For millions of years, primates have wandered this planet, adapting to the furious shifts in the environment. From the behemoth and mighty Gigantopithicus to the earliest known species within our own genus, the Homo Habilis, primates were truly spreading across the planet. As our ancient ancestors’ genus expanded, they adapted to the intense and varying biomes around the world. Some through sheer size, and some through great tufts of fur to keep them warm during earth’s coldest years. At some point, an ape stood up. One from the homo genus, humans. We still have not been able to discover this missing link that acted as our species’ transitionary period between quadruped to biped. Even if this fossilized knowledge is lost to time, Donkey Kong Country acted as my link from biped to slouched on a couch. With such a fantastic digital discovery, who cares about a bunch of stupid bones, right?
Donkey Kong Country is one of many platformers developed by Rare, a company best known for developing games like Battletoads, Killer Instinct, and Banjo-Kazooie, among others. The game was produced by Nintendo and was released on November 21st, 1994. It truly was a Thanksgiving gift if there ever was one. Rare needs no introduction. If you were born anywhere between 1985 to 1995, there is a pretty damn good chance that at least 1 of their games has landed in your favorite games. This company was decently popular during the NES generation, but after Donkey Kong Country was released, they exploded in popularity. The momentum this game gave Rare was enough to turn them into a household name throughout the 4th and 5th generations of consoles. How could a single game do something so momentous you ask? Well, let’s talk about it.
The tale this glorious game tells is truly awe inspiring. It’s a yarn that could only be weaved with the cumulative threads of a millennium of experience. This tale is the apex; no, the ULTIMATE tale of heartbreak and revenge. This story is so moving that William Shakespeare’s ghost weeps with dejection. It follows the tale of the titular Donkey Kong, who after a long, restful night, wakes up to discover his- drumroll, please– BANANA HORDE HAS BEEN STOLEN! After finding his friend Diddy Kong locked inside of a barrel the simian duo set off on an adventure to confront the crooked King K. Rool and crush his collection of crocodilian capers! Oh, and I guess some beavers and other weird enemies. Please, dab the tears from your eyes, because even with such an emotionally charged story, there’s still so much more to this game to talk about!
Aside from the gripping tale that is getting your bananas back, this game’s graphics and artistic direction are fantastic. Rare had been previously working on programming with 3D models. Since the Super Nintendo (SNES) was a 16-bit console, getting 3D assets on it teetered between incredibly difficult to outright impossible. Their workaround was after creating a 3D model they would compress it into a two-dimensional sprite. This trick gave Donkey Kong Country a unique look that set it apart from its platformer contemporaries. Back in the day the graphics looked incredible. Nowadays not only do the graphics hold up, but they can be appreciated as a creative solution to maximizing the potential of inferior hardware.
The gameplay loop in Donkey Kong Country is brilliant. On paper, the game is incredibly simple. All you really need to do is get from point A to point B for each level, with very little variation. What makes this basic gameplay system so fluid is the combination of great level-design and mechanics. Each level has either a quirk or an aesthetic charm that separates it from the next level. This makes each new area feel refreshing and even makes it exciting to see what new gimmick will come next. The mechanics in this game make it accessible to new players and gives a challenge to more experienced players alike. Each time you roll into an enemy as an attack you get a temporary speed boost that when compounded can launch you through each level at blistering speeds. Obviously, new players don’t need to use this, but the mechanic that will definitely help newer players are what I call “fall jumps.” If you roll or walk off a ledge, there’s a generous amount of time that lets you jump while in the air to keep you from falling to your doom. This is helpful for when you accidentally get over-zealous or if you want to get some extra distance to find far-off secrets. Adding these mechanics to the ability to jump off of enemies and sprint after an attack makes each level as easy or difficult as you would like to make it.
You can’t have a platformer without the enemies and man does this game provide that in spades. The variety of enemies is a great perk and a detriment to this game. Your main enemies are called kremlins. They’re bipedal crocs with varying colors and muscular structures. Some are ripped, some are chubby, but most of them are skinny. There’s also a pile of beavers, hornets, quadruped crocs, and snakes that will keep you busy jumping, dodging, and stomping. The enemies are masterfully placed throughout each level to give a slowly increasing challenge while also adding sneaky critters to kill a player who isn’t paying attention. It’s a silly way to keep the player on their toes. Unfortunately what makes the monsters kind of a detriment is the bosses. Every boss is a bigger version of another enemy in the game with the exception to King K. Rool and Dumb Drum, who is a VERY dumb boss. It makes the end of each area feel more like a formality than an actual challenge. It’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t detract much from the overall experience.
The animal allies you find throughout Donkey Kong country is a refreshing addition to the game. Half of the levels in this game have animal crates that hold a variety of, well . . . animals! These are rideable creatures with different types of gimmicks to help with certain parts of the game. Although you can lose your mount by taking a hit while riding them, they are not needed to finish a level. There’s Rambi the rhino, who does what every creature with horns on its face specializes in, running in a line and killing everything. You can also find Winky the frog who, surprisingly enough, jumps really high. Expresso the ostrich can glide by button mashing the jump button which can help to skip large swathes of maps that it’s on. Finally, there’s Enguarde the swordfish. Enguarde may be the only animal that actively makes your life easier on water levels. What does he do? Why he allows you to DEFEND YOURSELF, of course. You can make do without any of these animal buddies, but using them can definitely make your life easier when playing and mix up the gameplay.
On top of the friendly interactive fauna, there are a few similar simians that will help you on your travels. The one you’ll spend the most time interacting with is Candy Kong. She is your save point and is therefore totally invaluable. Cranky Kong is substantially less invaluable as his only shtick is to give advice on where to find hidden bonus barrels. You can’t choose the advice he gives either, it’s completely random what he says. The hints are useful, but overall inconsequential. Last but not least, the cool kong himself, Funky Kong has a . . . barrel airplane? . . . that you can use to go back to any previously beaten level. This is especially helpful when you’re low on lives since you can go back to an easier level and farm as many lives as you need. As you get into the second half of the game, you’ll certainly need as many as you can get away with.
Lo, nothing is perfect, and this platformer is no exception. The smattering of collectibles is not only pitiful but are practically identical to each other. There are these things called bonus barrels that are scattered across each level. Each one offers a mini-game that is at best okay and at worst trivial. Most of them involve either using barrels to launch the Kongs across gaps to get bananas or jumping on enemies for . . . bananas. Here lies the crux of my issue. WHY ALL THE BANANAS? You have three different collectibles in this game- bananas, K-O-N-G tokens, and extra life balloons. Extra life balloons are self-explanatory. For the animal tokens, if you collect three of the same animal you get brought to the corresponding animal’s mini-game, which gets you more lives depending on how many tokens you collect. Bananas are collected to eventually get an extra life and the tokens are collected for, sigh, extra lives. Outside of the accomplishment of finishing it, there’s literally no reason to ever interact with these collectibles. The best they do is help push new players forward, which isn’t a bad thing, but some extras would have been awesome instead of more lives. I guess it’s true what they say. The real treasure is the lives you make along the way.
It’s no question that Donkey Kong Country is an absolute classic. Whatever issues the game has it makes up for with its quirky look, catchy music, and intelligent game design. It’s fun, challenging, and most importantly, accessible. Obviously, it’s not as accessible as modern games in regards to being friendly to people with health conditions and impairments, but at the very least it’s friendly to newcomers.
Now, let us get to what most people are interested in— the vague numerical values given to something to help make an opinion more digestible!
Gameplay: 5 out of 5
The gameplay loop is nothing short of addicting. The controls are incredibly responsive, making it a breeze to control Donkey and Diddy Kong throughout their adventures. Each level offers a unique but fair experience that is a joy to play through. The best part is the amount of control granted to the players which allows play throughs of the game at their own pace. There’s rarely a dull moment while playing this bad mama jamba of a game.
Graphics/Art Direction: 4 out of 5
Whoever decided to digitize 3D models to create the art style of this game should have been given a raise, a bonus, and a kiss. The graphics look absolutely amazing! Each enemy’s design makes them either look goofy or badass and somehow it works perfectly to make a digestible style through and through. If only the 3D assets walking cycles weren’t so awkward. Some of the beasties have these ridiculous walking cycles that make them look like they’re running while T posing. Along with the unoriginal design of the bosses, my qualms are less of a graphic issue and more of an art direction issue. It’s great really . . . mostly.
Sound: 5 out of 5
Oh. My. God. The music in Donkey Kong Country is so catchy that it could create its own pandemic! Songs like Treetop Rock and Jungle Hijinx give these super bouncy and rhythmic jingles that will have you tapping your feet to the beat. Other songs such as Aquatic Ambience give these long, high-pitched cords that give an air of mysticism that lends to a much calmer atmosphere. The sound design itself is great as well. My personal favorite sound effect in the game is when the little quadruped kremlins are clicking their teeth together. It’s a quirky, unnecessary sound that didn’t have to exist but makes the game better with it. You know what? Give the sound design guys a raise, bonus, and a smooch too. They deserve it.
Content: 3 out of 5
Although there is a deluge of enemies and levels, there really isn’t a lot to explore in this game. Don’t get me wrong, completing this game is a treat in itself. The issue is the mini-games and collectibles in between. All of the mini-games are shallow and seem to be more like filler, like afterthoughts after someone said there wasn’t enough content months before release. On top of that, all of the collectibles only seem to be there to give you more lives. This makes them helpful, but uninteresting to collect. Luckily the meat and potatoes of the game, the regular levels, are plentiful enough to really keep you invested.
Total Score:
17/20
Hella Good!
It was pretty obvious that I was going to give Donkey Kong Country a high rating from the beginning. Any dissenting opinions about a game like this tend to be tepid in comparison to the number of good things that can be said about it. It’s a great game with gorgeous visuals, catchy music, addictive gameplay, and a recognizable franchise name that when combined creates a timeless classic. If you like playing video games you owe it to yourself to play through this. If not because it’s an excellent title then as a curiosity because of the unique design.
You know now that you have to try this game, but the true question is how? You’re in luck, dear readers, as to this day there are more than a few ways to play this classic. The way I played Donkey Kong Country was through my Super Nintendo cartridge. It’s not a very expensive game, running a buyer for about 25 to 30 dollars. Not an unreasonable price, if you ask me. If buying the physical copy isn’t your style, then you can play it with Nintendo Online since it’s part of the SNES collection. Either way, finding it in the wild shouldn’t be a problem for most people.
This game is a must play. I’d go into a whole diatribe about ape, man, and evolution, but I’m serious now. Play this game. I’m not . . . MONKEYING AROUND! I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me.
