Donkey Kong Country

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This article is about the video game. For the TV series, see Donkey Kong Country
(TV series).
Donkey Kong Country
The North American box art of Donkey Kong Country: a diorama featuring a number of
animals following Donkey Kong, who is running while carrying a banana. The diorama
is surrounded by the typical Western SNES box art border on the bottom and right-
hand side; the rating ("KA") and words "SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" are on
the bottom, while a tagline, "An Incredible 3-D Adventure in the Kingdom of Kong!",
is on the right. The upper right-hand corner features the words "Only for
Nintendo".
North American box art
Developer(s) Rare
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s)
Tim Stamper
Chris Stamper
Designer(s) Gregg Mayles
Programmer(s) Chris Sutherland
Artist(s)
Steve Mayles
Kevin Bayliss
Mark Stevenson
Adrian Smith
Writer(s)
Gregg Mayles
Daniel Owsen
Composer(s)
David Wise
Eveline Novakovic[a]
Robin Beanland
Series Donkey Kong
Platform(s)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance
Release
18 November 1994
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Donkey Kong Country[b] is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare and published by
Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a reboot of
Nintendo's Donkey Kong franchise and follows the gorilla Donkey Kong and his nephew
Diddy Kong as they set out to recover their stolen banana hoard from the crocodile
King K. Rool and his army, the Kremlings. The single-player traverses 40 side-
scrolling levels as they jump between platforms and avoid obstacles. They collect
items, ride minecarts and animals, defeat enemies and bosses, and find secret bonus
stages. In multiplayer modes, two players work cooperatively or race each other.

After developing Nintendo Entertainment System games in the 1980s, Rare, a British
studio founded by Tim and Chris Stamper, purchased Silicon Graphics workstations to
render 3D models. Nintendo sought a game to compete with Sega's Aladdin (1993) and
commissioned Rare to revive the dormant Donkey Kong franchise. Rare assembled 12
developers to work on Donkey Kong Country over 18 months. Donkey Kong Country was
inspired by the Super Mario series and was one of the first home console games to
feature pre-rendered graphics, achieved through a compression technique that
allowed Rare to convert 3D models into SNES sprites with little loss of detail. It
was the first Donkey Kong game neither produced nor directed by the series' creator
Shigeru Miyamoto, though he contributed design ideas.

Following its announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1994, Donkey
Kong Country was highly anticipated and backed by a major marketing campaign that
cost $16 million in America alone. It was released in November 1994 to acclaim;
critics hailed its visuals as groundbreaking and praised its gameplay and music.
Its quality and design were favourably compared to the Super Mario series. Donkey
Kong Country received several year-end accolades and set the record for the
fastest-selling video game at the time. With 9.3 million copies sold worldwide, it
is the third-bestselling SNES game and the bestselling Donkey Kong game. Following
the success, Nintendo purchased a large minority stake in Rare, which became a
prominent second-party developer for Nintendo during the late 1990s.

Donkey Kong Country re-established Donkey Kong as a popular Nintendo franchise and
is credited for helping Nintendo win the console war of the 1990s and maintaining
the SNES's popularity into the fifth generation of video game consoles. It is
considered one of the greatest video games of all time and has been ported to
platforms such as the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and digital distribution
services. Rare followed it with two sequels for the SNES, Donkey Kong Country 2:
Diddy's Kong Quest (1995) and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
(1996), and the Nintendo 64 game Donkey Kong 64 (1999). After a hiatus, during
which Rare was acquired by the Nintendo competitor Microsoft, Retro Studios revived
the series with Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) for the Wii and Donkey Kong
Country: Tropical Freeze (2014) for the Wii U.

Contents
1 Gameplay
2 Development
2.1 Background
2.2 Conception
2.3 Design
2.4 Graphics
2.5 Music
3 Release
3.1 Marketing
3.2 Context
3.3 Sales
4 Reception
4.1 Accolades
5 Post-release
5.1 Aftermath
5.2 Rereleases
6 Legacy
6.1 Retrospective assessments
6.2 Influence
7 Notes
8 References
8.1 Citations
8.2 Works cited
9 External links
Gameplay
From a side-scrolling perspective, Diddy Kong jumps in a jungle-themed level.
Donkey Kong trails behind him to the left, while a Kremling enemy hobbles away from
him on the right.
The player character, Diddy Kong, jumps on a Kremling in a jungle-themed level.
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platform game.[2] A reboot of the Donkey
Kong franchise,[3][4] its story begins when King K. Rool and his army of
crocodiles, the Kremlings, steal the Kongs' banana hoard.[5][6] The gorilla Donkey
Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong set out to reclaim the hoard and defeat the
Kremlings.[6] Donkey and Diddy serve as the player characters of the single-player
game; they run alongside each other and the player can swap between them at will.
Donkey is stronger and can defeat enemies more easily; Diddy is faster and more
agile.[7] Both can walk, run, jump, pick up and throw objects, and roll; Donkey can
slap the terrain to defeat enemies or find items.[8]

The player begins in a world map that tracks their progress and provides access to
the 40 levels.[9][10] The player attempts to complete each level while traversing
the environment, jumping between platforms, and avoiding enemy and inanimate
obstacles. Level themes include jungles, underwater reefs, caves, mines, mountains,
and factories.[11] Some feature unique game mechanics, such as rideable minecarts,
blasting out of cannons resembling barrels, and swinging ropes.[12] Each area ends
with a boss fight with a large enemy.[13] Donkey and Diddy can defeat enemies by
jumping on, rolling into, or throwing barrels at them. If hit by an obstacle, one
of the Kongs runs off and the player automatically takes control of the other. They
will only be able to control that Kong unless they free the other Kong from a
barrel.[13]

In certain levels, the player can free an animal that provides the Kongs with
special abilities, similar to Yoshi from the Super Mario series.[7] Buddies include
Rambi, a rhino that can charge into enemies and find hidden entrances; Enguarde, a
swordfish that can defeat enemies with its bill; Squawks, a parrot that carries a
lantern; Expresso, an ostrich that flies; and Winky, a frog that can jump high.[6]
[14] Each level contains collectible bananas, letters that spell out K–O–N–G,
balloons, and animal tokens.[15] These items can be found within the main level or
by discovering hidden bonus stages, where they are earned via solving puzzles.[16]
[17] The player starts with five lives.[18] Collecting 100 bananas, all the K–O–N–G
letters, a balloon, or three of the same animal token grants extra lives.[18][19]

The player can visit other members of the Kong family from the world map. Funky
Kong operates a flight service allowing the player to travel across different areas
of Donkey Kong Island; Cranky Kong, the aged incarnation of Donkey Kong from the
original Donkey Kong (1981), provides tips and fourth wall-breaking humour; and
Candy Kong saves the player's progress.[6][13][20] The player can increase their
completion percentage by finding bonus stages. Reaching the maximum 101 per cent
results in a different ending.[5] The game also features two multiplayer game
modes. In the competitive "Contest" mode, players take turns playing each level as
quickly as possible. In the cooperative "Team" mode, they play as a tag team.[10]
[21]

Development
Background
Tim (right) and Chris (left) Stamper; the middle-aged men both wear black polos
with red logos on the right of the buttons. Tim has a beard, while Chris is
balding.
Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper (right to left) in 2015
In 1985, the British game developers Tim and Chris Stamper established Rare Ltd.
The brothers previously founded the British computer game studio Ultimate Play the
Game and founded Rare to focus on the burgeoning Japanese video game console
market.[22] After Nintendo rejected their efforts to form a partnership in 1983,
Chris Stamper studied the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) hardware for six
months.[23] Rare demonstrated it was possible to reverse-engineer the NES and
showed several tech demos to Nintendo executive Minoru Arakawa; impressed, Arakawa
granted Rare a Nintendo developer licence.[24][25] Rare developed more than 60 NES
games, including the Battletoads series and ports of games such as Marble Madness.
[25][26]
When Nintendo released their next console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(SNES), in 1991, Rare decided to limit their output. Around 1992, Rare invested
their NES profit in Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) Challenge workstations with Alias
rendering software to render 3D models.[25][27] It was a significant risk, as each
workstation cost £80,000.[28] The move made Rare the most technologically advanced
UK developer and situated it high in the international market.[25]

Conception
Though it had purchased the workstations to produce games for the Nintendo 64,
which was in development at the time, Rare discovered it was possible to use them
with the 16-bit SNES.[24] Rare tested the SGI technology with Battletoads Arcade
(1994) and began developing a boxing game, Brute Force, using PowerAnimator.[26]
[28] Around this time, Nintendo was embroiled in a console war with Sega, whose
Mega Drive competed with the SNES.[28] Nintendo wanted a game to compete with
Sega's Aladdin (1993), which featured graphics by Disney animators,[26][29] when
Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln learned of Rare's SGI experiments
during a trip to Europe.[24]

After impressing Nintendo with a demonstration of Brute Force,[28] Tim Stamper—

inspired by Mortal Kombat's use of digitised footage in place of hand-drawn art—
suggested developing a platform game that used pre-rendered graphics.[27][30]
Nintendo granted the Stampers permission to use the Donkey Kong intellectual
property.[30] The franchise had been largely dormant since the unsuccessful Donkey
Kong 3 (1983),[31][32] so Nintendo figured that licensing it posed minimal risk.
[30] Some sources indicate that the Stampers obtained the licence after Nintendo
offered them their catalogue of characters and they chose Donkey Kong.[25][28]
Conversely, the lead designer Gregg Mayles recalled that it was Nintendo that
requested a Donkey Kong game.[29] According to Mayles, Nintendo codenamed the
project "Country" (based on Rare's location in Twycross), leading to the title
Donkey Kong Country.[33]

Rare assembled a team of 12, the largest in their history at that point, and
development began.[29] Nintendo was skeptical of Rare's approach to graphics,[29]
concerned it would make the game unplayable.[34] Early in development, Mayles and
other developers presented a demo to Nintendo staff in Japan. One in attendance,
the Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, felt the game "looked too 3D", but Mayles said
Donkey Kong's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, was supportive and gave Rare his approval.
[29] Donkey Kong Country was the first Donkey Kong game that was neither directed
nor produced by Miyamoto,[10] who was working on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's
Island (1995).[35] Miyamoto was still involved with the project and Rare said he
provided crucial input.[36]

Nintendo is usually highly protective of their intellectual properties, but was

relatively uninvolved with Donkey Kong Country, leaving most of the work to Rare.
[28][29] Gunn noted that the Stampers worked to shield the team from outside
influence.[28] Rare spent 18 months developing Donkey Kong Country from an initial
concept to a finished game,[28] and according to product manager Dan Owsen, 20
people worked on it in total.[27] It cost an estimated US$1 million to produce,[37]
and Rare said that it had the most man hours ever invested in a video game at the
time, 22 years.[36] The team worked 12–16-hours every day of the week.[38] The
programmer Brendan Gunn said that the team was under significant pressure from the
Stampers and to finish the game in time for Thanksgiving due to Nintendo's
competition with Sega.[28]

Design
The stages were painstakingly arranged so that the player could "go first time"
past obstacles (ie if there was a swinging rope then when it came on screen it was
swinging towards you so you could jump onto it straight away)... If you time
everything correctly, you can get through the level efficiently and impressively.
Gregg Mayles[29]
Rare drew inspiration from the Super Mario series, Mayles citing Super Mario Bros.
3 (1988) as the primary influence on the level design. Mayles wanted to make a game
that was accessible but would flow seamlessly for a skilled player; as such,
objects were placed so well-timed players could continually move through a level.
[29] Mayles noted that although the concept of speedrunning did not exist at the
time, "the way the game was designed definitely supports it".[39] The team designed
levels using Post-it Notes; they would conceive a set piece (such as swinging
ropes), create every variation they could think of, drew them on Post-it Notes, and
pieced them together.[40] Rare featured barrels as a primary game mechanic to pay
homage to the original arcade game,[41] and included hidden collectibles like coins
and balloons to add depth.[42]

Kevin Bayliss was in charge of redesigning Donkey Kong. He wanted a character that
looked believable and could perform animations like pounding his chest.[41] His
initial design was blocky and muscular to make Donkey Kong easy to animate, but it
became more cartoonish when Nintendo faxed reference material. Some of Bayliss'
designs were in the style of his Battletoads work,[43] and the final design's eyes
came from those of the Battletoads.[34] Miyamoto provided some suggestions,
including the red tie,[29] but left the design's specifics to Bayliss.[41]

Diddy Kong originated from Rare's search for a game mechanic akin to Super Mario's
power-up system. Mayles said: "We thought a second character could perform this
function, look visually impressive, and give the player a feeling that they were
not alone".[29] Mayles conceived Diddy as a redesign of Donkey Kong Jr.[29] Unlike
the original Donkey Kong Jr., Rare did not want Diddy to share his build with
Donkey Kong, so they based him on a spider monkey and made him agile to give him
distinct moves.[44] Nintendo considered the redesign too great a departure and
asked it to be reworked or presented as a new character. Mayles felt the redesign
suited the updated Donkey Kong universe, so he chose to make it a new character.
Naming the character was a challenge, and Rare dropped their preferred "Dinky Kong"
due to legal problems.[29]

Rare staff spent hours at the nearby Twycross Zoo watching and videotaping gorillas
for reference,[28] but found their movements were unsuitable for a fast game, and
instead based the running animation on a horse's gallop.[29] They also attempted to
record real gorilla noises, but they proved too quiet to be captured by their
microphone, so programmer Mark Betteridge provided Donkey and Diddy's voice clips.
[28] Rare positioned Cranky Kong as the original Donkey Kong character from the
arcade games but avoided mentioning this in the game and marketing materials out of
fear that Nintendo would disapprove of the idea,[34] though it was mentioned in the
instruction manual.[45] The antagonists, the Kremlings, were recycled from a
cancelled Rare game.[34] Rare's initial story was extensive and spanned 15 pages,
but Nintendo had it condensed to fit into an instruction manual.[27]

Donkey Kong Country did not have much scrapped content; Gunn said he only regretted
that Donkey Kong walks across dotted lines instead of paths on the world map, which
could not be implemented due to time constraints.[28] Reviewing the game for
release, Nintendo directed Rare to reduce the difficulty to appeal to a broad
audience, reasoning that the secrets would provide sufficient challenge for
hardcore gamers. At this point, Miyamoto made some last-minute suggestions, such as
Donkey Kong's terrain slap, that were incorporated.[46] Nintendo's Kensuke Tanabe
flew to Twycross to localise the game with Rare.[47]

Graphics
A photo of an SGI Challenge workstation: a computer monitor sits atop its tower.
Rare used SGI Challenge workstations (pictured) to produce Donkey Kong Country's
pre-rendered visuals.
Donkey Kong Country was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game
console to use pre-rendered 3D graphics,[28] a technique used in the earlier 1993
Finnish game Stardust for the Amiga.[27] Rare developed a compression technique
that allowed the team to incorporate more detail and animation for each sprite for
a given memory footprint, which better preserved the pre-rendered graphics.
Nintendo and Rare called the technique Advanced Computer Modelling (ACM).[29] Rare
briefly feared competition from DMA Design's Uniracers (1994), which also featured
pre-rendered graphics, but the staff was relieved upon learning that the player
character was Uniracer's only element that was pre-rendered.[28]

The artists began by modelling the characters in NURBS using PowerAnimator and
adding textures. They then created the animations and rendered them frame by frame
before compressing them for the game. The ACM process was handled by a designated
computer that had a proprietary utility similar to Deluxe Paint.[26] Adapting to
the cutting-edge SGI workstations was difficult;[28] Gregg Mayles' brother Steve
said they had a steep learning curve. The game was Rare's first to require multiple
programmers,[39] and they worked with little guidance.[26] To help, Nintendo
provided Rare with research material regarding apes, barrels, and caves.[27] The
pre-rendered graphics allowed for variety and detail uncommon at the time,[29] and
Tim Stamper constantly pushed the team to go further and incorporate weather and
lighting effects.[28]

The ACM process pushed the SNES hardware to its limits;[29] Betteridge said Rare
wanted to do everything they could with the hardware similar to what they had done
with the NES game Battletoads (1991).[40] A single SGI screen took up more memory
than an entire SNES cartridge, and Gregg Mayles described transferring the
backgrounds into the game by splitting them into tiles as "the bane of the
project".[29] Models took hours to render,[26] so the team would leave the
computers running overnight.[28] Sometimes, artists would shut down other artists'
computers in the middle of the process so they could render their own models.[26]
The SGI machines required a massive air conditioning unit to prevent overheating,
while the team worked in the summer heat without relief.[28] Programmer Chris
Sutherland was responsible for implementing the graphics and found reducing the
characters' frames of animation challenging.[26]

Music

"Aquatic Ambience"
0:21
A 21-second excerpt from "Aquatic Ambience", the music that plays in Donkey Kong
Country's underwater levels. The composition took five weeks to produce using a
Korg Wavestation and Wise has called it his favourite track in the game.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
David Wise composed most of the soundtrack.[48] Wise initially worked as a
freelancer and assumed his music would be replaced by a Japanese composer because
of the importance of Donkey Kong to Nintendo. Rare asked Wise to record three
jungle demo tunes that were merged to become the "DK Island Swing", the first
level's track. Wise was subsequently offered the job to produce the final score.
[49] Before composing, Wise was shown the graphics and given an opportunity to play
the level they would appear in, which gave him a sense of the music he would
compose. He then chose samples and optimised the music to work on the SNES's SPC700
sound chip.[38][50] Wise worked separately from the team in a former cattle shed,
visited occasionally by Tim Stamper.[28][50]

Donkey Kong Country features atmospheric music that mixes natural environmental
sounds with prominent melodic and percussive accompaniments.[51] Its soundtrack
attempts to evoke the environments and includes music from levels set in Africa-
inspired jungles, caverns, oceanic reefs, frozen landscapes, and industrial
factories.[28][51] Wise cited Koji Kondo's music for the Super Mario and Legend of
Zelda games, Tim and Geoff Follin's music for Plok! (1993), synthesiser film
soundtracks released in the early 1980s, and rock and dance music from the same
decade as influences,[49] and wanted to imitate the sound of the Korg Wavestation
synthesiser.[51] Wise wanted to compose in the style of 1940s jazz but was
restricted by the SPC700's limitations; he "used a lot of small samples and made
[the soundtrack] very synthesised" to work around them.[38]

Since Donkey Kong Country featured advanced pre-rendered graphics, Wise wanted to
push the limits in terms of audio to create "equally impressive" music and make the
most of the small space he was working with.[50] "Aquatic Ambience", the music that
plays in the underwater levels, took five weeks to compose. Wise considers the
track his favourite and the game's biggest technological accomplishment in regards
to the audio. K. Rool's theme was influenced by the work of Iron Maiden. For the
title screen theme, Wise remixed Nintendo's original Donkey Kong theme to
demonstrate how Donkey Kong had evolved since his debut.[50] Wise said his primary
focus was to make the most of the SPC700, and he input the music by hand to save
memory. He noted the process was easier than composing for the NES due to the
larger number of sound channels.[28]

Eveline Novakovic contributed seven tracks, including the world map theme, as her
first SNES project.[48][52] Novakovic was inexperienced with the SNES hardware and
Wise helped teach her as they worked together. She attempted to provide the levels
a sense of purpose and drew inspiration from film composers like Alan Silvestri and
Klaus Doldinger.[52] Funky Kong's theme was originally written by Robin Beanland.
[48] According to Beanland, the track was intended for an internal progress video
about another Rare game, Killer Instinct (1994), before Nintendo decided to use it
in a Donkey Kong Country promotional trailer. Beanland said Tim Stamper liked it
and wanted to include it in the game,[53] so Wise adopted it.[28]

Release
Marketing
Lincoln unveiled Donkey Kong Country at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago,
which took place from 23 to 25 June 1994.[54] The unveiling was the finale of
Nintendo's conference and did not reveal that Donkey Kong Country was a SNES game
until the end of the presentation, fooling the audience into believing that it was
for the upcoming Nintendo 64. Gregg Mayles recalled the audience was stunned in
silence before bursting into applause.[29]

As one of the flagship games of Nintendo's Play It Loud! promotion,[26] Donkey Kong
Country was backed by an exceptionally large marketing campaign—"marketing
blitzkrieg", as Hardcore Gaming 101 put it.[5] According to the Los Angeles Times,
Nintendo spent US$16 million on marketing Donkey Kong Country in America alone; at
the time, major games typically had an average marketing budget of US$5 million.
[55] Marketing materials emphasised the revolutionary graphics—often noting that
Rare's SGI workstations had been used to create the Jurassic Park (1993) film's
dinosaurs[56]—and positioned Donkey Kong Country as a direct competitor to Sega's
Mega-CD and 32X platforms to remind players it was not for next-generation
hardware.[57]

Nintendo sent a promotional VHS tape, Donkey Kong Country: Exposed, to subscribers
of the magazine Nintendo Power.[10][57] Exposed, hosted by comedian Josh Wolf,
provides a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse of the Treehouse, the Nintendo of America
division where games are tested.[10][57] Nintendo World Report wrote that Exposed
was "probably the first time most people outside of Nintendo learned about the
[Treehouse]" and the promotion allowed players to see the game for themself at
home, rather than having to learn about it secondhand from a magazine.[57] Exposed
also features gameplay tips and interviews with localisers, playtesters, and Tim
Stamper.[10][57]
In October 1994, Nintendo of America held an online promotional campaign through
the internet service CompuServe. The campaign included downloadable video samples
of the game, a trivia contest in which 800 people participated, and an hour-long
online chat conference attended by 80 people, in which Lincoln, Arakawa, and vice-
president of marketing Peter Main answered questions. Nintendo's CompuServe
promotion marked an early instance of a major video game company using the internet
to promote its products.[58] Nintendo gave away Donkey Kong T-shirts as a pre-order
bonus,[56] and partnered with Kellogg's for a promotional campaign in which the
packaging for Kellogg's breakfast cereals featured Donkey Kong Country character
art and announced a prize giveaway. The campaign ran from November 1994 to April
1995.[59] Fleetway Publications published a promotional comic in the UK in 1995.
[60]

A soundtrack CD, DK Jamz, was released via news media and retailers in November
1994,[61] with a standalone release in 1995.[62] It was one of the earliest video
game soundtrack albums released in the United States.[63] A promotional,
competition-oriented version of Donkey Kong Country was sold through Blockbuster
Video. Its changes include a time limit for the playable levels and a scoring
system, which had been used in the Nintendo PowerFest '94 and Blockbuster World
Video Game Championships II competitions. It was later distributed in limited
quantities through Nintendo Power. The competition version of Donkey Kong Country
is the rarest licensed SNES game; only 2,500 cartridges are known to exist.[5]

Context
See also: 1994 in video games
A Super Nintendo Entertainment System (a white video game console with two purple
buttons for "Power" and "Reset" and a grey one for "Eject") and its controller (a
gampad with a D-pad on the left, "Start" and "Select" buttons in the middle, four
buttons on the right, and two shoulder buttons on top).
Donkey Kong Country was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(pictured) when it was beginning to face competition from next-generation hardware.
By October 1994, Nintendo was still in fierce competition with Sega and its popular
Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Donkey Kong Country was released a month after Sonic
& Knuckles for the Mega Drive. The Los Angeles Times characterised the coinciding
releases as a battle; both featured company mascots, boasted "Hollywood-sized"
marketing budgets, and advertised revolutionary technological advances (lock-on
technology for Sonic & Knuckles and 3D-rendered graphics for Donkey Kong Country).
[55]

Donkey Kong Country was highly anticipated. Hardcore Gaming 101 wrote: "It was
everywhere. You couldn't escape it. It was on the cover of every magazine. It was
on gigantic, imposing displays and marquees at Wal-Mart and Babbages... For kids of
the era, November 20th seemed like the eve of a revolution".[5] The Exposed VHS
tape contributed significantly to the hype.[64] Donkey Kong Country was expected to
gross at least US$140 million in the US if it matched sales projections.[55]
Nintendo anticipated that it would sell two million copies in a month, an
expectation that Main acknowledged was unprecedented but was "based on the off-the-
chart reactions we've received from game players and retailers".[55]

USGamer noted that Nintendo, at the time of Donkey Kong Country's release, faced
difficulty to keep the SNES profitable. The fifth generation of video game consoles
was on the horizon, the 32-bit prowess of Sony's PlayStation and the Sega Saturn
far exceeding the SNES's capabilities. The Nintendo 64 was not due for release
until 1996, so Donkey Kong Country, wrote USGamer, served as Nintendo's "bluff" to
make it seem that the SNES could hold its ground against next-generation hardware.
[32]

Sales
Donkey Kong Country was released worldwide in November 1994, two weeks ahead of
schedule and around the Black Friday shopping season.[36][56] It was released in
the UK on 18 November,[36] in North America on 21 November, in Europe on 24
November, and in Japan on 26 November.[65] In Japan, the game was released under
the title Super Donkey Kong.[66] Donkey Kong Country set the record for the
fastest-selling video game at the time:[67] it sold over 500,000 copies within a
week,[68] and sales reached one million copies in the US alone in two weeks. In its
second week on sale in the US, the game grossed US$15 million, outpacing the week's
highest-grossing film (The Santa Clause, US$11.5 million) and album (Miracles: The
Holiday Album, US$5.2 million).[69] In the UK, it was the top-selling SNES game in
November 1994.[70] Donkey Kong Country sold six million copies worldwide in its
first holiday season,[71] grossing $400 million in worldwide sales revenue.[72]
Cumulative sales reached 9.3 million copies. Based on available sales figures, it
is the third-bestselling SNES game[26][73] and the bestselling Donkey Kong game.
[74]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
CVG 90/100[75]
EGM 9.25/10[c][76]
GameFan 100/100[77]
GamePro 4.875/5[d][13]
Next Generation [78]
Nintendo Power 4.5/5[e][79]
Total! 97/100[80]
Entertainment Weekly A+[81]
Top Secret [82]
Awards
Publication Award
1995 Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Video Game[83]
EGM Game of the Year, SNES Game of the Year, Best Animation, Best Game Duo[84]
GamePro Best Graphic Achievement[85]
Video Games: The Ultimate Gaming Magazine Game of the Year, Best SNES Game, Best
Action Game, Best Graphics, Best Gameplay[86]
Donkey Kong Country received critical acclaim and was lauded as a paradigm shift
that set new standards for video games.[76][81][87][88] Diehard GameFan and Total!
said it changed expectations for 16-bit and platform games,[87][88] and
Entertainment Weekly wrote it "is to most 16-bit games what most 16-bit games are
to their Atari forebears. Once you've played it, everything else before it seems
like a peewee".[81] Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) called Donkey Kong Country "one
of the few games that is actually as good as the hype",[76] and Total! declared it
the best game of 1994.[88] GameFan said that Donkey Kong Country set a new quality
standard that many developers would attempt to imitate.[89]

The visuals were considered the game's best aspect. Reviewers considered them a
major technological achievement, their detail unprecedented for a 16-bit game.[76]
[78][90][91] EGM said that the graphical quality prompted questions about the
purpose of 32- and 64-bit hardware.[76] Total! said the character animations
surpassed those of a Disney film and applauded the parallax scrolling.[90] Several
critics said the graphics were the best on available hardware,[78][79][90][91] with
Entertainment Weekly writing that they were comparable to matte paintings.[81] The
soundtrack and audio were also lauded.[81][76][88][92] Total! said the music built
atmosphere,[88] Top Secret wrote the "captivating" soundtrack asserted itself as a
masterpiece in its own right,[82] and EGM and Entertainment Weekly said the audio
quality was unprecedented for the SNES and on par with a CD's.[76][81]

Reviewers praised the gameplay for its variety and depth;[76][93][94] Entertainment
Weekly appreciated that it did not build upon the original arcade game's design.
[81] Total! described Donkey Kong Country as addictive, accessible and exciting,
with humour, imagination, puzzles and secrets, that proved there was still
potential in the platform game genre.[94] EGM and GameFan wrote that the game was
lengthy and offered plenty of technique,[76][95] and GamePro commended the replay
value that searching for bonus stages provided.[13] EGM and GamePro found searching
for bonus stages was challenging,[76][96] though GamePro said it was easy to
"breeze through the game" without them and criticised the boss fights as
simplistic.[96]

Critics frequently compared Donkey Kong Country to the Super Mario series,[76][94]
particularly Super Mario World (1990).[75][88][93] Some considered Donkey Kong
Country an improvement upon the Mario formula.[76][93][94] GameFan said it would be
a worthy successor to Super Mario World even without the graphics[93] and Total!
wrote that it took Mario's best elements, increased the speed, and presented them
better.[94] Next Generation felt the gameplay, though good, did not meet the
standards of previous SNES games such as the Mario and The Legend of Zelda series
and prevented it from being a "typical Nintendo blockbuster".[78] CVG wrote that
Donkey Kong Country was the only SNES game that matched Super Mario World, but that
it would be a conventional platformer without its graphics. It warned that
experienced players may find the game, designed for a broad audience, unoriginal.
[75]

Accolades
Donkey Kong Country received many Game of the Year awards.[25] For EGM's Best and
Worst of 1994, it won Game of the Year, Best SNES Game, and Best Animation; Donkey
Kong and Diddy Kong won Best Game Duo.[84] It also received Video Games: The
Ultimate Gaming Magazine's awards for Game of the Year, Best SNES Game, Best Action
Game, and Best Graphics.[86] Donkey Kong Country was the only video game included
in Time's Best Products of 1994 list, coming in second behind the Chrysler Neon,
[97] and it became the first game to win the Favourite Video Game Kids' Choice
Award at the 1995 Kids' Choice Awards.[83]

Post-release
Aftermath
In April 1995, following Donkey Kong Country's success, Nintendo purchased a 25 per
cent minority stake in Rare,[24] which increased to 49 per cent over time.[25] Rare
was the first non-Japanese studio to enter such a relationship with Nintendo,
making them a second-party developer; Nintendo published Rare's subsequent games
and allowed them to expand its staff from 84 to over 250 and move out of the
farmhouse to an advanced development site elsewhere in Twycross.[24] Rare was one
of the first developers to receive Nintendo 64 software development kits and
decided to start spending more time developing fewer games.[24][30] Nintendo and
Rare's partnership produced acclaimed Nintendo 64 games such as GoldenEye 007
(1997), Banjo-Kazooie (1998), Perfect Dark (2000), and Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001).
[24][25]

A proposed Game Boy port of Donkey Kong Country was repurposed as a separate game,
Donkey Kong Land (1995), after the programmer Paul Machacek convinced Rare that it
would be a better use of resources and expand the potential audience.[98] Rare
began developing concepts for a Donkey Kong Country sequel during production,[99]
and Nintendo green-lit the project immediately after the success.[100] Donkey Kong
Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, released in 1995, features Diddy rescuing a
kidnapped Donkey Kong from K. Rool and introduces Diddy's girlfriend Dixie Kong.
Diddy's Kong Quest was designed to be less linear and more challenging,[101][102]
with a theme reflecting Gregg Mayles' fascination with pirates.[102] Like its
predecessor, Diddy's Kong Quest was a major critical and commercial success.[103]

Other teams at Rare used Donkey Kong Country's technology in the fighting game
Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996) and Donkey Kong
Land III (1997), which attempted to replicate Donkey Kong Country's visuals and
gameplay on the handheld Game Boy.[26] Following Diddy's Kong Quest, the Donkey
Kong Country team split in two:[52] one half began working on Project Dream, a
role-playing game that used the Donkey Kong Country technology,[f][104] and the
other on Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996).[52] Rare
followed Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! with Donkey Kong 64 (1999), the first Donkey
Kong game to feature 3D gameplay.[26] In 2002, Rare was acquired by Nintendo's
competitor Microsoft and the Donkey Kong rights reverted to Nintendo.[25][100]

Rereleases
Diddy Kong rides a rhino, Rambi, and rams into a beaver enemy, Gnawty. The upper
left screenshot shows the SNES version, the upper right shows the GBC version, and
the bottom shows the GBA version.
Different versions of Donkey Kong Country: the SNES original (top left), the Game
Boy Color version (top right), and the Game Boy Advance version (bottom)
In 2000, Rare developed a port of Donkey Kong Country for Nintendo's Game Boy Color
(GBC) handheld console.[105] It was released in North America on 4 November 2000,
in Europe on 17 November, and in Japan on 21 January 2001. The port was developed
alongside the GBC version of Perfect Dark[106] and many assets, including graphics
and audio, were re-used from the Donkey Kong Land games.[5] Aside from graphical
and sound-related downgrades due to the GBC's weaker 8-bit hardware, the port is
mostly identical to the original release.[107] One level was redesigned and another
was added.[5] It also adds bonus modes, including two minigames that supplement the
main quest and support multiplayer via the Game Link Cable, as well as Game Boy
Printer support.[107][108] The GBC version was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual
Best Game Boy Color Game and Best Platform Game awards.[109]

Despite its acquisition by Microsoft, Rare continued to produce games for

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (GBA) since Microsoft did not have a competing
handheld.[25] It ported Donkey Kong Country as part of Nintendo's line of SNES
rereleases for the GBA.[110] The GBA version was released in Europe on 6 June 2003,
in North America on 9 June, and in Japan on 12 December.[111][112] It adds a new
animated introductory cutscene,[113] redesigned user interfaces and world maps,[5]
the ability to save progress anywhere, minigames, and a time trial mode.[113] It
features downgraded graphics and sound,[5][113] the former due to the GBA's lack of
a backlit screen.[26] The GBA version sold 960,000 copies and earned $26 million in
the US by August 2006. Between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 19th
highest-selling game for a Nintendo handheld console in the US.[114]

The SNES version of Donkey Kong Country has been digitally rereleased for later
Nintendo consoles via Nintendo's Virtual Console service. It was released for the
Wii Virtual Console in Japan and Europe in December 2006, and in North America in
February 2007.[115] In September 2012, the game was delisted from the Virtual
Console for unknown reasons, though Kotaku's Jason Schreier suggested it may have
been related to licensing problems with Rare.[116] Donkey Kong Country returned to
the Wii U's Virtual Console in February 2015[117] and was added to the New Nintendo
3DS Virtual Console in March 2016.[118] It was included in the Super NES Classic
Edition, a dedicated console Nintendo released in September 2017,[119] and was
released on the Nintendo Switch for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in July
2020.[120]

Legacy
Donkey Kong Country's visual appeal helped the SNES remain popular in a period of
uncertainty for cartridge-based games.[17] Consumers were unfamiliar with 3D
graphics at the time.[32] According to Official Nintendo Magazine, by bringing
next-generation graphics to the SNES just 12 days before the PlayStation's Japanese
launch, Donkey Kong Country persuaded consumers that an immediate upgrade was
unnecessary.[121] IGN wrote that the game "saved the SNES" and revitalised sales by
bringing back lapsed fans.[7] Donkey Kong Country also helped Nintendo pull ahead
of Sega and win the console wars of the 1990s.[122] Whereas Nintendo continued to
release AAA games such as Donkey Kong Country, Sega had alienated audiences with
add-ons such as the Mega-CD and 32X,[71] and its subsequent console, the Saturn,
failed.[122]

The Donkey Kong Country series re-established Donkey Kong as one of Nintendo's most
popular and profitable franchises.[100] Donkey Kong Country heralded Donkey Kong's
transition from villain to hero;[100][123] Rare's redesign became his standard
appearance,[124] and its gameplay format was followed by sequels.[100] The game
inspired an animated series that ran for 40 episodes from 1997 to 2000,[125] and
Diddy Kong starred in a Nintendo 64 racing game spin-off, Diddy Kong Racing (1997).
[126] Following Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, the Country series went on a hiatus
until Donkey Kong Country Returns, developed by Retro Studios, was released for the
Wii on Donkey Kong Country's 16th anniversary in 2010. A sequel, Donkey Kong
Country: Tropical Freeze, was released for the Wii U in 2014.[100] Wise, who left
Rare in 2009, returned to compose Tropical Freeze's score.[38]

Retrospective assessments
Reviewing the Virtual Console rerelease, Nintendo Life felt the visuals were still
among the SNES's best,[6] and Jeuxvideo.com said they had offered a new depth of
realism.[14] IGN and AllGame said the visuals remained impressive for the SNES
(though IGN thought they were no longer as significant a draw),[7][127] while
GameSpot thought the graphics rivalled 32-bit consoles.[2] Conversely, USGamer said
that, though technically impressive, they did not age well, with "cringe-inducing",
"paper-thin backgrounds".[17] Hardcore Gaming 101 agreed, writing that the visuals
looked plastic-like, did not hold up well once the novelty of pre-rendering had
worn off, and were clearly experimental, even if their detail was admirable.[5]
Critics praised the GBC version for attempting to preserve the visuals in spite of
hardware limitations,[18][128] but criticised the GBA version's downgrades,[111]
[129] which IGN considered detrimental to the experience.[113]

Shigeru Miyamoto, a middle-aged Japanese man wearing a herringbone blazer and white
shirt.
Rumours spread that Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto (pictured in 2015)
disliked Donkey Kong Country; the reports are seemingly apocryphal.[32]
Donkey Kong Country became divisive in the years following its release.[32]
Eurogamer wrote that it became popular to dislike it in the early 2000s,[130] and
it was often described as one of the most overrated video games.[124][131][132] For
example, Vice wrote that it did not deserve to be considered a classic and,
alongside GameSpy, called its gameplay unremarkable and lacking depth.[124][133]
According to IGN, critics accused Donkey Kong Country of "sacrificing gameplay for
the sake of a short-run attention grab and quick impulse sales",[7] which USGamer
attributed to the "flimflammery of its visuals and the relative mundanity of its
actual game design".[32] USGamer wrote the game was often criticized as an example
of style over substance, with gameplay that was arguably inferior to SNES launch
games such as Super Mario World and Super Castlevania IV.[32] GameSpy complained
that Donkey Kong Country overshadowed games such as Yoshi's Island, which it
considered superior.[124]

Nonetheless, Donkey Kong Country is considered one of the greatest video games of
all time.[134][135][136][137] USGamer wrote that the criticism was unfair because
it "exudes craftsmanship ... Rare went to great pains to create a consistent,
seamless world that managed to convey trompe-l'oeil immersion", something few
developers could replicate.[32] Though retrospective reviewers criticised the boss
fights,[5][6][17] they praised the rhythm, variety, and replay value.[2][6][7][17]
[127] Polygon said that although some aspects had not aged well, Donkey Kong
Country remained among the best Donkey Kong games and deserved praise for
resurrecting the franchise.[138] Its soundtrack is considered one of the best in
games,[73][113] praised for its atmosphere and diversity.[5][14][17] Hardcore
Gaming 101 said it was the one element that had unquestionably aged well and
contained some of the 16-bit era's most memorable music.[5]

In the years following its release, rumours spread that Miyamoto disliked Donkey
Kong Country and found it amateurish,[32] and that he had created the hand-drawn
art style of Yoshi's Island in retaliation to its pre-rendered visuals.[32][139]
The author Steven L. Kent allegedly quoted Miyamoto as saying that "Donkey Kong
Country proves gamers will put up with mediocre gameplay if the art is good" in a
1995 Electronic Games interview.[139] Kent said that Nintendo's marketing
department had rejected Yoshi's Island for lacking Donkey Kong Country's pre-
rendered graphics, which had possibly motivated Miyamoto's remark.[139] Miyamoto
denied this in 2010, noting he "was very involved in [Donkey Kong Country]. And
even emailing almost daily with Tim Stamper right up until the end".[140] In 2014,
USGamer referred to Kent's claims as "seemingly apocryphal".[32]

Influence
Donkey Kong Country exerted "revolutionary influence", according to GameSpot.[123]
Kotaku said its unprecedented graphics represented the future of games and Nintendo
World Report wrote that it set standards for how platform games could look and
play.[56][141] Sega commissioned BlueSky Software to develop the Mega Drive game
Vectorman (1995) in response to Donkey Kong Country's popularity.[142][143] Many
developers imitated the visuals;[32] IGN identified the Saturn games Clockwork
Knight (1994) and Bug! (1995) as examples.[144] USGamer wrote that few games
achieved the same quality and that 2.5D games, such as Crystal Dynamics'
Pandemonium! (1996), exposed the "illusion upon which [Donkey Kong Country] was
built".[32] Kotaku said Donkey Kong Country was an event that could not be
replicated in modern times due to the game industry's growth.[56]

Naughty Dog's founders Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin cited Donkey Kong Country as the
primary influence on their break-out game Crash Bandicoot (1996).[145] Crash's
first functional levels drew upon techniques employed by Donkey Kong Country, such
as steam vents, drop platforms, bouncy pads, heated pipes, and enemies that move
back and forth.[146] The pre-rendered visuals inspired other games, including Kirby
Super Star (1996) and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (1996),[147][148] and critics have
identified Donkey Kong Country references or influence in games such as the Mega-CD
version of Earthworm Jim (1995),[149] Sonic Blast (1996),[150] Rayman Origins
(2011),[151] Mekazoo (2016),[152] and Kaze and the Wild Masks (2021).[153] The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation credited Donkey Kong Country for maintaining
the popularity of 2D games and ensuring the development of new entries in the
Mario, Kirby, and Yoshi series.[3]

The soundtrack was also influential and Wise developed a cult following for his
work.[154] Rearrangements of the music appear in Donkey Kong 64, Donkey Kong
Country Returns, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze,[155][156][157] and in
crossover games such as Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. fighting series.[158] Its
tracks are often remixed, Wise contributing to an OverClocked ReMix album in 2004.
[159][160][161] The A.V. Club wrote that "Aquatic Ambience" alone spawned a "minor
cult" dedicated to remixes.[162] The rapper Donald Glover sampled "Aquatic
Ambience" in his 2012 song "Eat Your Vegetables"; Wise expressed approval.[163] In
2019, the composer Sam Miller reconstructed the soundtrack after locating Wise's
original samples.[164]

Donkey Kong Country established Rare as one of the leading video game
developers[25] and set the standard for its work.[133] It originated conventions
characteristic of Rare's later output, including an emphasis on collecting items,
[5] visual appeal, and tech demo-like design.[133] Nintendo and Rare's partnership
continued until Star Fox Adventures (2002) for the GameCube, after which Rare was
acquired by Microsoft.[25] The 2019 game Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair—
developed by Playtonic Games, whose staff includes Rare alumni that worked on
Donkey Kong Country—was noted for its gameplay similarities to Donkey Kong Country,
[165] though Playtonic's head Gavin Price declined to label it a spiritual
successor.[166] Nintendo Life also identified similarities between Donkey Kong
Country and Kroko Bongo: Tap to the Beat! (2017), a platform game developed by the
Stampers' mobile game studio FortuneFish.[167]

Notes
Credited as Eveline Fischer
Known in Japan as Super Donkey Kong (Japanese: スーパードンキーコング, Hepburn: Sūpā
Donkī Kongu)[1]
EGM's four reviewers gave Donkey Kong Country one 10/10 score and three 9/10
scores.[76]
GamePro gave Donkey Kong Country three 5/5 scores for graphics, control, and fun
factor, and a 4.5/5 for sound.[13]
Nintendo Power gave Donkey Kong Country a 4.9/5 for graphics, 4.1/5 for play
control, 4.6/5 for challenge, and 4.4/5 for theme and fun.[79]
Project Dream was eventually retooled into the Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie
(1998).[104]
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