I have a special connection to the game Donkey Kong Country: it is the video game that I have owned the longest. It’s not the oldest game I’ve owned, but it is the game that started my entire video game collection. And why should I keep holding on to it? This game ROCKS! So much so, I can only justify it with one music. (Rock music should start) Let’s just get right into it: Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo.
I’ll admit, the story is weird, so I’ll keep this part short so I can talk more about the awesome stuff. The Crocodile ruler, King K. Rool has stolen all of the banana loving Gorilla Donkey Kong’s Banana Hoard, so he’s going to go through all of Kong Island to get it back. Not much, but truly classic, and only in video games could be the basis of something so fantastic.
The gameplay is platforming PERFECTION! The main thing that can be said about it is that it’s not so much what it does, but how well it does. I have to say that this might be one of the smoothest and well controlled games I’ve ever played. Though part of that could be contributed to the graphics just making you feel that way (which I will talk more about later), a better part is probably just that… it’s really, really well done! I can go entire levels without having to stop and still find all the secrets and such in them.
That’s not to say though that the gameplay doesn’t bring anything ORIGNAL to it. First off, you play as two primates; DK and his nephew Diddy Kong, pretty much simultaneously. They’re used as a health system; if one of them gets hurt, he runs off and the other one takes his place, and if there’s only one, well you better not get hurt. Furthermore, they are both different; Donkey Kong is able to take out stronger enemies, while Diddy is quicker and amazingly brings the pace of the game up a notch. You also get Animal buddies, who work much of the way of a third member, but I have so much to talk about, I have to skip them.
Another main attraction to the game play is that of Barrels and Rolls. (Do a Barrel roll!) Not, these are two different things. Rolling is an action that either simian can do which sends them rolling forward. Might not seem like much, but once you get a handle on it, you can kill enemies or use it to jump further (both could easily save your lives). The barrels are found throughout the game’s fantastic level design (which I would love to explain further, but can’t due to time limitations) and come in a variety. Most of which are simply used to throw to kill enemies or discover secret passages, but the best ones are the blast barrels. These will make you have to use a sense of timing to get from one point to another by shooting yourself out cannon style.
And yeah, there’s a lot more about the game I would LOVE to talk about, I just don’t have the time.
As I’ve said earlier, the graphics actually added a lot, and this is one of those times where I really do think it matters. They are AMAZING, especially looking at most games on the SNES that just looked really flat. I didn’t quite get how it was done at the time, but I slowly started to understand. From my understanding, they used full 3D polygons to make the characters and then made them 2D. It was revolutionary for the time and blew my mind. Though not as fantastic, the music for the game is great to, sounding so deep and fitting for every level. Some truly classic gaming score for Nintendo, such as the Jungle Japes theme, come from this game. So, even while just not even playing this game, it’s a pleasure.
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