Donkey Kong Country

"One of the best platformers for the SNES"

Donkey Kong Country is an excellent platform game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, better than Super Mario World or Super Mario Kart. Donkey Kong Country is a unique game with many features that make it excellent. Not only does Donkey Kong Country offer unique levels with twists all their own, but it also has over 60 hidden bonus levels to locate that are required to beat the game 100%(although the game calls it "101%").

Story - 9/10

Donkey Kong had manipulated Diddy Kong to guard his precious banana hoard. Diddy Kong, even though he knew he was being used, accepted the job to prove he was worthy enough. He sat at the banana hoard for hours, and night eventually fell. He fell asleep and then GASP! Kremlings! Diddy Kong announced that he was not going to let them take the bananas, and the Kremlings snickered. Diddy did his signature cartwheel attack, and even though he took out a lot of Kremlings, he was horribly outnumbered and the Kremlings beat him senseless and kidnapped him Donkey Kong felt bad the next morning about what he did to Diddy, so he decided to go check on him and GASP! He's gone! And all the bananas are gone too! Cranky Kong comes in and teases him about it. DK tells him that he's not in the mood for games, and Cranky says he was a real hero in his day. Donkey says he's a better video game hero than Cranky ever was, and he will prove it by rescuing Diddy Kong and recovering the banana hoard. This is a great story, pulling you into the game in an adventure to rescue Diddy and recover the banana hoard. Although the rescuing Diddy thing was kind of stupid because he appears in the first 5 seconds of the game or so. Even so, the rest of the depth in this story makes up for that.

Control - 10/10

The control is flawless. B to jump, Y to pick up barrels/run/roll/etc, Start to pause, Select to switch Kongs..... You should have these controls down by the end of the first level if you practice a bit. The controls are like other platformers, Y = attack, B = jump. Simple enough. You should have no problem at all getting these controls down, they all flow very smoothly. No complaints about the controls from me.

Graphics - 10/10

Graphically, this game was revolutionary. It boasted graphics like no other game ever before. And indeed, it lives up to all the hype. The graphics in Donkey Kong Country are simply stunning, pure eye candy. There is so much detail in just the Kongs, and the environments too. The beautiful rocks and smooth water in Coral Capers, the lush green trees of the jungle, the industrial oil cans and metallic-like environments of the factories. It is all simply AMAZING! And K.Rool, oh boy. He is so detailed, you can see spots in his design and shadows. It's not all just one shade. K.Rool's crown is detailed and his cape is an excellent shade of red. They must have put a lot of work into designing K.Rool, because he is pure eye candy, rivaling with Bowser's design in Super Mario 64(and that's SAYING SOMETHING).

Audio - 8/10

The sound/music of this game is of superb quality. I love the music of the factory levels, you'll be humming it by Oil Drum Alley(the first factory level). And the cheery music of Slipslide Ride is great as well, with icicle like sounds incorporated. I also like the excellent music of the water levels. The music in this game really sets the mood. And as for the sound, it's superb as well. The cannon shot noise of the barrel blasts, the ape noises DK makes, the sound of an exploding TNT Barrel... It is all very realistic and excellent to listen to. However, since there are only about 28409840293482309482409238 bananas in this game, the noise it makes when you pick one up can get very old quickly, especially since it is not the greatest sound ever. Still, all the other excellent audio makes up for this.

Gameplay - 9.5/10

Excellent! Excellent! In this game, you'll be playing standard 2D platforming. Head right, killing enemies, jumping, and collecting things. However, there is much more to it. Bonus levels are hidden throughout the levels. There are, I believe, 69 Bonus rooms total, and most of them are considerably difficult to find. This means you'll be searching each level multiple times, which not only adds to the replay value, but is a lot of fun. These bonus rooms have a sort of meaning as well. In order to achieve the highest possible completion level of the game(101%) you must find every bonus level in the game. Getting 101% is something that is very fun and challenging to do. Also, RARE had a few very interesting levels with a twist all their own. For example, Blackout Basement features lights that flicker on and off. This means enemies can hit you without you even realizing it! Also, Tanked Up Trouble has you riding on a cart that is powered by 5 units of gas, and if it runs out, you'll fall to the ground and die. This game is composed of 6 worlds(7 if you count the last boss). Each world has 5-6 stages that you must beat. Then you have to defeat a boss who guards the world. The only problem with the gameplay is here. The bosses are repetative. Jump on X until it dies. Kill all the X. Throw the X at X. It's kind of boring, and Rare even used two bosses twice, which was pure laziness. However, all the excellent stages make up for this. K.Rool, the final boss, however, is excellent, consisting of 10 phases in which you must bonk him on the head when he throws his crown. This is the only really good boss in the game. The challenge is also very nice, not in a tedious way, but in a FUN way.
Not only are some of the levels pretty challenging(involving difficult tasks, mostly obstacles placed in ways that are quite difficult to avoid, like the three mincers circling a platform you must jump to), but getting 101% is what really makes this game tough. Most of the bonuses are difficult to find, which is why you'll be playing the levels over and over again. However, this is not tedious, like it is in some games, it is very fun to try to find all the bonuses. If you don't try to find the bonuses, you will only be having 10% of the possible fun you can have with this game.

Replay Value - 10/10

The thing that really makes this replay value is the fact that you can replay through the game without starting a new file. What do I mean? Well, you can replay each level and all the pick-ups/enemies/etc. will be there again! And the bonus levels still have their prizes and are still accessible. This means you can play each levels as many times as you want, either to get through them as fast as possible, or to pull off funny stunts in them. This is what really makes the replay value in this game.

Buy or Rent?

Buy. If you have a SNES, this is an absolute must buy. Most game stores might not sell this due to how old it is, but you could probably get a copy off Ebay. Trust me, you'll have LOADS of fun with this game, it won't be a waste of your last buck!

Overall - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/06