Donkey Kong Country Review – Kowbrainz

While SEGA may have had the upper hand on Nintendo in terms of hardware during the SNES era, it was Rare who decided to show just what the Super Nintendo was capable of – not in 32 bit, but 16 bit. It was the debut of a 3D pre-rendered game on a console using Silicon Graphics technology, and while Shigeru Miyamoto may have criticized the game about being all pretty effects and no gameplay, picking up the game over a decade later tells another story.

Beginning the game as Donkey Kong, the player is blasted out of DK’s jungle treehouse and into the undergrowth to search for his lost buddy Diddy Kong as well as his banana hoard, stolen by the evil mob of crocodile baddies known as the Kremlings. The instant DK touches down on the ground below, a beautiful sight unfolds in front of the player: a lush green jungle area, altogether with glossy, pre-rendered treetops for you to bounce across and some beautifully detailed parallax backgrounds. Head towards the end of the level to witness the sunset, and perhaps then you’ll realize just what kind of eye candy is in store for you with Donkey Kong Country. The atmospheric look doesn’t stop with the jungles, though, as you’ll bound through mines, ruins, mountains, forests and factories and swim through some gorgeous coral levels before you reach the end of the game. All of the characters and baddies are well modeled and designed as well, sporting vibrant colours and brilliant animation. In short: the visual wonder of Donkey Kong Country was nothing short of jaw dropping for its time, and still holds up very well today.

Yes, we all know the game looks good already. But contrary to the beliefs of some critics who may have adopted Miyamoto’s initial thoughts on the game, Donkey Kong Country has a lot of deep gameplay just waiting to be discovered. You basically control the tag team of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, each being able to jump, run and roll (or cartwheel attack in Diddy’s case), as well as being able to pick up various barrels for use as weapons. Each character has their own quirks, though – Donkey Kong is a bit heavier, jumps higher and can dispatch some of the tougher, armoured baddies by jumping on them. Diddy is much lighter, and while he can’t take out the bigger baddies, he moves a lot faster. He also holds barrels out in front of him like a shield while Donkey holds them high above his head. It’s purely player preference for most of the game, but should you encounter a situation where one character is better suited for the job, a quick hit of the select button will switch control of the characters for you.

Control can be a bit tough at first if you’ve just picked the game up, but there’s room for plenty of improvement, and with a bit of practice you’ll be cruising through levels in no time. The B button is used as your jump button, while the Y button is used to pick up items, roll attack with your character as well as to run if you hold it down after a roll. It may sound like a bit much being mapped to the one button, and it can be a bit of a pain if you’re running through a level at break-neck speed only to be slowed down when you pick up a barrel lying in your way, but given some time the controls will begin to feel like second nature.

The game’s sound and music is fantastic, with all sound effects coming off really crisply and background noises within the levels adding to the overall experience. The soundtrack really excels, including a large range of catchy beats and tranquil tunes which don’t fall short of giving the ears a real melodious massage.

While the game may be relatively short, lasting most players only a couple of hours and having less than forty levels across the whole adventure, there is very little repetitive gameplay in Donkey Kong Country. Unlike other platformers where visiting the same level archetypes can mean seeing the same sort of gameplay, Donkey Kong Country throws new twists at you around every corner. One snow level may require you to make your way across numerous tiny, slippery platforms by foot, the next will require you to blast your way from barrel cannon to barrel cannon through a blizzard. One cave level may require you to avoid a tonne of spiky enemies with well timed jumps, while another may require you to avoid some slower yet well armoured enemies, only in pitch black darkness. While the map screen and level name may give you an idea of what’s to come in the next level, you’ll never know just what the underlying theme of that level’s gameplay really is until you begin.

It doesn’t end here. Each of the levels you’ll explore houses a number of hidden bonus rooms which can be found by breaking into walls with barrels, bouncing up extra high in unusual areas or following some of the trails of bananas. There’s over sixty of these bonus rooms hidden in Donkey Kong Country, and if beating the game wasn’t enough for you, finding all these areas on your own will surely prove a challenge. While some may stand out like a sore thumb against the rest of a level, others are hidden so deviously that you could be stuck on one level for over a week looking for a bonus room when you find it by mistake while messing around. Such is the level design of Donkey Kong Country: while the general goal of finishing a level always remains in the back of the player’s mind, there’s never a moment where you won’t be able to have fun just goofing off.

There are a lot of additional features in Donkey Kong Country that make goofing off all the more easier, too. Animal buddies will lie in wait for you within certain worlds, enabling you to perform abilities you wouldn’t normally be able to with the Kongs alone. Enguarde the swordfish allows you to stab through underwater enemies without being hurt. Rambi the rhino is practically the on-land equivelant, stampeding through all sorts of bad guys with ease. Expresso the ostrich can use his wings to glide to high platforms and sail over most baddies and difficult terrain, while Winky the frog can use his powerful legs to make huge leaps and take out any sort of baddie he may land on. All of these buddies add an extra element of fun to the game experience, in that you’ll always have plenty of ways to play through each level. Other gameplay additions lend themselves to this experience also – you’ll be able to roll steel kegs up against walls and catch it on the rebound to get a ride through the level, or perhaps find a barrel cannon and use it as a shortcut to blast your way halfway across the stage. It doesn’t matter how many times you play the game, there are still hundreds of ways to play Donkey Kong Country and improve your skills as you go. There’s even an option to get a buddy in on the action at the same time too if you like – whether you play a two player partnership as Donkey and Diddy or go head to head to see who can finish the game first.

In the end, all these things – the music, visuals, items, level design and replay value – they’re all just parts which come together as a whole to create a unique and immensely satisfying experience. It really is one of those things you’ll take a bite into, then decide to take another bite and keep going until it’s all done – only to want more: oh so much more. Even a whole fourteen years after its initial release, Donkey Kong Country still has the same, fresh taste that it possessed all those years ago, and by the looks of it the experience isn’t going to go out of date any time soon. If you haven’t tried it already, pick it up on the Virtual Console or even the classic SNES as soon as you can. If you have, then there’s no good reason for you not to go back and play the game again today.

5/5