Donkey Kong Country (game)

Donkey Kong Country (Super Donkey Kong in Japan) is a video game developed by Rare Ltd. and published by Nintendo starring Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994, and was a revival of the Donkey Kong franchise.

The game received two sequels for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. All three games each had a complimentary title released for the Game Boy in the form of the Donkey Kong Land series.

Story
King K. Rool and the Kremling Krew have stolen all of the bananas in the Banana Hoard, which is a small cave below Donkey Kong's Treehouse. Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong travel through the various landscapes of Donkey Kong Island to retrieve the bananas.

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 (100 would give an extra life), extra life balloons, collect the KONG Letters 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
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.

Worlds
Donkey Kong Country has six main worlds, with another one containing the final battle against King K. Rool. The game's worlds, in order, are as follows:


 * 1) Kongo Jungle: The first world of the game where Donkey Kong's treehouse and banana hoard are located. The world is a tropical rainforest. Donkey and Diddy progress through a jungle, a rainy jungle, a cave, a pond, a cliff, and finally reach the boss. The world's boss is Very Gnawty. He jumps back and forth. You must jump on him to defeat him whilst avoiding him. Four hits kill him.
 * 2) Monkey Mines: This world looks like the outside of a mine. The kongs progress through a mine, caves, an ancient ruin, and finally reach the boss. The world's boss is Necky, who spits out nuts. You must use a tire to jump on his head after he finishes spitting out nuts.
 * 3) Vine Valley: This world is a dense forest in the middle of the island. The Kongs progress through forests, a tree civilization, another ancient ruin, a pond, and a jungle before reaching the boss. The boss of this world is Bumble B. You must throw barrels at him, causing him to turn red and become invincible. You must repeat this process until he is defeated.
 * 4) Gorilla Glacier: An icy themed world. The kongs progress through snowy landscapes, icy caves, dry caves, and another tree civilization before reaching the boss. The boss of this world is Really Gnawty, who is fought the same way as Very Gnawty in Kongo Jungle.
 * 5) Kremkroc Industries Inc.: An industrial area at the northern end of the island. The land looks polluted and contains factories. The kongs progress through factories, caves, and a polluted pond. The boss of this world is Dumb Drum. Dumb Drum pours out enemies which Donkey and Diddy must defeat until the boss self-destructs.
 * 6) Chimp Caverns: This world is a cave area on the northern-most tip of the island. The duo progress through caves before reaching the boss. The boss of this world is a pair of Necky Seniors, who are fought the same ways as Necky in Monkey Mines.
 * 7) Gangplank Galleon: A pirate ship. On the ship, King K. Rool awaits Donkey and Diddy. This is the final stage and battle in the game. Defeating K. Rool completes the game.

Music
Donkey Kong Country has a popular soundtrack which was released on CD under the title DK Jamz. Composers Robin Beanland, Eveline Fischer, and Dave Wise contributed to the music of the video game. Donkey Kong Country's music is one of the most popular video game soundtracks of all time.

Differences between versions
There are several versions of the game available for the Super Nintendo.

Version 1.0
 * This was the first version. There were many glitches in the game, though they did not affect the gameplay.

Versions 1.1 and 1.2
 * Some bugs have been fixed in these revisions and more in version 1.2.

Donkey Kong Country: Competition Cartridge
 * Only 2,500 copies of this version was created which is used in competitions. The goal is to get as many points as possible before the time runs out. Points could be gained by defeating enemies, throwing barrels, collecting bananas, collecting balloons, and collecting the KONG letters. The cartridge and label's appearance are nearly identical to the non-competition releases, but can be identified with a label in the top-right corner of the cartridge with the words "Competition Cartridge" on it. Some modifications were done to this version, including:


 * Adding a timer and point meter to the top of the screen, showing how much play time and how many points the player has.
 * The removal of all the maps. Completing a level will immediately lead into the next one.

Development
The game was renowned for its use of pre-rendered 3D graphics, especially on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. 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.

Reissues
In 2000, Donkey Kong Country was remade for the Game Boy Color. In 2003, another port of the game was released for the Game Boy Advance. Both reissue had new features including new minigames, hidden pictures, a Time Trial mode, and a multiplayer game in the Game Boy Advance version.

Both versions also had some minor changes. Candy Kong no longer runs a save point, allowing players to save whenever they want. Instead, she, along with Funky, have minigames that you can play.

The original Super Nintendo version was released on the Virtual Console for the Wii in late 2006 and early 2007. The game's version is 1.1. The game was released in the Oceanic region on December 7, 2006; in Europe on December 8, 2006; in Japan on December 12, 2006; and in North America on February 19, 2007.

Reception
Donkey Kong Country is one of Nintendo's most successful games and was available as a pack-in game in the Super Nintendo "Donkey Kong Set" which contained the console, a controller, and the game.

The title also received Game of the Year honors from EGM for 1994 although it is now considered by the magazine to be one of the most overrated games of all time.

'Donkey Kong Country has also sold over 8.5 million copies, making it the second best-selling video game for the Super Nintendo.