March 2, 2020
By Ryan Porzl
Since 1981, Donkey Kong has been one of the most beloved and popular franchises in video game history. 13 years after it's release, Nintendo released two Donkey Kong games. One was an expanded version of the classic 1981 arcade game with 100 levels and multiple worlds. The second was a side scrolling platformer developed by Rareware called Donkey Kong Country. Since it's release, Donkey Kong Country has been considered one of the greatest video games of all time and took the DK franchise to the next level with different gameplay, more levels, and more Kongs. With the 25th Anniversary being back on November 21, 2019, which means I'm late, we'll take a look at Donkey Kong Country.
Characters
Donkey Kong- The protagonist of the game. Donkey is the grandson of the original Donkey Kong (Cranky Kong). Donkey must journey throughout Donkey Kong Island and fight off the Kremlings in order to retrieve his stolen banana hoard during which, he's assisted by nephew Diddy. Donkey is stronger than Diddy which allows him to beat certain enemies by jumping on them and can retrieve hidden bananas by slapping the ground.
Diddy Kong- The nephew of Donkey, Diddy is a hero in training and was guarding the Banana Hoard when The Kremlings invaded and stuffed him in a barrel. Diddy seconds Donkey on his journey to reclaim the hoard. Diddy is faster and jump higher than Donkey.
Cranky Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Cranky is the original Donkey Kong from the 1981 game but now spends his time offering advice from Donkey and Diddy when they visit him.
Funky Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Funky runs Funky's Flights which allow Donkey and Diddy to return to previous levels that had already been beaten. In the Game Boy Advance version, Funky runs a fishing bonus game.
Candy Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Candy is Donkey's girlfriend. In the original Super Nintendo version, she runs the save barrels that allow players to save their game. In the Game Boy Advance version, she runs a dance bonus game.
King K. Rool- The antagonist of the game. K. Rool is the crocodile leader of the Kremlings who are responsible for stealing Donkey Kong's banana hoard resulting in Donkey and Diddy going on their journey to reclaim it.
Plot
The story begins one night when Donkey puts Diddy in charge of guarding his banana hoard as part of his hero training for a few hours until Donkey relieves him. Unfortunately, Donkey oversleeps and fails to relive Diddy. At the same time, a group called the Kremlings led by King K. Rool travel to Donkey Kong Island via the Gangplank Galleon in the hopes of stealing the golden bananas. The Kremlings end up succeeding as they trap Diddy in a barrel and steal the hoard but leave a trail behind. The next morning, Donkey is chastised by Cranky and vows to find Diddy and retrieve the hoard. After freeing Diddy, Donkey and Diddy journey through Kong Island facing off with the Kremlings and slowly collecting bananas from the hoard while getting help from their animal friends and fellow Kongs. Eventually, they have a showdown with K. Rool on board the Gangplank Galleon, defeating him, and retrieving the last of the banana hoard.
Gameplay
DKC plays like a side scrolling/platformer. The stages are the same with the player having to move Donkey and Diddy from the beginning of the stage to the end all the while facing enemies and avoids pits and holes. While most of the levels are the usual side scrollers, some stages deviate as there are swimming levels and mine cart levels. As is the case with games like Mario, the game allows players to acquire extra lives in the form of balloons and if they get 100 of an item, specifically bananas. Another way to gain extra lives is to find letter blocks that have "K", "O", "N", and "G" that are scattered throughout each stage. Each stage also has barrels with stars on it that serve as checkpoints as well as "DK" barrels which allows the player to get either Donkey or Diddy if they have only one of the other. The game has seven levels including Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries Inc, Chimp Caverns, and Gangplank Galleon with each level besides Gangplank having as much as six stages and a boss battle. Each stage also has secret locations that lead to prizes including animal buddy statues or extra lives. The game also features animal buddies which help Donkey and Diddy advance and in some cases can kill enemies easier or help reach areas. To get these buddies, a crate with their logo will be on it. These animal buddies include Rambi the Rhino, Enguarde the Swordfish, Winky the Frog, Squawks the Parrot, and Espresso the Ostrich. The animal buddies play like Yoshi from Super Mario World where Donkey or Diddy ride them and they can assist the player but if the player is hit, they will lose the animal buddy who will run away unless it either falls into a hole or the player can jump back on them. The player can also play as these buddies if they acquire three golden statues of that animal which leads to a bonus level where the player has 99 seconds to get as many animal tokens as possible with a big one kept hidden that can multiply the amount of tokens by two. When the time expires, the tokens will be counted with a certain amount becoming an extra life.
Behind the Scenes
Work began on DKC after Rare co-founders Tim and Chris Stamper worked on Silicon Graphics workstation in order to render 3D sprites. Nintendo took an interest in this and as a result, bought 49% stake in Rare which resulted in work beginning on a Super Nintendo game using Alias and SGI Technology. It was the Stampers who suggested making a standalone Donkey Kong game and put together a team of 12 developers in order to make the game which took 18 months. Donkey Kong Country marked a first as it was the first Donkey Kong game that was neither directed nor produced by creator Shigeru Miyamoto. However, Miyamoto was involved with the game and is credited for Donkey Kong's hand slap maneuver. At one point, Nintendo requested for the game to be made easier than Rare planned in order for it to appeal to a wider audience and already thought the secrets in the game were enough for hardcore gamers. Donkey Kong was redesigned to have a three dimensional look and notably retained the red necktie which debuted earlier in the year for Game Boy's Donkey Kong. For Diddy Kong, Rare intended on updating Donkey Kong Jr. but Nintendo thought the model departed too much from the original look so they either wanted Donkey Kong Jr to look more like the original or for Rare to create a new character. In the end, Rare decided on a new character but another problem came about as they planned to use the name "Dinky Kong" but this was changed due to legal advice and thus, Diddy Kong was born. Despite Donkey and Diddy being gorillas/monkeys, their movements were that of galloping horses. This was because Rare had been studying gorilla movements and realized they were "completely unsuitable for a fast-paced videogame".
The game was directed by the Stamper Brothers while the music was composed by David Wise and Eveline Fischer. Wise was a British composer who previous worked with Rare since the 1980s on games like Marble Madness, WWF wrestling games, and the Battletoads series. He later worked on Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3 (both the SNES version and a new soundtrack for GBA with Fischer), Diddy Kong Racing, and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze while also doing the soundtrack for Star Fox Adventures, Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, and the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee along with it's sequel. As for Fischer, she later returned for Donkey Kong Country 3 and worked as a voice artist for Donkey Kong 64, the first two Banjo-Kazooie games, and Diddy Kong Racing but was perhaps best known for being the voice of Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark. Among the artists was Steve Mayles who later went on to work on the Banjo-Kazooie series and helped create the Yooka-Laylee series. The game was designed by Gregg Mayles who previously worked on Battletoads and Super Battletoads while later working on Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong 64, Star Fox Adventures, Conker's Bad Fur Day, the Banjo-Kazooie series, and Viva Pinata.
Release
Donkey Kong Country was released on November 21, 1994 in the United States, November 24, 1994 in Europe, and November 26, 1994 in Japan on the Super Nintendo. It received critical acclaim and has been considered one of the greatest video games of all time while it went on to sell nine million copies worldwide. This resulted in it being the third highest selling game in the history of the Super Nintendo behind only Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars. GameRankings scored the SNES version an 89%, AllGame scored it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, EGM scored it a 9.25 out of 10, Famitsu scored it a 31 out of 40, Game Informer scored it a 9.5 out of 10, Next Generation gave it 4 out of 5 stars, and Entertainment Weekly gave it an A+. According to some critics, the thought is that Donkey Kong Country saved the Super Nintendo which, by 1994, faced stiff competition from more technically superior systems such as the Sega CD and the newly created Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. Most critics praised the game for it's graphics which were considered "groundbreaking, vibrant, and colorful". GamePro praised the game for it's graphics, gameplay, and hidden stuff. Next Generation considered it amazing but falling a hair short of the typical Nintendo blockbuster. Despite the praise, the game would later appear on both Time's 2005 Top Ten Most Overrated Games of All Time List (despite previously appearing as the only video game on their top ten Best Products of 1994 list) as well as placing 9th on Gamespy's 2003 list of the 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time.
Donkey Kong Country won many awards including GamePro's Best Graphical Achievement award at the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show. It won four awards from EGM for their 1994 Year End Awards including Best Animation, Best Game Duo, Best SNES Game, and Game of the Year. It also won two Kids Choice Awards back to back for Favorite Video Game in 1994 and 1995. Lastly, it won a Nintendo Power Award for 1994's Best Overall Game.
Aftermath
DKC proved popular enough that a series was created from it with two more sequels following on the Super Nintendo called Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest in 1995 and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble in 1996. An altered version of the game called Donkey Kong Land was released on Game Boy in 1995 and served as a game that takes place between the first two Donkey Kong Country games. The series continued with 1999's Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64 but then largely went dormant in the early 2000s after Microsoft purchased Rare. This led mostly to experimental games such as the Donkey Konga series, Donkey Kong: King of Swing, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat to name some. In 2010, Nintendo and Retro Studios revived the Country series with Donkey Kong Country Returns which was followed with a 2013 sequel called Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
Meanwhile, Donkey Kong Country has been re-released many times since then including a 2003 re-release on the Game Boy Advance which featured new things including cut scenes and Candy and Funky hosting bonus games while players can also collect pictures for a photo album. Along with the GBA release, the game was re-released in 2000 on Game Boy Color which featured a bonus level called "Necky Nutmare" and a longer version of the "Winky's Walkway" level. The game was also re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2006/2007, the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014, the New Nintendo 3DS in 2016, and the Super NES Classic Edition in 2017.
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