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DONKEY KONG COUNTRY Company: Rare/Nintendo Released: November 1994 Genre: Side-Scroller Graphics: 10 Control: 10 Sound/Music: 10 Storyline: 9.5 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

The first time I saw screenshots in Nintendo Power magazine of Donkey Kong Country, I honestly thought they were shots of an arcade game. I mean there was just no way a game that looked that good was running on Super Nintendo hardware. But as it turns out, I was wrong. Rare, a company known for pushing Nintendo hardware to its' limits, had created a drop-dead gorgeous game based on a newer graphics technology called "rendering." Using this advanced technology, Rare was able to bring levels to life with a realism that before was impossible. But as beautiful as Donkey Kong Country was to look at, the question that loomed was, "was it fun to play?" With the multi-million number of games sold, I would say the safe answer to that question is, yes...it is! Make no mistake about it...this game will knock your socks off with it's beautiful visuals. Not only does everything in the game have a super-realistic and sometimes shiny look to it, due in part to the rendering process of the graphics, there are also normally several layers of paralax scrolling moving at once when you're on the move and it looks sweet. To add to the tight look of the game, you can also throw in amazing character animation as well. Every character in the game has a very fluid motion to their movements and it only adds to the realism of this game. If ever there were a game that you could show the Super Nintendo's graphic muscle off with, Donkey Kong Country would have to be at the top of the list. Unbelievable. What Donkey Kong Country did for graphics processor on the Super NES, the music does the same for the sound chip. To be honest, DKC probably has one of the best non-rpg soundtracks of any game on the Super Nintendo. It's as brilliant as the visuals are. Lots of flutes and cool percussion highlight what is just an outstanding effort as far as music goes. The sound effects are good, but other than the cool monkey noises, they're pretty standard fare. This game makes a good case for just how far Rare can push a console's hardware limitations when given the time and opportunity. You can have the best looking and sounding game in the world, but without great gameplay it's not gonna do you any good. Donkey Kong Country manages to back up the great soundtrack and visuals with some very tight and responsive play control. As I mentioned above, there's a lot of gameplay built in to Donkey Kong Country. You can run, jump, swing from vines, swim underwater, ride special animals, get shot out of barrels, ride in a mining cart, as well as tons of others activities. Couple this with an almost-constant barrage of enemies coming at you from every direction, and you have one fairly challenging game. One sign of just how good Donkey Kong Country's play control shines is in the fact that the more you play this game, the better at it you become. Memorization plays a key role on some levels, as you have to know where the enemies and ledges are in order to avoid them. Same goes with getting shot out of the barrels. You have to get the timing down in order to be successful. Patience plays a key role in beating a lot of the later levels. Overall the play control in Donkey Kong Country is top notch. When Donkey Kong Country was first released for the SNES back in 1994 it was an immediate hit. And it's not difficult to see why when you take into account how advanced not only the visuals were, but also the sound effects and play control. What makes it such a timeless classic is the fact that it still holds up well even 11 years later and that's always a sign of just how great a game it really is. If you own a Super Nintendo then you must have this game. It's over-flowing with gameplay and still looks pretty good even by today's standards. Some will try to tell you that this game was all about visuals and not much about gameplay, but I've never bought that story and I'm sticking to my review of this game. A classic all the way.