Donkey Kong Country

"The start of a great SNES series."

Do you feel that you have great taste in food? Maybe you try to only consume beneficial edibles to stay healthy, or maybe you'd rather sit down with a container of ice cream at your side. Either way, one must applaud the eating habits of monkeys. Some of them love bananas, the perfect food. Indeed, they are quite tasteful and nutritious, so it is understandable when Donkey Kong goes ballistic upon finding out that his prized banana hoard has been stolen.

It turns out that DK left Diddy Kong to watch over his banana hoard at night, who soon became overwhelmed by crocodile creatures known as Kremlings not long after DK left him alone. Next morning, Donkey awakens, only to see that Diddy and his entire banana hoard have gone missing. Following the trail of bananas that fell from the Kremling's carts, Donkey Kong sets out to find Diddy and restore his treasured banana cache.

Donkey and his buddy Diddy form an essential tag-team. Each can do certain tasks easier than the other simian. DK, can defeat tougher enemies that are too much for the smaller Diddy. He uses an overhead throw for tossing barrels, as opposed to Diddy's weaker but more straightforward chuck. In addition, the big gorilla has a forward roll attack that can knock out foes and let him travel around at a quicker pace, and also can use a hand slap attack that beats down enemies and reveals bananas hidden underground.

Diddy Kong has a few talents of his own. He can jump a little farther and higher, and his smaller frame makes it easier to avoid enemies, particularly in the underwater levels. Rather than a roll move, Diddy uses a cartwheel move with the same properties. He holds barrels right in front of him instead of lifting them over his head, and this is useful as it shields Diddy from frontal hits. His more direct method of throwing barrels can be better for unveiling secret areas.

The duo also act as a two-hit health system. Of course, I should probably explain how one can die in DKC first. It's the same as most other platformers. Touching/being struck by an enemy is death for one Kong, but falling into a void spells the end for both. Once one monkey is down, you automatically resume play as the other. Fortunately, there are DK barrels scattered throughout the levels that you can break to get your buddy back. If both monkeys die, then you must restart the level from the beginning, or from a continue barrel that you may have activated.

Donkey Kong Country uses a very SMB3-esque world map. There are six worlds, and each is composed of several different levels and a boss fight. Completing a level lets you move on in the overworld, and there are some Kongs found only in the overworld that are worth your time to visit. Cranky Kong gives you hints about the levels, Funky lets you fly to any world you have access to, and Candy lets you save your game.

It would be a shame not to talk about the actual levels. There are eight different level themes, and they all have their own music theme and set of quirks. For example, the lush jungle-style levels often feature vines for the Kongs to swing on, and the dingy cave levels are full of rubbery tires to bounce off of. The levels are all packed with pits, enemies, and collectables, and are consistently a joy to play through.

As I've said, there are collectibles strewn throughout the levels, just waiting for you to collect them. Most, including the bananas and K-O-N-G tokens, concern extra lives. Animal tokens are also available, and allow the player to take part in a bonus game once three of the same kind of animal token are obtained. While there are indeed plenty of collectables to be found, one must take note that Donkey Kong Country is anything but a collectathon, as a great deal of these are found with little to no effort and are not essential to completing the game.

Throughout DKC's levels, you will meet five other friendly faces that are willing to lend a hand. Rambi is a powerful rhino that can break open secret passages and bulldoze through hordes of would-be attackers. Espresso is an ostrich that can not only run like the wind, but can hover for short periods of time and make long, wing-assisted leaps. Winky the frog is also able to make giant leaps and kill enemies that not even DK can take on, and you'll find Enguarde the swordfish to be a boon in the aquatic levels since his pointy snout can effectively clear the seas from antagonists. These animal buddies are all a welcome break from playing as DK and Diddy, and are plenty of fun to take control of.

What would a platformer be without enemies? DKC has them in spades, and their designs and attack patterns make them pretty memorable. They are not tough to elude or defeat, but are nicely varied and well-placed. The bosses? They're not anything special. The lot of them are just uninspired souped-up versions of regular enemies that make for unspectacular boss fights.

A very cool aspect of Donkey Kong Country is the wealth of secret areas available. They are simple enough-tiny areas in which one attempts to nab masses of collectables to grab some extra lives. What makes them secret is that one must explore the levels thoroughly to uncover them, and accessing every secret area gets you the coveted 101% on your game file.

Rare has always been on the cutting edge of graphics, and DKC isn't any different. At the time of its release, the graphics were regarded as being as being revolutionary. They may not impress anyone today, but they still do look respectable. DKC is easily one of the best-looking SNES games out there, and the rendered computer graphics the game uses look great.

Much of the music is also great, and you'll find that the audio quality is great for the SNES. Each and every track sets the mood for that particular theme perfectly. The ambient theme that is played in the undersea levels is particularly fantastic, and great enough to the point where one may press the pause button just to listen to it play once. That's just a particular highlight; there are numerous other tracks that sound awesome too. Still, there are some tunes in there that are just too subtle for their own good. While a few tracks are somewhat mediocre, DKC's music is overall very pleasing.

The game does not take long to complete, but one might spend some time trying to get 101%. Other than that, you'll just play every so often to experience your favorite levels again. DKC does offer a good challenge though. It isn't that hard, but is perfectly adequate and will keep the player coming back again and again if there's a level giving them trouble, rather than frustrating them because of cheap difficulty.

If you're a fan of classic platformers, then Donkey Kong Country is a must-buy. The game has great graphics and sound, a reasonable challenge, and some amazing gameplay that is a worthwhile experience. If you're not a huge platforming fan, then I urge you to at least check it out anyway. Donkey Kong Country is a game that everyone needs in their collection.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/09, Updated 08/12/09

Game Release: Donkey Kong Country (US, 11/25/94)