Donkey Kong Country
|
Donkey Kong Country
|
|
|---|---|
North American box art, SNES version |
|
| Developer(s) | Rare Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Tim Stamper (producer) |
| Composer(s) | David Wise Eveline Fischer Robin Beanland |
| Platform(s) | Super NES Game Boy Color Game Boy Advance Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | SNES EU November 24, 1994 NA November 25, 1994 JPNNovember 26, 1994 GBC NA November 4, 2000 EU November 17, 2000 JPN January 21, 2001 GBA EU June 6, 2003 NA June 9, 2003 JPN December 12, 2003 Virtual Console AUS December 7, 2006 EU December 8, 2006 JPN December 12, 2006 NA February 19, 2007 SK May 26, 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer, Side-Scroller |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Two player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: K-A (SNES Release) E (GBA, VC) OFLC: G (Virtual Console re-release) |
| Media | 32-megabit SNES cartridge GBC cartridge GBA cartridge |
Donkey Kong Country is a video game developed by Rare, featuring the popular arcade character, Donkey Kong, and one of the earliest games to feature the "Rareware" logo (which has since been discontinued). It was released for the SNES in 1994. It became available through Nintendo's Virtual Console service on December 7, 2006 in Australia, December 8, 2006 in Europe, December 12, 2006 in Japan, and February 19, 2007 in North America.
The game was produced by Tim Stamper. This was the first Donkey Kong game not to be produced or directed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version eventually sold over 9 million copies, making it the third best-selling game on the system (trailing Nintendo's Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars).
Contents |
Gameplay
The game plays much like typical platforming games of its day. One noticeable difference is the inclusion of two simultaneous main characters: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Each Kong can take one hit (they leave the screen and are 'kidnapped'); once both are gone, a life is lost. The two have different abilities and strengths; Donkey can slap the ground and unveil secrets, as well as defeat stronger enemies, while Diddy is faster and more athletic. The player can switch between them via a "tag" feature 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 are 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 all look quite varied from each other, with one being a snowstorm-ridden mountain, and another being a dangerous factory. The Kongs' goal is to get to the end of the level. Throughout the levels, they can collect bananas (100 give an extra life), K-O-N-G letters (collecting all four in a single level earns an extra life), extra life balloons (different colored balloons give one, two, or three additional lives), or golden animal tokens, which send them to an animal ally-themed bonus level. The tokens come in the shape of the four different animal allies. To gain access to a bonus level, collect three of the same type of token to be sent to the appropriate animal-themed level. It is not necessary to collect three of the same type of token in a row as the game stores how many of each token you have collected.
As with the Mario series, the Kongs can beat typical enemies simply by jumping on them. They can also throw barrels, or somersault/cartwheel to knock them out. There are normal barrels, 'DK' barrels (which have the 'kidnapped' partner inside and act as normal barrels if the player already has both Donkey and Diddy), steel kegs (which will bounce off walls and can be ridden on), blast barrels which launch the character like a cannon, continue barrels that feature white stars on the side of the barrel and which allow the player to start at the location of the barrel instead of the beginning of the level when they lose a life, and TNT barrels which destroy enemies and certain walls with a powerful explosion. A prevalent part of the game are barrel cannon courses, where the player must navigate the Kongs through cannon-like blast barrels.
This was also one of the first games that had an off-screen HUD.
Plot
Characters
Story
In this game, Donkey Kong must recover his stolen hoard of bananas from King K. Rool and the Kremlings. His banana hoard is located in a cave just underneath his house. He has the special help of his best buddy, Diddy Kong, who idolizes DK. Cranky Kong lends some advice along the way. Funky Kong and Candy Kong also lend a hand. For the first time, Donkey Kong's home environment, Donkey Kong Island, is unveiled to the player.
Development
Prior to the title's production, Rare's Chris and Tim Stamper had begun programming experiments with a Silicon Graphics workstation, with their initial focus centered around a boxing game. After impressing Nintendo with their progress, Genyo Takeda was dispatched to Japan to advise then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi. Following talks between Yamauchi and Rare, Nintendo acquired 25% of the company, which culminated in the production of a new title using the SGI technology. The Stampers expressed interest in making a game based on Donkey Kong, and were given Nintendo's consent.
Marketing
As a part of Nintendo's marketing campaign, a 15 minute VHS tape titled "Donkey Kong Country: Exposed [1]" was sent to subscribers of Nintendo Power magazine. The video takes the audience on a brief tour of Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington and shows footage from the game when it was in the final stages of development. Several game testers provide tips on how to access bonus levels and perform tricks throughout the game. Various interviews promote the level of graphical complexity as being revolutionary for game systems at that time. A segment at the end of the video reminds viewers that the game is available only on Nintendo's 16-bit Super NES console and not on rival 32-bit and CD-ROM based systems (e.g., Sega 32X and Sega CD) that boasted superior processing power. In a "hidden" section at the end of the cassette, the host of the video opens a door and discovers that Nintendo of America testers are playing an early development version of the Killer Instinct arcade. A character resembling Chief Thunder is shown with notable differences.
Graphics
The game was revolutionary in that it was one of the first games 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."[1] Miyamoto later apologized, saying he had been too harsh due to Nintendo pressuring him at the time to make Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island more like Donkey Kong Country.[1]
Audio
Donkey Kong Country also had a popular soundtrack which was released on CD under the title DK Jamz. Composers Robin Beanland, Eveline Fischer, and David Wise collaborated on this ensemble of jungle music. The diverse composition consists of over 20 tracks.
The soundtrack was also the focus of an OverClocked ReMix collaboration entitled Kong in Concert, later praised by Wise.[2]
Reception
| Reception | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Donkey Kong Country was very successful upon release, eventually selling 9.3 million copies, making it the second best selling title for the Super Nintendo after Super Mario World. Later, the title was made available as a pack-in game in the Super Nintendo "Donkey Kong Set" (which contained the console, a controller, connections and the game). This facilitated sales of over a million copies, making it a Player's Choice re-release title around 1998.
Years later, the game would come under fire from various publications for being overrated at the time of its release. The title received Game of the Year honors from EGM for 1994 although it is now also considered by the magazine to be one of the Top 10 Most Overrated Games of All Time before their 200th issue anniversary.[7] The game also made the #9 spot in GameSpy's 2003 list of the 25 most overrated games of all time.[8] It was also rated the 90th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[9]
Donkey Kong Country: Competition Cartridge
A very rare version of the game used in competitions such as the Nintendo PowerFest '94 and Blockbuster Video World Video Game Championship II (1995). The goal was to get as many points as possible before time ran out. Points could be gained by defeating enemies, throwing barrels, collecting bananas, collecting balloons, and collecting KONG letters. Many finalists in Nintendo's PowerFest tournament were given the cartridge. The carts used in the Blockbuster Video tournament were sold to Nintendo Power magazine subscribers through the Nintendo Power Super Power Supplies Catalog in a plastic case labeled with the Blockbuster championship logo and some game artwork.
Sequels
Two sequels, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, were made in 1995 and 1996, respectively. All three games also had counterparts on the Game Boy in the form of the Donkey Kong Land series. In 1999, a Nintendo 64 game was released called Donkey Kong 64 that was a direct sequel to the DKC franchise. This title featured a playable version of the original 1981 arcade classic Donkey Kong. In March 2005, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the Nintendo GameCube, which used the "DK Bongos" that were used by the Donkey Konga games. In September 2005, DK King of Swing was released for the Game Boy Advance. Its sequel, DK Jungle Climber was released in September 2007 and features graphics similar to the DKC series.
Later versions
In 2000, a version was released on Game Boy Color. In 2003, another version of the game was released for the Game Boy Advance. This version had increased brightness, at the cost of contrast and color saturation, to make the game easier to see on an unlit LCD. Both games had some new features including new minigames, hidden pictures, a new stage in the GBC version (known as Necky's Nutmare), a Time Trial mode, and the GBA version had multiplayer games. Both versions also had lower sound fidelity and a number of minor changes. Candy Kong no longer runs a Save Point, so players can save the game in any area. The GBC version had some of the music scrapped and replaced, often with music that originated in Donkey Kong Land.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System version has been released on the Virtual Console for the Wii. 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. It is an emulated version of a 1.1 game cartridge.
See also
- Donkey Kong Country (TV series)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent
- ↑ OverClocked ReMix. "Industry Recognition - OCRWiki". OverClocked ReMix. Retrieved on 2008-09-26.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Donkey Kong Country Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-06-03.
- ↑ Schneider, Peer (2007-02-20). "IGN: Donkey Kong Country Review". IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-03.
- ↑ "Donkey Kong Country for SNES - MobyGames". MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-06-03.
- ↑ "GameStats: Donkey Kong Country Articles". GameStats. Retrieved on 2008-06-03.
- ↑ "1UP's 2005 list of the 10 most overrated games" (2005-04-04). Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
- ↑ "GameSpy's 2003 list of the 25 most overrated games of all time". GameSpy (2003-09-20). Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
- ↑ "NP Top 200", Nintendo Power 200: 58-66, February 2006.
External links
- Donkey Kong Country at MobyGames
- Donkey Kong Country (SNES) at GameFAQs
- Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Advance) at GameFAQs
- Donkey Kong Country official promotional video at Google Video
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||