It really wasn't all that long ago the core gamers were cursing Nintendo for not delivering the games they want. The longtime fans of the best Nintendo franchises were grumbling that each announcement was catering for the new audience. Well this year all that changed. Kirby, Kid Icarus and Link all have new games on the horizon, but the biggest surprise was the announcement of a new Donkey Kong Country game.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is not only another in the series, it echoes right back to the first ever Country game that was developed by Rare way back in 1994.
Of course, there are many differences that our hands-on time with the game soon showed. Firstly, the two Kong system is gone in single-player. If you are playing solo then smashing a barrel that contains Diddy merely gives you a rocket pack hover ability when jumping rather than the extra hit it used to. Diddy only becomes playable when a second player takes part, which sees both Kongs on screen together playing through the stage.

Also, the controls have been tampered with to feature motion controls. A waggle of the Remote causes Donkey Kong to perform his trademark ground pound, while shaking the Remote and Nunchuk as if you were playing bongos launches DK from his hut at the start of the level and hits switches that alter the environment.

The levels themselves have been dragged into the current day with section that veer away from the classic 2D nature and dip into the background. A clever way of keeping the game current while not upsetting the old school feel. The levels on show were all familiar and each an enhanced version of one of the original such as Jungle High Jinx and Mine Cart Madness. This is exactly the kind of fan service that Nintendo should be providing alongside the casual titles, and this is one we can't wait to get more time with.