A Defense For Donkey Kong Country

There are two types of video gamers in this world: those who love Donkey Kong Country and those who hate Donkey Kong Country. I, for one, love it but maybe not quite as much as a snerd would, but I can say I don't hate it at all. There weren't as many people who hated the game back when it was released in 1994 because most people were impressed by it's pre-rendered graphics which was original back then, but Donkey Kong Country haters did exists in small groups. Now that eleven years have gone by and with the use of the internet, haters such as Sega Bastard can easily and openily admit through the use of text why they think Donkey Kong Country is a dull game. As a long time fan of the game and a owner of a trashy website with a bad name, I feel that I must defend this loved/hated electronic video game.

Lets go back to the year 1994. You're sitting down playing your favorite video game at that time and you knew nothing about this new Donkey Kong game that was being made by a team in England. While enjoying your favorite game, whether it be something awesome like Shadow Blasters or getting-kicked-in-the-nuts-awful like Spindizzy Worlds, a bolt of lighting strikes down in front of your TV with outstanding force and this new game called "Donkey Kong Country" is now on your TV and a Super Nintendo controller in your hand.

The first thing you notice about this game are the graphics and you say to yourself "WOW! It's like 3D but still 2D! I've never seen anything like it before!" and the farther you play, the more colorful and pre-rendered graphics appeal to your eye and you're pretty much convinced they are the best graphics you have ever seen - at that time of course. Even the Donkey Kong Country haters back then knew deep inside that the game was graphically amazing and that could even still be said for today since I still believe the graphics in Donkey Kong Country stand up fairly well. Hell some Donkey Kong Country haters back then might have actually admitted that the graphics were nice. Today, Donkey Kong Country haters will probably say how the pre-rendered sprites are very dated and look cheesy while the backgrounds or non-character sprites have very little or no animation which gives the whole game a dull look. I think the pre-rendered sprites look wonderful, they were loaded with detail, colors, and tons of animation and I can't possibly see how someone wouldn't think they aren't impressive. The still backgrounds and non-character sprites are true and I can agree with that for the most part, but the backgrounds have plenty of parallax scrolling and tons of color that I could really care less about the animation in them, especially since the sprite animation came out so nicely. The game may look cheesy today, but it's not supposed to be a realistic game or anything and I have no problem with cheesy games or movies of course, so let the cheese pile on.

If there is one area of Donkey Kong Country that the haters might be able to compliment on is the music and sound. The sound quality of the game is amazing, no doubt about that. The music is pretty well composed and managed to fit the levels pretty much perfectly and the sound effects for gorilla roars, chimp barks, alligator screams and whatever else are dead on. There is much else to be said here. The fanboys love Donkey Kong Country's sound and the haters can admit that it's "not bad".

Now here is the hot spot for Donkey Kong Country haters can bitch about: the gameplay. This was their main defense back when the game was new and still used today. Them badboy's main reason why the gameplay in Donkey Kong Country sucks is because it's too simple and linear - I even heard from the G4 TV show "Icons" that Shigeru Miyamoto was pissed when he played it and thought it was all graphics and no gameplay. I can agree with that, but that didn't stop it from making it a fun game for me. It is a very simple game, but it's not going to take you 20 minutes to beat, especially to get 100% and every now and then there is going to be a stage that is going to take a considerate amount of lives if you haven't played it in awhile, like those mine cart levels. The game is pretty linear compared to most platform games by 1994, but not completely linear since there is always going to be a vine, barrel, or bonus stage near by and these just aren't objects that you can just fly by through but rather objects that are going to take a little time and precision, which added a little flavor. Speaking of adding a little flavor, the game also had those nifty retarded animals you could use, each having their own ability and having to switch between Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong for their more appropriate obstacles certainly squeezed a little extra juice in the game. I'm a laid back gamer and I don't want to play a game that is so totally advance where I am going to have to take extra time to learn how to play; I usually prefer something that is more linear and Donkey Kong Country had a nice touch for me and I have fun playing it everytime. The point of a video game is if it's fun or not and Donkey Kong Country is just one of those games you can easily play through and have a fun time with. I can think of a bunch of other 2D platform games I would take over Donkey Kong Country, but this never made me not like Donkey Kong Country. It's overall a fun game and that's all that matters.

Donkey Kong Country haters, you know you love this game, but why won't you just come out with it already? Because you were pro-Sega in the 16-bit wars? You don't feel comfortable admitting that the graphics are lovely? Or maybe you think any game about monkeys just shouldn't be played? The conclusion is that you don't have to be a snerd to enjoy this game.

- Keranu, February 2nd, 2006 3:42am USA central Time