Donkey Kong Country: It’s All About The Bananas!
In 1993, Disney was feeling good with their last few animated releases as they were in the peak of what many call in retrospect “The Disney Renaissance’’. This was a ten year period between 1989 to 1999 where Disney was releasing peak animated movie after movie that was making box office success. After the hits of Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, Disney was about to release their biggest animated movie yet in Aladdin. Safe to say Aladdin really needs no introduction and ended up being a massive success as many call the animated movie one of the greatest movies Disney had ever produced.
Stick with me here, you did not open the wrong review and this is still about Donkey Kong Country. But let me explain… With major box office movies, of course comes merchandise. Toys, books, flamethrower, (ok maybe not that one), and of course, video games. Most times as any gamer will tell you that when there’s a video game based on a major box office movie, it leads to very let’s say mixed to poor results.
Aladdin however even for 1993 did not fall under the same fate as other bad movie license video games, you could say it was a diamond in the rough. As Aladdin might have not been the most advanced platformer for its time, it was no doubt a head turner.
I bring up Aladdin in all this in a review about Donkey Kong Country because the Sega Genesis version was the first video game in history to use hand-drawn animation that would be digitized into a game. The result of this was a smooth clean look and movement that looked very similar to the movie itself. The game’s masterful sprite work was enough to be a movie tie in game that well… didn’t suck.
Aladdin became a major seller, the movie also doing amazing numbers also likely contributed to the sales of the game but also thanks to its amazing animation and look that was loved by everyone… well almost everyone.
On the other side of the tracks from SEGA, Nintendo was quite impressed by Aladdin but they impressions quickly became concerns as it became a case Sega might have something that you can’t do on Nintendo.
During this time, a British gaming studio known as Rare purchased “Silicon Graphic Workstations”. These workstations had the ability to render 3D models. These models can be converted into sprites that could be used on the Super Nintendo. Nintendo was very impressed with such technology that they would buy a minority state in Rare. Nintendo assigned Rare with a major task, to get one of the biggest icons in gaming with Donkey Kong, give him a new 90s rad look, and make the first ever pre-rendered graphic video game. The result was Donkey Kong Country. Rare would later go on to have a golden era on the Nintendo 64 in the late 90s with hits such as Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong 64.
After a year and a half of development, the world would see Donkey Kong Country in action at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1994, pretty much E3 before E3 at the time. Investors and more importantly gamers were bananas for Donkey Kong’s new look and adventure. The game looked like nothing that was seen before and it alone was quite the technological achievement. Donkey Kong Country was backed by a 16 million dollar campaign, with the idea that Donkey Kong and later that year in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island would be the one two punch that would have Nintendo win over SEGA in a knockout finish.
Donkey Kong would be released on November 21st, 1994 and shocker, the game would be a massive success. The game would end up being the third highest selling game on the system, trailing behind Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars. When you are hanging with Mario, you know you’re in good company.
Now to the game at hand, Donkey Kong Country is a platformer game, very similar to say a Mario game but this was a whole different animal. The game’s intro has Cranky Kong, who is said to be the original Donkey Kong back in the old arcade game, turning an old record player. The intro then gets ambushed by a boom box and our hero, Donkey Kong coming in and grooving. This intro is great because it pretty much tells the player “This is not your dad’s Donkey Kong”, this was a Kong for a new generation, He was hip and cool and any other 90s slang you can think of.
The game is set in DK Island, where the evil crocodile King K Rool (fantastic name by the way), has stolen Donkey Kong’s banana stock. Now it’s time for Donkey Kong and his best friend Diddy Kong to get the bananas back, and give King K Rool a primate punch off the island. Our monkey heroes must pass each world and level as King K Rool gains closer to the island in his pirate ship. Some levels work as normal platformer levels, however some levels might involve Donkey Kong swimming underwater or testing your reaction times in levels where you are in a minecart and have to avoid pits and traps. Other levels also add some really fun and engaging gimmicks that always keep the player on edge.
Donkey Kong Country when you play it, feels… different from a normal platformer for it’s time like Mario or Sonic. It takes a little getting used to but once you do, you can do some cool stuff with Donkey and Diddy Kong. Both kongs can jump and stomp on bad guys. They can also do a forward roll (or cartwheel in the case for Diddy Kong). Donkey Kong is the muscle of the two, where he can do ground pounds to find some hidden areas and secrets. Diddy Kong is smaller but is a little quicker and controls better, but some of the bigger bad guys might be a bit too much for the little guy. You can gain the other kong if you don’t have ala barrels in the level marked with the DK logo. You can also hit select to switch between the Kongs if you have them both. Also you can do co-op play with one player controlling Donkey Kong, and the other controlling Diddy.
If you get hit, you lose a Kong. Lose both of your Kongs, lose a life. Run out of lives and it’s game over and you have to go to the last save point. A small thing I never liked in this game. You can beat a level after the save point but if you run out of lives later before reaching the next save point, you’ll have to do that first level again. .This might be a minor gripe but each Donkey Kong game in the trilogy is like this, so I guess it’s more the law of the land. Don’t worry, there are tons of ways to gain lives. Banana’s work like coins in Mario, gain 100 of them and that scores you an extra life. There are also hidden balloons in levels that can also score you some extra men. Each level also has 4 letters you can collect that spell out “KONG”. Gaining all 4 letters will gain you an extra life. I love this because it adds a reason to explore and is something completionists can go after. Small but great addition that makes it different from Mario.
Another thing that makes it different is that there’s really not much of a heads up display (HUD). This makes you really enjoy and be entranced with the game’s amazing looking environments. The game looks fantastic and is no doubt unlike any game like it. Not much clutter with health bars and what not. The game looks so good and it does the game’s talking in a way of “I know I look good, embrace it”. The 3D rendered graphics give a realistic look and feel. A very impressive looking game for 1994.
The game also has a colorful cast of characters. We got Cranky Kong as I mentioned before, who gives you hints all while complaining that back in his day he would have done a much better job. Even at the end of the game saying that he would have beaten the game much quicker and would have never lost a life. Tons of “Sure thing gramps” from Cranky. He’s an old fart, but he’s our old fart. Love this guy.
We also have Candy Kong, who is Donkey Kong’s main squeeze if you will. Candy acts as the game’s save points. Some moments in this game you are just as happy to see Candy as Donkey Kong is.
Then there’s Funky Kong, a cool hip California surfer like dude that can help you fly from world to world to places you have been. Really helpful if you need to go back to an earlier word to rack up some extra lives.
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are not alone on their adventure. You can also get animal friends to help you find hidden areas and secrets along with crossing obstacles that would otherwise be a challenge.
Another thing the game shines on is the music and how it adds so much to the game’s atmosphere. Composer David Wise does an incredible job here. The first level in Jungle Japes starts with a small tribal-like percussion that builds up into a jazzy and groovy tune. There are so many great songs in this game that perfectly capture the moment and feel of the world you are in. 5 stars as far as music adding to this game. Here’s a prime example of nailing the atmosphere with music in the water theme, “Aquatic Ambiance”.
Donkey Kong Country is a fantastic game but I do have a few flaws with the game. The game’s loose controls can be a struggle when platforming, as you might just slide off a cliff somewhere and fall to your death, not to mention the hit boxes in this game are not flat out unfair, but there are a few cases of “Wait THAT hit me!?”. The game can no doubt be very frustrating at times.
The only other knock I have on this game is the bosses at the end of each world are… kind of lame. Most of them is just bigger versions of bad guys you fight in the game, or is just a gauntlet of bad guys you have to face. The only exception to the rule is the final battle with the final boss vs King K Rool on his pirate ship. The battle even tries to psych you out with fake credits thinking you beat the game, only for K Rool to come back and catch you off guard. Everyone says it’s clear that it’s a fake, but it fooled me as I was not sure what was going on. No doubt a K Rool move. See what I did there? This boss fight is awesome and I wish the game had more boss fights like this.
Overall Donkey Kong Country’s pre-rendered graphics give it a cool realistic look, the music adds a ton to the atmosphere, the game play for the most part is fun but also challenging, and overall is a fantastic platformer. Donkey Kong Country would get 2 more games on the Super Nintendo. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kongquest in 1995, and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble in 1996. I’ll no doubt be covering these in the future as they are also fantastic games in their own right and I have tons to say about them. Donkey Kong Country is without a doubt a must play for any Super Nintendo or retro gamer, don’t just be monkeying around, play this game!
