Born a couple years after the height of Donkey Kong's arcade dominance, I grew up with the gorilla during his awkward pre-Country period. He was still iconic, but either appeared in underwhelming sequels or cameoed in other Nintendo titles, as if his best days were behind him. After Nintendo Power's surprise Donkey Kong Country blowout and accompanying VHS tape, I was as hyped for DK's triumphant return as a new Mario or Sonic. Busting through the perceived limitations of 16-bit consoles by ingeniously converting pre-rendered 3D models to sprites, Rare's reboot finally gave the SNES an attention grabbing cool factor that Sega's Genesis long held in advantage.
An otherwise standard platformer packing a strong punch, swinging off ropes and blasting from barrels as the acrobatic tag-team of powerful Donkey and nimble Diddy makes it easy to forgive the often middling level design. The mine cart and underwater stages compose a fraction of the game, yet their respective tension and tranquility will stick with you for years. Contributing to the game's rich ambience, the loveably villainous Kremlin gang, playable Animal Buddies and extended Kong Family bringing aid and comfort to the hostile DK island were all introduced here.
Even with years between sessions, there's a sense of rhythm in the placement of enemies approaching your limited viewpoint, making one feel like an apex predator roaming the dense jungle, intimately aware of the surroundings beyond one's immediate senses. But, DK Island is still deadly as a rainforest. Upon passing the sign pointing to the exit, stages have a knack for sneaking a surprise enemy yards away from the finish. If you die, you're more likely to laugh than smash your controller. While quite challenging, the most frustrating moments never betray fairness. The dreaded Snow Barrel Blast stage allows infinite time to prepare for each nerve-racking shot. Tricky gaps can be negotiated by rolling into the air and... somehow jumping. Much like Beavers powering giant, levitating stone wheels...this feat makes no sense, but is highly amusing nonetheless.
Despite being one of the earliest pre-rendered titles, the graphics retain a rich, organic appearance, avoiding the shiny plastic look that often plagued the copycats. Caves composed of brown stalactites and underwater stages emphasizing a narrow ecosystem frequently reoccur, yet by efficiently swapping background colors, lighting, and a few graphical elements, they'll dramatically morph from cozy to incredibly hostile. Aging even better than the graphics is some of the SNES' most enchanting music outside of a Square RPG. David Wise's jazzy, complex soundtrack was among the system's best, until he brilliantly surpassed it in next year's sequel.
On it's November 14, 1994 release date, I crated myself in my room until beating DKC that very evening, reconquering the Island dozens of times since. Even if the simplistic level design, lackluster secrets and derivative bosses leave something to be desired, the satisfaction of Donkey Kong Country's tire-jumping, barrel tossing action and beckoning atmosphere, like peeling your thousandth banana, never quite gets old. It certainly beats exterminating bugs.
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