Donkey Kong Country

[Suits]

So recently I've decided to go back to some old classics that I never actually got around to finishing back in the day, mainly games on the Super Nintendo.

My aim is to focus on one game and play it through until completion.

My first one, Donkey Kong Country.

I never actually owned the cartridge when it came out in 1994, I would have been around 10 and a brand new Donkey Kong Country cart was the right side of £60 if I remember correctly, so it was a Rare sight in the playground come swap time.

My close friend did have it but was reluctant to lone it out for whatever reason, which meant that my experience with it was when I'd go around his house.

What this meant was that I never really had a proper crack at it, I either jumped in at which ever world he was currently on, which often meant I was way in over my head regards the difficulty curve, or went back to choice levels on previous worlds (Mine Cart Madness for example) to try out.

Starting at the beginning and running through it all, was always something I wanted to do.

I'm playing this on a Super Famicom console with a SD2SNES flashcart, running the US version of the game, on a SONY PVM with Bose component speakers.

Firstly, I still think it looks fantastic on a CRT. It looked completely different to the other SNES games I was playing at the time, the traditional bubbly, chewy look that Super Mario World or Zelda:LttP had, this almost looked real and I'm sure the classic term 'how can anything ever look better' was used often.

The soundtrack was and again, still is glorious. I love it, I sing along to it adding words to the beat and making my wife whinge.

I love the simplicity of it, the sound, the visuals and the feel on your thumbs.

There's nothing really I can say about this that hasn't been said, or people already know for their-selves.

Looking back at it in 2017, it's impossible to perhaps notice some beautiful imperfections.

The controls could be tighter I think. They do feel a bit woolly at times, especially when you need precise actions on the ice levels. I do think this game is best played at pace though and the controls feel better and much more at home when played like that I think.

The screen framing (FOV), should be better. Not sure if this is a hardware bottleneck rather than a design oversight but at times, I'd just wish the screen would center itself better around the Kongs, too many times I wished for a better view of what was either coming up, above or below me. Fighting King K. Rool I found this frustrating on the cannon ball run when KKR was on the left. That said, I got through it without too much trouble, it was just something that I noticed.

Frame rate is pretty solid but there were a few times when I was going back for the bonus areas and looking about, that I noticed some slowdown. Although when I was swinging through the levels initially, I didn't notice anything. Odd.

This isn't my favorite game, or something I think is perfect but I certainly did enjoy my time going back to it and looking at it with more experience.

All in all, as you can see, I got the full 101%, in a rather random 4 hours, 44 minutes .

[ratsoalbion]

Ha, I got 101% back in the day too but I'm pretty sure it took me at least twice that long!

NB: I was 22 y/o when my then girlfriend got it for me for Christmas 1994.

[Suits]

Seems unreal when you start seeing the number of years involved doesn't it.

Like I said, I was about 10 or 11 when I first played this, in my head I was much older.

[ratsoalbion]

Seems unreal when you start seeing the number of years involved doesn't it.

Like I said, I was about 10 or 11 when I first played this, in my head I was much older.

Half my lifetime ago!

[Alex79]

My brother and I loved the Donkey Kong Country games, we had all 3 on the SNES back in the day. Pretty sure he still has them. They were all good games, but the first will always be the best for me. Used to love the mine cart levels. I had a quick go on them again recently and they hold up really well. I wouldn't mind a re-release on current gen with trophies etc. as long as they didn't try to tart the graphics up. Actually, I still have it installed on my Wii I think, might have to do a complete playthrough this year too.

[Michiel K]

Firstly, I still think it looks fantastic on a CRT.

Pretty much this. Playing them on Wii VC on a flat HD screen makes the DKC games look like a mess. It's really a night and day difference. Scanlines, phosphor glow, slight fuzziness and deeper black levels make the games come alive and give the characters this tangible, spatial look.

[Suits]

It's really a night and day difference. Scanlines, phosphor glow, slight fuzziness and deeper black levels make the games come alive and give the characters this tangible, spatial look.

I went down the rabbit hole a bit on this after picking a cheap Goodhams CRT up on Gumtree for a fiver and was blown away by the responsiveness and 'pop' of the graphics over a LED TV.

Ended up meeting a Sky Technician round the back of a building in West London, who sold me a 20" Sony Professional Video Monitor that had been ripped out of an TV studi when they switched over to digital.

I now run full RGB directly from my SNES to this High Res CRT and the results are glorious.

[Michiel K]

Those PVMs are something else, I hear. Although I don't know how I will feel about that extra crispness. This is a crappy phone pic of how the game looks on my Trinitron FD.

[Suits]

Nice.

Good picture that, I understand that pictures just don't them justice.

The extra crispness of the HR PVM Trinitrons, plays to the strengths of the image that the consoles create, so it really does make a difference. The extra image quality comes from the number of lines that the CRT can produce. Closet comparison is something alike from 720p to 1080p.

That said, even a basic low end CRT will produce something far far better than any flatscreen can. Plus the benefit on no lag whatsoever.

Trinitrons are great. Which one do you have ? You using SCART or S-Video ?

All I need now is 1 CHIP SNES/SF and I'm sorted in my hunt for the probably the best image quality you can get out of a 16-Bit Nintendo.

[Suits]

My brother and I loved the Donkey Kong Country games, we had all 3 on the SNES back in the day. Pretty sure he still has them.

Sweet, keep hold of those man, those carts are going up up and up in price. If they're boxed, even more so.

I'll probably play through Diddy's Kong's Quest next, I'm currently going through Super Metroid.

[Michiel K]

Trinitrons are great. Which one do you have ? You using SCART or S-Video ?

It's called an FD Trinitron and was manufactured post-2000. One of the last generations with 4:3 screen dimensions. Bit of a hassle to look at the back label right now, but this comes fairly close.

I'm using an aftermarket RGB cable from consolegoods.co.uk on a standard, unmodded PAL SNES. In the not too far future I want to add 60hZ switches to my 16-bit consoles, and then I'm straight.

[Flabyo]

I have a combined region and 50/60 switch on my mega drive I soldered in myself.

Playing sonic at the right speed is fun.

[Michiel K]

I have a combined region and 50/60 switch on my mega drive I soldered in myself.

Playing sonic at the right speed is fun.

I bet! And playing those Disney platformers at an acceptable speed, I imagine.

Anyway, back to Donkey Kong Country... I revisited it not too long ago too and thought it probably would not hold up, with the graphical sheen worn off. But I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's no Super Mario World (and what really is?), but it's cool to see that they already had this design ethos going on where many stages offer distinctly unique challenges, such as the Stop 'n Go Station, the different types of mine cart stages, levels that almost entirely consisted of barrel blasting...

It also feels a bit like Nintendo and Rare's answer to Sonic's cool factor (DK busting onto the scene with his ghetto blaster) and speed (animal riding, barrel blasting, speed runnable level designs).

I actually never played the 2 sequels. Might have to buy them on my next trip to a - errrm - retro convention.

[Suits]

I have a combined region and 50/60 switch on my mega drive I soldered in myself.

Playing sonic at the right speed is fun.

Clever girl. I'm not one to try those sort of mods myself, although I understand they are quite straight froward if you know what you're doing.

I've considered setting up my Mega Drive for RGB. Road Rash, Desert Strike, SoR and Sonic would be glorious to play properly.

It also feels a bit like Nintendo and Rare's answer to Sonic's cool factor (DK busting onto the scene with his ghetto blaster) and speed (animal riding, barrel blasting, speed runnable level designs).

I actually never played the 2 sequels. Might have to buy them on my next trip to a - errrm - retro convention.

Ha, Ive never thought of it like that, (DKC being Nintendo's Sonic) Interesting thought that.

The next London gaming market is in early March, I expect you'll find some decent carts there. Take an expanded purse though.

I'm planning to give all 3 a good effort, in order, to see what improves between the titles. Didn't want to overdo the Kong though, so I'm going to space them out with some other titles first.

[raisinbman]

So the biggest thing i remember from this is getting stuck pretty early which was frustrating because then you'd have to pass the controller on death at the daycare. Between that and the mine cart levels, never got very far.

But the kicker is, I didn't realize as a dumb kid you held B and after your attack, you'd be running. In coming back to the game on wii virtual console and GBA, this immediately allowed me to beat where I was stuck as a kid.

In listening to the podcast, it was interesting to hear dkc1 described as lonely and 'edgy.' Never really thought of it as such, its an interesting perspective.

I did end up beating all 3, which was cool.

[Alex79]

Good timing, I'm playing through the first one at the moment little by little on Switch, with the intention of doing the second one afterwards, and probably the third will be released by the time I've finished that as well.

It's still a good game. I mean it is, isn't it. It's a good platform game. I've heard a few murmers around the Internet that they've not aged that well, but I think they're still pretty playable. When you put it next to something like Rayman Oranges and Lemons, which are probably the pinnacle of 2D platformers at the moment, DKC does come off a little worse for wear, but still compared to a lot of stuff they feel really responsive, quick, and enjoyable.

[raisinbman]

It's definitely still a good game, yeah. It's been a while since I played them through, but the music, graphics, and worldbuilding the first two, especially have were a good deal.

In terms of aging well I can't really speak on, but it seems that Super Meat Boy is to platformers what dark souls is to the entire gaming industry. I dunno. I enjoy the characters and such(which is why I was a bit bummed they dropped kremlings post-3).

3 is the most out of place, but still worth playing. Sort of - if you couldn't get enough from the first two, there's 3! I dunno, I get the feeling after listening to a ton of C&R that Rare really just should do something then move on, or at least have the desire to do so.

[stvnorman]

Finished the first one for the first time a few weeks ago and played a few levels of the second on Switch last week. I quite like them both - good look and they’re decent platformers. Just didn’t find them very memorable, in that way that Super Mario World, for example, will get into your head after you’ve turned it off and keep nagging at you until you turn it back on again. With DKC I’d actually forgotten I was most of the way through it for months before I remembered it was there!