Donkey Kong Country

"I'll hunt them down through every part of my island, until I have every banana from my hoard back!!"

- Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Country (	スーパードンキーコング, Sūpā Donkī Kongu in Japan) is a game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and was released in 1994. It was among the first games to receive an ESRB rating. The game is credited with bringing back the Donkey Kong character as well as starting a new franchise entirely based around new characters and gameplay. While Rare had made some popular games in the past such as Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country is credited with making them an industry well-known.

The game is known for being the first game to use pre-rendered sprites, creating a 3D effect throughout the game. The graphics were made with expensive Silicon 3-D graphic models and compressed for 2-D SNES. This allowed them to have more detail in animations and large amounts of detail, for a 16-bit console, which was revolutionary at the time.

The game was very successful, selling over nine million units, and has been re-released over various platforms including the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and the Wii's Virtual Console. However, starting November 25, 2012, Donkey Kong Country and its two sequels, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! are being pulled from the European Wii Shop service for reasons unknown. In addition, the games have already been pulled from the Virtual Console in North America without any prior warning at an unknown date.

Story

 * This intro is based on the Game Boy Advance remake's intro. The original intro can be viewed here: 

On a dark and stormy night on Donkey Kong Island, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong's nephew, has taken responsibility of guarding Donkey Kong's precious Banana Hoard for one night, as a part of his "hero training". Donkey Kong entrusts Diddy with protecting the hoard until midnight, where he will be relived, while Donkey Kong catches up on some sleep. Everything seems to go smoothly in the hoard until Diddy hears some noises. Diddy hears some voices outside, and gets scared, asking who's there. King K. Rool commands his Kremlings to seal Diddy inside a barrel and hide him in the nearby bushes. Two ropes drop from above, and suddenly two Kritters appear. Diddy cartwheels them both easily, but then a Krusha comes in as backup. Diddy is not strong enough to defeat Krusha by himself, so is overpowered and defeated. In the manual's prologue, a Klump instead overpowers Diddy.

Cranky rushes inside the treehouse to tell Donkey Kong what happened. Cranky apparently woke him up from a nice nap. He then tells Donkey Kong to check his Banana Cave (Hoard). Donkey Kong is infuriated, exclaiming that the Kremlings will pay for stealing his bananas and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong goes on to say that he will hunt every corner of the island for his bananas back. During this time, King K. Rool presumably loaded his cargo onto the Gangplank Galleon.

The Kongs' quest would take them all over Donkey Kong Island. They travel through the jungles of Kongo Jungle, the ruins of the Monkey Mines, forests of Vine Valley, the snowy tundra of Gorilla Glacier and the caves of Chimp Caverns. As the duo progress through the island, the Gangplank Galleon can be seen slowly approaching the island from the horizon. After finishing the Chimp Caverns, the ship docks on the island and the Kongs have their final battle with King K. Rool. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong fought a long and harsh duel with the Kremling ruler; the tyrant used his ship to his advantage, firing cannonballs and trying to trap the two heroes. K. Rool even faked his own death. However, the Kongs triumphed over the K. Rool, winning their Banana Hoard back and restoring peace to the island. This wasn't the last of King K. Rool, though; he sails away and the Kongs celebrate.

General Gameplay


Donkey Kong Country is famous for introducing a "tag team" element of gameplay. In the single player mode, the player controls Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong both have unique abilities. Donkey Kong is the "heavy" character, able to defeat nearly every enemy easily by himself, has a barrel roll, and can Ground Pound. In return, he is slower than Diddy and cannot use the Cartwheel ability to gain as much distance. Diddy Kong, as mentioned, can cartwheel off ledges and jump to gain huge distance, and is more agile than DK. He however cannot ground pound and has trouble defeating certain enemies alone, notably Army, Klump, and Krusha.

In single player, each Kong only takes one hit from any enemy. Once hurt, the Kong will run off screen. If there is another Kong on standby, the Kong takes over. If there is not a Kong on standby, a life is lost. Donkey/Diddy can be brought back once injured with the help of the DK Barrel. As long as there is at least one Kong in play, there are no lives lost. However if they both fall into a bottomless pit, a life is lost. When both are present, the player can easily switch between the two on the ground.

In multiplayer, player one is Donkey Kong and player two is Diddy Kong. Unfortunately, in order to have two players, a separate file must be made for the two player mode. In addition, there are two settings for multiplayer - two player contest or two player team. In either case, the gameplay is exact. The first player controls DK, and once defeated, player two (Diddy) must press a button in order to take over (if available). Essentially, if the first player is hurt, the second player takes over, and when the second player is hurt, the first player takes over. The game also keeps a score for both players, to keep track of which player completed a certain amount of levels. The player whom completed the most levels "wins" in the end. The player can change to a different Kong by pressing "SELECT".

Items
During their adventure, Diddy and Donkey run in a variety of collectibles and other usable items. There are a variety of items. Some items are similar to Super Mario World: bananas are the basic "coins" from the Mario series and the Extra Life Balloons are the basic "1-ups".


 * Animal Tokens are golden tokens of regular animal buddies, and when three of the same type are collected, brings the player to a bonus area.
 * Bananas function as coins from the Mario series; they are common, and upon one hundred collected, a free life is given.
 * Banana Bunches are the equivalent to ten bananas.
 * Extra Life Balloons are the base life counters. They have three colors; a red balloon, which gives one life, green which yields two, and the rarest blue colored ones which reward three lives.
 * K-O-N-G Letters are collectible, gold letters spelling out "KONG", all four letters found in each level, and once all are gathered, a red life balloon is obtained.
 * Mine Carts are signature vehicles in-game, despite being found in two levels. They are the main means of transportation in mine levels, and can not be stopped.
 * Tires are green, bouncy objects that are used to gain height.

Barrels


The concept of barrel throwing is re-imagined in Donkey Kong Country, much different from the initial Donkey Kong concept, as now barrels are not only a weapon, but also serve many other useful purposes:


 * Auto-Fire Barrels fire almost immediately upon landing inside.
 * Barrel Cannons, the Kongs must simply get in the barrel. The barrel then launches them when the player presses "B" ("A" in later versions).
 * DK Barrels are breakable barrels that free a defeated or absent Kong when broken.
 * The Funky Barrel is an airplane shaped-barrel that is the main way of transportation provided by Funky Kong.
 * Fuel Barrels are a one-time usage barrel needed to keep a moving platform on limited fuel moving.
 * Star Barrels are the game's checkpoints; jump and break it for the checkpoint. Usually halfway through the level.
 * Steel Kegs can be thrown and they roll on the ground and also bounce off walls.
 * Stop & Go Barrels are encountered exclusively in the level "Stop & Go Station" that have some odd connection to Rock Krocs.
 * TNT Barrels are rare, powerful barrels full of explosive TNT.
 * Vine Barrels are a type of wooden barrel, the most notable difference is the fact that they break upon contact with anything.
 * Wooden Barrels are basic, symbol-less barrels that can be thrown and rolled. It is a basic weapon and is the basis for other barrels.

Modes
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System edition had three main modes: Remakes added the following:
 * Single player, where one player controls both Donkey and Diddy in the quest.
 * Two player team, where player one controls DK, and when DK is out, player two controls Diddy.
 * Two player contest, same as the two player team except the game keeps track of which Kong completed an amount of levels- a contest to see who can win the most levels.

Additional modes have been included in the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance versions:
 * Candy's Dance Studio, which was based off the popular dancing series "Dance Dance Revolution". This replaces Candy's Save Point from the SNES version, Candy's Challenge from the Game Boy Color version, and is exclusive to the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Crosshair Cranky, a mini-game where Kongs must shoot-out Kremlings. This mode is exclusive to the Game Boy Color version.
 * DK Attack, a self-explanatory mode where the monkeys have to get to the end of the level quickly. Bonus time can be collected, and a rank is given for the time. This mode only appears in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Funky's Fishing, a fishing mini-game where the Kongs have to fish for certain types of fish or items. This mode first appears in the Game Boy Color titled Funky Fishing, and then appears in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Hero Mode, where the player can only play as a yellow-colored Diddy Kong, with no star barrels (only available after 90% completion). This mode only appears in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Rock Hard is available only through cheat; this disables Star Barrels. This is similar to the ROCKARD cheat in Donkey Kong Country 2 ' s Game Boy Advance re-release.

Kongs
In the game, there are a total of five Kongs:
 * Donkey Kong, the main star of the game. He is often characterized as a great hero and a role model for Diddy Kong. DK is overall stronger than Diddy but less agile. Donkey Kong can defeat Krusha and Klumps by merely jumping on their heads, however his sidekick requires an item to defeat the two or a cartwheel in the latter case He has a rolling-based attack in addition to a special "Ground Pound" attack, which will defeat an enemy and yield a banana, or, if hit in the right spot on the ground, reveal an item.
 * Diddy Kong is Donkey Kong's sidekick and the second main protagonist of the game. Diddy Kong is often seen as a weaker, but loyal sidekick to DK, seeing him as a hero, and wishing to be like him one day. In fact, he was assigned to guard the banana hoard as a part of "hero training". Diddy often has some trouble, or cannot defeat at all, certain enemies by himself. However, he possesses a very unique "Cartwheel" ability, allowing him to travel a large distance when used correctly. In the Japanese version, Diddy has an unusual problem defeating Manky Kongs; whether he can cartwheel/defeat it in one or two shots is random and somewhat glitchy . The pair are assisted in their perilous quest by a few members of the Kong Family.
 * Cranky Kong gives hints to the Kongs when they drop by his cabin, named "Cranky's Cabin". Cranky narrates and congratulates the Kongs in the ending of the game, and also appears to give commentary after the defeating the bosses in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Funky Kong makes his first appearance halfway through Kongo Jungle, and freely lets the Kongs use his barrel jet in th rest of the worlds. The barrel jet allows them to quickly jump to the overworld map and navigate worlds the Kongs have finished (otherwise done by defeating the area boss), or simply navigate the area faster, with Funky's unique theme. He also hosts a fishing mini-game called "Funky's Fishing", in the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance version.
 * Candy Kong allows the player to save his or her progress at her save point, Candy's Save Point. Getting to her point in the SNES version is often viewed as a big accomplishment due to the fact that getting to her point is usually far in a world. She is considered the most useful Kong. She also hosts a dance mini-game in the Game Boy Advance version.

Animal Buddies
The Kong Family are not the only ones to aid Donkey and Diddy in their quest, the wildlife also help. Each Animal Buddy is prisoner in a crate with their symbol on it.
 * Rambi the Rhinoceros is first found halfway through Jungle Hijinxs. It is capable on rampaging through Kremlings and opening bonus rooms using its powerful horn.
 * Enguarde the Swordfish is exclusively found in underwater levels. Enguarde is a swordfish with a large bill which can defeat many underwater enemies that the Kongs cannot.
 * Winky the Frog has a very high jumping ability, nearly three times as higher than the Kongs. With this ability, it can reach bonus rooms or simply avoid foes. It can defeat most enemies by jumping on them, including Zingers.
 * Squawks the Parrot is the only Animal Buddy that cannot be ridden upon. Squawks only appears once in "Torchlight Trouble". There, it carried a bright lamp to illuminate the way in the otherwise dark level. Squawks returns in the game's two sequels where it can now carry Diddy, Dixie, or Kiddy.
 * Expresso the Ostrich is the tallest and fastest animal buddy. With its height, it can completely avoid small foes, commonly the Klaptraps. Expresso has no means of attack, but can glide distances to find secret bonus rooms.

Enemies
Many enemies, grunts under K. Rool's army, will stand in the Kong's way. The enemies are very varied in Donkey Kong Country, and some, in one shape or another, return in the sequel and a few later games. A majority of these enemies, such as Gnawty and Kritter, are very common, though a few are rare, such as Chomps. The enemies mostly contain of generic animal-based foes.


 * Army is an armadillo-based enemy. Army attacks by curling in a ball and rolling forward. It is often viewed as a pest for its speed and the fact that Diddy has problems defeating it, as he is unable to defeat it with one jump while it rolls.
 * Bitesize is a piranha based enemy; however, Bitesize is far from aggressive, and is usually found casually swimming in water levels. Even so, one touch injures a Kong.
 * Chomps is a large, shark-like enemy found in underwater stages. It depends on its size rather than speed, since it usually swims in a slow speed in a set area.
 * Chomps Jr. is a younger, slightly faster and smaller version of Chomps. It is more common than a regular Chomps.
 * Clambo, a clam-based enemy who is exclusive to water levels. It spits out pearls in a certain pattern.
 * Croctopus, whose name is an obvious pun on "octopus", is another type of water-exclusive foes; Croctopus has two different traits depending on its color; a purple one swim in set paths, while a blue one waits for a Kong to pass by and then give chase.
 * Gnawty is often compared to a "Goomba" in terms of attack pattern - that is, it does not have any specific direction of attacking, it simply walks forward.
 * Klaptrap, lizard-like enemies, is a somewhat rare foe that are always walking forwards, and shows its sharp teeth when doing so, preventing frontal attack.
 * Klump is a somewhat rare enemy that wears army gear, including a helmet which protects it from Diddy's jumping attacks. Aside from its head protection, it acts as normal, march-forward foes.
 * Krash is a sub-division of Kritter; Krash is simply a Kritter in a mine cart going in the opposite direction of Donkey and Diddy Kong's mine carts.
 * Kritter is a basic Kremling foot soldier, usually found in pairs. Kritter is normally green or purple, and a few of its species can jump constantly. Kritter, like Gnawty, simply goes in one direction and hurts a Kong upon impact.
 * Krusha, an uncommon muscular, can endure any of Diddy's directional attack and DK's rolling attack. However DK's jumping attack defeats it. A very rare gray breed is invincible to even Donkey Kong's jumping attacks, a projectile being its only weakness.
 * Manky Kong supposedly is a rogue member of the Kong family. Manky Kong was exiled and appears to have moved onto Vine Valley. Manky attacks by throwing barrels in succession.
 * Mincer is the only non-organic enemy in the game. Mincer is a spinning, green spike ball that must be avoided at all costs; Mincer cannot be damaged in any sort of way.
 * Mini-Necky is a "mini" version of a regular Necky. The main difference is other than size and appearance is the fact that Mini-Necky can shoot a nut projectile out of its mouth.
 * Necky is the adult form of a Mini-Necky. Necky is incapable of launching projectiles, some just fly in place or sit in a set course throwing nuts. In most cases, it is a means of getting across a distance, as a Kong may have to jump on one and relay onto the other side.
 * Rockkroc is a foe that rapidly runs back and forth in Stop & Go Station, the only level it appears in the game. It can be stopped temporarily if a Stop & Go Barrel is touched.
 * Slippa is a cave dwelling snake that usually is the cave equivalent to a Gnawty; it just slithers forward. Sometimes, there is an Oil Barrel that can spawn Slippas indefinitely.
 * Squidge is a unique water enemy. Squidge is an enemy with an odd pattern of movement, usually just swimming back and forth in one direction.
 * Zinger, a wasp enemy, is often considered among the most annoying enemy in the game. Zinger does not directly attack the Kongs. However, it cannot be harmed physically by either Kong and normally is in the path of the Kong, either flying in a pattern or not moving at all being dormant in one location. Zinger usually pesters the Kongs by being in the way of an item or a platform.

Bosses
Bosses in this game are found at the end of each world, like in the Mario series. Bosses are usually enlarged versions of usual enemies. The bosses guard a large portion of the Banana Hoard. In fact, the arena where each boss is fought is comprised of portions of DK's hoard. Each boss (excluding K. Rool) is a bigger version of a generic enemy. They are, in order of appearance:


 * Very Gnawty is the first boss of the game, and is simply a larger Gnawty with an enhanced jumping ability. Very Gnawty is known for it's goofy laugh upon being hit.
 * Master Necky is a giant version of Necky as its head can only be seen by the audience. Master Necky inherits Mini-Necky's nut-firing ability and Necky's appearance.
 * Queen B. commands the Zingers, and is the hive queen. Her attack pattern varies per version of Donkey Kong Country ; in the original version, Queen B. must be hit with a barrel, and the player must dodge her diving attacks after. In the Game Boy Advance remake, Queen B. instead calls upon her fellow wasps in combat after getting hit.
 * Really Gnawty is the master of all Gnawties. Really Gnawty has similar abilities to Very Gnawty, being able to jump "really" high. In the original SNES version, its attack pattern involves jumping around like Very Gnawty, and upon being hit, it makes a "really" high jump, invincible, and tries to land on Donkey and Diddy Kong. After avoiding, the cycle is repeated, with more jumps per hit. In the Game Boy Advance version, it simply jumps around like Very Gnawty, and upon being hit, it causes stalagmites to fall, with more per hit.
 * Dumb Drum can summon enemies right out of its drum, much like its smaller Skull & Crossbones Barrels. It is defeated by defeating waves of spawned enemies or by throwing TNT Barrels at in the in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * Master Necky Snr. is a purple, stronger version of Master Necky. Master Necky Snr. can spit many nuts in succession, unlike Master Necky. In the Game Boy Advance version, Master Necky Snr. is aided by Master Necky.
 * King K. Rool is the final boss of the game. His attacks consist of running, making cannonballs drop, and jumping.

Worlds and Levels
Similar to Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country ' s level progression system is simply beating one level to unlock the next, until reaching a boss stage. After the boss stage is beaten, the next "world" is unlocked. In the worlds are some areas where the Kong family can help, whether it be Cranky Kong giving hints, Funky Kong allowing the heroes to return to the overworld map, and Candy to save the game. In order to return to the overworld, the area boss must be defeated or Funky must be used. On overworld, as the player gets through the game, the Gangplank Galleon is slowly seen getting closer to the island, foreshadowing the final battle.

On top of level and world locations, a head of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, or a Kritter marks whether the area has been beaten or not, and who beat it. A Kritter head means the area has not been finished yet. Donkey Kong's head means the area was last finished with him, and a Diddy head means the area was last completed using Diddy. On the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System version of Donkey Kong Country, there is a glitch in the single player where once a location is beaten with Diddy, DK's head would not overwrite the location when a level is beaten with him.

The "world" located before Kongo Jungle on the overworld map can not be accessed. The Kongs are shown to start off their journey by leaving this area and heading to Kongo Jungle.

World 1: Kongo Jungle

 * Jungle Hijinxs
 * Ropey Rampage
 * Reptile Rumble
 * Coral Capers
 * Barrel Cannon Canyon

World 2: Monkey Mines

 * Winky's Walkway
 * Mine Cart Carnage
 * Bouncy Bonanza
 * Stop & Go Station
 * Millstone Mayhem

World 3: Vine Valley

 * Vulture Culture
 * Tree Top Town
 * Forest Frenzy
 * Temple Tempest
 * Orang-utan Gang
 * Clam City

World 4: Gorilla Glacier

 * Snow Barrel Blast
 * Slipslide Ride
 * Ice Age Alley
 * Croctopus Chase
 * Torchlight Trouble
 * Rope Bridge Rumble

World 5: Kremkroc Industries Inc.

 * Oil Drum Alley
 * Trick Track Trek
 * Elevator Antics
 * Poison Pond
 * Mine Cart Madness
 * Blackout Basement

World 6: Chimp Caverns

 * Tanked Up Trouble
 * Manic Mincers
 * Misty Mine
 * Necky Nutmare (GBC only)
 * Loopy Lights
 * Platform Perils

World 7: Gangplank Galleon
This pirate ship is not a world, but the location of the final boss battle against King K. Rool. The Galleon can actually be seen approaching closer and closer each time a world is beaten until it's finally accessible after beating Chimp Caverns.

Game Boy Color
The game was ported to the Game Boy Color in 2000 (2001 in Japan). Differences include:
 * Three alternate title screens taking place underwater, in the jungle and in a cavern are included.
 * Much like Donkey Kong Land, only one Kong appears at time.
 * The Game Boy Printer is now compatible to print certain photos.
 * The level "Winky's Walkway" has been extended.
 * A new level called "Necky Nutmare" has been added in Chimp Caverns.
 * The Kongs don't ride the Animal Buddies; rather, they become them.
 * Two minigames have been added: Funky hosts a fishing game known as Funky's Fishing (which would be later reappear in the Game Boy Advance version) and Cranky runs Crosshair Cranky.
 * Candy changes her save point into a challenge area where certain challenges must be completed to win a Banana Coin (also added in the game).
 * Two additional difficulties have been added: the first one removes DK Barrels and the second one removes Star Barrels.
 * Over half the music in Donkey Kong Land was reused.
 * The Warp Barrel is removed in Mine Cart Carnage.
 * The selection screen from Donkey Kong 64 has been reused.
 * The credits show various screenshots looking like beta ones instead of in Donkey Kong's Treehouse.
 * The game automatically saves after a level is finished.

Game Boy Advance
Another port was made for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The changes for this one include:
 * Candy hosts a dancing mini-game at Candy's Dance Studio.
 * A "Time Attack" mode has been added.
 * Rockkroc can now be defeated by using Donkey Kong's Handslap move.
 * Some enemies have many different colors, such as Kritter and Zinger.
 * Some bosses were made stronger: Queen B. now has three Zingers surrounding her, Really Gnawty can make stalactites fall, Dumb Drum must have a TNT Barrel thrown at it, and the battle against Master Necky Snr. is against both him and Master Necky simultaneously.
 * The map screen has a different pause screen: from it, the game can be saved, Funky can be summoned after meeting him, players can access a scrapbook and level stats.
 * The maps have been redesigned.
 * Starting from Vine Valley onwards, a few of the levels have been placed in a different order; for instance, Temple Tempest became the sixth level in Vine Valley, rather than the fourth.
 * The credits took place in Donkey Kong's tree house in the original; they now take place on the Gangplank Galleon.
 * A new mode called "Video game Hero" has been added. In this mode, the player controls a yellow-clad Diddy and will never encounter DK Barrels or Star Barrels.
 * Saving will save the number of lives the player had.
 * The automatic barrels that sent players to bonus rooms were replaced by the Bonus Barrel used in the sequel.
 * The game had more voices and sound effects.
 * A scrapbook was added, in which players had to collect Photographs throughout the game in order to add pictures to it.
 * In-game graphics and some sound quality were scaled down.
 * Funky and Candy have different themes than in the SNES version.

Beta elements
The preview video, Donkey Kong Country Exposed, contains a few beta elements that never made it into the final game, such as a few instances where binary digits were seen underneath the lives counter, which may have been a debug menu of some sort. Also, in this build, it was possible to exceed one hundred bananas, which would result in a beta life sound effect, whereas in the final game, the banana counter would reset once it reaches that number. Lastly, Donkey Kong was unable to kill the regular Krusha enemy by jumping on him. Unlike the final, Krusha will laugh after Donkey Kong does so, as he would if Diddy had done that. This also applies to Klump.

In an old Scribes page on the Rareware website, a giraffe Animal Buddy was mentioned, and mentioned to appear in Donkey Kong Country; this Giraffe character was dropped for unknown reasons, though one of his mentioned abilities was that he would allow Donkey Kong to crawl up his neck and reach high items and secrets. Also on the outdated Rare site, a screenshot revealed Dumb Drum's arena to be different than the standard one.

There are unused sprites in this game, such as a Puftup, who would later appear in Donkey Kong Country 2, and a jungle plant. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong also have unused sprites. Additional letters similar to the KONG Letters appear in some bonus rooms, though not all letters in the alphabet are used, and the game appears to have the entire alphabet left in the game's coding. Slippa has unused sprites as well. Croctopus has an unused sprite, likely a defeated animation, and a thunderbolt. Cranky Kong apparently was able to walk in a beta version

In an issue of a Toys-R-Us catalog, the game's box art is shown to be different. It was most likely a placeholder given the simplicity of the art, consisting of the games logo and a lone DK Barrel on a black background, which is radically different from the final product.

Reaction and sales
At the time of its release, Donkey Kong Country was extremely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. According to GameSpot, Donkey Kong Country has a critic score of 9.1, having over 90% from nearly every critic. Praise went to its graphics, music, and overall fun and addictive game-play.

Sales were more than expected, since the game was released at the peak of the 16-bit era, but when the Sega Genesis was at the height of its popularity, and the SNES witnessed its rise. The game had a successful first day at the stores, and sold 8.5 million copies worldwide, 2nd on the SNES to Super Mario World. To date, it is the best selling Donkey Kong game and the best seller by Rare.

Although it won 1994's game of the year by EGM, it was later placed on their top 10 overrated games, as well as on GameSpy's overrated games of all time list. It has mixed reactions today, but is still well-received by fans.

Animal Buddies
File:EnguardeTSDKC.jpg|Enguarde File:Expresso Ostrich.png|Expresso File:RambiDKC.jpg|Rambi File:DKCsquawks.jpg|Squawks File:DKCWinky.jpg|Winky 

Trivia

 * Gnawty is pictured as blue on the box art while they were gray in-game. It eventually becomes blue in Donkey Kong 64 and the Game Boy Advance remake.
 * This game has an adaptation in the Super Mario-Kun manga with some changes. Mario and Yoshi land in the Donkey Kong Country by mistake, and Cranky Kong asks them to help Donkey and Diddy in their task to find the bananas and stop King K. Rool.
 * This game was one of Donkey Kong's only playable appearance until Donkey Kong Country Returns, despite the game's sequel and triquel games bearing the name Donkey Kong Country.
 * This game marks the only playable appearance of Winky (outside of cameos and remakes; Expresso was technically playable in a minigame in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest).
 * After defeating a boss, a giant banana drops from the sky. In the original, it had a Nintendo logo on it, but was removed in later versions.