{"id":531245,"date":"2026-01-21T03:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/531245\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T03:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:04:13","slug":"donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-gets-a-free-switch-2-update-and-adds-dixie-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/531245\/","title":{"rendered":"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Gets A Free Switch 2 Update And Adds Dixie Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>Nintendo has announced a free update for the Switch title <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/donkey_kong_country_returns_hd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donkey Kong Country Returns HD<\/a> and it&#8217;s available today!<\/p>\n<p>This update comes with multiple improvements when playing the game on Switch 2, including enhanced resolution, higher-definition graphics, and faster load times. There&#8217;s also GameShare support.<\/p>\n<p>As for the content in this update (available across both the Switch and Switch 2), players can now play as Dixie Kong in single-player and the two-player local co-op mode. Along with this, a Turbo Attack mode has been added to the game.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the full patch notes for this latest update, courtesy of <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/en-americas-support.nintendo.com\/app\/answers\/detail\/a_id\/68317\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nintendo&#8217;s official support page<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>Donkey Kong Country Returns HD: Ver. 1.1.0 (Released 20th January, 2026)<br \/>\nGeneral<\/p>\n<p><strong>The following updates have been made when playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can now play as Dixie Kong. Her action when jumping is different from when Diddy Kong jumps.\n<ul>\n<li>When playing alone, as you grab a barrel, you can switch between either Diddy Kong or Dixie Kong as the character that appears.<\/li>\n<li>When playing with two people, P2 can switch between Diddy Kong or Dixie Kong by pressing the stick (the L Stick in the case of playing with both Joy-Con 2 or Joy-Con controllers) on the world map.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A Turbo Attack mode where you can race through the stage at high speed has been added.\n<ul>\n<li>If you clear the course once, it will appear at the same time as the Time Attack mode.<\/li>\n<li>If you can clear it within the time limit, you will acquire a turbo medal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Now supports Brazilian Portuguese language.\n<ul>\n<li>You can switch the language in the \u201cLanguage\u201d setting in the \u201cSystem\u201d menu of \u201cSystem Settings.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Several other issues have been addressed and image quality enhancements have been made to improve the gameplay experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The following updates have been made when playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Now supports \u201cGameShare (Local User).\u201d\n<ul>\n<li>You can select \u201cGameShare (Local User)\u201d from \u201c2 Players\u201d on the game start screen or the menu screen of the world map.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs for improved image quality.<\/li>\n<li>The loading time is now shorter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update - Nintendo Life IMG\" class=\"scanlines\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/60ad68da38e09\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update-nintendo-life-img.large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update-nintendo-life-img.445x250.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"250\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update - Nintendo Life IMG\"\/><\/a><a title=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update - Nintendo Life IMG\" class=\"scanlines scanlines\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f77874af5dc0e\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update-nintendo-life-img.large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768964651_546_donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update-nintendo-life-img.445x250.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"250\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update - Nintendo Life IMG\"\/><\/a> Images: Nintendo Life<br \/>\n<a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/dcab6d4fae3bc\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update.large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/donkey-kong-country-returns-hd-update.900x.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Update\"\/><\/a> Image: Nintendo<\/p>\n<p>This update follows the release of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch-2\/animal-crossing-new-horizons-nintendo-switch-2-edition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal Crossing: New Horizons &#8211; Nintendo Switch 2 Edition<\/a> last week, which also included a paid upgrade. You can find out more about Nintendo&#8217;s Switch updates and Switch 2 upgrades in our previous coverage here on Nintendo Life.<\/p>\n<p>Will you be revisiting this game on the Switch or Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n<dl>\n<dt>Related Games<\/dt>\n<dd class=\"first\">\n<\/dd>\n<dt>See Also<\/dt>\n<dd class=\"first\">\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<p class=\"avatar\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753583950_71_avatar.jpg\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Liam Doolan\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Liam is a news writer and reviewer across Hookshot Media. He&#8217;s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of many iconic video game characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nintendo has announced a free update for the Switch title Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and it&#8217;s available&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":531246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2204,394,2468,395,158,67,132,5511,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-531245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-donkey-kong","9":"tag-nintendo","10":"tag-nintendo-switch","11":"tag-nintendo-switch-2","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-updates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115930875003683582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}