Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country (Super Donkey Kong in Japan) is a game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and was released in 1994. The game is known for being the first game to use pre-rendered sprites, creating a 3D effect throughout the game.

Story
King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's precious Banana Hoard from his home on Donkey Kong Island. With the help of his friend, Diddy Kong, Donkey must chase K. Rool to his ship, the Gangplank Galleon, and get back his bananas.

Gameplay
The game introduces the "tag-team" system. Diddy and Donkey Kong follow each other and each have their own unique abilities. Diddy is faster and more agile than Donkey, however, he's not as strong as Donkey and have difficulty defeating stronger enemies such as Krushas. Donkey Kong is stronger and slower, as well as having his own unique move called Hand Slap. If one of the Kongs happens to be attacked, he will run away and can't be used. A Kong can be "resurrected" by finding a DK Barrel and smashing it. Losing both Kongs or falling in a bottomless pit will cause an Extra Life to be lost.

Kong Allies
During their adventure, Donkey and Diddy are helped by the other members of the Kong clan. They are:
 * Cranky Kong helps by randomly giving hints. He also appears to give narration after the defeat of a boss in the Gameboy Advance version.
 * Candy Kong allows the player to save their progress. She also hosts a dance mini-game in the Gameboy Advance version.
 * Funky Kong lets the Kongs use his barrel jet, allowing them to visit worlds they have already completed. He also hosts a fishing mini-game in the Gameboy and Gameboy Advance version.

Animal Buddies
The Kongs are not the only ones to aid Donkey and Diddy in their quest, the wildlife also help. Each Animal Buddy is prisoner in a crate with their likeness on it. They are:
 * Rambi the Rhinoceros is first found halfway through the first level. He can defeat most enemies and break entrances to Bonus Levels.
 * Enguarde the Swordfish is exclusively found in underwater levels. He's the only way to defeat underwater enemies.
 * Winky the Frog can defeat most enemies by jumping on them, including Zingers, which can not be touched by a Kong otherwise. Winky also jumps very high, providing access to certain Bonus Levels.
 * Squawks the Parrot is the only non-rideable Animal Buddy. He assist the Kongs by carrying a lamp in the level "Torchlight Trouble".
 * Expresso the Ostrich is the least powerful animal buddy, having no way to attack. However, it's balanced by the fact that Expresso can glide through the air and is the fastest. Smaller enemies (such as Klaptraps) may also pass under her legs.

Items and Objects
During their adventure, Diddy and Donkey will run in a variety of collectibles.
 * Every 100 Bananas that are collected will give the player an extra life.
 * Banana Bunches are worth ten bananas.
 * Various kinds of Barrels can be found.
 * The Extra Life Balloons are worth extra lives.
 * The K-O-N-G Letters will give an extra life if the entire set is collected in a single level.
 * The Tire allows the Kongs to bounce to new heights.
 * The Animal Token will take the player to a minigame if three of the same type are collected.
 * The Minecart is found in two levels; the Kongs will have to ride it.

Worlds and Levels
The "world" (Represented by a Hut) located before Kongo Jungle on the overworld map can not be accessed. The Kongs are shown to start off their journey by leaving this area and heading to Kongo Jungle.

Kongo Jungle

 * Jungle Hijinks
 * Ropey Rampage
 * Reptile Rumble
 * Coral Capers
 * Barrel Cannon Canyon

Monkey Mines

 * Winky's Walkway
 * Mine Cart Carnage
 * Bouncy Bonanza
 * Stop & Go Station
 * Millstone Mayhem

Vine Valley

 * Vulture Culture
 * Tree Top Town
 * Forest Frenzy
 * Temple Tempest
 * Orang-utan Gang
 * Clam City

Gorilla Glacier

 * Snow Barrel Blast
 * Slipslide Ride
 * Ice Age Alley
 * Croctopus Chase
 * Torchlight Trouble
 * Rope Bridge Rumble

Kremkroc Industries, Inc.

 * Oil Drum Alley
 * Trick Track Trek
 * Elevator Antics
 * Poison Pond
 * Mine Cart Madness
 * Blackout Basement

Chimp Caverns

 * Tanked Up Trouble
 * Manic Mincers
 * Misty Mine
 * Necky Nutmare (GBC only)
 * Loopy Lights
 * Platform Perils

Gangplank Galleon
This pirate ship is not really a world, but the location of the final boss battle against King K. Rool. The Galleon can actually be seen approaching closer and closer each time a world is beaten until it's finally accessible after beating Chimp Caverns.

Bosses
Each Boss is found at the end of a world and guards a portion of Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard. Each boss (excluding K. Rool) is a bigger version of a generic enemy. They are, in order of appearance:
 * Very Gnawty
 * Master Necky
 * Queen B.
 * Really Gnawty
 * Dumb Drum
 * Master Necky Snr.
 * King K. Rool

Ports
The game was ported to the GameBoy Color in 2000. While it's a faithful conversion, there are still a few differences:
 * There are three different title screens.
 * Much like Donkey Kong Land, only one Kong appears at time.
 * The Gameboy printer can be used.
 * The level "Winky's Walkway" was extended.
 * A new level called "Necky Nutmare" has been added in Chimp Caverns.
 * The Kongs don't ride the Animal Buddies; rather, they become them.
 * Two minigames have been added: Funky hosts a fishing game known as Funky's Fishing (which would be later reprised in the GBA port) and Cranky oversees a shooting game.
 * Two additional difficulties have been added: the first one removes DK Barrels and the second one removes Star Barrels.
 * Some of the music in Donkey Kong Land was reused.

Another port was made for the Gameboy Advance in 2003. The changes for this one include:
 * Candy hosts a dancing mini-game at Candy's Dance Studio.
 * A "Time Attack" mode has been added.
 * The Rockroc enemy can now be defeated by using Donkey Kong's Handslap move.
 * Some enemies have different colors.
 * Some bosses were made stronger: Queen B. now has three Zingers surrounding her, Really Gnawty can make stalactites fall, Dumb Drum must have a TNT Barrel thrown at it, and the battle against Master Necky Snr. is against both him and Master Necky the younger simultaneously.
 * The game can be saved at any time on a map screen.
 * After meeting Funky once, he can be summoned anytime on the world map.
 * The maps have been redesigned.
 * Starting from Vine Valley onwards, a few of the levels have been placed in a different order; for instance, Temple Tempest became the sixth level in Vine Valley, rather than the fourth.
 * The credits took place in Donkey Kong's Treehouse in the original; they now take place on the Gangplank Galleon.
 * A new mode called "Videogame Hero" has been added. In this mode, the player controls a yellow-clad Diddy and will never encounter DK Barrels or Star Barrels.
 * The save also saves the number of lives.
 * The automatic barrels that sent players to bonus rooms were replaced by the Bonus Barrel used in the sequel.
 * The game had more voices.
 * A scrapbook was added, in which players had to collect Photographs throughout the game in order to add pictures to it.

Reaction and sales
At the time of its release, Donkey Kong Country was extremely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. According to Gamespot, Donkey Kong Country has a critic score of 9.3, having over 90% from every critic. Praise went to its graphics, music, and overall fun and addictive game-play.

Sales were more than expected, since the game was released at the peak of the 16-bit era, but when the Sega Genesis was at the height of its popularity, and the SNES witnessed its rise. The game had an extremely successful first day at the stores, and sold 8.5 million copies worldwide, 2nd on the SNES to Super Mario World. To date, it is the best selling Donkey Kong game and the best seller by Rare.

The game was placed 39th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.

Although it won 1994's game of the year by EGM, it was later placed on their top 10 overrated games, as well as on Gamespy's overrated games of all time list. It has mixed reactions today, but is still well-received by fans, and is a cult classic.

References to Other Games

 *  Donkey Kong- Cranky Kong claims to be the Donkey Kong in this game, he also makes mentions fighting Mario, and is seen in the final stage of this game in the opening scenes. The Oil Drums from the first stage were also featured in this game at Oil Drum Alley.
 *  Donkey Kong Jr.- If the above is true, Donkey Kong Junior is the Donkey Kong featured in this game.

References in Later Games

 * Donkey Kong Land: The semi-sequel, which contained gameplay elements from Donkey Kong Country, as well as remixes of some songs.
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: The direct sequel, which of course, contained many gameplay elements from its predecessor. Also, in the Game Boy Advance remake, Diddy makes a reference to the first game in the intro, stating that he didn't want to surrender the Banana Hoard to K. Rool after all that he and Donkey Kong went through to get them last time. Also, a remix of the Jungle Hijinxs theme plays in the bonus stages, and Winky could be seen in the background of Cranky's Monkey Museum.
 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!: As with Donkey Kong Country 2, many gameplay elements were reused (including the return of being able to balance the Kongs on steel barrels, which was absent in DKC2). Also, another Jungle Hijinxs remix can be heard at Wrinkly's Save Cave.
 * Super Smash Bros.: Donkey Kong appears as a playable character, and there's a selectable jungle themed stage, which contains a blasting barrel at the bottom.
 * Donkey Kong 64: Another installment in the series. It features the entire non-playable Kong cast, as well as another Jungle Hijinxs remix.

Trivia

 * The Gnawty enemy is pictured as blue on the boxart while they were gray in-game. They eventually became blue in Donkey Kong 64 and the GBA port.
 * This game has an adaptation in the Super Mario-Kun manga with some changes. Mario and Yoshi land in the Donkey Kong Country by mistake, and Cranky Kong asks to them help Donkey and Diddy in their task to find the bananas and stop King K. Rool.