Donkey Kong lands on Aussie Wiis December 2

Nintendo is pushing the retro love hard ahead of this year's Christmas holidays. Last week, the publisher announced an updated version of the Super Mario All-Stars pack for the Wii; now, another SNES classic has been dated for release on the casual console.

Slated for release on the Wii on December 2, 2010, in Australia and New Zealand, Donkey Kong Country Returns will see the return of Donkey and Diddy as they try to recover their stolen banana hoard. The game's original levels have been re-created in fully rendered layered environments, and new levels have also been added. Gamers will also be able to play cooperatively for the first time, taking control of Donkey and Diddy to navigate levels separately or as one unit. This will be possible because Diddy can now hop on and off Donkey's back; something Nintendo describes as a way to get through some of the "more challenging" areas of the game.

The upgrades don't stop there: Both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong now have the ability to cling to grass-covered walls and ceilings, while Diddy can now also hover with his barrel jet and shoot peanuts from his peanut popgun. Gamers can also shake the Wii Remote to make Donkey pound the ground, roll on enemies, and blow air.

Each level will include hidden items (including letters that spell the word "KONG"), as well as a separate Time Attack mode.

Donkey Kong Country Returns will go on sale December 2 in Australia with a suggested retail price of AU$99.95.