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''Donkey Kong Country'', released in Japan as , is a Video Game developed by Rare , featuring the popular arcade character, Donkey Kong . It was released for the SNES and Super Famicom in 1994 . It was ported to the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Wii , and released on December 7 , 2006 in Australia , December 8 , 2006 in Europe , December 12 , 2006 in Japan , and February 19 , 2007 in North America . It was produced by Tim Stamper . This was the first Donkey Kong game that was not produced or directed by Shigeru Miyamoto . STORY In this game, Donkey Kong has to recover his stolen hoard of Banana s from King K. Rool and the Kremlings. His banana hoard was located just in a cave underneath his house. He has the special help of his nephew and best buddy, Diddy Kong , who idolizes DK. Cranky Kong lends some advice along the way. Funky Kong and Candy Kong also lend a hand. It was also the first time Donkey Kong's home environment, Donkey Kong Island , was established. DEVELOPMENT HISTORY Graphics The game was revolutionary in that it was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered 3-D graphics. It was a technique that was also used in Rare's '' Killer Instinct ''. Many later 3-D video games would also use pre-rendered 3-D together with fully 3-D objects. Rare took significant financial risks in purchasing the expensive SGI equipment used to render the graphics. Both Nintendo and Rare refer to the technique for the creating the game's graphics as "ACM" (Advanced Computer Modeling) Nintendo producer '' more like ''Donkey Kong Country.'' Music ''Donkey Kong Country'' also had a popular Soundtrack which was released on CD under the title DK Jamz . Composers Robin Beanland , Eveline Fischer , and David Wise collaborated on this ensemble of jungle music. The diverse composition consists of over 20 tracks. The soundtrack was also the focus of an OC ReMix collaboration entitled Kong in Concert . CHARACTERS
:Donkey Kong is the main Protagonist in the ''Donkey Kong'' Series (not to be confused with Cranky Kong , the main enemy in the original ''Donkey Kong'' game who is believed to be his grandfather). Donkey Kong is the game's main protagonist who becomes angered at the fact that his banana hoard has been stolen and is willing to take any measures to recover every last banana.
:Diddy Kong is the secondary protagonist in ''Donkey Kong Country'' and its spinoff ''Donkey Kong Land''. He is Donkey Kong's "little buddy" and Donkey Kong always entrusts him with jobs during the night time. Sometimes Diddy Kong does not want to put hard work into the jobs and that trait is what led to the theft of the banana hoard.
:K. Rool is the main Antagonist of the ''Donkey Kong Country'' and '' Donkey Kong Land '' Spin-off Series , and he is the leader of the Kremlings . K. Rool appears suited in nothing but a gold crown and a red cape. K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard and retreated to his pirate ship known as the Gangplank Galleon where he awaits the player. He has sent his various minions, the majority being that of the Kremling Krew, to many areas of the island, in hopes of capturing Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong.
:Throughout ''Donkey Kong Country'', players are able to find and ride animals to help them get through levels, defeat enemies, and find bonus stages. There are a total of five animal buddies in ''Donkey Kong Country''. The animals can execute special attacks the Kongs could not otherwise use themselves. Using this may reveal a secret passage to a bonus stage, or this can possibly be used as a powerful attack. The five animal buddies are as follows:
:When Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong ride on Rambi, he will use Rambi's charge to defeat enemies. Rambi is also capable of running very quickly.
:An ostrich wearing running shoes. He can run fast just like Rambi but can not jump on enemies. Expresso can fly in the air if the player hits the jump button repeatedly after jumping once.
:A frog with green and red coloring. He is very adept at jumping and can instantly defeat any enemy he jumps on including Zingers who normally can not be jumped on.
:A swordfish who is only found in underwater stages. He is a great swimmer and will improve the player's swimming ability when he is ridden. He can also stab enemies with his pointy nose.
:A green parrot who is not directly controllable nor playable. He only appears in the level "Torchlight Trouble" where he holds the torchlight to give the player a viewing area. The other Kong family members are as follows:
:Cranky Kong is the aging ancestor of Donkey Kong. He is Donkey Kong's father, and he claims to be the original Donkey Kong from Shigeru Miyamoto's original 1981 ''Donkey Kong'' arcade game. He is also Diddy Kong's grandfather. Cranky is best known for his wise cracks against DK and friends, his cranky attitude, and his blatant cockiness. Players will regularly run into the cabin he lives at where he offers help about stages in whichever particular world the player is in when speaking with him, while making a variety of jokes (often talking about the game's advanced nature or criticizing the player's skill level). Cranky can be found in Cranky's Cabin in every world.
:Funky Kong is found at Funky's Flights in every world map. He allows the player to travel back and forth through the many different worlds in ''Donkey Kong Country''. This is the only way to travel from world to world without having to defeat the world's boss again. Funky Kong uses a Jumbo Jet Barrel which is a barrel with wings and a cockpit resembling a Jumbo Jet protruding from it.
:Candy Kong is found at Candy's save point on every world map. Candy's Save Point is the only way to save the game's data. She is Donkey Kong's love interest. WORLDS ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a fairly lengthy game for a platformer, with particularly large levels filled with a plentiful amount of secrets. It is divided into areas called Worlds, each which typically contain a set of levels revolving around a certain themed setting. There are only six main worlds, with a seventh area titled the Gangplank Galleon. The game's six worlds, in order, are as follows: Kongo Jungle Monkey Mines Vine Valley Gorilla Glacier Kremkroc Industries Inc. Chimp Caverns GAMEPLAY The game played much like typical platforming games of the day. One noticeable difference was the inclusion of two characters: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Each Kong could take a hit, and once both were gone, a life was lost. The two had different abilities and strengths; Donkey could slap the ground and unveil secrets, as well as defeat stronger enemies, while Diddy was faster and more athletic. The player could switch between them via a "tag" that would be reused throughout the series. Donkey is best used in Caves, because there are stronger enemies in caves (according to the manual). Diddy is best for "acrobatic" levels. There were six worlds: Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries Inc., and Chimp Caverns (as well as one final level, Gangplank Galleon). Due to the game's graphical abilities, the levels could look quite different from each other, with one being a snowstorm-ridden mountain, and another being a dangerous factory. The Kongs' goal was to get to the end of the level, while collecting bananas (100 would give an extra life), extra life balloons, or animal tokens, which would send them to an animal partner themed bonus level. As with the Mario series, the Kongs could beat typical enemies simply by jumping on them. They can also throw barrels, slap the ground to turn enemies into a banana, or roll/cartwheel to knock them out. There were normal barrels, partner or DK barrels (which had a missing partner inside), steel barrels (which could bounce off walls and be ridden on), and TNT barrels which destroy enemies and certain walls with a powerful explosion. A prevalent part of the game were barrel cannon courses, where the player had to navigate the Kongs through cannon-like blast barrels. MARKETING As a part of Nintendo's marketing campaign, a 15 minute VHS tape titled "Donkey Kong Country: Exposed {Link without Title} " was sent to subscribers of Nintendo Power magazine. The video takes the audience on a brief tour of Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington and shows footage from the game when it was in the final stages of development. Several game testers provide tips on how to access bonus levels and perform tricks throughout the game. Various interviews promote the level of graphical complexity as being revolutionary for game systems at that time. A segment at the end of the video reminds viewers that the game is available only on Nintendo's 16-bit Super Nintendo console and not on rival 32-bit and CD-ROM based systems (e.g., Sega 32X and Sega CD ) that boasted superior processing power. In a "hidden" section at the end of the cassette, the host of the video opens a door and discovers that Nintendo of America testers are playing an SNES version of '' Killer Instinct ''. RECEPTION ''Donkey Kong Country'' was very successful upon release and was also available as a Pack-in Game in the Super Nintendo "Donkey Kong Set" (which contained the console, a controller, connections and the game). This facilitated sales of over a million copies, thus becoming a Player's Choice re-release title around 1998. The title also received Game of the Year honors from EGM for 1994 although it is now also considered by the magazine to be one of the Top 10 Most Overrated Games of All Time before their 200th issue anniversary.http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3128401 The game went on to sell 8.5 million copies, making it the second best selling video game for the Super Nintendo. SNES VERSIONS Donkey Kong Country The original version. Donkey Kong Country version 1.1 Almost exactly the same as the original release, with the exception being that a few glitches were fixed. Donkey Kong Country: Competition Cartridge A very rare version of the game used in competitions. The goal was to get as many points as possible before time ran out. Points could be gained by defeating enemies, throwing barrels, collecting bananas, collecting balloons, and collecting KONG letters. This is the full version of the game, but it has been slightly modified:
The cartridge and label's appearance are nearly identical to the non-competition releases, but can be identified as a Competition Cartridge if the top-right of the label has orange coloring with the words "Competition Cartridge" on it. SEQUELS Two sequels, '''', were later made in 1995 and 1996 respectively. All three games also had counterparts on the Game Boy in the form of the '' Donkey Kong Land '' series. In 1999 , a Nintendo 64 game was released called '' Donkey Kong 64 '' that was a direct sequel to the ''DKC'' franchise. This title featured a playable version of the original 1981 arcade classic ''Donkey Kong''. In March 2005, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the Gamecube, which used the "DK Bongos" that were also used by the Donkey Konga games. Also in September 2005, Donkey Kong: King of Swing was released for the Game Boy Advance. LATER VERSIONS In 2000 , a version was released on Game Boy Color . In 2003 , another version of the game was released for the Game Boy Advance . This version has the contrast increased to make the game easier to see on such a dark LCD. Both games had some new features including new minigames, hidden pictures, a new stage in the GBC version (known as Necky's Nutmare), and a Time Trial mode and the GBA version had multiplayer games. The GBA version also suffers from audio performance problems. Both versions also had a number of minor changes. Candy Kong no longer runs a Save Point, so you can save the game in any area. The GBC version had some of the music scrapped and replaced, often with music that originated in Donkey Kong Land . The Super Nintendo version has been released on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo Wii . The game was released in the Oceanic region on December 7, 2006, in Europe on December 8, 2006, in Japan on December 12, 2006, and in North America on February 19, 2007. It is a port of the version 1.1 cartridge. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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