Nostalgia Factor: Very high. I played a lot of this game growing up.
Difficulty: Medium to hard. Most of the game is manageable, with a few tricky levels towards the end.
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Sorry, this review is a little bit longer than usual. If you’re not interested in some history, skip the first five paragraphs.
Donkey Kong Country (DKC) may have been the most hyped game release during the lifespan of the SNES. Nintendo pumped $16 million into US marketing alone, while other major games in the early 90s averaged $5 million for their entire marketing budget. I was just a young lad, but I remember seeing Donkey Kong Country banners and signs and commercials everywhere. Nintendo was wise to invest since they knew they had something special with DKC.
Rare used the profits from their NES game sales to make a huge investment in state-of-the-art Silicon Graphics Challenge workstations and Alias 3D rendering software. Each workstation cost £80,000 each ($254k USD each, adjusted for inflation), and it was often noted that the same machines were used to create the CGI dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993). Even though Rare was planning to use their new tech to develop games for the upcoming N64, they realized they could also use these machines to create impressive SNES games.
Howard Lincoln from Nintendo of America was impressed, and Rare was granted permission to use the Donkey Kong IP, which hadn’t been touched since 1983. Nintendo was looking for the right game to compete with SEGA’s Aladdin, which turned heads by featuring contributions from Disney animators. The Stamper brothers (founders of Rare) were inspired by Mortal Kombat’s use of digitized sprites instead of hand drawn art, so they sought to create a platformer using pre-rendered graphics.
DKC’s completion required 18 months of development from a team of 20 (Rare’s biggest team yet) working 12-16 hour days, 7 days a week. Other than some crucial feedback from Miyamoto, Rare worked independently from Nintendo. They drew inspiration from Super Mario Bros. 3 for the level design, aiming to keep the game accessible yet fast paced for skilled players, with lots of hidden collectables and bonus areas.
Rare’s hard work resulted in a smash hit that became the third best-selling SNES game of all time (9.3 million copies sold), behind Super Mario World and Super Mario All Stars (all three titles were bundled with a SNES console at some point). DKC’s wild success led to Nintendo purchasing a 25% stake (eventually 49%) in Rare, making it the first non-Japanese studio to become a “second party developer” for Nintendo. Rare had seen some success with Battletoads, but DKC was the game that really showcased their genius and put them on the map.
Everything about DKC is fantastic. The revolutionary graphics are just a wonder. The sprites and animations look great of course, but please just take a minute to appreciate the detailed backgrounds. They are stunning. These multi-layered backgrounds apparently took hours upon hours to render and required Rare to develop a proprietary compression method called ACM. Sometimes I wonder what DKC would look and sound like if the game didn’t have to fit on a SNES cartridge (a measly 4 MB). The Stampers pushed their team to the limits to see what they could accomplish. The sprites, animations, backgrounds, weather, lighting effects, everything looks so unbelievably good for a 1994 SNES game.
The gameplay is top notch as well. The pacing is quick, and the level design leads the player very well. Skilled players can roll, jump, swing, blast from barrels, and bounce through the level as quickly as they please. The next platform, rope, etc. is almost always in sight, and this was intentional. Players can also choose to take their time to explore in order to find hidden items and areas.
The only slight knock on DKC is the minimal story. Aside from a few interactions with the Kongs on the map, there’s not much story in the game (though well developed stories were not really expected in most non-RPG games at the time). During development, Rare worked up 15 pages of story content, but Nintendo had them condense it down to fit in the instruction manual.
Last but not least, we must acknowledge David Wise’s legendary soundtrack. DKC’s score features some timeless atmospheric pieces that brilliantly mix environmental sounds with an excellent SNES soundfont (that borrows heavily from the Korg Wavestation). Wise gives us loads of catchy jungle melodies, some chill ambient tunes, and even some 1940s-inspired jazz and swing. Wise was impressed with how DKC’s visuals pushed the limits, and he also wanted to push the limits of the SNES’s audio hardware. "Aquatic Ambience” alone took him five weeks to complete. It was unlike anything else on the SNES at the time. Also, check out Sam Miller’s faithful high quality restorations of “Title Theme,” “Forest Frenzy,” and “Ice Cave Chant”.
Donkey Kong Country is worthy of the hype. This is a must play game for any retro gamer. In fact, I think I’m going to go play it right now.