Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthough of Nintendo's 1994 platformer for the Super NES, Donkey Kong Country.

I finish the game with a 101% completion rating.

Donkey Kong Country (or Super Donkey Kong, as it was named in Japan) was a huge eye-opener when it first came out. Nintendo hyped it endlessly in the months leading up to the release, going so far as to send all Nintendo Power subscribers a VHS tape featuring gameplay footage. Like pretty much every other kid with a Super Nintendo, I was super into the entire marketing blitz. And luckily, Santa came through with an awesome haul that Christmas. Between the copies of DKC, Illusion of Gaia, Final Fantasy III, Lethal Enforcers, and Stunt Race FX that I found under the tree on Christmas morning of 1994, I had a whole lot of good gaming to last me well into 1995.

The thing that Nintendo was obviously banking on to sell Donkey Kong Country was the graphics, and they in no way failed to meet and exceed the enormous expectations that had be built up in fans. Execs at the big N had been convinced to let Rare have a shot with one of their hallowed original IPs after seeing some work done with the British developer's new Silicon Graphics workstation, and the results speak for themselves. Rare had done the impossible on the aging 16-bit platform: they managed to produce something that seemed like a true generational leap at the time. And taking into account some of the techniques used in sequencing the music, the sound wasn't far behind the graphics in quality.

It might be difficult to appreciate the impact that Donkey Kong Country had if you don't have any memories of gaming from the time, but the presentation was truly unprecedented. It made a huge dent in Sega's ego (see Vectorman), and it extended the SNES's shelflife considerably. I mean, why go buy a 32X or the upcoming Saturn or Playstation when the system you already had could do this?

The gameplay was great as well, and helped to cement DKC's status as a classic. It's simple - it plays a lot like the Mario games - but the tag team mechanic, the animal friends, and the nonstop supply of bonus stages made it all feel fresh again.

Donkey Kong Country was a well deserved, smashing success and a true testament to the creativity and talent that had earned Rare its reputation as a world-class software development house.

But I'm sure everyone reading this is probably well aware of that. I mean, if you haven't played Donkey Kong Country... well, do you know what a SNES is?

Merry Christmas, everybody!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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