especially the ones saying they aren’t buying the game because of this.I will admit: I love the controls, motifs, and character designs of the old DKCs so much (especially DKC2) that it kind of blinds me to the DKCR series. I was never gonna buy it, so I hardly need to boycott it.Also, it took me a minute to realize that omitting OG staff credits has been common for some time, even on games I have praised loudly from the rafters– such as Sega’s lightgun remasters in the Wii era.And yet, with the Retro Studios logo gone from this release altogether, it does make me think. You’ve still got Rare logos present and that KI machine lounging around Cranky’s shack in DKC2… even on Switch Online. So why can’t Nintendo be bothered to put the logo of a studio they own on the front of a game that studio primarily developed? It’s gotta be some bad blood or an attempt to put Retro Studios in their place. After all, if Nintendo wasn’t generally fond of putting other companies in their place, they would have released the PlayStation.So, either Nintendo is being exceptionally unkind to their developers just to assert themselves, or I need to crinkle this tinfoil hat into a looser fit. 😅Gonna get this secondhand lolNintendo is good at giving us what we don’t want@RubyCarbuncle not buying Prime Remastered for any reason is insane to meForever Entertainment? Really? The same guys who did the Panzer Dragoon and House of the Dead remake?There was no else better, I mean come on.I have zero problems with this.Do we name everyone who worked on an original movie when a remake is produced? Of course not.RARE had zero to with this. So why should they be named?I don’t see why they keep doing this when it just makes negative headlines. Just credit everyone. No downsides.@Dee123 It’s Retro that made this game, not Rare and they should be credited considering THEY MADE THE GAME. This new team just ported it, and didn’t do the best job by the looks of it.@Slobbert at the end of the day Nintendo is under zero obligations to put the original credits on top of the ones for this remake.Well, that’s total BS.@AgentGuapo Hey, you said it yourself, it’s an unpopular opinion and decision. Probably the only reason this is newsworthy is because your opinion is vile@Dee123 completely different things and an incredibly stupid comparison.@Dee123 of course, the movie remakes don’t even do so much as a ‘Based on the work of the original (movie) development staff’!I am rather disappointed with this. They should have said “Based on the work of the Donkey Kong Country Returns (original Wii version) development staff at Retro Studios”…@Bunkerneath they don’t care. They’re never one to bow to public pressure.Could this be that it’s specifically former Retro staff who are always spilling secrets on these podcasts and YouTube channels? They might see their names as liabilities. Not that it justifies it.Or are these ending sequences really so strictly paced? (I haven’t beaten either of these games.)They should’ve at the least recognized the whole dev team if not listing out all the individual people. This is not cool.@rushiosan Unfortunately Nintendo invested a lot of money into Forever rather than Panic Button or Tantalus.@Altaria_97 Retro Studios is a first party developer, that is, a subsidiary of Nintendo. It’s like they basically are part of Nintendo as a whole.Any logo you see in any game after the credits that says “Nintendo”, they are included in there.Also, I know I wouldn’t want my name in a half assed port of a game I worked on in the past.Seems very un-japanese. Are they not all about respect? This is so unnecessarily disrespectful.Eh, who bothers to read the credits anyway? I honestly couldn’t care less about something I won’t even pay attention to in the first place. I usually don’t waste my time watching the credits at the end of movies either, unless I’m curious about a specific actor/actress or song, in which case I’ll fast forward and just stop it once I’ve found what I was looking for.This is very poor behaviour Nintendo.Rough.And unnecessary. 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