Snow Barrel Blast

Snow Barrel Blast is a level in Donkey Kong Country. It's the first level of Gorilla Glacier.

Description
As one might expect, this level takes place on a snowcapped mountain peak. There are lots of Barrel Cannons in this level, and the terrain is very slippery. The level weather starts out clear, but transitions to a dark blue sky, then light snow, then a gray background with light snow, then a dark gray background with heavy snow, and finally, when the player reaches the Star Barrel, a full-on blizzard.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that the hardware apparently couldn't handle the transitions of Jungle Hijinxs, Ropey Rampage, or Orang-utan Gang, the GBA version does preserve the transitions and the blizzard, albeit slightly simplified. The GBC version doesn't have the blizzard or any of the sky transitions.

Many fast-moving Neckies appear to try and blindside DK and Diddy. Also, many Zingers fly around and try to get in the Kongs' way.

This level is considered by many fans to be very, very hard. Towards the end of the level, the player has to slog through many spinning Barrel Cannons, including a few that move up and down while spinning. Many Zingers also appear in this area. If the player points the third cannon in this section down and blasts out, they can take a massive shortcut that allows them to skip all the spinning barrels. At the end of the barrel canon portion of the level is a blue balloon which can only be collected if the player completes the section quickly.

K-O-N-G Letters

 * K: Just before the third cannon.
 * O: In the second bonus level.
 * N: Can be found on the path to the third bonus, or in between the two barrel cannons that the Bonus Barrel is near.
 * G: Is in two locations. One of them is the shortcut.

Bonus Levels

 * 1) Stop the Barrel: The Kongs must get on top of the igloo at the beginning of the level and wait for the slow-moving Necky to draw near. When it gets close enough, they must jump on the Necky and use their boosted height to land in the hidden barrel cannon. Inside, they have to play a shell game with a Winky token.
 * 2) Collect the Bananas: After hitting the Star Barrel, go left and jump on or over the Krusha. Inside, aim well with the moving and spinning Barrel Cannon to get every banana and an O.
 * 3) Find the Exit: After getting past a flock of Neckys after the halfway point, DK and Diddy will find a spinning Barrel Cannon with a Zinger. They must shoot out while it's pointing down, then navigate their way across the floating islands until they reach the Bonus Barrel. This bonus is similar to the first bonus of Barrel Cannon Canyon, but the Kongs are now dealing with spinning cannons instead of moving cannons. Each cannon they successfully land in will spin faster.

Trivia

 * Strangely enough, much of the music in the Cliff world of Donkey Kong Country Returns is a remix of Northern Hemispheres, despite the fact that there are no icy levels in the game at all. Coincidentally, the Cliff is located in roughly the same spot as Gorilla Glacier, and its existence is believed to be the result of the nearby volcano melting away all the snow.
 * In the original SNES version of this level, the Steel Keg makes weird noises. It's unknown why, as the level's music doesn't share any sound banks with the keg, nor do any of the sound effects or the echo effect that sometimes happens when the player switches Kongs.