Here's a game that needs no introduction. Unless you were living under a rock, or a Sega Fanboy, there's a very good chance that if you didn't own this game, you definitely rented it, or played it at a friend's house back in the day. Donkey Kong country set new visual standards we could never imagine were possible on the 16-bit consoles thanks to Rare's ingenious idea to take 3D models created on silicon Graphics workstations, and digitize them into two dimensional sprites for the Super Nintendo to handle. Thus creating graphics that looked light-years above anything we had seen on any of the 16-bit consoles. If everything else in the fourth generation was 16-bit, this game had to be at least 17-bit.
Donkey Kong Country was more than just pretty graphics. On top of it's shiny visuals the game showcases fantastic level designs putting Rare's development talents on full display. Sure, you've got your underwater levels, your barrel levels that require fast reflexes and perfect timing, and your mine-cart levels of dread. However, the core experience features levels permeated with hidden areas and objects to find, giving it a ton of depth for those who care search for it.
Like any great 2D platformer, DKC leaves the choice in the player's hands as how to play the game. Player's can simply run from start to finish just to beat the level, or choose to explore the levels a little more carefully, trying to find all the hidden areas that are skillfully honeycombed throughout the levels, find and collect KONG for an extra life, and even collect three animal tokens to play an extra mini-game where every 100 tokens you collect equals an extra life after the timer runs out.
The levels aren't as complex in design as the levels in a Sonic game where there are ten different paths to get to the end, Donkey Kong Country has a more simple and straightforward design structure like Mario. One main path from left to right, but with tons of hidden items and areas to find along the way. The secret areas usually contain mini games where you collect golden bananas to gain extra lives. Like the coins in Mario, 100 bananas equals an extra life.
There are also other kinds of levels besides the traditional platoformer kind thrown in for good measure. These are some of the toughest levels in the game, for example, moving platforms, and mine carts that require memorization, and trial an error. Most of these are the toughest levels in the game, and require precision, and lots of restarts. These levels are tough, inventive, and some of the most remembered levels in the game, because they probably tormented a lot of gamers in cildhood, but man, that feeling of accomplishment when you finally beat one.
I didn't play a lot of platformers during the 16-bit era, personally. My Genesis came with Sonic 2, but being a late Snes adopter, we chose the Snes that had Link to the past as the pack-in by choice. That was the game that finally convinced my brother and I that we finally needed a Snes. Once we got the Snes, we played mostly RPGs, and in general, the whole era, we played beat 'em ups, fighting games, and various other genres. I did play quite a bit of Super Mario world as friend's houses, because everyone owned that.
I didn't get Donkey Kong country until almost a decade after it's release. I bought it for 10 dollars from a friend, who later sold me the rest of his Snes games for $20, which also scored me both of it's sequels, and a few other less interesting games. This means that I got to finally play through it years removed from the hype, and even after the graphical luster had faded. Ten years removed from it's highest height of popularity, when I was already enjoying PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox games, I still came away from Donkey Kong Country saying, “Man, this is a great game.”
By default, Sonic 2 will always be my favorite 2D platformer of that entire generation, however, I can honestly say that Donkey Kong Country is probably my second favorite 16-bit platformer of all time. No disrespect to Super Mario World, or other top tier platformers of that generation, Donkey Kong Country just hit better 10 years later. From it's exceptional level designs, to it's wells designed gameplay mechanics, and it's amazing sound, I came away loving this game.
The controls are smooth, and spot on, yes, even in the mine-cart levels, and the other various maneuvers are easy to pull off as well. The mechanic where you can swap between diddy and donkey at anytime to take advantage of their different abilities is also a great design choice that becomes an integral part of fully exploring the levels, and is seamless with the responsive controls, as are all the tough barrel levels which require split-second timing. Rare perfected the controls in this game.
The music is another high spot in the game. The soundtrack is so good, they even released, and sold it separately. If you have an extra two to seven hundred dollars, you can pick up the American version of the soundtrack on CD. You can even pick up a three pack of the Japanese CD versions for all three Donkey Kong country games for the super cheap price of 5,382 dollars. Smoking deal folks, smoking deal.
The sound effects in this game are also an incredible part of the sound designs. I don't know what it is, but they have always had almost and ASMR effect for me. They are actually pleasing to my ears.
I remember when the Game Boy Advance version came out, seeing a terrible review in Electronic Gaming Monthly tearing into the game saying the game was always overrated, and one it the big reasons was look at the graphics. I would show you the review if I could find the magazine it was in, but all may gaming mags are buried in storage at the moment, however, it was a terrible review where it was obvious, just by the screenshots, the GBA version had some issues. It's not a terrible playing port, but all you can say is, well, they tried, bless their little hearts.
There was also later backlash against Rare from Nintendo fans after Microsoft bought them where they suddenly came to the realization that, “All of Rare's games are overrated. I never liked them.”
I think that phase has passed, but for a while there, there was a bit of a consensus floating around that Donkey Kong Country was overrated, pushed by gaming publications, and disgruntled Nintendo fanboys. So, was this game way overhyped because of the graphics at it's release, yeah probably, but looking from a gameplay and design standpoint, this is still one of the best-playing, best-designed platformers of the fourth generation, periot.
The bottom Line: Nothing against Super Mario World, it's a great game with masterful design, however, with the rise of Sonic, the 16-bit era brought a new crop of 2D platformers that were fresher than your mix tape. I'm not sure what generation of 2D platformers the fourth console generation was in, but the genre, arguably, reached it's highest peak in both popularity, and design, leading to the creation of so many timeless classics in the genre, and Donkey Kong Country is one of the best to come out of that generation, hands down. It's sequels were also cut from the same cloth, and are on the top tier in quality as well. Even if you are in the class that now considers the game to be overhyped, and overrated, you still can't deny the quality the game presents. Donkey Kong Country wasn't just the game that helped the Snes pull far ahead of the Genesis in sales, it was also one of the best platformers, and one of the best games in general for that whole generation, just as worthy to join the likes of Marion, and Sonic in that classification.
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