UK Charts: Donkey Kong Barrels Past The Competition To Claim Gold – Nintendo Life

GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpNo monkeying aroundNintendo’s latest release, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, has made its debut at number one in the UK following its launch on 16th January 2025.It’s a decent start for the remaster, which has notably received quite a bit of backlash online over its price in the months leading up to its release. That said, despite our own senitment that the game isn’t quite the definitive version of Retro Studio’s original Wii classic, it’s still probably worth checking out if you’ve never experienced it before.Elsewhere, Tales of Graces f Remastered enters the charts at number twelve, with the Switch version accounting for 35% of the platform split. Dynasty Warriors Origins also made its debut, poking its head into the top ten to join the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Nintendo Switch Sports.Here’s a look at this week’s full top 40, with platform breakdowns for all of the titles available on other consoles as well as the Switch:NEW317811914Grand Theft Auto V16NEW18NEW227-232124263039–3512–4025—34-32—[Compiled by GfK]< Last week's chartsThat's what you get for not hailing to the chimpMonkey BusinessPlease note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.Did you pick up anything new this week? Let us know what you think of the latest charts in the comments below.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 57"They already brought this game out twice before!", they said on social media. "No one wants this game!!!", they declared in comments sections.I’m actually surprised. This is the first first party (remaster or otherwise) I’ve not bothered with since the Switch launch. Figure it’ll get a physical reduction eventually… I’ll bite at £20.Edit: to my knowledge. I haven’t picked up smaller games I have no interest in like 1-2 Switch sequel@Markatron84 I think some people underestimate the sheer number of parents who will pick up this up as a "fun looking 'mario' game for my son/daughter's switch" and not give a monkeys (pun intended) whether it's a good port or if Retro Studios were credited or notWell if there are that many people with more money than sense, maybe the UK economy is in better shape than I thought.This is the third time they've released it, but there are 150 million potential users on Switch. For many of them it is the first time to be able to play it. We can argue about the price, but it's a great game.Still a great game. Loving it.Yes I bought it 3 times.I‘ve bought it now for the first time, and it is great. Graphics are not as shiny as of Tropical Freeze, but gameplay is top notch. And I find it harder than TF, which I appreciate (or my reflexes were just better back than when I played TF).These are well spent 55 EUR for me!Almost disappointing in a way to see a pretty low effort port doing really well tbh. It's a great game for sure, but when you compare it to something like Metroid Prime Remastered which got a NICE facelift and released for a lower price, it's hard to justify that price tag. Ah well, if you've got the money for it...Ermmm, a small typo there. In the 24th spot, Black Myth is Wukong, not Waking!Also, it’s great to see so many evergreen Nintendo titles re-enter the top forty. The Switch 2 effect?Apes and monkeys are far more fun to the Brits compared to the other new releases. Tales of Graces didn't stand a chance because anime women are disgusting to them, and Dynasty Warriors is just Dynasty Warriors nomatter what new coat of paint you put on.Bummer. I thought they were overcharging for a 15 year old 2D game but if people will buy it at $60 then expect Nintendo to keep dishing out decades old games at full premium price. Ugh!@Ham-n-jam It's not a port it's an HD 60 fps remaster, and by no means a low-effort work just because DF takes snapshots and use a 4x zoom to criticize the alignment of 3 pixels.Huh, Dynasty Warriors Origins in tenth? I'm surprised. I need to get that actually…Look at that split for EA Sports FC! Guess actually putting an effort in is working out.A good game is a good game… and DKC Returns is a bloody good game.It's really overpriced to be a remaster, that's why I won't get it until it's on sale, but there's no denying DKC Returns is an EXCELLENT game. And if it's the first time to play it, I understand people don't care about the price.Same case as with Tropical Freeze. I didn't get it at launch on Switch because I played it back on the WiiU, and I thought it was well overpriced to be a port (not even a remaster...). But for those who didn't play it before, the high price didn't stop them to get it.It's all a matter of personal experience.I knew it would do well, but not THAT well. No monkeying around indeed!Love to see Country Returns on top - again, the starting price is the factor that matters the least when most games regularly get discounted physically and/or digitally and even at launch (physically which is what matters for these charts you could get this at Currys for £36 according to what people said last time while digitally for £42 with the NSO vouchers, personally got it for €50 from my usual retailer here in Italy)! Also happy to see 8 Deluxe in 4th, Jamboree in 5th, Switch Sports in 7th, Wonder in 9th, Dynasty Warriors Origins in 10th (wonder if it has a chance to come to Switch 2 at some point), New Horizons in 11th, Tales of Graces f in 12th, Hogwarts Legacy surprisingly in 13th but still selling the most on Switch, Astro Bot in 18th, Echoes of Wisdom in 19th, Sonic X Shadow Generations in 20th and Tears of the Kingdom in 21st - stopping here as this list is way too long as is!@Max_the_German I haven't played Returns before either, so I'm going to be picking it up soon. I played Tropical Freeze and it's peak 2D platforming 👌@The_Pixel_King I was thinking that. Maybe them reiterating it WOULD play Switch games was all some people needed to hear. I know WE knew, as frequent this site, but there was probably a lot of people who are fans but don't follow the industry news in the same way.I will wait for BLUEY to appear again on Top 40 next week. 😊@AlleyCat Exactly. Anyway this game is 14 years old…there are tons of kids growing up who have never played this. To them it’s brand new and won’t care that it’s old or that you can get it cheaper on Wii or 3DS or whatever.I totally get not thinking it’s worth full price if you already played it. I wouldn’t pay full price for what it is, but people like us who frequent Nintendo sites and have been playing games for decades are not the majority that this game will primarily sell to. A lot of people seem to forget that and it’s getting irksome seeing the same rhetoric over and over with Nintendo remastersSwitch accounting for 50% of FIFA seems quite significant, although sales will have tailed off quite considerably now.@the_beaverThat's exactly what it is. A remake like this isn't necessarily for those who already played it (multiple times). There are a lot of young people that never played this game on the Wii or the 3DS.Most of the people that complain played the game years ago. If you feel like this remake is overpriced, don't buy it. You won't miss out on anything. For those never played the game, you'll love this great platformer.I never played the Wii version (I played the 3DS version) so I bought the game so I can play it on the big screen. I do have a Wii, but I don't like the motion controls. It's great, not as great as Tropical Freeze, but still great and worth every penny.I played it on the Wii and 3ds but didn't have kids back then, I do now and they love Donkey Kong so here we are buying it for the 3rd time.A good game is a good game is a good game. Happy for all those enjoying this game for the first time!@1UP_MARIO Same here, third time for me too. It plays just as well as before, and considering it's been a good few years since I last played it, it still feels fresh to me. (Perhaps I just have a bad memory ) Playing it in HD with a new lick of paint and the easy mode which enables my nephew to play too makes it well worthwhile. We fitted a good 6-7 hours in at the weekend.Of course it’s on top. Why is everyone acting shocked about this? It’s the only release so far this year. Of course it’s at the top. Do you really expect or want older releases to be selling better than a new retail SKU? There’s no competition for the game lined up. Honestly, there’s basically no other recognizable games launching in January, so it had a distinct advantage.@AmplifyMJ Very strong physical FC25 Switch sales. More than both PS5 and PS4 combined by quite a bit.@AmplifyMJ Indeed it is. It's still a fantastic game. Gameplay is top notch...For those curious, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is currently number 5, in the Nintendo Switch bestseller list of the German Amazon shop. Beaten by Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Party Jamboree. It is number 13 in the PC & video games bestseller list.I hope they will release the worldwide numbers of releases someday, including digital sales, to get a better picture.@Anti-Matter It's ok to post about other gamesI believe Donkey Kong Country Returns HD selling well cause these are the people who never bought it on the Wii U or 3DS so to have it on Switch with the privilege of both is a good deal. Remember that the Wii U was not selling that well in the UK so to most folks DKCR is still brand new to them. Most of these guys who bought the game bought it after playing Tropical Freeze, to a lot of them Tropical Freeze is the first game while this is the second game unlike if you bought it on Wii U where this is simply just a port if you buy it again on Switch.@Erigen Nonono! THIS Dynasty Warriors tells the tale of the Yellow Turban Rebelli-falls asleep on face.@Serpenterror DK returns waa a Wii game, not Wii U.Did anyone say that it wouldn´t sell?Nintendo knows people are buying these lazy remasters/remakes even if they overprice them, and that´s the reason they keep being overpriced. It doesn´t matter and unfortunately Nintendo are OK with just milking their customers for money. It makes sense from a business perspective of course, but it will hopefully have an impact of what people thinks of Nintendo in the long term.But right now people are so starved for new first party Switch games that they can do this, and I don´t think anyone thought this was gonna flop even though it is insanely overpriced.I wouldn't read too much into this. Won't be surprised to see it drop down the chart when the next figures are out. This type of game has an increased probability of attracting Day 1 buyers, but now they've bought it, I'm not sure so many other people will bite at this price.That’s slightly surprising.I don't mind that Nintendo do this. We're talking about a handful of games, real classics only, and redone with proper effort and care. Why not charge full price. Personally I don't care for DKCR (feels too 'western' for a first party Nintendo game), but generally I'm all for HD remakes / remasters.It’s good to see DK is still relevant in 2025, hopefully this will encourage Nintendo to give us a new game. I’d like to see a return of the Kremlings myself. The post rare games are good to me but they lack good enemies and a good main antagonist like K. Rool. Or Nintendo could go with something original if they want but make it more interesting than tiki masks or even the Viking bunch in tropical freeze didn’t have the same amount of variety and heart as the kremlings.@Serpenterror There’s also nostalgia factor. Lot of kids who will have had this game on Wii who have now grown up and have jobs and want to revisit a game from their childhoodOnce again we see that the whiners are simply a loud and vocal minority.Glad to see this game do well as it's a great game 🥳🫡@KruegerinoThey’re only overpriced in your option though. If others think the price is OK, buy it and are happy with it, that will not give them a negative perception of Nintendo. Quite the opposite in fact. I also doubt being ‘starved’ of Nintendo games explains many DKCRHD sales given that they released new games in September, October and November.I am in the States. I was going to wait, but had some Christmas cash and got it from Woot for $50.A good game is a good game. I loved tropical freeze. Haven’t played Returns before. Even traded in that snooze fest echoes of wisdom towards it. And I really don’t like to trade games in anymore.@Kruegerino you’re looking at this through the lens of an enthusiast who’s seen other versions come and go. This market is millions of times bigger than the enthusiasts, bigger than the Wii and almost twice that of the 3DS. That’s a lot of people who will not have seen this game. I can’t see them running out and buying a Wii or 3DS just to play an inferior version.I'll probably get it, but I want to get it along with Tropical Freeze, despite owning the original versions of both games (don't have Returns 3D in my collection), these are games I know I can play with my nephew or sister. I don't get why people are getting so worked up that others are probably playing (and enjoying) an old game for the first time.Like I've said many times in the past, yes I'm part of the problem of buying re-releases. On these Switch re-releases I'm paying what I didn't for the original versions.My reasons for rebuying them are because for some reason, people around me don't want to play them on their original hardware, and because if newer games aren't enticing me, might as well play a new version of a game I already played and enjoyed thoroughly.That goes for Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario Kart 8, Miitopia, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Metroid Prime, LEGO City Undercover (this one I regret to an extent, the performance is worse than the Wii U version) and Rayman Legends. Some games already in my collection in some capacity whose Switch versions I plan to get eventually are the DKCs and Super Mario RPG.@Emacster Yeah, I have to agree that I’m enjoying DKCR HD more than Echoes of Wisdom. And I’ve played Returns over a dozen times before.@WiltonRootsIm not saying anything about that. I agree with you and totally understand that Nintendo is selling this at full price because Switch is a newer system with a large customer base, and that people who haven´t played it before will be okay with paying full price even if it is an old game.But I am saying that Nintendo is charging 60$ for a simple, lazy remaster. I know that people are willing to buy it , so as I said - as a business decision it is smart. But it is for sure greedy, and the price doesn´t reflect the work put into this game (compared to other 60$, new games).It´s funny, I know that if for example Sony would try to charge 60$ for the Jak & Daxter remaster (just the first game) people would find that outrageous. But Nintendo has kind of eased their customer base into their expensive price points for old games. So good job Nintendo I guess, but I still find their pricing of DKCRHD offensive. And for sure hope that others will realize this at some point.@electrolite77If you think 60$ for a barebones remaster of a 15 year old game is fair, I can just once again congratulate Nintendo.I just hope this finally convinces Nintendo that people want more Donkey Kong Country games.@Kruegerino I don't control the value they put on their IPs. Donkey Kong has been around since before Mario even had a name, that's how they value it and bear in mind this is still only your opinion, and all those people out there who bought it didn't even hear it or care. You need to reach out to them and see how they feel. If they feel like they got value for money paying what they did then persuade them that they're completely wrong. You'll get a slanted take here in a comment section full of enthusiasts.@WiltonRoots"You'll get a slanted take here in a comment section full of enthusiasts."Obviously... I know many people will defend Nintendo whatever they do, that is something that everyone who has used internet since circa 1998 knows.But I still think it is important to challenge Nintendo, even if people call me and others whiners (who cares). I love their games as much as anyone else here, but I also play on other systems and it is extremely obvious how Nintendo capitalizes on their very, very obsessive user base. And as I have stated many times, from a business perspective I do not blame them. It is actually impressive how they have achieved this, and I bet Sony and Microsoft are more than a little envious.But I still think even obsessed Nintendo fans deserve reasonably priced games, and I think Nintendo is not treating you good enough with DKCRHD (and other recent examples) - even if you buy the game and are happy. As some others have already mentioned - it creates a ripple effect where we keep seeing overpriced remasters. I do not blame people for not thinking that far, but yeah...Not sure why everyone is so hung up on this being released again and being brought into the Switch ecosystem…especially when the sequel was ported over already.Dodo bird minds willing to jump off a cliff rather than take a step back and let the culture expand. “Oh no! A game I don’t want on a system I’m not in charge of maintaining!” ::LEAPS::This is why when you listen to someone sat infront of a wall of games on every system ever released, you can't take their opinion very seriously. Of course it's an old game, that they have bought twice before etc etc. But when you have 150M units out there with a good chunk probably not even born first time around, then you have a new audience. All the "waaagh I've already played this, it's low effort'" attitude does is put folk off buying it.@GrailUK I saw it sold about 6.5m on the Wii, and nearly 3m on the 3DS.@WiltonRoots Good ol' DK! He's still got it lol.@KruegerinoPrices of games aren’t set according to the amount of effort put in. They’re a consumer entertainment product and the company sets a price in an attempt to maximise revenue. Same with gig tickets, films etc. The only power the individual consumer has is whether to buy or not.Value is a completely subjective concept. I paid £38 for DKCRHD and think it worth every penny. I’m not going to not buy it because others perceive value differently. Same way you aren’t expected to buy it if you think it poor value. Everything else is noise, really.I need to play the og games first. 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