Donkey Kong Country (Video Game Review)

Video Game Review
Donkey Kong Country
Super Nintendo
1994
Developed by: Rare
Published by: Nintendo

Donkey Kong isn’t exactly the crown prince of Nintendo’s large cast of mascots. In fact, it’s almost as if he’s the black sheep; the first nemesis of the beloved Mario that was relegated in the 80s to teaching kids about math. When Nintendo enlisted Rare to create a new type of platformer during the mature age of the Super Nintendo’s life cycle, it was curious to see what would be the result. Donkey Kong Country ended up being a renaissance f or the primate character that helped revitalize the I.P. and became, for a while, a solid number two behind Mario in Nintendo’s roster of franchises. Donkey Kong Country is the game that started it all again and despite its age is still one of the best platformers ever.

Foregoing the Mario route where a princess gets kidnapped by a reptile, Donkey Kong Country borrows its backstory slightly from Kirby: an evil villain named King K. Rool steals the protagonist’s hoard of bananas (although this time the evil villain is a reptile…just like in Mario). To make matters worse, Donkey Kong’s chimpanzee buddy, Diddy Kong was tossed aside by the King’s minions and sealed in a barrel (oh, the irony). Now it’s up to Donkey Kong to free his friend from his wooden prison and find his stash of bananas.

The goal of Donkey Kong Country is to get from one end of the level to another and traverse the map to finally reach King K. Rool. Six worlds await with a number of levels to be played. The game sticks to a jungle theme throughout although some worlds do have a particular theme of their own (for example, one world is filled with snow while another has most of its levels taking place inside of a factory).

The game doesn’t deviate much from the traditional jumping and killing/avoiding enemies and collecting 100 of something to get an extra life (in this case bananas) although there are some gameplay elements that make the game different from other platformers. There are some levels where the Kongs’ ride in mine carts that rely more on quick reflexes and memorization than anything else. There’s also plenty of minigames to be found throughout levels that can be found by either collecting enough animal tokens or discovering secret passages or barrels. These diversions break the monotony of having to do the same thing over and over again for the entire game which can be a curse for platformers that have long playthrough times. Some of the platforming is broken up by having to shoot the Kongs through barrels which sometimes takes precise timing to get just right.. It’s a neat gimmick that isn’t overused and doesn’t become tired. Another interesting aspect of the game is the collection of the letters of K-O-N-G to score an extra life within a level. Trying to find every last letter adds something to the game but it’s not necessarily an original concept (think of the dragon coins from Super Mario World).

The game handles very well; probably the best of any 2D platformer. Running and jumping is easy to do and very fluid. You will never be cursing your controller saying that you pressed the button and the game didn’t respond. The game is very responsive and it feels like you have total control. Both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have similar move sets although there are a few differences. Both the Kongs have rolling attacks; Donkey has a somersault while Diddy has a cartwheel. One of the interesting aspects of the game is that if either Donkey or Diddy Kong perform their signature rolls over a pit, they can still jump as if they’re on a platform. It gives new meaning to “leap of faith” jumps.

Donkey Kong also has a pound move that enables him to find things (like bananas and extra lives) buried in the ground. Using the pound move to kill enemies will also score Donkey Kong bananas most of the time. While Diddy Kong doesn’t have a move of his own to even up his arsenal with Donkey Kong’s, he’s much faster and agile that Donkey Kong. He can reach areas of the game that Donkey Kong can’t because he’s slower and can’t jump as high or far. Also, Donkey Kong can kill heavier enemies in the game due to his larger size while those same enemies laugh at Diddy Kong as his attacks bounce right off them. It’s a very interesting dynamic as there are some areas where it’s easier to play the game as Donkey Kong and some areas are easier (or sometimes only accessible) using Diddy Kong. However, playing as one or the other throughout the entire game doesn’t make the game impossible. For those who don’t like being forced to play as specific characters during particular portions of games that allow for multiple characters, this is not an issue whatsoever.

In 1994, what brought people to the table was the graphics. At the time, this game was the best looking title on the Super Nintendo. Perhaps on an HDTV this game is a little rough looking but, when played on a CRT, the game still looks great. Even when looking at it on an HDTV, the game still looks decent. The game is very colourful and the sprites are highly detailed considering what system the game is on. All the characters have multiple animations that relate to what’s going on in the game. One of the funniest animations is that of when a large enemy just laughs off Diddy Kong’s attacks. Things like that give the game personality. While graphics are normally about style, it actually has substance too.

The soundtrack is outstanding too. Some of the themes are earworms that will permeate your brain and refuse to leave. Each musical selection balances out the gameplay well. The map theme, the standard jungle music theme (heard in the first level and several others), the final boss level theme are all particularly fantastic. The sound effects are incredibly well done. While the standard sound effects that we would expect sound great (like the sound of an enemy getting hit or items being collected), what really makes the atmosphere spectacular is the amazing job done with the ambient sound effects. It’s not enough that you hear the sound of enemies walking but you also hear snakes slithering and recoiling and the sounds of the jungle in the distance. The game is not only a treat on the eyes but also on the ears.

While Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are the stars of the show, the game features a strong lineup of secondary characters; some of which are playable. There are several non-playable characters along the way to offer Donkey Kong some help; Candy Kong allows players to save their game, Funky Kong let’s players revisit worlds they have already beaten, and Cranky Kong gives the adventuring Kongs some advice. Aside from Cranky’s humourous sarcasm, these NPCs are not only worthless, they create unnecessary problems in the game. Once a player selects a world, they are stuck in that world until they find Funky Kong who will transport the Kongs to another world. The greater problem is that once a player is stuck in the world, they need to beat enough levels to find Candy’s area on the map so they can save their game. This can be a problem as it may take a few levels before Candy’s save area is revealed. There is no option to save at any time which can be problematic. Additionally, while Cranky is fun to deal with from time to time, most of advice goes without saying or doesn’t add up to much. An interesting diversion at best; unnecessary padding for the cynics on the audience.

The game gets interesting with the playable secondary characters. Like Diddy Kong, many of Donkey Kong’s animal friends are locked away in crates due to the dastardly tactics of King K. Rool and his followers. During their adventure, the Kongs can get the help of Rambi the Rhino, Enguarde the Swordfish, Expresso the Ostrich, and Winky the Frog. Each character has their own moveset. Donkey and Diddy can ride these characters throughout the level. The only problem is that they’re level specific so even if you finish a level riding a particular character, they don’t follow you into the next level. Collecting three symbols throughout the game of a particular animal opens up their own minigame which allows players to get tons of extra lives. There’s also one other animal friend that helps out: Squawks the Parrot. However, Squawks doesn’t do much except shine a light during dark levels and he’s only available in one level.

A slight hit against the game is the inability to save acquired items collected throughout the game. Bananas, animal medallions, and extra lives disappear when the game is turned off. While it’s not a big deal that the extra lives disappear since the game provides plenty of opportunity to score easy lives, losing the animal medallions feel like a kick to the gut. These medallions are not littered all over the place making playing the animal minigames more of a special occasion than it needs to be.

When Donkey Kong Country was released in 1994, it was hardly considered revolutionary. Basically it was a traditional platformer with a flashy coat of paint. Even Nintendo’s golden goose Shigeru Miyamoto considered the game nothing more than a bunch of hype. Even though it didn’t reinvent the wheel, Donkey Kong Country offers excellent platforming action that still is quite solid despite its age. It’s different enough from the usual Mario fare yet still feels like a Nintendo-produced game. There are few platforming titles that are better than Donkey Kong Country.

☆☆☆☆

(Video review to follow eventually)