Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country (or Super Donkey Kong in Japan) is a game in the Donkey Kong series, and is the first Donkey Kong game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that is developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. The Donkey Kong Country game managed to be a huge success to the Nintendo industry and was game of the year when it was first released. Donkey Kong Country also had a certificate of Players choice on the box arts a year later.

The game is considered by many Donkey Kong fans as the best game in the series, and would later spawn many sequels by Rare. Once Rare left Nintendo, Nintendo gave the rights of Donkey Kong to Paon, a second party developer who has so far currently made DK: King of Swing, DK: Jungle Climber and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

It was the first Donkey Kong game to feature Donkey Kong as a playable character. Donkey Kong was the second-best selling SNES game (second only to Super Mario World) and the first to use 3D pre-rendered graphics on a SNES game. Some magazines even said that it could compete against the newest PSX games.

Later in 2000, there was a port for Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Color and later in 2003 a remake was made for the Game Boy Advance.

Story
Note: The first two paragraphs are based off the starting cutscene in the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country.

One rainy night, Donkey had told Diddy to guard his banana hoard as part of his "hero training". Shortly after, Diddy was hearing some strange noises (Kremlings) and asking whom it is in a scared manner. All of a sudden, two Kritters come up on which Diddy defeats and then send a blue Krusha, (Klump according to the original version's manual), in as backup, overpowering Diddy and then seal him inside of a DK Barrel.

The next morning, Cranky tells Donkey to wake up as he is in for a big surprise. After seeing what has happened to Diddy and his bananas, he plans to go on a journey to retrieve his bananas and save Diddy on the way.

As the two travel through Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries, Inc. and Chimp Caverns with assistance from Funky, Cranky and Candy, the two finally reach the one who was responsible for this scheme, King K. Rool. They battle him on Gangplank Galleon for a fight to retrieve the bananas for the Banana Hoard back. Once the two win, they go back to Cranky's Cabin where Cranky tells them that they should go to the banana hoard as they are in for a "big surprise". Once the two head there, they can see that all of their bananas have been retrieved, ending the story.

Development
The game was revolutionary as it was one of the first games to use pre-rendered 3D graphics, which was also used in Rare's Killer Instinct. Many later 3D video games would also use pre-rendered 3D together with fully 3D objects. Rare took significant financial risks in purchasing the expensive Silicon Graphics equipment used to render the graphics. Both Nintendo and Rare refer to the technique for creating the game's graphics as "ACM" (Advanced Computer Modeling).

Shigeru Miyamoto once criticized Donkey Kong Country, stating that "Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good." Miyamoto later apologized, saying he had been too harsh due to Nintendo's pressuring him at the time to make Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island more like Donkey Kong Country.

Gameplay
You progress as you normally would when playing a side-scrolling game. However, Donkey Kong Country has a tag-team system that was unique when it first came out. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong could be switched at any time in the game. When one Kong was hit, he "died" and the other took over. Once they are both gone, a life is lost. The two have different abilities and strengths; Donkey Kong could slap the ground and unveil secrets and defeat stronger enemies, while Diddy is faster and can jump higher. If you want to speed through the game, Diddy is best because of his agility.

There are six worlds in the game. Each world has a different look with different terrain, along with different levels in each world. Donkey and Diddy have to reach the end of the level and can collect bananas (one hundred would give an extra life), extra life balloons, collect the letters K, O, N, and G which gives you an extra life when all four letters are found, or obtain animal tokens which would send them to an animal partner themed bonus level along the way. As with the Mario series, the Kongs can defeat enemies simply by jumping on them. The Kongs can also throw barrels, slap the ground to turn enemies into a banana, or roll/cartwheel to knock them out.

Barrels are prominent in the game. There are different types of barrels:


 * Normal barrels
 * Normal barrels can be picked up and thrown at enemies.


 * Continuation barrels
 * Breaking open continuation barrels allow you to continue the level from where you opened it if you died. One is in each level, generally at the half-way point of a level.


 * DK barrels
 * DK barrels contain a missing partner. If you are missing either Donkey or Diddy, breaking open this barrel would bring them back in the game.


 * Steel barrels
 * Steel barrels can be bounced off walls and be ridden on.


 * TNT barrels
 * TNT barrels can be thrown at enemies, causing them to die in an explosion.

Some parts of the game have barrel cannon courses, where you have to navigate Donkey and Diddy by shooting them from one barrel into another, with no ground below. If you missed a barrel, you will most likely fall into the abyss and lose a life.

Kongs

 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Funky Kong
 * Cranky Kong
 * Candy Kong

Animal Buddies

 * Expresso the Ostrich
 * Rambi the Rhinoceros
 * Squawks the Parrot
 * Enguarde the Swordfish
 * Winky the Frog

Enemies

 * Armies
 * Bitesizes
 * Chomps
 * Chomps Jr.s
 * Clambos
 * Croctopuses
 * Gnawties
 * Klaptraps
 * Klumps
 * Krashes
 * Kritters
 * Krushas
 * Manky Kongs
 * Mincers
 * Mini-Neckies
 * Neckys
 * Oil Drums
 * Rockkrocs
 * Slippas
 * Squidges
 * Zingers

Bosses

 * Very Gnawty
 * Master Necky
 * Queen B.
 * Really Gnawty
 * Dumb Drum
 * Master Necky Snr.
 * King K. Rool

Other Media
A CG animated show of the same name was created and ran on Fox Family from 1997-2000.

Game Boy Color
Another port was released for the Game Boy Color in 2000 (2001 in Japan). The changes are as listed:
 * There are three alternate title screens; one takes place underwater, another in the jungle and another in a cavern.
 * Only one Kong appears at a time on screen, much like in the Donkey Kong Land games.
 * The Game Boy Printer can be used to print out certain photos from the album.
 * Winky's Walkway, the first level in Monkey Mines, has been extended.
 * A new level called Necky Nutmare has been added in Chimp Caverns, the last world in the game.
 * The Kongs don't ride the Animal Buddies. Instead, they turn into them.
 * Two new minigames have been added, Funky Fishing and Crosshair Cranky.
 * Two new difficulties have been added; one removing the Star Barrels and the other removing the DK Barrels.
 * Most of the music from Donkey Kong Land has been reused to replace the ones from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, some of the original's music was reused but downgraded to the Game Boy Color's sound limitations.
 * The Warp Barrel in Mine Cart Carnage is removed from the game.
 * Candy runs a challenge area instead of a save point.
 * The credits instead show various screenshots instead of taking place in the treehouse.
 * The select screen from Donkey Kong 64 is reused.
 * The game automatically saves after a level is completed.

Game Boy Advance
Another port was released to the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Notable differences:
 * Saving is possible anywhere rather than save points.
 * A prologue explaining the purpose of Donkey's is played prior to the start of the game, as well as an epilogue.
 * The Nintendo label on the giant bananas has been removed, and Cranky gives commentary after a boss is defeated.
 * The graphics and overall sound quality have been reduced. Some enemies have tweaked, usually higher pitched effects returning from Donkey Kong 64.
 * Cranky's Cabin has been renamed to "Cranky's Hut" and has been redesigned to take place indoors.
 * A multiplayer mode is possible, but on the GameCube, either player can play as Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong.
 * On the overhead map, a menu was added. In it, Funky can be summoned anytime on the map screen, get access to a scrapbook, save the game and view level stats.
 * Enemies come in more colors.
 * The menu is redesigned with DK Attack and an Extras feature added to the menu.
 * More sound effects have been added.
 * The boss battles have slightly changed when they are attacked with Queen B. now having three Zingers around her, Really Gnawty makes stalagmites fall from the ceiling when making a high pounce, Dumb Drum must have a few TNT Barrels thrown at him to be defeated and Master Necky helps Master Necky Snr. fight Donkey and Diddy.
 * The map has been redesigned in worlds and the map is zoomed in more.
 * The barrels that send the Kongs to Bonus Levels are replaced by Bonus Barrels.
 * Starting from Vine Valley, some of the levels have been swapped around.
 * The credits now take place in Gangplank Galleon rather than in Donkey Kong's Treehouse.
 * A Video Game Hero mode has been added where the player plays as a yellow Diddy to complete all levels without Star Barrels and DK Barrels.
 * Candy hosts a dancing game at her own dancing studio.

Trivia

 * The large bananas that appear after a boss is defeated originally had the Dole logo on them, but were later replaced with Nintendo logos.