Donkey Kong Country Review

Donkey Kong Country is one of the most well-known SNES games, but until recently, I never got around to playing it. But now that I have, I wish I did sooner. Donkey Kong Country still holds up to this day thanks to an excellent soundtrack, great visuals, and surprisingly good level design for the era.

The graphics are what initially turned me off of playing Donkey Kong Country. Silicon Graphics are used to render 3D models as 2D spritework, and for that reason, it felt like the sprites lacked the handcrafted detail that I appreciate in pixel art.

And if I approach Donkey Kong Country's art style as pixel art, that remains true. What changed was my perspective, as comments pointing out that it was meant to be played on a CRT TV that would blur out the pixels encouraged me to approach it from a different angle. So, I applied a CTR filter and began my playthrough. And let me tell you, this game looks great as soon as you quit trying to approach it like pixel art and instead appreciate the excellent job that the developers did at accomplishing an illusion of 3D within the limitations of 2D artwork.

Use a CRT filter. You won't regret it.

On the other hand, I've always appreciated the soundtrack. I spoiled myself on it long, long ago because of just how beloved it was, and I'm sure you've heard plenty of praise for it too!

If I were to list every song on the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack that I loved, I'd end up listing damn near every song on the soundtrack. But if I were to limit myself to just three songs, it would be Aquatic Ambiance, Northern Hemispheres, and Gang-Plank Galleon. More on that one later. Getting to finally pair all of these incredible songs with some actual gameplay made it all come together.

And speaking of the gameplay, it holds up. Surprisingly well, in fact! The level design of Donkey Kong County is consistent throughout, and the difficulty curve both well-balanced and satisfying. Although I was playing on an emulator, I opted to play without using either a rewind function or savestates, and I'm glad I did. And because I didn't grind for lives, every life mattered. Well, up 'til I reached a save point, anyway.

That's because, in Donkey Kong Country, you can only save at Candy's Save Point and you can only return to earlier worlds by visiting Funky's Flights. This means that, until you reach at least one of those two, you can't save after entering a world. This often means you'll have to go 3 - 5 levels without a game over, and with the difficulty of some of the later levels in this game, that becomes a big deal.

In later worlds, I had to master every level placed before one of those facilities. If I didn't, I'd get a game over, and I'd have to start all over. Collecting lives became rewarding, and bonus rooms were actually something worth seeking out for more than just achieving 100%. When I ran low on lives, the tension built up, and I could actually feel it as I reached the end of a challenging level.

The animal buddy bonus rooms are actually rewarding and fun when lives aren't trivial.

And fortunately, just about every death felt fair, something that's crucial in a game where every death matters. This is something that many early platformers often get wrong, and one reason why the limited lives mechanic often feels so frustrating. That's not an issue here, however.

Even the minecart levels posed a fair challenge. Mine Cart Carnage, one of my favorite levels, ramps up to a speed that's just about at the limit of my reaction times. I had to focus to avoid getting hit, and yet at no point did it feel like any of the obstacles were unreactable.

Now I'll admit, Donkey Kong Country does have fewer standout levels than its sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2. But that doesn't mean they're absent. The aforementioned Mine Cart Carnage stood out to me, alongside Jungle Hijinx and Stop n' Go Station.

Jungle Hijinx was and still is the perfect way to introduce players to the Donkey Kong Country series. It teaches you the basic mechanics without being overbearing, and if you opt to go back there to grind lives, you can use your knowledge of hidden secrets to speed up the grind for lives that much more.

Stop 'n' Go Station, on the other hand, is a challenging level that lies at the end of a gauntlet of levels in Monkey Mines that you have to go through to reach the save point. And the atmosphere was intense, not only because I was fighting for my life, but also because it's one of the most ominous levels I've seen in a game of this era. This level would've genuinely terrified me if I were younger, as those Rock Krocs look like straight-up zombies.

The dark ambient music really adds to the ominous atmosphere of Stop 'n' Go Station.

Unfortunately, Donkey Kong Country does begin to falter a little during the last world. Chimp Caverns is the second cave-themed world in the game, featuring both heavy asset reuse and levels that aren't really much more difficult than the previous world, Kremkroc Industries. Honestly, it felt like the world were straight-up out of order. Both thematically and in terms of difficulty, Kremkrock Industries feels much like it should've been the final world. You're pretty much in the base of the enemy. Why is it *not* the final world?

And when you consider the heavy asset reuse, I can't help but believe that Chimp Caverns might've just been a last minute addition to pad the length of the game. Filler, essentially. Still though, although it's a bit repetitive, I wouldn't call it a bad world. The level design is still consistently fair and acceptable enough for a platformer of its era.

But fortunately, the game picks itself right back up just in time for the final boss. Because Gang-Plank Galleon is, frankly, my favorite boss battle of any 2D platformer. The music is downright incredible, perfectly setting the tone by beginning with a jaunty pirate theme and then ramping up in intensity as the battle really begins.

Mechanically, it's a simple fight, really. A little bit reminiscent of the battle against Bowser in Super Mario World. But it's more challenging, and together with the legendary music, I couldn't put it down 'til I finally got good enough at the level to reach the end and defeat King K. Rool.

Gang-Plank Galleon really shows off the game's graphical capabilities with multiple parallax layers.

And did I forget something? Oh yes, the reason why I'm tagging this review as a spoiler. The fake-out credits. They're the perfect demonstration of how wonderfully charming that Donkey Kong Country is. Even though I was spoiled on their existence long before I played the game, I still found myself giggling like a child at those mock "kredits" as they rolled. I mean c'mon, it's perfect, and a great demonstration of why the Kremlings are one of the best groups of baddies ever put in a Nintendo game. They're expressive, comedic, and all-around charming.

The real credits don't disappoint either. You can really tell just how much love and care was put into them. And really, it's not just the credits. You can tell how much love and care was put into the game as a whole.

Donkey Kong Country is packed full of personality. It ain't perfect, as despite having an entire world that feels like filler, the game still feels like it had room for more content. But I still had a great time with it, and I really am glad that I finally have an experience to pair with such a wonderful soundtrack.

I highly recommend playing Donkey Kong Country through whatever means are available for you. And if you don't mind losing progress now and then, I recommend playing it without savestates, rewinding, or grinding lives; my experience wouldn't have been this good if not for the tension and intensity that every life mattering brought to the table.