I've played the Donkey Kong Country trilogy many, many times in my life, and there was always this subtle roughness to the first entry that I can't quite put my finger on. But once you touch DKC2, you'll probably pick up on what I mean. There's a feeling of Rare still working out the kinks of having to create a pre-rendered look that also plays on-par with something like Mario. It was far from an easy task, and their first attempt is a commendable effort, albeit one that I am only able to engage with on a casual level.
I only felt like 100%ing DKC1 once, so that includes finding all the secret rooms. Many of them are repeats of each other, and the rewards aren't super enticing. Those golden animal statues in particular are not even rewards so much as obstacles to me, as the way they work, they'll give you 3-4 extra lifes in exchange for potentially erasing the progress you had on your level. Not an amazing trade-off, given that DKC1 has lifes in many many other, more convenient places.
The game also firmly teaches you an important Donkey Kong lesson, which is to never trust Cranky Kong. He boasts about how he can beat the game under an hour and without dying, and you're free to take on that challenge, but his dialogue will not update to acknowledge your achievement. He also brags about finding everything in the game. Your reward for doing the same is a slightly different bit of dialog from him. Really, 100%ing the game in any capacity is just not worth it, because you'd only be doing it to get approval from some douchebag in a rocking chair. If he existed in real life, he'd likely hold some very questionable political opinions, and I would go on record to say that I wouldn't find all the bonus rooms for someone with questionable political opinions.
Speaking of challenges, one that I unintentionally do everytime I play this game is the "Diddy only" challenge. Because when you compare how Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong play, you subconsciously realize that there is almost never any reason to intentionally play as Donkey Kong, when Diddy is smaller, more agile, and just less awkward to use as a whole. Ironically, despite DK's name being in the title, it's somehow a more major punishment to lose Diddy and have to play as DK than it is to lose an extra life. I dunno how that works, man.
Okay, but I'm just getting the negatives out of the way upfront because I also think that this game IS fun enough, when you stop caring about completionism and just run like hell through it. Chances are, you won't even register that the secret rooms count as part of the 100% requirements, until you're staring at the credits and figuring out what'd you miss. You've probably been charging through the levels, having a good - if not slightly jank - time, and you've thought to yourself "man, this is flying by quick. am i rushing this?" And you shouldn't feel uneasy for doing so, because the secrets almost feel like they're dragging you down. Rushing DKC1 is just the most natural way to play it. It is the game's normal pace. The popcorn of the DKC trilogy.
At least the popcorn comes with a solid David Wise soundtrack. And hey, I still like the visuals! Naturally, they hold up a lot better on a blurry CRT monitor, where you can't make out every pixel that composes the graphics. Finding a good filter might be worth your time.
Playing DKC1 is worth your time too, but only with expectations dialed back. Rare is learning the ropes here. And much like the kongs who climb the ropes, Rare will do the same in the sequel.
I only felt like 100%ing DKC1 once, so that includes finding all the secret rooms. Many of them are repeats of each other, and the rewards aren't super enticing. Those golden animal statues in particular are not even rewards so much as obstacles to me, as the way they work, they'll give you 3-4 extra lifes in exchange for potentially erasing the progress you had on your level. Not an amazing trade-off, given that DKC1 has lifes in many many other, more convenient places.
The game also firmly teaches you an important Donkey Kong lesson, which is to never trust Cranky Kong. He boasts about how he can beat the game under an hour and without dying, and you're free to take on that challenge, but his dialogue will not update to acknowledge your achievement. He also brags about finding everything in the game. Your reward for doing the same is a slightly different bit of dialog from him. Really, 100%ing the game in any capacity is just not worth it, because you'd only be doing it to get approval from some douchebag in a rocking chair. If he existed in real life, he'd likely hold some very questionable political opinions, and I would go on record to say that I wouldn't find all the bonus rooms for someone with questionable political opinions.
Speaking of challenges, one that I unintentionally do everytime I play this game is the "Diddy only" challenge. Because when you compare how Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong play, you subconsciously realize that there is almost never any reason to intentionally play as Donkey Kong, when Diddy is smaller, more agile, and just less awkward to use as a whole. Ironically, despite DK's name being in the title, it's somehow a more major punishment to lose Diddy and have to play as DK than it is to lose an extra life. I dunno how that works, man.
Okay, but I'm just getting the negatives out of the way upfront because I also think that this game IS fun enough, when you stop caring about completionism and just run like hell through it. Chances are, you won't even register that the secret rooms count as part of the 100% requirements, until you're staring at the credits and figuring out what'd you miss. You've probably been charging through the levels, having a good - if not slightly jank - time, and you've thought to yourself "man, this is flying by quick. am i rushing this?" And you shouldn't feel uneasy for doing so, because the secrets almost feel like they're dragging you down. Rushing DKC1 is just the most natural way to play it. It is the game's normal pace. The popcorn of the DKC trilogy.
At least the popcorn comes with a solid David Wise soundtrack. And hey, I still like the visuals! Naturally, they hold up a lot better on a blurry CRT monitor, where you can't make out every pixel that composes the graphics. Finding a good filter might be worth your time.
Playing DKC1 is worth your time too, but only with expectations dialed back. Rare is learning the ropes here. And much like the kongs who climb the ropes, Rare will do the same in the sequel.