Towards the end of the 16-bits era, Nintendo produced some of the best games (visually speaking) that were all a prelude to their upcoming Nintendo 64. Mario’s prelude to the next generation in Super Mario RPG: the Legend of the Seven Stars was wildly successful AND still is judging by the activity that games receives on Vizzed. Donkey Kong, his former archnemesis from Atari, preceded the Italian plumber in this transformation (it would even be followed by two other games). Donkey Kong Country is one of the most well-done platform game of its time.

Graphics: 10/10

No, this game was not made for N64 but for the SNES.

There are absolutely gorgeous. They are still limited by the 16-bit technology and don’t move 360 degrees like Mario RPG did a year later. Nevertheless both Donkey and Diddy Kong are very-well drawn. Their measurements are very realistic and their movement are life-like – Donkey Kong really looks like a gorilla whether he’s walking or running. Even when he’s idle he just pound his chest in… virility? On his side Diddy looks like a regular monkey, although he seems more human-like when he walks and run.

The difference in size (and strength) between the two apes is also well-managed. Donkey can lift a barrel over his head whereas Diddy can barely lift it off the ground. He also has a hard time killing enemies by jumping on them, unlike Donkey. However, Diddy seems to be running a little faster.

Your allies too are very-well drawn. You have an ostrich that runs quickly and can “float” down, a frog that leaps with great confidence, a swordfish that’s you only hope of killing underwater foes and a rhinoceros that will use its horn to destroy anything in sight, be it enemies or rocks leading to secret passages. You can even test them in a bonus round with a code at the intro screen, where you will have the possibility to collect a few lives, or by collecting three tokens during regular game play.

The levels themselves are also nothing like 16-bits consoles ever did before. Even if it’s in 2D (moving left and right or up and down), you can still see the efforts made to make them look like 3D. In the first few levels, for example, you can see some perspectives in the small hills you ape friends jump on to get whatever’s on it. The backgrounds too are magnificent. They are very colorful and appropriate for the environment, be it a jungle, a polar cap, a plant/waste water level or an ancient pyramid. Even your bananas turn 360 degrees and look real, unlike the coins in Mario RPG. There are even very noticeable differences in lighting; underground levels will be noticeably darker than overground levels, making the finding of secret passages more difficult – rock columns can also block your view, a dose of realism unseen before as well.

Your enemies are also well-designed. Like Donkey Kong, you can (by looking very closely) see the hairs from the mammalian enemies like the various groundhogs you find. The reptilians too are well-drawn and come in various forms, small and (mostly) big. Watch out for the larger ones and they are so strong that you can sometimes only destroy them with barrels.

Finally, bosses are HUGE. They are like five times larger than both of you and are fierce. They are repeated (a bald vulture, a groundhog and a bee, among others), but the second version is usually more difficult and the color is also different. When fighting them, you can see part of your stack of bananas… that’s still not quite ripe. King K. Rool’s design – that’s the final boss – was only beaten by subsequent Donkey Kong Country games. In DKC he jumps and throws his crown in an impressive manner that even Mario RPG couldn't’t reach. You can clearly see his scaly skin.

Oh, you can also see a complete map of your world where King K Roll has wreaked havoc, which was also a first. For Super Mario World, for example, you had to press Start and then move the cursor to see the various parts of the world.

Music: 8/10

Producers seem to have put as much effort into the graphics as they did for the music.

Although not as realistic and life-like as Final Fantasy VI, it still has a very good dose of realism. Just the introduction video shows Cranky Kong (an old ape) swinging his Victrola when Donkey Kong just drops with his huge stereo to show his modernity.

Levels all come with a variety of tracks and are appropriate for the level. Overworld levels have a very upbeat “jungle” sound in the first half – although the second would have been more appropriate for caves. The cave theme, though, is probably the best one when it comes to “appropriateness”. It’s slow and mysterious, there is a lot of echo in the track and you and hear the water dripping from the stalactites. Underwater levels also sound mysterious and slow, although they don’t sound as “magical” as they do in Mario, making them less interesting. Ice caves too have a little echo and their beat has a little something I like to associate with ice. Finally, the other memorable track I loved was the one taking place in a plant. It had a modern beat to it reflecting the technology all round you – the opposite of the ice caves (which aren’t realistically slippery like other similar games, though).

Sound effects were also given a lot of attention. You can hear a very distinctive sound for when the Kongs get hurt, although Donkey is more expressive when he triumphs over a boss – he shouts is glee whereas Diddy only throws his cap in the air. When waiting for too long, he just scratches his head whereas Donkey’s chest-beating yields a loud gorilla shout.

Your opponents too make sound and it’s proportional to their size – the huge reptilians sound “larger” than the small groundhogs. There’s even one that laughs at you when you’re unable to kill it when you jump; another has a realistic “deflect” sound when that happens. Bees have a scary buzzing sound (especially in boss form) whereas the vultures have an appropriate shout.

Finally, even your barrels have good sound to them. Steel kegs have a realistic-ish “bouncing” sound since they are indestructible, unlike wooden barrels that do sound like broken planks when they explode upon impact. The TNT barrels’ explosion sound is as realistic as it gets for 16 bits.

Slight caveat: the jumping sound from the rhino, the frog and to ostrich get annoying after a while. But the bonus rooms they uncover sounds like you’ve won the jackpot!

Addictiveness: 9/10

Along with good graphics and music, DKC was a game you just couldn't’t put aside. It mainly stems from two components.

First, it was the first platform game to be timed, at least for 16-bits consoles. In other words you wanted to beat the game as quickly as possible and actually could brag about it – Youtube didn’t always exist you know .

In addition, “completing” the game meant finding every single secret passages there were, totally 101 percent. Back before speedruns existed, getting all those passages could only be done by sheer skills, and Nintendo Power tapped in pretty well. I believe the best ones were like 50 to 55 minutes to get to 101 percent.

Finally, there was a two-player option, be it in cooperation or in opposition. I never tried that latter so I can’t talk about it. The other one however was very useful since, again like never before at least on the Super Nintendo – it existed on Sega Genesis since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992 – both players could play at the same time, greatly reducing the difficulty level.

Story: N/A

Like most platform games, the storyline is rather slim and can’t really be evaluated. In DKC, your mission is simply to get back the bananas the evil reptilian King K. Roll stole from you. You can see the empty room in the very first level, and you can see it filled up once you complete the game.

Depth: 9/10

This game is HUGE. It’s divided in six levels and a total of 33 levels (plus the boss at the end of each world and the final boss). All of them will keep you busy in many different ways

First, every level has the letters K, O, N and G which, if you can collect them all, give you a life. Collecting 100 bananas will also give you a life – picking a small stack will give you 10, a nice addition compared to similar games. There are also various colored balloons that also give you lives but, like the 1-Up mushrooms in Mario games, they are hard to find. There are also tokens from each animals you can collect; getting three will put you as them in a bonus stage where you must collect as many tokens as possible to get a maximum number of lives.

Second – and that’s the main strength in this game – there are tons of secret passages to be found, all of which add to your total in your quest for the 101 percent total. According to a walkthrough I found there are 67 of them dispersed everything. You know you will have found all secret passages when there’s an exclamation point next to the level’s name – some, like many of the underwater levels, don’t have any so you will see the exclamation point right upon completion.

Finally, the possibility of playing the game through over again once you complete it is always nice, especially when there are so many secret passages that are easy to miss – following bananas can sometimes be a clue as to where they may be. Plus, once you beat the game, you can see Donkey’s banana storage that’s completely full, making it obvious you completed the game – in Mario games you can’t save the game once you beat Bowser.

Difficulty: 6/10

While reasonable, the challenges in DKC are numerous.

As I said previously both Kongs have a noticeable difference in strength and it can be frustrating when you only handle Diddy. He’s weaker and therefore can’t kill them by simply jumping on them. He won’t die, but his bouncing back can easily kill you when a ledge is near.

In later levels, even Donkey can’t kill enemies by jumping on them, nor even by throwing regular barrels at them. You will need the steel keg, the TNT barrel or one of you animal friends to destroy them. Some enemies, while they do die with a barrel, can be very annoying like the bees. You can’t kill them by jumping on them and they sometimes take a lot of space. In the ice cave levels you sometimes have to quickly climb up or down ropes as they just stand there in the air.

Finally, later-level bosses are much more difficult than their earlier-level friends. The vulture gets much higher on the screen, the groundhog jumps much higher and quicker and the bee just buzzes very angrily and stays red (invincible) for a long time after you hit it with a barrel.

But overall, Donkey Kong Country is an excellent game – and I’m usually not fond of platform games. The graphics were astounding for the time, the music has the right groove for all the levels and the difficulty level is reasonable. Plus, you will need to look EVERYWHERE in order to reach the 101 percent mark as most of it comes from the 67 secret passages.