Topic: Run the Series 3: Donkey Kong (Country Style)

[Khushrenada]

Hello NWR Forumers. Welcome to the 3rd edition of Run the Series.  Sorry on the delay for getting another entry out. 

Run the Series Mission Statement

From past posts, I am sometimes surprised at what games users on these forums have played or missed in a franchise and it's made me curious about the gaming habits of all our various users here. It also made curious as to what my gaming experience looks like compared to others. I thought I'd see if I could find out more information on the matter by creating a series of threads designed to look at different franchises found on Nintendo systems to see what series the users here like. What franchises do people still find important to keep up with and what series have they let lapse or play infrequently? What are the franchises people haven't even touched or have fully completed? Which games are the most common shared experience in a series and which ones are the least?

For each entry, I've created a poll and the poll lists all the games considered as franchise entries.* Users can then select which games in the series they have beat. When I mean beat, I'm just referring to completing the main quest or storyline and seeing the credits and not if you've completed every other side quest or mission similar to how Backloggery would classify those terms. This poll is a chance to let all users see how they stack up again users from this forum.

In addition, if you want to provide more information about what your level of completion is on games, feel free to post about it. For that matter, feel free to give your thoughts on the series. Why you play it, why you don't, what's your favorite entry, least favorite entry, how you'd rank the entry in the series, what you'd like to see, what you don't want to see, etc. You know the drill. Whatever comments you want to make based on the series under discussion or specific games in the poll, this thread is open for you to do so.

*Or at least my take on what the series consists of. You are welcome to tell me how wrong I am with my selections. 


Past Entries in the Series

1st Edition - 2D Mario Platformers
2nd Edition - Pokémon Main Series


If you are new to this forum series or missed an entry, feel free to check out the past entries and comment on them too if interested. Bumping Khushrenada threads is always a welcome practice on these forums. 

[Khushrenada]

The Series Up for Discussion

After doing Mario and Pokémon, I wanted to try and move the focus to a less talked about series rather than do a Zelda or Metroid or Mario spin-off theme next but something that would still be popular enough to create a nice discussion. I settled on Donkey Kong! Yet looking over the games released for Donkey Kong over the years has made me realize that the character of Donkey Kong has gone through a pretty wide range of games of varying gameplay and style.

For me, though, when I think of Donkey Kong, my first reaction of a Donkey Kong game is a platformer in the style of the Donkey Kong Country Games started by Rare. That's the kind of Donkey Kong game that most interests me and I'd like to talk about first. The games I have included in this Run the Series entry are games that contain characters and elements that I feel warrant their inclusion as being part of the DKC series even if Country isn't mentioned in the name of the title or it has some different gameplay elements to it.


Why Are These Games Part of the Series?

Obviously, anything with the words Donkey Kong and Country are part of this series. Donkey Kong 64 doesn't have the word Country in its title yet it was originally going to be called Donkey Kong Country 64 and might as well have been as it has most of the elements and gameplay style as the SNES trilogy but in a 3D world.

Although the Donkey Kong Land games are classified by other sites as their own series, I don't want to make another Run the Series entry for just those three games. Again, they share so many elements as their SNES counterparts that they might as well be included under the umbrella of the DKC series as entries also. Although it might be easy to dismiss them as a portable version of the game or a sort of remake, they do have some differences in story as well as completely different levels from their SNES counterparts that I think they should be included as unique entries here.

There have also been some remakes of these games with some new content added like the GBA versions of the SNES games or DKCR 3D which features an extra world. I've stuck with the original versions in this poll. If you beat a game via its remade version and not the original, it doesn't matter. They are still pretty much the same thing. Just select the games original title in the poll. If they games are pretty much 85% the same, I don't think it's necessary to include a separate entry for that 15% or less difference. You're going to have a pretty similar experience from the game. None of the DKC remakes are of a Metroid:Zero Mission level of difference.


What Games Weren't Included

I would say there are 2 other Donkey Kong series. One series I would classify as Arcade Style. This would include the original Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong 3. Donkey Kong 94 would be next in this series and then all the Mario Vs Donkey Kong entries would come afterwards.

That just leaves the Donkey Kong spin-offs or Oddities series which would have the two racing games of Diddy Kong Racing and Barrel Blast. The Donkey Konga games and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat would fall in here and Donkey Kong Jr. Math would also be thrown in for good measure.

The trickiest games to classify may be the DK series of King of Swing and Jungle Climber. I was really tempted to include them as part of the DKC series since they have K. Rule as the ultimate villain along with kremlings and members of the Kong family present as well as other elements like crystal coconuts and bonus barrels. But in the end, the gameplay is just too different from the platforming action that I feel these games would have to join the oddities / spinoff category. And that about sums up all the DK games out there.


Let's see how well NWR has Run the Series!

[Order.RSS]

As someone who really likes Donkey Kong I'm ashamed to admit I've completely precisely zero of his games. Love the setting, soundtracks, sense of humour; but I'm not great with reflexes.

My first one was Donkey Kong Land on Gameboy (actually my first GB title period), it was brutally difficult though -  I never made it past World 3 (of 4?). Looked pretty, but you often had to make leaps of faiths into off-screen areas. Looking back on it, this was not a great game, although the story in the manual is hilarious in a meta way (Cranky Kong doesn't believe DK and Diddy can grab all the bananas on a smaller screen, so he's just straight up given them to K. Rool after the events of DKC).

From then I missed a bunch of mainline games, instead playing Donkey Kong 64 (mostly in multiplayer, surprisingly. Did you know it had an arena shooter mode?), Donkey Konga (really fun) and DK Jungle Beat (very underrated platformer imo which showed the direction Nintendo would head into with Wii).

Then Donkey Kong Country Returns, I never got too far into it because I'm pretty bad at games. Tropical Freeze is on my wishlist still, and I've been wanting to try a SNES entry through the Virtual Console one day. Will probably be DKC 2 then, because I've heard the soundtrack a lot and it is faaaantastic.

[azeke]

But the best games in the series aren't even in the list!

Donkey Kong 94 and Jungle Beat

[Phil]

Beaten 100% all of those. DK64 was the hardest, I think, due to the Nintendo Coin requirement.

[Evan_B]

Donkey Kong 94 is not only the best Donkey Kong game, but arguably one of the best games of its era.

I've only beaten Tropical Freeze. I got it free and played through the entirety with a friend. It was brutal, but I actually ended up enjoying it.

[rygar]

I've never played a Donkey Kong Country game. I love the character from the arcade - I always sided with King Kong as a kid, and my instincts about Mario's evilness were confirmed with DK JR. - but I missed the platforms it was carried on. I wasn't sure about the 3DS VC games. I suspected the size of the sprites would make it cumbersome. Anyone have a suggestion about what DKC games are worth picking up [on the 3DS VC]?
 

[NWR_insanolord]

If you want to play Donkey Kong Country on 3DS, get Donkey Kong
Country Returns 3D. Retro's recent DKC games are much better than the originals.

[Tapedeck]

Are the GB 'land' games worth playing?
After completing the SNES trilogy 100% (or 101/102/103 to be correct!) I never thought it was worth it. Especially when I heard they mimic the SNES games in some levels.  DKC never really appealed to me on a handheld at the time either seeing as it requires reflexes and the low-res screen and reduced colour pallet  didn't seem suited to those stunning SNES graphics.

[Order.RSS]

Are the GB 'land' games worth playing?
After completing the SNES trilogy 100% (or 101/102/103 to be correct!) I never thought it was worth it. Especially when I heard they mimic the SNES games in some levels.  DKC never really appealed to me on a handheld at the time either seeing as it requires reflexes and the low-res screen and reduced colour pallet  didn't seem suited to those stunning SNES graphics.

Have only tried the first one, and I played it on an original black/white GameBoy. I will say that it manages pretty well to approximate the SNES models, looked pretty great for GameBoy. Been told they're all entirely different games, though they obviously borrow a lot from the console ones (pirate ships ahoy).

For me, Donkey Kong Land was very difficult and they clearly sacrificed a lot to get it onto the small screen looking like it does. Enemies sometimes pop in so fast from the right you can scarcely react, and there's quite a few annoying moments where they want you to just make leaps of faith into nothingness so you're left hoping there will be a platform down there. The music and sound effects I remember as being pretty cool though!

[Mop it up]

For some reason, I never posted in this topic.

Donkey Kong Country is the "one that got away" for me. I'm pretty sure I played DKC 2 once or twice since a friend of mine had it, but since we didn't get a Super NES until 1997 then I never really had the opportunity for games like this to have an impact during their time, having also gotten a Nintendo 64 in 1997. It also meant I didn't focus on getting SNES games until later, since the N64 took priority. Therefore, I never ended up with any of them until 2010, where I decided to buy the three SNES cartridges in the wake of the Donkey Kong Country Returns announcement.

Even though it was so late after they came out, I still had a lot of fun playing the games. Overall, the graphics don't hold up as well as some other SNES titles, but I actually feel the games still look okay and I didn't mind them. The music is the real highlight though, particularly in the second game which is one of the best soundtracks on SNES. The stage designs seem pretty varied in all of the games and I enjoyed most of the animal buddies. Some things like secrets can be questionable at times, but it wasn't a big deal... or at least not now that I can easily look things up. I do find it odd that Donkey Kong is not playable in 2 and 3.

As far as Returns goes, while I liked the game and was glad it had simultaneous co-op, I didn't feel it held up to the SNES classics which were still fresh in my mind having just played them. The game still has some pretty good level design most of the time, but it didn't feel as varied and it tends to rely too much on crumbling platforms. The music also sticks too close to the original soundtrack. Tropical Freeze was quite a bit better, while it still has the crumbly platform problem, the level designs are more varied and overall feel designed better. The soundtrack is also amazing, one of the best to come along in a good while. TF can without a doubt stand alongside the classics.

I'm not really sure where Donkey Kong 64 fits into all this. It's always tough for me to compare 3D games to 2D ones, however since DK 64 isn't one of my fave platformers on the N64 then I'd probably put it below the Country series. That isn't to say I didn't like the game, as I did enjoy its levels and its multiple characters with different abilities. But like most people, I do feel they went overboard with collecting. I think if they kept out bananas as character-specific collectibles then it'd be a lot better. Still, it didn't ruin the game for me, though I've never bothered with 100% completion (or whatever number is fully complete).

I also went on to get the Donkey Kong Land cartridges and I've played through those as well. They definitely suffer from the smaller screen, in particular the first game as falling below the screen border results in losing a life as if falling into a pit, even when there is actually ground below. Which is unfortunate, because the first Land game is actually pretty different from the SNES games and has its own themes and level designs. Land 2 and 3 stick a lot closer to their respective SNES game and have similar layouts and level concepts. Overall, they're decent for Game Boy but are no substitute for the SNES games.

I voted for "completed all" since I own them all and beat them all.