Editing Donkey Kong Country

{{Game
|name=Donkey Kong Country
|image=[[Image:DonkeyKongCountryBox.jpg|200px]]
|bgcolor=silver
|fgcolor=black
|developer=[[Rare]]
|publisher=[[Nintendo]]
|system=[[Super NES]], [[Game Boy Color]], [[Game Boy Advance]], [[Virtual Console]] ([[Wii]], [[Wii U]], [[Nintendo 3DS|New 3DS]])
|release='''Super Nintendo'''<br />EU November 24, 1994<br />US November 25, 1994<br />JP November 26, 1994<br />'''Game Boy Color'''<br />US November 4, 2000<br />EU November 17, 2000<br />JP January 21, 2001<br />'''Game Boy Advance'''<br />EU June 6, 2003<br />NA June 9, 2003<br />JP December 12, 2003<br />'''Wii Virtual Console'''<br />AU December 7, 2006<br />EU December 8, 2006<br />JP December 12, 2006<br />US February 19, 2007<br />'''Wii U Virtual Console'''<br />EU October 16, 2014<br />JP November 26, 2014<br />US February 25, 2015<br />'''3DS Virtual Console'''<br />JP March 4, 2016<br />US/PAL March 24, 2016
|gallery=[http://www.gamehiker.com/gallery/index.php?cat=18 GH Gallery]
|rating= ESRB: E
|}}

'''Donkey Kong Country''' is a sidescrolling ''[[Portal: Donkey Kong|Donkey Kong]]'' adventure game released for the [[Super NES]] in 1994. Developed by [[Rare]], it revived the ''Donkey Kong'' series with a new platforming experience that was  considered a revolutionary game at it's time, mostly due to its prerendered 3D graphics. This spawned a new plaforming series featuring a new version of [[Donkey Kong]].

=Story=

[[King K. Rool]] and the [[Kremling]]s have stolen [[Donkey Kong]]'s banana hoard. With the help of his hero trainee, [[Diddy Kong]], Donkey Kong travels across [[Donkey Kong Island]] to defeat the attacking Kremlings and recover his bananas.

=Gameplay=

Though mostly a typical platformer, ''Donkey Kong Country'' had several unique features. The one that stands out most is the player being given two characters: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong was the stronger of the two while Diddy Kong was quicker and more agile.

As well as two main characters, there were also a variety of animal helpers as well. Among them were [[Rambi the Rhino]], [[Expresso the Ostrich]], [[Enguarde the Swordfish]], [[Winky the Frog]], and [[Squawks the Parrot]]. Each had unique abilities to help the player through the level. Each world also had several businesses run by members of Donkey Kong's family; [[Cranky Kong]] had a cabin where he ranted about the "good old days" of video gaming and gave the player a 1-Up Balloon if they endured his speech, Candy Kong ran a save station where the game could be saved, and Funky Kong ran Funky's Flights, which the player could use to leave the current world for any world they had already beaten.

The game was made up of six worlds. The goal of each level was simply to reach the end while gathering as many bananas and KONG letters as they could (which often earned 1-Ups). Enemies blocked the way, but could be defeated by jumping on them, throwing barrels at them, or rolling into them. Most levels had hidden bonus areas, and there were also special bonus areas featuring the animal buddies that could be reached by collecting animal tokens, and all of this was needed to reach 100 percent in the game.

=Continuity Notes=

*The game has several callbacks to the arcade ''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]''. Additionally, Cranky Kong is referred to as having been the original Donkey Kong who battled Mario in "several of his own games" (the ''Donkey Kong'' arcade series, even though he instead fought [[Stanley]] in ''[[Donkey Kong 3]]''), with the implication that this Donkey Kong is his son (an adult [[Donkey Kong Jr.]]) or grandson. The instruction manual clearly states that the Donkey Kong featured from ''Country'' onwards is "a totally new character" who is a "relative of the classic arcade character", although some later games would be inconsistent about this point.
*As part of the debate over whether Donkey Kong is Cranky Kong's son or grandson, in the instruction manual Cranky is referred to as his granddad and "his old pappy" (which could mean father or grandfather, but most usually refers to a grandfather).

=Legacy=

The game was wildly popular and spawned a new franchise. Rare would make a number of follow-ups until they left Nintendo, and years after that, the ''Country'' style was revived in a new form with ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' on the [[Nintendo Wii]].

This was also the first ''[[Portal: Donkey Kong|Donkey Kong]]'' game that [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] was not in charge of, and he became infamous for a quote attributed to him saying "Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good." He later apologized, saying he was too harsh due to Nintendo pressuring him to make ''[[Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island]]'' more like ''Donkey Kong Country'', although he later elaborated that he had not made that comment at all, and that he was close to as well as supportive of Rare during their development of ''Donkey Kong Country''.

==Sequels==

The next game in the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series was ''[[Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]''. At the same time, the first game was also accompanied by ''[[Donkey Kong Land]]'', a companion game for the [[Game Boy]] that acted as a midquel.

==Ports and Remakes==
*''Donkey Kong Country: Competition Cartridge'' was also for the Super Nintendo. It contained a shortened version of the game used for competitions. On 2,500 copies were made.
*In 2000, the game was ported to the [[Game Boy Color]]. Although it had lesser quality than the original, there were several new additions such as a new level of Chimp Caverns as well as an extension of the Winky's Walkway level. Cranky and Funky Kong now hosted shooting and fishing minigames respectively in place of their original functions, with the player now being able to save and travel between worlds freely.
*In 2003, the game was released on the [[Game Boy Advance]]. This version was closer to the original in terms of quality and featured alterations to some of the bosses to make them harder. Candy Kong now ran her own dancing minigame due to the ability to save at the pause screen, and photographs were hidden throughout the game that had to be collected for a scrapbook.
*In 2006, ''Donkey Kong Country'' was made available for download on the [[Wii]]'s [[Virtual Console]]. It also was released for the [[Wii U Virtual Console]] in 2014 (2015 for America) and for the [[3DS Virtual Console]] (for [[New 3DS]] only) in 2016.
*It was among the games included in the [[Super NES Classic Edition]] when it was released in 2017.
*In July 2020, it was added to the library of Super NES games that were made available to play on the [[Nintendo Switch]] for subscribers of the [[Nintendo Switch Online]] service. This version included two player and online options.

=See Also=
*[[Enemies in Donkey Kong Country]]
*[[Worlds and Stages in Donkey Kong Country]]

{{Donkey Kong Series}}

[[Category: Super Nintendo Games]] [[Category:Game Boy Color Games]] [[Category: Game Boy Advance Games]] [[Category: Donkey Kong Games]] [[Category: Virtual Console Games]] [[Category: Player's Choice]]