This is simply a fan page for one of the defining games of my childhood.
Donkey Kong Country has always been a favorite of mine that is hard to top all of these years later.
I still find myself frequently replaying it, enjoying the music and the barrel challenges,
remembering a time when it was all brand new and exciting and a real challenge.



After all these years and playthroughs, while I still make mistakes and have to restart levels,
it's not nearly the challenge it held when I first played it as a young kid, watching my brothers discover secret areas,
being proud of myself when I found one of the secret level barrels before they could.

The platforming in DKC is super smooth. You can feel the difference between the larger Donkey Kong
and lighter, smaller Diddy Kong. There is a perfect mix of speed and hesitation that makes the
game perform really well. It allows for speed runs or slower and steadier playthrough.



The music by David Wise has been written about ad nauseum. As far as video game soundtracks go,
this game, in my opinion, has the best soundtrack out of any game I've played. Of course the underwater
levels get accolades for their track "Aquatic Ambiance", but two other favorites of mine have been
"Treetop Rock" which has a fun swinging feel to it (like actual swinging, not swing music) and
"Ice Cave Chant" is a really mellow song that simultanously brings an upbeat, optimistic feel with it.



The level design/artwork is my favorite among all of the Donkey Kong Country games, though all of the
Super Nintendo trilogy look fantastic. This first game stands out to me as the most "realistic", as far as
video games go anyway. The ancient temple setting was really cool as a kid, but my favorite settings by far
are the forest levels, the treetop town levels, the snow level settings, and the ice cave. They are all
gorgeous environments that really immerse you and get your imagination going. I remember how exciting it was
in the snow levels that as you went further along, the intensity of the snow would increase. What a cool idea
for the time!



One final aspect of the game that doesn't get talked about that much, but I really feel makes the game better
than the newer Donkey Kong games, is the aspect ratio of the game. Old SNES games had the small square CRT
television screens. There wasn't much screen real estate if you wanted to see anything of detail. Thus, the
players take up a good portion of the screen, and as they are centered on the screen, it leaves the player with
little room to react to upcoming drops, enemies, and obstacles. This requires a fast reaction time as you don't
get to see what's coming up ahead like you do with newer video games on larger TV's. The characters in newer
platformers all tend to be really far away too. I find it takes away from the game immersion greatly, but
alas, I know I'm in the small minority that thinks the original DKC trilogy is best.



I hope you enjoyed my rant and take a look around this humble fan page.

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