Collection essentials #180: Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Donkey Kong, as I’ve talked about, was Nintendo’s first real smash hit in arcades in the early ‘80s. There were a couple sequels, but Donkey Kong as a character and as a franchise didn’t seem to have much staying power. Mario had found a different recurring foe with the iconic reptile Bowser, and Donkey Kong had found himself a villain to a different hero in Donkey Kong 3 but nothing beyond that. Nintendo got several strong IPs going in the NES era and then for most of the SNES era, but Donkey Kong wasn’t a part of that. 

In the ‘90s, American gamers placed a premium on graphics. Video game technology was steadily improving, and gamers were super hungry for the most cutting-edge real-looking 3D games to be made. The Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were the main big home consoles out for a few years, but it was clear that the power of those consoles would be made obsolete before very long. Some companies tried to rush new systems out the door too soon or add peripherals to their existing consoles to get a leg up on the graphics race. This often didn’t go well for various reasons.

By 1994, the next generation of consoles wasn’t far off. But Nintendo figured that something could still pull off something impressive with their aging hardware, and they turned to British developer Rare to make a graphically-advanced game, giving them the rights to use Donkey Kong. Rare made Donkey Kong Country with something called “pre-rendered graphics” to make images that have a slick 3D-ish look to them. When the game came out, Nintendo pushed an aggressive advertising campaign, boasting that they achieved these advanced graphics without any kind of new hardware. And it was a smash hit. Donkey Kong Country sold millions, becoming one of the top few most successful games on the Super Nintendo, and marked a turning point in their tight battle against Sega.

This game pretty much reinvents Donkey Kong as a franchise. Probably anything that you associate with Donkey Kong as a character and series originates with this game, not the original arcade game from 1981. Donkey Kong lore is not very consistent, but there’s an old ape that appears in this game named Cranky Kong who supposedly was the Donkey Kong from that original game, and the new Donkey Kong who the player controls is his grandson. Upon booting up the cartridge, we see Cranky Kong on a red girder (like the ones from the original game) spinning a phonograph with a rendition of the original game’s theme playing…until the new Donkey Kong comes to knock him off, with a newer more contemporary-sounding tune taking over, signaling a change for the series. 

This time, Donkey Kong is the protagonist. The story is that a big nasty reptilian villain named King K. Rool and his cronies stole Donkey Kong’s entire banana stash, and he and his nephew Diddy Kong are on a mission to get it back. The game is a platformer, not too unlike the Mario games. It’s not especially complicated, but it does differ from Mario in some ways. For instance, the Kongs have a rolling or cartwheel attack when running. They can also jump out of it even when midair. Instead of Mario-style power-ups, sometimes the Kongs find animal buddies who they can ride for a short time, such as a rhino, a swordfish, a frog and an ostrich. Barrels are very common, and they shoot our Kong friends in a certain direction, which is sometimes automatic and sometimes aimed by the player. There are many hidden bonus games scattered throughout the levels in which players can win extra lives.  

The game just feels great to control. Once you get accustomed to how to play Donkey Kong Country well, there’s just a certain “flow” when you play it that feels delightful. The level design is really good too, with a lot of variety, and a difficulty curve that ramps up to prove the player a good amount of challenge by the mid game. The soundtrack composed by David Wise is masterful, with legendary tunes acclimated for each environment. My biggest complaint with the game is that, when you save your progress, your lives will always reset to the default amount when you continue later, so seeking out bonus games for more lives sometimes feels inconsequential.

As you can imagine, I loved Donkey Kong Country as a kid. I would play it at friends’ houses a few years before I finally got my own copy, which I finally did when I was roughly 11 or so. I think I played it at my cousins Kevin and Peter’s house the most. Donkey Kong Country is another super obvious essential. But would you believe me if I told you something even BETTER was coming right down the pipe? Stay tuned to read about what Rare had in store, next time!