Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze’s Lead Designer Seems to Have Returned to Retro Studios

Yesterday, it was reported that Stephen Dupree, the lead designer for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, has returned to Retro Studios.[Thanks, VGC!] Presumably, Dupree will work on Metroid Prime 4, the studio’s latest confirmed game. However, having only helped work on Mario Kart 7 and Donkey Kong Country Returns before landing the lead designer role, it’s unknown what role they will have for the game. That said, it should be noted that Dupree also helped design New Super Lucky’s Tale, a 3D collect-a-thon platformer that released last year for Switch. Of course, there’s also the possibility that Retro Studios is still working on something else. Apart from Dupree, Retro Studios recently also hired Kyle Hefley, a skilled modeler who worked on the Halo series in the past.