Donkey Kong Country

aka: Chaoji Dajingang, DKC, Donkey Kong 2001, Donkey Kong Country 1, Super Donkey Kong
Moby ID: 5199
SNES Specs
Buy on Game Boy Advance
$20.00 used, $885.00 new on eBay
Buy on Game Boy Color
$24.99 used, $2,500.00 new on eBay
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Description official descriptions

King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's banana stash, and Donkey Kong needs your help to get them back. In search of K. Rool, the Kremling horde impedes your progress. Kremlings, crocodile-like creatures, include Kritters (they succumb to a simple jump on the head), Krushas (they are virtually indestructible), and others. There are also other enemies that block your path, such as beavers, snakes, vultures. Leading them are dastardly bosses, including Very Gnawty, Necky, Queen B., and Dumb Drum, and they all bar the way with their own special blend of villainy.

Donkey Kong is joined by Diddy Kong: these two primates differ significantly. For example, Donkey Kong is generally stronger; he can destroy most enemies with a single jump and can lift barrels straight over his head to throw them farther. On the other hand, Diddy is faster and not as strong as Donkey; he can run really fast and do cartwheels. Diddy carries barrels in front of him, creating a shield against frontal attacks.

The game is split into different worlds, which are split into different levels. Each level contains bonus areas, where one can collect bananas, medallions, and lives. At the end of each world is a boss, which is usually a larger version of a minor enemy.

The original Super Nintendo game was later released for Nintendo's handheld systems. The Game Boy Color version has an exclusive level (Necky Nutmare) and additional bonus games, Funky's Fishing and five Crosshair Cranky minigames. There was also the addition of collectible DK sticker packs scattered throughout the levels. These sticker packs could be printed out using the Game Boy Printer. The game also has two more difficulty options that become available after beating the game.Beating the game once lets the player turn off DK barrels and beating the game a second time will let the player turn off checkpoint barrels.

The Game Boy Advance version also had additional bonus games. It to has a version of Funky's Fishing but instead of the crosshair themed games, there is now Candy's Dance Studio, which hosts six dance games. There is also the additions of a time attack mode called DK Attack, a harder difficulty mode called Hero Mode (can only play as Diddy Kong and the game no longer offers Donkey Kong barrels and checkpoints throughout the levels), and the sticker book idea from the Gameboy Color version was replaced with collecting scrapbook pictures instead.

Spellings

  • スーパードンキーコング - Japanese spelling
  • ドンキーコング2001 - Japanese GBC spelling
  • 超级大金刚 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (SNES version)

52 People (45 developers, 7 thanks) · View all

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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 80 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 271 ratings with 8 reviews)

What was Nintendo thinking...

The Good
Donkey Kong Country was a important game for the SNES back in 1994 for many reasons, not the least for its graphics, it was ported to the Game Boy Color in 2000, keeping most of its game play features intact, remaining a great game, but many flaws exist.

The Bad
The graphics suffer a great deal from the Game Boy Color capabilities, the backgrounds remain, however the characters are 2D sprites, and are barely recognizable from the SNES version, also for some reason this port auto-saves itself, the save points are removed, rendering this game much easier to complete. However once again due to the Game Boy Color's capabilities this game is rendered much harder since the method to detect that you have hit something or picked up something is very poor, I have been right over a item and not picked it up, while missing a enemy quite completely, and lost a life...Lastly the major change to gameplay is that when you obtain an animal, you do not ride it, you become it, and you cannot dismount from it, unlike the original version, this is a great change from the original.

The Bottom Line
This port puzzles me, the original version was renowned for its graphics, graphics which the Game Boy Color could not achieve, Also the two button interface hurts the game as well. Avoid this port like the plague, I haven't seen the GBA version, however, I would presume it's better...

Game Boy Color · by Chris Lesinky (294) · 2007

Decent port of the SNES classic

The Good
The game has excellent music, even for today, and character movement is spot-on. Add to the fact that the game's level design is very good, varied, and distinct (I never got the feeling that I was playing the same or similar levels over and over again like I do with, say, Sonic) and you got an superb platformer.

The Bad
The graphics is where the port is not quite up to the SNES version (especially backgrounds). While I can understand the saturated sprites to make the game visible, there is no good reason to have flat backgrounds.

The music lacks reverb effects (as in the SNES version), but this is hardly noticeable unless you are listening for it.

The Bottom Line
One of the better platformers you can get your hands on. If I'm to compare it with something, it would be a combination between Mario and Sonic. You got a bit of Sonic's speed and Mario inspired level design. The end result is a game that (IMO) is better than both (Not that I've played every Sonic game in existence).

Game Boy Advance · by anss (3) · 2005

Terrific! A Masterpiece!

The Good
This game had the best graphics for a SNES game ever. Seriously, Super Mario World times 10. Plus the music was as good, if not better, than Super Mario World. Seriously. And it's extremely funny, too, and there are lots of enemies. You have to use strategy and decide whether to use Donkey Kong or Diddy King, cause for some parts of some levels you have to use Diddy cause he jumps higher/further. And seriously, The swimming levels are so much better than Super Mario World and everyone wants to ride a Swordfish, Rhino or Ostrich, and swinging on the ropes, the rain, everything looks so realistic, you almost forget your playing a SNES and think your playing a N64! And the level with the mining cart, come on, everyone liked that level and the snow it so realistic looking!

The Bad
The bosses were really easy, except King K. Rool. It gets frustrating when you die.

The Bottom Line
If you don't have it I have two words for you: get it.

SNES · by darthsith19 (62) · 2006

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Game Problems with Game Boy Color version Jeff Robinson (64) Jul 4, 2008

Trivia

Animated series

An animated TV series was based on the characters and world of the Donkey Kong Country game. Running from 1997-2000, the series featured all of the cast from the game plus additional new characters. The series was animated with computer-generated imagery (mostly with SoftImage).

Board game

In 1995, Milton Bradley combined two youth trends of the 1990s and brought together the world of Donkey Kong Country and a POG-slamming game.

Cranky Kong

Cranky Kong is actually the "original" Donkey Kong from the early 1980s and will drone on and on about how games don't need 16-bits and etc.

Donkey Kong Junior

Donkey Kong's sidekick for Donkey Kong Country was originally going to be an updated version of Donkey Kong Junior from the 1980s arcade game. Nintendo, however, objected, and told Rare to either keep Junior's original design, or create a completely new character. This resulted in the introduction of Diddy Kong, who has since replaced Junior in all later Donkey Kong games. Following this, DK Junior's appearances have been reduced to that of an unlockable/trophy in sports-based Mario spin-offs.

Game Boy Advance Version

The Game Boy Advance version has the contrast cranked up to make the game easier to see on the darker LCD screen.

Soundtrack

The music that Cranky Kong plays on the Victrola during the intro is a rendition of the actual Donkey Kong music from the original 8-bit Nintendo game.

Super Power review

The game got a full 100 % in the Swedish magazine Super Power. The game was rated in the one day they got to borrow the early cassette. The reviewer today claims that he committed a breach of duty, and was completely astounded by the graphics so he couldn't make a proper review of the game.

Technology

Donkey Kong Country was the first game to feature the new ACM graphics technique. ACM was a new graphics technique which allowed rendering of sprites, which made the graphics for the 16 bit games that used it (the DKC games, Killer Instinct and more) extremely detailed. When it first was presented most people took it as a game for what was at the time called Project Reality (i.e. Nintendo 64). People were really shocked when it turned out to be a game for the SNES.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • November 1994 (Issue 64) - Game of the Month
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Game of the Year
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - SNES Game of the Year
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best Animation
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best Game Duo
  • FLUX Magazine

    • Issue #4 - #17 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • GameFan

    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss. 1) - Best SNES Action/Platform Game of the Year 1994
    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss. 1) - Best SNES Special Effects
  • VideoGames

    • March 1995 - Game of the Year 1994
    • March 1995 - Best SNES Game in1994
    • March 1995 - Best Action Game in 1994
    • March 1995 - Best Graphics in 1994
    • March 1995 - Best Gameplay in 1994

Information also contributed by Alexander Michel, Andreas Vilén, Big John WV, Pseudo_Intellectual, So Hai, WildKard and Zovni

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Related Sites +

  • DKC GBA Website
    Official site for the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country
  • OC ReMix Game Profile
    Fan remixes of music from Donkey Kong Country, including the album "Kong in Concert".

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 5199
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Syed GJ.

New Nintendo 3DS, Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Game Boy Advance, SNES added by Kartanym. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Kartanym, uclafalcon, Unicorn Lynx, Exodia85, Alaka, Freeman, gamewarrior, Evil Ryu, Fangusu, Zaibatsu, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, Mario500 ..

Game added October 21, 2001. Last modified October 13, 2023.