The two heroes can also rely on various animal friends to help guide them through their adventure. It isn’t the most original platforming feature, but it works. Donkey Kong can dispatch larger enemies with his giant fists, while Diddy can jump a little higher than his bulky cousin. You control one character at a time, and each has his own unique strengths.
And in Donkey Kong Country, you’re not alone your simian sidekick Diddy tags along for the adventure. Every level has little nooks and crannies too, hiding secret areas and passageways that lead to bonus games where you can earn bananas and balloons, which you can trade in for additional lives. And let’s not forget the mine cart stages where you ride on rails and use your quick reflexes to successfully reach the end. Each stage has its own theme, forcing players to swim underwater, navigate through a misty swamp, swing from vines, or transport DK using a set of barrels (cannons) to advance. The characters are fluidly animated and the rich tropical environments make use of every visual effect in the Super NES’s armory. For a two-dimensional side-scroller, Donkey Kong Country conveys a three-dimensional sense of dept. The graphics for the time were above and beyond anything anyone would imagine possible for the 16-bit system. Monumental! Monstrous! Magnificent! Use any term you want, there’s no denying how important this game was for Nintendo and Rare.
They teamed up with Rare to produce Donkey Kong Country, a Mario-style platformer, and the rest, as they say, is history.ĭonkey Kong Country is a game held in high regard and with reason.
After three years of intense competition and heated rivalries, Nintendo desperately needed a hit that could prove the Super NES could output graphics on the same level as the forthcoming 32-bit consoles. With the release of the Saturn and Playstation on the horizon, the Super Nintendo needed a visually impressive and original title to reinforce its market dominance. Back in 1994, Nintendo was struggling with their 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which wasn’t selling as well as they’d hoped it would.