(Originally published to Glitchwave on 12/22/2020)
[Image from glitchwave.com]
Donkey Kong Country
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre(s): 2D Platformer
Platforms: SNES
Release Date: November 21, 1994
You might ask yourself this question: what was the impetus of resurrecting the titular ape of a classic early 80's arcade game? Donkey Kong just throws barrels and kidnaps people's girlfriends. Donkey Kong isn't exactly a complicated game with complicated characters. How could he fit into the landscape of the 16-bit era? Not to mention, Jumpman, or Mario as you might know him, had greatly transcended his role into bigger feats of saving girls from giant reptilians instead of giant apes since his first outing in 1981. Mario had completely separated himself from his first video game role so drastically that the fact that he was ever referred to as Jumpman seems like an esoteric trivia factoid. Obviously, a game two gaming generations later wouldn't be the same as it once was. The template for Donkey Kong Country wasn't to expand on the classic arcade game or the titular character but to emphasize the "country" part of Donkey Kong Country to give audiences a sprawling world that made sense putting Donkey Kong in. The presentation of this game, whether it be the level design, the music, or the unique art style, made this game stand out above the rest of its contemporaries and cemented itself not just as a comeback for Donkey Kong, but also as one of the hallmark games on the SNES.
The game begins as Donkey Kong is crestfallen at the sight of his massive banana hoard stolen by Kremlings, the alligator-like main enemies in the game, and Donkey Kong has to venture out into progressively more uncharted territory to get his banana hoard back. It seems like a silly setup until you realize that Donkey Kong is a giant ape and the only way he could be motivated to go on a daunting journey is bananas, not sex. After all, Donkey Kong's girlfriend, Candy Kong, helps you on your quest by providing the occasional save point. She definitely seems much more of a formidable person to capture than the frangible Princess Peach. Stealing a monkey's banana hoard is as low as taking the love of his life (which in this case, the love of his life is bananas, not his girlfriend, so I guess it's not on equal standing). Aiding Donkey Kong in his quest is his best buddy Diddy Kong. You simultaneously play as both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong throughout the entirety of the game. In this case, Diddy and Donkey Kong are on equal standing in this game in terms of screen time. Diddy isn't just Donkey Kong's Luigi in that his existence doesn't fulfill a multi-player role for your younger sibling. Donkey Kong and Diddy balance each other out quite nicely. Where Donkey Kong is bulky, Diddy Kong is nimble. Donkey Kong can defeat a larger array of enemies because of his larger stature and Diddy Kong can access more of a level because he can jump higher. Both character's attributes are required to traverse through each level, so you'll always have to be careful because once one character is hit, they gasp and run away until you find another barrel to bring them back. The dynamic between Donkey Kong and Diddy is so simple, yet works so well in the game that it's practically perfect. Many platformers with more than one playable character around this time were repainted clones, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong legitimately feel different when you are playing as either of them. The contrast between the two makes the player utilize the strengths of each character wisely and also makes them careful which character is upfront before they get hit. Not to mention, both characters move incredibly smoothly and there are plenty of ways to traverse the levels as either character when you only have one of them. There is also a bevy of animal buddies that you can find at almost every level. Each of them is different animals with their own unique attributes that control just as smoothly as the two main characters (although I swear I made too many unfair missteps with that damn frog). The smoothness and variation of control are a testament to what makes a solid 2D platformer especially with as many playable characters as DKC has.
Before discussing the strengths of how the levels in Donkey Kong Country are designed, one just can't overlook the game's aesthetic. Instead of using 16-bit graphics as per the usual SNES games, Rare implemented pre-rendered 3D graphics and compressed them into 16-bit graphics to fit on the SNES. They look like the bridge between the then-current generation of graphics with the future of what was to come in the next generation of early 3D games. It's a style that is stuck in a state of purgatory between these two eras, but this is for the benefit of the DKC series because it makes the series look distinctive. This tactic also makes the DKC series the best-looking games on the SNES. I was always somewhat deterred by the graphics of the 16-bit era because they often look very "drawn on" thus looking very dated. I find the 64-bit graphics charming and the once rudimentary 8-bit graphics have become their own distinctive graphical style over the years, so the era in between still looks a little awkward to me. DKC's graphics don't quite fit the common aesthetic of its era, but it's all to it's the benefit. For some reason, the style still looks fantastic. Every character, whether it be the playable characters or the varied animal enemies, looks so animated and expressive. The backgrounds are lush and practically look like paintings and the foregrounds are just as vividly clear. Why didn't other game studios think of ever doing this? Accompanying the lush, sprawling world of Donkey Kong Country is the soundtrack, an element to this game that is just as important as the graphics. David Wise did an outstanding job at perfectly capturing the right mood for every single level in this game. A highlight track for me is "Aquatic Ambiance" because of how mesmerizing it is. As far as I'm concerned, it's up there with "Aquarium" from "The Carnival of Animals" as far as effective watery music pieces go.
The world, or should I say country, of Donkey Kong Country, is divided very similarly to Super Mario World. The hub world is a map of the entire game divided into seven or so sub-worlds each with a varying number of levels. The first Donkey Kong Country game on the SNES is much more consistent with the overall level themes than the other two in that it maintains its overall jungle/rural tone. It only deviates from this theme later in the game in the factory levels, but the factories are still overrun with kremlings and other animals from previous levels making it seem like the factory is still rooted in the rustic world of this game instead of contrasting it. Like other 2D platformers, the objective is to get to point A to point B. Donkey Kong and Diddy can jump on enemies and roll into them giving the player a nuanced way of defeating enemies rather than just using one tactic in conjunction with getting through the level. Ropes are strewn around the levels to climb further and to dodge enemies on a rail, tires act as springs like in Sonic the Hedgehog, and barrels will launch you in any direction. The barrels are definitely the defining platforming feature of the DKC series. Utilizing the barrels in levels would evolve as the series went on, but I think they were used the best in the first game. The barrel sections are tense and require the greatest use of one's reaction time. You cannot make any mistakes in this game when it comes to the barrel sections.
On the map, Donkey Kong has other friends that aid him in his journey besides Diddy and his animal friends. There is the aptly ape named Cranky Kong who is a tiny old curmudgeon that lives in a cabin. He doesn't so much help you as much as he calls you a candyass and tells you about a challenge involving beating completing this game in under an hour, a feat that he apparently did long ago. Cranky is apparently the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game as an old man, and the modern Donkey Kong that we're all familiar with is his grandson which only makes me ask questions about what happened to Donkey Kong Jr. The aforementioned Candy Kong will help you similarly save your game to Super Mario World in which you have to unlock the save point after a certain number of levels. Lastly, there's Funky Kong that lets you travel to different areas of the map.
You'll get to know Funky and Candy Kong really well from saving at any possible point and stocking up on extra lives. You're gonna need them because this game and the rest of the Donkey Kong Country games have a reputation for being quite difficult. It almost reminds you that this game was developed by the guys that made Battletoads. Although not as consistently frustrating as Battletoads, DKC has an incredibly steep difficulty curb as early as the second world with the notorious "Mine Cart Madness" level. Up until this level, the platforming was pretty fair and the obstacles could be readily combated without much trouble, but this level throws all of that out of the window. For the entire level, you are forced inside of a minecart that constantly keeps moving and never stops. You'll have to efficiently time your jumps at every step, there are stationary mine carts to jump over, and kremlings will be coming at you from the opposite direction. What's funny to me is that somehow, this level is much more difficult than the mine cart level much later in the game. It's the level that separates the men from the boys and after this, the game never gets easier.
Like classic Sonic the Hedgehog, the root of the first DKC's difficulty comes from the "blindspot" difficulty. DKC oftentimes makes you memorize the placements of the pitfalls and enemies because passing them smoothly requires a lot of trial and error. There are pitfalls at every corner in this game that can be quite challenging to get through. Oftentimes, the game throws more gimmicks at the player like a level on a conveyor belt and a level that is mostly in total darkness. Tons of different types of enemies come at you from every angle each with a unique tactic to kill you and the hitboxes are oftentimes questionable. I felt like I needed a referee to debate my untimely death every other time I died trying to jump on an enemy. "Mine Cart Madness" even has a fake-out kremling after the developers know you've taken a breath of relief. The worst offender of these blindspots is "Poison Pond" in which taking the incorrect route will ultimately result in the Kongs getting hit. It doesn't help that the correct paths are filled with gyrating tires with little elbow room to dodge and the final part of this level has fish coming at you in every single space that it's practically a bullet-hell section. The game makes damn sure that the player never gets accustomed to dealing with the obstacles in this game unless you know how to overcome every single one of them. Fortunately, the game gives you ample opportunity to stock up on extra lives through mini-games and banana collecting. The bananas in this game act like the coins in Mario in that collecting 100 of them will reward you with an extra life. They mostly come in singles, but there are plenty of bananas that are stacked in tens. The abundance of bananas in the levels shows a nice sense of self-awareness from the developers in that they didn't want to leave the player high and dry with the steep difficulty of the game.
The levels in this game are certainly daunting, but the same can't be said about the bosses. In fact, the bosses in the first Donkey Kong Country are pitifully easy. You know it's troubling when you strain yourself over the levels and a boss fight seems like a place of relief. The bosses are essentially larger versions of the standard enemies and they only take a few hits to defeat. The boss before King K. Rool is a giant black barrel with a skull and crossbones in the middle of it and it's just a simple boss gauntlet. The barrel doesn't even hurt you when it slams down on the ground. King K. Rool, the final boss of this game and the Bowser of the DKC trilogy, is a different beast altogether. Instead of going down after a few cheap hits, King K. Rool is a formidable foe with a few different phases that will test all of the abilities you've been using throughout the game. All of the blindspots in the game will also prepare you for the bizarre kremling kredits that roll after you think you've defeated King K. Rool before the final phase of his boss fight. I'm ashamed to admit, but he pulled me into a false sense of victory when these credits rolled and he stomped me into the ground. I feel like an absolute idiot for not getting the hint from the credits considering the Rare staff all have kremling names. I figured they were all foreigners.
Donkey Kong Country totally revitalized the character (or technically, revamped Donkey Kong as a younger, more acrobatic version of the arcade game character) and forever made Donkey Kong one of the prime faces of Nintendo's extensive back catalog. As for the game itself, it takes the influences from other 2D platformers of the time and still delivers something unique. The art style and music are still just as captivating as they were when the game was released more than 25 years ago, and it's also one of the smoothest and diverse games of the time in terms of movement. This game is now rightfully considered a classic, but for me personally, everything that made this game stand out was vastly improved in the next two games in the franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment