Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country is a video game developed by Rare and Nintendo, featuring the popular arcade character, Donkey Kong. It was released for the SNES and Super Famicom in 1994. It has recently been ported to the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Wii.
It was produced by Tim Stamper. This was the first Donkey Kong game that was not produced or directed by Shigeru Miyamoto .
It was produced by Tim Stamper. This was the first Donkey Kong game that was not produced or directed by Shigeru Miyamoto .
Publisher: Rareware, Nintendo
Features
The game was revolutionary in that it was the first game for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered 3-D graphics. It was a technique that was also used in Rare's Killer Instinct. Many later 3-D video games would also use pre-rendered 3-D together with fully 3-D objects. Rare took significant financial risks in purchasing the expensive SGI equipment used to render the graphics. Both Nintendo and Rare refer to the technique for the creating the game's graphics as "ACM" (Advanced Computer Modeling)
Nintendo producer 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.
Donkey Kong Country also had a popular soundtrack which was released on CD under the title DK Jamz. Composers Robin Beanland, Eveline Fischer and Dave Wise collaborated on this ensemble of jungle music. The diverse composition consists of over 20 tracks.
The game played much like typical platforming games of the day. One noticeable difference was the inclusion of two characters: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Each Kong could take a hit, and once both were gone, a life was lost. The two had different abilities and strengths; Donkey could slap the ground and unveil secrets, as well as defeat stronger enemies, while Diddy was faster and more athletic. The player could switch between them via a "tag" that would be reused throughout the series. Donkey is best used in Caves, because there are stronger enemies in caves (according to the manual). Diddy is best for "acrobatic" levels.
There were six worlds: Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries Inc., and Chimp Caverns (as well as one final level, Gangplank Galleon). Due to the game's graphical abilities, the levels could look quite different from each other, with one being a snowstorm-ridden mountain, and another being a dangerous factory. The Kongs' goal was to get to the end of the level, while collecting bananas (100 would give an extra life), extra life balloons, or animal tokens, which would send them to an animal partner themed bonus level. As with Mario, they could beat typical enemies simply by jumping on them. You can also throw barrels at them, slap the ground to turn enemies into a banana or roll to knock them out. There were normal barrels, partner or DK barrels (which had a missing partner inside), steel barrels (which could bounce off walls and be ridden on) and TNT barrels which destroys enemies with a powerful explosion. A prevalent part of the game were barrel cannon courses, where the player had to navigate the Kongs through cannon-like blast barrels.
Nintendo producer 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.
Donkey Kong Country also had a popular soundtrack which was released on CD under the title DK Jamz. Composers Robin Beanland, Eveline Fischer and Dave Wise collaborated on this ensemble of jungle music. The diverse composition consists of over 20 tracks.
The game played much like typical platforming games of the day. One noticeable difference was the inclusion of two characters: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Each Kong could take a hit, and once both were gone, a life was lost. The two had different abilities and strengths; Donkey could slap the ground and unveil secrets, as well as defeat stronger enemies, while Diddy was faster and more athletic. The player could switch between them via a "tag" that would be reused throughout the series. Donkey is best used in Caves, because there are stronger enemies in caves (according to the manual). Diddy is best for "acrobatic" levels.
There were six worlds: Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries Inc., and Chimp Caverns (as well as one final level, Gangplank Galleon). Due to the game's graphical abilities, the levels could look quite different from each other, with one being a snowstorm-ridden mountain, and another being a dangerous factory. The Kongs' goal was to get to the end of the level, while collecting bananas (100 would give an extra life), extra life balloons, or animal tokens, which would send them to an animal partner themed bonus level. As with Mario, they could beat typical enemies simply by jumping on them. You can also throw barrels at them, slap the ground to turn enemies into a banana or roll to knock them out. There were normal barrels, partner or DK barrels (which had a missing partner inside), steel barrels (which could bounce off walls and be ridden on) and TNT barrels which destroys enemies with a powerful explosion. A prevalent part of the game were barrel cannon courses, where the player had to navigate the Kongs through cannon-like blast barrels.
