Donkey Kong Country

[Oi_Oi_Spanky]

Way back in the day my brother Stevie had a Super Nintendo & I had a Megadrive. We swapped for a month & got to play DKC. The next thing I did was bought myself a Super Nintendo. It's a classic. Donkey Kong Country is the music equivilent of Master Of Puppets if you ask me. So many secrets in the game. We all know the 'go the other way at the start of the stop & go' level but there's loads of hidden barrels, caves & extras that make it worth playing through multiple times.

16-Bit at it's best.

[MegaDrive20XX]

X-mas Eve of 1994, that takes me back. I remember when I finally got it. I think that game was on everyone's list back then.

The marketing on the game always based the Sega CD and Sega 32X. Claiming it was true 32-bit power without the need of add-ons.

Bitter rivalry...ah memories..

[Drixxel]

It's a fun and lengthy game, but Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island take it for absurdly high-quality SNES platformers in my opinion.

DKC really was a brilliant move by Nintendo.. certainly lent a helping hand in sealing the fate of the early next-gen consoles (which were admittedly struggling as is). I remember one particular two-page ad in GameFan that sang the praises of DKC over both Cybermorph and Total Eclipse, stating that while the Jaguar and 3DO claim to be next-gen, they don't have games that look as good as Donkey Kong Country. ...in screenshots, perhaps, but c'mon.. pre-rendered 2D vs. early console 3D.. really not comparable.

I had a lot of fun with DKC back in the day, but I don't think it was good enough to receive nearly unanimous perfect scores in every gaming mag. The group fervor surrounding the pre-rendered graphics will be remembered more clearly than the game itself.

[Joe Redifer]

I got DKC when it came out, and I still have it. I have always hated the graphics. The 2nd and 3rd games were even worse. I have a distaste for all prerendered graphics. The game was mediocre as well.

[GeckoYamori]

Meat and potatoes platformer that does very little to keep itself fresh all the way through. It's the perfect representant for the wave of overhyped, mediocre games with shiny graphics during the mid-90s.

[j_factor]

I agree with Gecko. This game was ridiculously overhyped, and sold mainly because of its graphics, which aren't actually that impressive. The gameplay is pretty mediocre, and its collision detection is mighty suspect.

Unlike Joe, I don't dislike prerendered graphics per se, I just don't think DKC has amazing graphics at all. Sure it has a faux 3d effect, but it's very stilted and plastic looking.

It's really ridiculous IMO that this game had a serious negative impact on Jaguar, 3DO, 32x, and especially Genesis.

The sequels were vast improvements in the gameplay department, at least. I still go back to DKC3 from time to time.

[David J.]

I really liked the first one, the second one was pretty decent, and the third one was pretty poor.

The graphics wern't that great, but the game was fun, despite the massive hype and lack of innovation.

[Joe Redifer]

I remember thinking something along the lines of "Wow. This just looks like a normal SNES game with prerendered graphics. The SNES probably isn't even struggling. There is nothing special at all here. What is everybody talking about?" I think it is a classic case of hype. There is no reason that this game should make anyone prefer the SNES over any other system.

[Oi_Oi_Spanky]

Some harsh comments there. I know it was hyped as being developed in CGI graphic stations & was a 32-Bit game on a 16-Bit system but what it does it does very well. It's very smooth & fast paced throughout. Some of the music is astounding as well. If the Super Nintendo does something good it's the sound it can produce. The whole game is a very spangley package I agree but it's not without depth if you look in the right places.

[GeckoYamori]

The problem is there was hardly any real motivation to collect all those bananas and letters. A very common cliché in platformers at the time, which didn't really serve much of a point besides extra lives that were hardly essential. This pretty much removes any will to search for all those secret areas.
The sound wasn't anything really spectacular, from technical nor aesthetical perspectives. David Wise did a better job on the Battletoads games.

I don't know what happened to Rare during the 16-bit days, they had games and concepts that were twice as fun and original on the NES. Snake Rattle & Roll and Wizards & Warriors 3 were among my favourite NES games ever.

[Zebbe]

I think it's a very boring game with bad control, but I enjoyed the graphics at least.

[Drixxel]

I remember thinking something along the lines of "Wow. This just looks like a normal SNES game with prerendered graphics. The SNES probably isn't even struggling. There is nothing special at all here. What is everybody talking about?" I think it is a classic case of hype. There is no reason that this game should make anyone prefer the SNES over any other system.

You must realize that at DKC's release, it was the game. Consoles are only as popular as the games that run on them, and DKC resounding popularity translated into much SNES love. Sure, the pre-rendered graphics may have been no more taxing to the SNES hardware than any other colourful 2D game, but for 1994, these CGI faux-3D visuals were exactly the kind of thing superficial gamers got all wrapped up in. Gimmicky prettiness is after all the common clincher in the console wars, sadly. At least DKC is a fun platformer and not just some hopeless tech demo.

[Joe Redifer]

I was a superficial gamer and still am! The graphics did not do much to impress me. If you see my sentence before the one you bolded, I think it explains everything.


Some of the music is astounding as well.
I really liked the underwater theme. None of the other tunes did anything for me.

[Genesis Knight]

Overrated? Heck, yeah. But it's still a stellar game. The music is top-notch and I find the 'cliched' star and banana collecting to be very addictive. I never could stop until I'd gotten a 100% completion. And the amount of secrets was staggering back then... I love this game, even if it was hyped up past its quality.

[Drixxel]

I was a superficial gamer and still am! The graphics did not do much to impress me. If you see my sentence before the one you bolded, I think it explains everything.


I really liked the underwater theme. None of the other tunes did anything for me.

I wasn't referring to you, Joe, as a superficial gamer, but rather those that heaped praise upon the game primarily because of it's trendy graphics. You know, those folks who feel the best-looking game equals the best game? Clearly you saw through the pre-rendered facade!

[j_factor]

The problem is there was hardly any real motivation to collect all those bananas and letters.

I harbor some hate towards DKC for this. Sure, almost all platformers have always had something to collect, but DKC took it to the nth degree. And then, thanks to its popularity, almost every platformer to the present has this stupid collect-a-thon shit. I don't want to collect useless trinkets for the sole purpose of getting to 103%. Platformers keep relying on this crap, and as a result, lack any real challenge in terms of getting through the levels.

[Joe Redifer]

You know, those folks who feel the best-looking game equals the best game?
Yeah... that's me! Well at least usually on first impressions, anyway.


Clearly you saw through the pre-rendered facade!
Only because it was on Nintendo! If it was on Sega I'd have probably had so many orgasms that I'd still be stuck to my chair to this day from all of the goo produced! J/K :)

[GeckoYamori]

It's also pretty funny how it was marketed as the first game to be based on pre-rendered 3D models. Sonic 3 used the same technique, and I suspect quite a few Amiga titles did as well, like Turrican.

[Obviously]

I tried hard to like Donkey Kong Country. Everyone else seemed to love it to death. I was never able to develop a taste for the graphics and the gameplay was just some mediocre cut-and-paste platforming.

I'd actually jumped away from my Genesis to the PC for a while by around the time DKC came out and that's probably the reason DKC's graphics didn't phase me much. It just looked like blurry, crappy sprites to me instead of the carefully rendered art I was used to in platformers.

All this would've been forgiven had I actually enjoyed the game, but after a few levels of, "This is pretty fun." I got bored and put it down. I got the same effect every subsequent time I tried to pick up this game or one of its sequels.

[Zebbe]

It's also pretty funny how it was marketed as the first game to be based on pre-rendered 3D models. Sonic 3 used the same technique, and I suspect quite a few Amiga titles did as well, like Turrican.

Since I'm lousy at tech stuff, I'd really like to know where in the game you can see this kind of graphics.

[Drixxel]

Since I'm lousy at tech stuff, I'd really like to know where in the game you can see this kind of graphics.

Probably just some of the art in the background. Nothing that would really leap out at you.

That was what Nintendo was going for in their ad campaign for DKC - EVERYTHING was pre-rendered, not just one or two fluidly-animated sprites here or there. You couldn't not tell that something was very different about how Donkey Kong Country looked when stacked against everything else at the time.

About the game itself, I generally hated having to deal with any level obstacles involving those bloody bees, especially when it was just straight platforming and not a barrel-blasting marathon. Collision detection is fun!

[Joe Redifer]

The title screen in Sonic 3 is rendered, but it doesn't animate much. But it has the same grainy graphics that make you say "ewww" as DKC.

[Genesis Knight]

There's also the 3D Sphere bonus rounds.

[j_factor]

I've concluded that Donkey Kong Country is just.... VeryTex.

[Oi_Oi_Spanky]

Blimey. Harsh crowd.

What would you say if we put the game up against something like Bug? I know what I like in platform games & that's save points. At least you don't have to play DKC for 3 hours straight before it saving when you don't know it's saving anyway. Gameplay wise DKC is comfortable to deal with. It doesn't throw you into an abyss of gameplay where you have to struggle forwards for fear of turning it off & losing everything you've accomplished for the last 3-4 gigantic levels.

[j_factor]

I don't really mind the seldomness of saving that much. I've played many games that have no saving at all.

[Oi_Oi_Spanky]

Games like Manic Miner yes. Don't forget continues though. They make saving obselete if the game is pretty small anyway. Gunstar Heros for an example. You couldn't go through DKC with no saves or continues. If you could, do me a .wmv of Jet Set Willy from start to finish.

[16bitter]

I harbor some hate towards DKC for this. Sure, almost all platformers have always had something to collect, but DKC took it to the nth degree. And then, thanks to its popularity, almost every platformer to the present has this stupid collect-a-thon shit. I don't want to collect useless trinkets for the sole purpose of getting to 103%. Platformers keep relying on this crap, and as a result, lack any real challenge in terms of getting through the levels.

Exactly. It seems scoring systems have been replaced with collection percentages, and the gameplay has suffered as a result generally; now it's not about reflexive skill or level challenge, it's about exploration of every nook and cranny in a given game.

Sidescrollers ushered this in, but nothing is more boring than the average 3D platfomer. I made the mistake of buying Daxter...a game where they don't even pretend to present true challenge outside the need for saintly perseverance (certainly it would help to be a true believer in this type of design, though I truly wonder if anybody has fun playing these types games in their most extreme form or example) in hunting down 100-something gems in each area. They don't even bother with the pretense of lives in the game, and it's certainly not like the challenge is that of your average Doom II map.

All that being said, DKC was still a very good platformer and the sequel is one of the best in the SNES library. It might have been the beginning, but there are a great many worse treasure hunt-focused, interest and challenge-vacant games than the three DKC games.

Between Diddy's Kong Quest and Yoshi's Island, I'd say that the former is far closer to the mold of classic, challenging platformers than the latter -- in fact, YI is itself only challenging when played as a collectathon. I don't know which I prefer, but I do think that DKC2 is very finely crafted as far as difficulty of level layout, moreso than Yoshi..