Every week, we’ll be shining a spotlight on a game ahead of its release and first up it’s Donkey Kong.

It’s certainly an interesting week for the world’s most famous ape. On the one hand, it’s cause for celebration for all in Donkey Kong Country as this is a remake of a classic Wii title from 2010 and it’ll finally be playable on modern platforms.

But it’s no secret that a lot of people want to talk about something else Nintendo related. Well, not us!

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is, as it says, a HD upgrade of, what is considered the fourth key installment in the franchise. Following the SNES trilogy, this is the first game that was made without Rare and was considered to be one of the best selling games on the Wii.

In Returns, Donkey and Diddy Kong face off against the Tiki Tak Tribe who have unleashed terror on Donkey Kong Island and are raiding the Kong’s precious banana hoard. If you know these two, they definitely won’t stand for that!

Donkey Kong Country Returns was the first in the series to make use of the Wii’s motion controls and it appears that has been done once more in this HD upgrade on Nintendo Switch.

It’s not the first time the game has had a remake, though. In 2013, the 3DS got its own version with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D with additional levels. This obviously focused on the handheld’s 3D functionality and was developed by Monster Games.

But this Switch version has, of course, gone all in on visuals and is being developed by Forever Entertainment. Releasing this week, on January 16, the game was commended back on release for its beautiful blending of 2D and 3D visuals. Something the series has always been at the forefront of, but with foreground images and character models, the game really did feel like a modern reinvention of the 16 bit classics we grew up with.

And interestingly, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a blend of the Wii and 3DS versions, incorporating the additional 8 levels from the 3DS version while also updating the visuals. It still maintains the classic local co-op the series is renowned for as you tag between Donkey and Diddy with each player having a JoyCon of their own.

Using JoyCons, you can of course use motion control to play the game, but you can also combine it with button pressing depending on how you prefer to play and get tips and tricks from Professor Chops.

There’s also a Modern Mode that reduces the difficulty some had problems with by adding in more hearts and items. Or, if you prefer, you can stick to the Original mode to play the game as was originally intended.

So it’s not a full remake by any stretch, but it does certainly feel like the best way to play a classic game you can only find on Wii or 3DS.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is kicking off, what is expected to be an incredible year for Nintendo and is widely tipped to be one of the swansong titles for the Switch. So if you’ve somehow never experienced this gem, the Virtual Console releases tickled your fancy and you loved Tropical Freeze, you’re going to feel right at home with this one when it launches this Thursday!