Donkey Kong Country is the first instalment of the Donkey Kong Country series and the first game in the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. This video game was released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This game is a platformer developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. The playable characters are Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong Country was followed by two sequels: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in 1995 and 1996.
The game was remade for the Game Boy Color in 2000 and was also remade again for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Donkey Kong Country was ported over to the Wii's Virtual Console in 2006 and 2007. On November 25, 2012, for reasons unknown, Donkey Kong Country and both its sequels were delisted from the Wii's Virtual Console worldwide except in South Korea, but on October 30, 2014, the games were relisted only in Europe and Australia. Around the same time, the games were released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Europe and Australia, in Japan on November 26, 2014, and in the United States and Canada on February 26, 2015. For handhelds, Donkey Kong Country was ported exclusively over to the New Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in March 2016. It is one of the 21 games included on the Super NES Classic Edition and was made available for the Nintendo Switch Online on July 15, 2020.
Story
The story for Donkey Kong Country is about the Kremlings stealing Donkey Kong's bananas and kidnapping Donkey Kong's nephew Diddy and putting him in a barrel. After Donkey Kong saves Diddy Kong from the barrel, both Donkey Kong and his nephew go together to fight the Kremlings and other enemies so they can get back their large collection of stolen bananas.
Worlds
There are six worlds and a final boss battle on Gangplank Galleon sometimes referred to as a world. The worlds are;
- Kongo Jungle
- Monkey Mines
- Vine Valley
- Gorilla Glacier
- Kremkroc Industries Inc.
- Chimp Caverns
- Gangplank Galleon (sometimes considered as a world)
Bosses
There are seven bosses in Donkey Kong Country. These bosses include;
- Very Gnawty
- Master Necky
- Queen B.
- Really Gnawty
- Dumb Drum
- Master Necky Snr.
- King K. Rool
Changes between the ports
Donkey Kong Country had two remakes; one for the Game Boy Color and one for the Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy Advance version has a larger amount of changes, while the Game Boy Color version doesn't have as much changes. The changes are listed below;
Game Boy Color
- This version contains three different title screens, one chosen at random.
- Even in the North American version, the game can have English, Spanish, French, German, or Italian chosen as the language. This is not present in the Japanese version.
- The mode selection screen is made to resemble that of Donkey Kong 64.
- Only one Kong can be present at once. When one of them is hit, the other one appears. The other Kong is located at the bottom-left part of the screen with a DK Barrel icon to indicate the that Kong is there.
- The victory dance and victory music is taken out of the game.
- The world map can be viewed all over by the player pressing SELECT and then uses the left or right buttons on the D-Pad to view the overworld of a world.
- The Game Boy Color version added compatibility with the Game Boy Printer as Sticker Pads were also added.
- Winky's Walkway has been extended from the original version and even features another Mini-Necky.
- A new stage named Necky Nutmare has been added in this version. It appears in Chimp Caverns as the fourth level of the world. This stage is located after Funky's Flights and before Loopy Lights.
- Two new minigames called Funky Fishing (this one reappears in the Game Boy Advance version under the title of Funky's Fishing) and Crosshair Cranky.
- Candy's Save Point has been renamed to Candy's Challenge. This makes the game autosave after a level is completed.
- Some of the music has been reused from Donkey Kong Land. Otherwise, it is an 8-bit remix of the SNES version's music.
- The Cast of Characters is no longer featured before the end credits and is replaced with various screenshots which feature levels not seen in normal gameplay.
- Donkey or Diddy transforms into Animal Buddies, rather than riding them. If the animal buddy is hit or if SELECT is pressed, the animal transforms back into Donkey or Diddy, depending on the controlled monkey.
- Two additional difficulty settings have been added; there is one that removes DK Barrels, and another one that removes Star Barrels. These modes can be used once the game is completed for the first time to gain extra Sticker Pads.
- There is no sunset in the level Orang-utan Gang and no rain in Ropey Rampage. Orang-utan Gang takes place during the day and Ropey Rampage is only nighttime.
- The fifth world, Kremkroc Industries, Inc. is simply renamed to Kremkroc Industries.
- The temple in Temple Tempest is blue instead of yellow.
- In Slipslide Ride, the purple ropes are replaced with blue ropes which slide the player downwards, while white ones which replace the blue ones slide the player upwards.
- When a stage is completed, the stage's name when the stage is selected turns pink, instead of being marked with a "!" at the end of the stage's name.
- Gnawties ride on top of the millstones, instead of inside them. The Gnawties on the millstone are also recolored to a regular red palette in favor of the Game Boy Color's limited color palette.
- All of the Zingers in the game are yellow and do not appear in various colors.
Game Boy Advance
- The world maps are redone to zoom in more. Some layout changes have also been done.
- Starting from Vine Valley and onwards, some of the stages have been rearranged such as Croctopus Chase and Ice Age Alley.
- Funky Fishing is renamed to Funky's Fishing. An all new minigame named Candy's Dance Studio also appears which replaces Candy's Challenge and Candy's Save Point from the previous two versions.
- A new time attack mode called DK Attack has been added as a mode on the main menu.
- There is a Hero Mode where players can play the game as a yellow Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong is excluded though.
- Rock Kroc can be defeated by the use of Donkey Kong's hand slap while it is dormant. This also happens in the Japanese version of the original Donkey Kong Country.
- Some enemies have changed colors. An example is a standard Kritter is originally green and is changed to purple or purple Klaptraps being changed to red.
- A scrapbook feature has been added. This causes hidden cameras to hide all over Donkey Kong Island.
- Several bosses have new strategies. This includes;
- Queen B. - Uses smaller Zingers as a shield when she is attacked.
- Really Gnawty - Causes stalagmites to fall with a giant pounce.
- Dumb Drum - Can only be defeated by the use of a TNT Barrel rather than all the enemies having to be defeated.
- Master Necky Snr. - During the first round, Master Necky aids Master Necky Snr. in battle. After one is defeated, the other one becomes more ferocious.
- The game can be saved at anytime on the world map by pressing START.
- Funky can be summoned on the world map when needed. This only happens after Funky is visited first.
- Smaller animals appear as background elements such as spiders and rats.
- The game saves the number of extra lives the player has collected. This feature was criticized by many as it removed the challenge from the game.
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| Console platforming | |
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| Mario vs. Donkey Kong | |
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| Other games | |
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| Characters | |
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| Related articles |
- Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.
- Donkey Kong Country (TV series) (Episodes)
- Donkey Kong
- The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
- Crazy Kong
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