Donkey Kong Country is one of the best platformers on the SNES! Add it to your VC collection today!
The story of the game is pretty primitive but that's okay for a platformer on the SNES. The story goes like this; Donkey Kong wakes up one morning to find his banana hoard stolen by the evil King K. Rool, the leader of the Kremlings. He sets out on an epic adventure with his nephew Diddy Kong to get them back.
The real meat of this is the gameplay. You go through 39 stages that are split between 6 differently themed worlds. At the end of each world, the player must confront a boss to retrieve part of the stolen banana hoard.
Each level is tied in with the theme of the world but all share similar enemies. The enemies consist of different types of Kremlings, bees called Zingers, and other animals, all of which kill you in one hit. To counter this one-hit system, you have two characters with one hit each and will find one star barrel in each level that acts as a checkpoint.
In the case of losing either Donkey or Diddy, you'll find DK barrels in the stages that contain your other half, but if you fall in a hole, you die instantly. Along the way, you'll sometimes find animal buddies in crates. There is Rambi, the Rhino, Enguarde the swordfish, Expresso the ostrich, Winky the frog, and Squawks the parrot, each ready to lend a hand.
The gameplay is superb and it gets more challenging as you go on, like any good platformer should, just be sure to use a classic controller, the Gamecube controller has an awkward control scheme. The A button tags the other Kong so they become the leader, the Y button attacks and runs if you hold it in, and the B button jumps to reach platforms or to kill enemies. The Gamecube controller makes it weird to run and jump.
Barrels can be used to attack and they are picked up using the Y button and you release the button to throw it. Barrels can also be used to find secrets in walls, as can Rambi. The game uses a life system and to gain more lives you can find colored balloons, spell KONG out of letters you find, collect 100 small bananas, or collect three matching animal icons which take you to bonus rooms as the animal friend.
The audio in the game is amazing, Rare has always had amazing music in their games and this game is no different. Each level theme has different music, which is done amazingly, and each Kong that you visit has a neat tune. Each enemy makes a humorous sound when defeated and the sound effects are really well done.
The presentation in the game is amazing as well. rare has also been known for their understanding of the consoles they develop on and Donkey Kong Country shows it. The character models are in a detailed two-dimensional form of 3D and it's really different looking. The backgrounds and foregrounds are really varied and detailed as well. It's an amazing looking game and it would look good on a retail disc today.
Overall, Donkey Kong Country is an amazing game; from the detail to levels and characters, to the level design, and music, it is a game that everyone should try.
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 9.5/10
Presentation: 9.5/10