Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D 'really leverages the 3DS,' Bill Trinen says

One of the reasons why Nintendo decided to bring Donkey Kong Country Returns to the 3DS is because its original design for the Wii translates well into 3D, according to Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen.

Speaking to Polygon, Trinen said when the game was originally designed for the Wii, it was a side-scrolling platformer that had multiple layers, which translates well into the 3D environment.

"So you'd have side-scrolling on this one layer, then you might jump back to the rear layer," he said. "So it created this sense of depth in the platformer that the teams thought would work really well using 3D visuals for the Nintendo 3DS.

"You'll also notice that, on the 3DS, the game looks particularly nice when you have Donkey Kong charge into the rocket barrels and the barrels blast toward the screen. It really leverages the 3DS."

"The teams thought [it] would work really well using 3D visuals for the Nintendo 3DS."

According to Trinen, the other reason the game was brought to the 3DS is because the development team saw an opportunity for the game to be optimized for portable play. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined in yesterday's Nintendo Direct a new mode that has been added to the game to "better optimize [it] for portable playability." Trinen went into further detail when he spoke with Polygon.

"Typically, the way people play with portables is if you're playing on a console, you're often going to sit down and play in front of the TV for a pretty long duration," he said. "Whereas with a portable device, you might pick it up and play for 10 or 20 minutes and put it down again.

"So with Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D levels, they've been geared in the new mode, so if you want that quicker, portable experience, you can use items like the green balloon or the crash guard. When you use the green balloon, if you fall down a hole, it will automatically float you back up. And with the crash guard you'll have a slightly bigger margin of error in terms of trying to make it through that level in the amount of time you have."

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D will be available May 24.