I can't articulate fully why I enjoy donkey Kong Country so much. Part of me feels like the reasoning falls under the shallow lens of being on the SNES and having a unique graphical style that perpetuated the otherworldly feeling this game possesses. Upon reflecting more on how I truly feel about this game, I've come to realize why I love it as much as I do.
Donkey Kong Country is simple, making simple games sounds like a criticism, but it's far from that for me. Making something simple and engaging is not easy, because basic mechanics are paramount to setting the standard and can ultimately make or break a game, an example of this would be jumping. So when a game like Donkey Kong Country excels at the fundamentals of the platforming genre, such as movement, jumping, and level design meticulously designed to fall in line with these controls, it has to meet the same standards that were set by its genre defining predecessors, like Mario. It does this so well, in contrary to a series like Mario that takes it a step further with power-ups like the Tanooki Leaf or Cape Feather to enhance all aspects I just mentioned, Donkey Kong Country is so confident and sound with its basic fundamentals and level design, power-ups are not present, at least not in a traditional sense. Barrels are essentially your "power-ups", most of which you throw to dispatch enemies and reveal secrets, some have interesting properties such as the metal barrel you can jump onto while it's rolling to move faster and plow through enemies with no effort. Similarly to power-ups, these capabilities do not last forever, however Donkey Kong Country ensures their limitations unlike Mario, because every barrel is a one-time use thing, whereas someone could keep their powered up form throughout the entire game in Mario, albeit unlikely. Animal friends also serve as power-ups for certain levels, and can be used for the entire level if you're good enough, but even then you lose them as soon as the level ends, unlike Yoshi from Super Mario World, though Yoshi also has specific restrictions to be used such as Ghost Houses and Castles. The point is, Donkey Kong Country seems lacking compared to other platformers, with no power-ups and your skill not being graciously rewarded for not losing your animal friend throughout the level. Yet the fundamentals like moving and jumping are so high and polished, it stays on par with Mario and fulfills the standards of the platforming genre perfectly.
The most important aspect of Donkey Kong Country's simple design however is in the two controllable characters, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong is a heavier, much larger character who's platforming capabilities aren't nearly as strong as Diddy Kong's, but is much easier to use for dealing with enemies, he does have a decent movement option with his roll as well, there's even some enemies only Donkey Kong can deal with. Donkey Kong also has a slam move that can reveal secrets. Diddy Kong is much lighter and faster, capable of speeding through levels with ease along with his amazing cartwheel which deals with almost every obstacle without even having to think, but if you try to defeat specific enemies as Diddy, he might just bounce off them and get killed. While the favorability of these two seems one-sided, it's what the two characters represent that's most important, the slow methodical style, and the fast reactionary style, the two extremes of how people might play platformers are embodied by the two playable characters. This is important because it's going back to one of the most important standards in platforming, which is level design. Since you can lose either Kong at any time, the developers had to make sure both characters could clear the level by themselves if they had to. Yes, some levels are easier with Diddy, some are easier with Donkey, but you can still complete any level in this game with either character, which means the developers took the slow methodical style, and fast reactionary style players might prefer into consideration when designing every level because those styles are Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. It's honestly pretty genius and made creating these levels so much easier. You could argue specific levels like the minecart levels and even some levels near the end of the game are very fast and dependent on your reactionary ability, which you are correct. For Minecart levels, all control is taken from you except jump, and your Kong of choice doesn't matter, it's all about jumping at the right time. Later levels get pretty extreme with tough platforming while juggling another mechanic alongside it, some levels are even catered toward certain Kong's but is still beatable with either.
A lot of the gimmicks introduced with Donkey Kong Country became mainstays for the series and platformer staples overall. Minecart levels I already touched on is the evolution of the auto-scroller from past platformers. The cannon barrel sections and levels test your timing skills and are very tricky to figure out, but extremely rewarding and surprisingly doesn't feel like lazy or bad design, it's engaging and gives this game that little something other games don't have. Water levels are few and far between, but honestly aren't annoying, they're very manageable and the controls are good. Rope sections to me are definitely the worst sorts of levels to me, but even then they present interesting patterns you learn to weave through and is enticing to learn rather than feel like a chore overall even if I suffered a few annoying deaths. Boss fights are simple, they provide a nice change of pace though I'm not exactly ecstatic about any of them. And finally, the secrets, to me this is why you replay Donkey Kong Country. Secrets contribute to your percent completion on your file, so you have to find them all to achieve 100%. I love this idea because when you finish the game, you'll want to go back to find those secrets you missed out on. Sure the secrets themselves don't offer much in rewards, but finding them inside these beautifully designed levels is always a ton of fun to me, since it just reinforces the idea that the developers really put a lot of thought into everything.
As I mentioned at the start, the graphics for this game are unique to say the least. Computer generated graphics scaled down to fit on a SNES cartridge was honestly a brilliant idea. Sure, the character and enemy models look pixelated now, but there was nothing like this before, or ever again really from memory. It creates a very specific vibe that this game only has which helps to prop up the profound atmosphere and environments this game has to offer. Which is something else I've only really felt with this game, putting everything together really feels like you're in a uncharted tropical island filled with so many unknowns it compels you to go forward and see what lies ahead.
Donkey Kong Country's story is absolutely minimal at best. Donkey Kong's banana horde is stolen by the Kremlings and he has to go all around the island to retrieve them. That's it, it's a fine setup for a platformer at this time, so I'm not going to criticize it, but there's nothing to say about it. The original soundtrack composed by David Wise is an absolute masterpiece. Every single song has stunning instrumentation and atmospheric ambience baked into the tracks to really encapsulate every area and make them feel alive and special. DK Island Swing, Life in The Mines, and Aquatic Ambiance are by far my favorites, they're absolutely mesmerizing in ways I cannot explain, all I can say is David Wise has unprecedented talent like many video game composers before and after him, and it's an absolute joy to listen to.
I love Donkey Kong Country, it might not be one of my favorite games ever or anything, but I highly respect its craft and how much was put into it. I do think the game gets a little too hard near the end, and there's some jank here and there, but really most of this you can chalk up to when it came out. Again, not even one of my favorite platformers, but after playing so many, this game feels so refreshing since it lacks a lot of what platformers had back then and today, it'll always have some presence and discussion on it. You can get Donkey Kong Country on SNES, Wii U/3DS eshop (make sure to do so before March 27th 2023), the easiest way to play it right now though is through the Nintendo Switch's SNES library. All 3 games are available on there actually, so give the trilogy a try! I actually have yet to play the 2nd or 3rd entries myself, which I want to get to this year and may or may not write a review on. Until next time!
Donkey Kong Country is simple, making simple games sounds like a criticism, but it's far from that for me. Making something simple and engaging is not easy, because basic mechanics are paramount to setting the standard and can ultimately make or break a game, an example of this would be jumping. So when a game like Donkey Kong Country excels at the fundamentals of the platforming genre, such as movement, jumping, and level design meticulously designed to fall in line with these controls, it has to meet the same standards that were set by its genre defining predecessors, like Mario. It does this so well, in contrary to a series like Mario that takes it a step further with power-ups like the Tanooki Leaf or Cape Feather to enhance all aspects I just mentioned, Donkey Kong Country is so confident and sound with its basic fundamentals and level design, power-ups are not present, at least not in a traditional sense. Barrels are essentially your "power-ups", most of which you throw to dispatch enemies and reveal secrets, some have interesting properties such as the metal barrel you can jump onto while it's rolling to move faster and plow through enemies with no effort. Similarly to power-ups, these capabilities do not last forever, however Donkey Kong Country ensures their limitations unlike Mario, because every barrel is a one-time use thing, whereas someone could keep their powered up form throughout the entire game in Mario, albeit unlikely. Animal friends also serve as power-ups for certain levels, and can be used for the entire level if you're good enough, but even then you lose them as soon as the level ends, unlike Yoshi from Super Mario World, though Yoshi also has specific restrictions to be used such as Ghost Houses and Castles. The point is, Donkey Kong Country seems lacking compared to other platformers, with no power-ups and your skill not being graciously rewarded for not losing your animal friend throughout the level. Yet the fundamentals like moving and jumping are so high and polished, it stays on par with Mario and fulfills the standards of the platforming genre perfectly.
The most important aspect of Donkey Kong Country's simple design however is in the two controllable characters, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong is a heavier, much larger character who's platforming capabilities aren't nearly as strong as Diddy Kong's, but is much easier to use for dealing with enemies, he does have a decent movement option with his roll as well, there's even some enemies only Donkey Kong can deal with. Donkey Kong also has a slam move that can reveal secrets. Diddy Kong is much lighter and faster, capable of speeding through levels with ease along with his amazing cartwheel which deals with almost every obstacle without even having to think, but if you try to defeat specific enemies as Diddy, he might just bounce off them and get killed. While the favorability of these two seems one-sided, it's what the two characters represent that's most important, the slow methodical style, and the fast reactionary style, the two extremes of how people might play platformers are embodied by the two playable characters. This is important because it's going back to one of the most important standards in platforming, which is level design. Since you can lose either Kong at any time, the developers had to make sure both characters could clear the level by themselves if they had to. Yes, some levels are easier with Diddy, some are easier with Donkey, but you can still complete any level in this game with either character, which means the developers took the slow methodical style, and fast reactionary style players might prefer into consideration when designing every level because those styles are Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. It's honestly pretty genius and made creating these levels so much easier. You could argue specific levels like the minecart levels and even some levels near the end of the game are very fast and dependent on your reactionary ability, which you are correct. For Minecart levels, all control is taken from you except jump, and your Kong of choice doesn't matter, it's all about jumping at the right time. Later levels get pretty extreme with tough platforming while juggling another mechanic alongside it, some levels are even catered toward certain Kong's but is still beatable with either.
A lot of the gimmicks introduced with Donkey Kong Country became mainstays for the series and platformer staples overall. Minecart levels I already touched on is the evolution of the auto-scroller from past platformers. The cannon barrel sections and levels test your timing skills and are very tricky to figure out, but extremely rewarding and surprisingly doesn't feel like lazy or bad design, it's engaging and gives this game that little something other games don't have. Water levels are few and far between, but honestly aren't annoying, they're very manageable and the controls are good. Rope sections to me are definitely the worst sorts of levels to me, but even then they present interesting patterns you learn to weave through and is enticing to learn rather than feel like a chore overall even if I suffered a few annoying deaths. Boss fights are simple, they provide a nice change of pace though I'm not exactly ecstatic about any of them. And finally, the secrets, to me this is why you replay Donkey Kong Country. Secrets contribute to your percent completion on your file, so you have to find them all to achieve 100%. I love this idea because when you finish the game, you'll want to go back to find those secrets you missed out on. Sure the secrets themselves don't offer much in rewards, but finding them inside these beautifully designed levels is always a ton of fun to me, since it just reinforces the idea that the developers really put a lot of thought into everything.
As I mentioned at the start, the graphics for this game are unique to say the least. Computer generated graphics scaled down to fit on a SNES cartridge was honestly a brilliant idea. Sure, the character and enemy models look pixelated now, but there was nothing like this before, or ever again really from memory. It creates a very specific vibe that this game only has which helps to prop up the profound atmosphere and environments this game has to offer. Which is something else I've only really felt with this game, putting everything together really feels like you're in a uncharted tropical island filled with so many unknowns it compels you to go forward and see what lies ahead.
Donkey Kong Country's story is absolutely minimal at best. Donkey Kong's banana horde is stolen by the Kremlings and he has to go all around the island to retrieve them. That's it, it's a fine setup for a platformer at this time, so I'm not going to criticize it, but there's nothing to say about it. The original soundtrack composed by David Wise is an absolute masterpiece. Every single song has stunning instrumentation and atmospheric ambience baked into the tracks to really encapsulate every area and make them feel alive and special. DK Island Swing, Life in The Mines, and Aquatic Ambiance are by far my favorites, they're absolutely mesmerizing in ways I cannot explain, all I can say is David Wise has unprecedented talent like many video game composers before and after him, and it's an absolute joy to listen to.
I love Donkey Kong Country, it might not be one of my favorite games ever or anything, but I highly respect its craft and how much was put into it. I do think the game gets a little too hard near the end, and there's some jank here and there, but really most of this you can chalk up to when it came out. Again, not even one of my favorite platformers, but after playing so many, this game feels so refreshing since it lacks a lot of what platformers had back then and today, it'll always have some presence and discussion on it. You can get Donkey Kong Country on SNES, Wii U/3DS eshop (make sure to do so before March 27th 2023), the easiest way to play it right now though is through the Nintendo Switch's SNES library. All 3 games are available on there actually, so give the trilogy a try! I actually have yet to play the 2nd or 3rd entries myself, which I want to get to this year and may or may not write a review on. Until next time!
2 Comments
@imshitting420 thanks! I really enjoy 2D Mario, but Donkey Kong Country provides something no other platformer does with its presentation, level design, and ideas, so it'll always be a timeless classic.
imshitting420
2 months ago