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Donkey Kong Country
Platform: SNES
What a surprise! A Super Nintendo game makes the list yet again. Sorry guys, as I stated before the SNES was my favorite system and it molded me into the gamer I am today. Anyway, Donkey Kong Country was one of the most revolutionary games on the SNES. Forget Star Fox and any other game that gave you archaic 3-D but as far as Characters and levels, everything in Donkey Kong Country looks like its shaded and popping out.
The whole point of Donkey Kong Country is to traverse through all the levels and take back the big banana horde from King K Rool, the leader of the Kremlings. Donkey Kong is the aptly named main character but he doesn’t have to do this whole journey alone. He is aided by Diddy Kong, his agile nephew. Donkey Kong is stronger and has a slamming attack on the ground while Diddy is faster and can jump further and has a goofy cartwheel attack. I usually tagged in and out depending on how much jumping was needed in the level. The duo also has Cranky Kong, who provides you with jokes and hints if you get stuck, Candy Kong, who is who you go to for saving your game and finally Funky Kong, who will transport you to the next set of levels after you beat the end boss of each part. In the first level, Kongo Jungle, you get introduced to the game in a very simple manor. You get a basic platforming level and as it goes on it gives you a taste of everything. Just like in every platforming game you get stuck with a water level but at least in Donkey Kong Country you get a swordfish to attack enemies. Cause if either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong get hit they’re dead. Fortunately the game isn’t too difficult. You get plenty of bananas to collect so you can get an extra life or two, checkpoint barrels are plentiful as well so even if you die you can start there again and extra life balloons can be found as well. All in all its an easy game but can be frustrating at times. The end bosses aren’t too difficult if you can get their patterns down. Other than that the game is somewhat long, I mean if you’re really dedicated you could probably beat the game in 4-5 hours but at the risk of getting burnt out. I mean the game isn’t repetitive but playing over and over, especially a platformer, would get monotonous. This game is really diverse. I mean that as in differing levels and a variety of gameplay but when you go from an extremely fun level like riding in a minecart to just jumping and avoiding getting hit by coconuts kinda sucks.
Graphically I think this is the best looking game on the SNES. Sure they did sequels but none of them looked any worse or better than this game. This was the first game to use a technique that pre rendered everything in 3D and put it on a 2D plain. The end result was pure beauty. The trees looked great, water looked real enough for a 16 bit system and just everything from the characters moving to the backgrounds looked fantastic. The sound was also very well done. The jungle themed soundtrack for the jungle levels to a more techno for the caves was great and a nice touch. You forget how much sound does for a game when you don’t listen to it. Character chatter and just everything you hear in this game is just top notch and one of the Super Nintendo’s crown jewels.
I can honestly say the majority of you guys have at least played a level or two of this game and don’t need me to tell you to play it so just watch the video and enjoy.
SNES Donkey Kong Country - Jungle Hijinks - YouTube