I'm moving back to the first of the series I began yesterday, to Donkey Kong Country. Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country was released on the Super Nintendo in November of 1994. It reintroduces Donkey Kong in his first lead role since the original Donkey Kong.
The game begins with Donkey Kong bursting out of his jungle tree house at the base of Donkey Kong Island. You can enter Kong's Banana Horde through the entrance beneath the tree house and see the horde is empty and the bananas have been stolen. So Donkey Kong, together with his friend Diddy Kong, must trek up the island to defeat King K. Rool and retrieve the stolen bananas.
The first level consists of a straight forward run through the jungle, grab bananas, stomp on the gnawtys and kremlings. A bit into it, you get your first chance to meet an animal buddy: Rambi the Rhinoceros. Rambi allows you to charge through the level pretty much unimpeded, he even unlocks a few secret areas by running into the walls. Unlike the sequel, the secret areas aren't mini-games but simply hidden areas to grab extra bananas and extra lives. As you get to the end of the first level, the sky slowly begins to darken before you go into the exit cave.
The second level begins much like the last one ended, dark and stormy as you exit the cave. Donkey Kong Country is pretty good about having each level transition into the next. It keeps the generalized jungle throughout the entirety of the game, so the transitions are relatively easy. The second level is mostly rope swings from treetop to treetop. The game gives a bit more of a challenge then the first level by allowing the life loss if you miss a jump and fall into one of the pits and there are some jumps near the end where you have to jump over some ziggers (hornets).
After the second level ends, you meet your first "helpful" Kong: Cranky Kong. Cranky takes his time to ramble on to you about how much is wasted in this game and complain to you about everything while bashing you on the head with his cane. He is nice by randomly throwing in a hint to you between the complaints and rambling though.
The game continues much like the first two levels, and while each level is a different design, it seems a lot quicker then the sequel. Each of the levels seems a lot shorter and, at least in the first world, gives you an easy route to finish the levels. An example, near the beginning of the first water level, you get Enguarde the Swordfish and the level is just a matter of time from there. The game is also a bit quicker because without the bonus stages, the secret areas are just extra areas and there is no feeling to go search for them beyond just completing the levels.
So the first world completes with a boss fight, and the first boss is a cake-walk as you face the Giant Gnawty (beaver). The Gnawty hops towards you sorta menacingly, and then you jump on it's head, it coughs, laughs a bit, then goes after you again. After a few bounces, the Gnawty coughs a few times then collapses and the boss is defeated. And you get your prize: a giant Nintendo banana. And so another game is played and another day is done. I'll finish the Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES tomorrow. Adios for today though.
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