Donkey Kong Country (SNES) News Articles
Wednesday15th Oct 2025
News Banjo-Kazooie Director Marks Departure From Rare With A Poem
End of an era
If you enjoy Rare's games, then chances are you ought to be thanking Gregg Mayles, a UK-based game designer who not only directed Banjo-Kazooie and its Xbox-only follow-up Nuts & Bolts, but also worked on Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads, and more. He was a big deal at the studio, and now after 36 years, he's left for...
Wednesday21st May 2025
News Shigeru Miyamoto Explains Why Donkey Kong Has Been Redesigned
You want expressive? You got it
Donkey Kong's recent redesign has been a huge point of discussion in recent weeks, and it seems that most fans are becoming quite fond of the character's new look. Nintendo has been pretty quiet on why Donkey Kong went through a complete redesign, but in a new interview with IGN, the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto shed a...
Wednesday26th Mar 2025
News Nike's Donkey Kong Country-Inspired Trainers Finally Launch Today, But Be Quick
Talk about Funky
The worlds of gaming and footwear crossover more than you might expect. The snazzy Pokémon x Crocs collection took our breath away last year, Bull Airs released a range of console-inspired sneakers and even Converse has got involved in the past too. But all of them pale
Tuesday28th Jan 2025
News Shovel Knight Returns In New 'Yooka-Replaylee' Trailer
Title seemingly heading for Switch 2
Playtonic Games has released a new trailer for its upcoming Yooka-Replaylee remaster, reintroducing Shovel Knight as an NPC with unique new challenges for our heroes. The character, based on the acclaimed 2D platformer of the same name, will receive a similar new coat of paint for the updated game, and will also...
Tuesday21st Jan 2025
Random Donkey Kong Country's Artist Reacts To Nintendo's Redesign
"Everything changes!"
We've seemingly had our very first look at Mario Kart 9 during the Switch 2 reveal trailer, and one thing you might have noticed is the similar but slightly different-looking character designs. Perhaps the highlight is Donkey Kong's new look, which has been labelled a "redesign" by some. It's been a bit of a talking point...
Tuesday10th Dec 2024
News Donkey Kong Country OG Dev Says He Would Like To Work On Another Entry
The original game is now 30 years old
Ahead of the grand opening of Super Nintendo World: Donkey Kong Country this week, some of the original Donkey Kong Country development team spoke to VGC about the IP being adapted to an entire theme park. During the same chat, artist Steve Mayles - who helped co-found Playtonic Games (Yooka-Laylee) and create...
Friday29th Nov 2024
News Nintendo Highlights Every 'Donkey Kong Country' On Switch With A New Trailer
Prepare to return... again
Nintendo has released a new trailer taking a look at every Donkey Kong Country game on Switch in preparation for the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD on 16th January 2024. If you've got a subscription to the standard Nintendo Switch Online service, you can play every SNES game from the series right now. That...
Monday25th Nov 2024
Random New 3D Scans Stop Classic Donkey Kong Country Figures From Being Lost To Time
Keshi Kong
We love a bit of niche video game history here at Nintendo Life, and the work of Mr Talida (aka Keshi Corner) has caught our attention on more than one occasion. This is the 3D scanning specialist that has ensured rare Zelda and Mario figures from the 1980s and '90s live to fight another day and now, they ha
Tuesday19th Nov 2024
Random Iconic 'DK Rap' Song Has Been Remade 25 Years Later
With help from rapper 'Substantial'
If you've been a part of the Nintendo gaming community for a while, then chances are you're well acquainted with 'DK Rap', the charming introductory theme tune seen in 1999's Donkey Kong 64. It's gained significant notoriety and love over the years, though many fans do concede that the song isn't actually that...
Monday18th Nov 2024
Anniversary Donkey Kong Country Is Now 30 Years Old (SNES)
King K-O-N-G
Believe it or not, Donkey Kong Country for the SNES has turned 30 years old after originally launching in the UK on 18th November 1994. Often regarded as one of the greatest platformers of all time, Donkey Kong Country was the first in an SNES trilogy from developer Rare, and was really the game that properly kickstarted a fruitful...
Tuesday3rd Sep 2024
News Switch Online's Missions & Rewards Adds Zelda: Link's Awakening DX Icons
Play to earn
Nintendo has refreshed its monthly retro icons lineup for Switch Online members with a selection of tasty options from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. There are a total of five icons available and, as per usual, they'll cost 10 platinum points each to redeem. Just like Donkey Kong Country last month, however, you'll need to...
Tuesday6th Aug 2024
News Switch Online's Missions & Rewards Adds Donkey Kong Country Icons
Play the SNES classic to unlock them
Nintendo has announced another batch of Switch Online icons you can only unlock by playing its digital retro library. After events for Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and even the original Donkey Kong game, it's now moved on to Rare's 1994 SNES hit Donkey Kong Country. Switch Online...
Sunday4th Feb 2024
News Nintendo's Switch Online Service Spotlights Donkey Kong With New Hub
The DKC series celebrates 30 years in 2024
Nintendo seems to be slowly putting the spotlight back on Donkey Kong with a series of announcements in recent times. He will also star in the upcoming release Mario vs. Donkey Kong, due out on the Switch later this month. With this in mind, Nintendo has now launched a special section in the Switch Online...
Sunday11th Jun 2023
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Go bananas
Hello and welcome back to your weekly round of Box Art Brawl! Before we leave the courtroom behind and move on somewhere a bit warmer, let's take a look at last week's results. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the original Ace Attorney game, stood in the BAB docks, but it was an easy win for North America, which took 53% of your votes...
Friday7th Apr 2023
Random Donkey Kong Country Artist Reveals DK's Early Character Design Sketches
"He looks a lot more polished now"
The release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie has meant that Donkey Kong is somewhat the talk of the town at the moment. While Illumination's take on the character has managed to stick pretty close to the DK that we all know and love, a recent livestream from one of the original Donkey Kong Country artists, Kev...
Wednesday5th Apr 2023
Random Ex-Rare Dev Explains The Origin Of Donkey Kong Country's Name
Take me home, country roads
When you think of the titles of some of Nintendo's most iconic platform games, many of them just make sense as they are: Super Mario World, Kirby's Dream Land, and Donkey Kong Country. It all fits as a naming convention, right? Well, according to ex-Rare dev Kev Bayliss, the inclusion of the word 'Country' in Donkey Kong...
Tuesday21st Feb 2023
Random Fan-Made Game Mixes Classic Sonic With Donkey Kong Country
It looks fantastic!
Sonic the Hedgehog is no stranger to change. The franchise has crossed paths with multiple genres across the decades, from its humble beginnings as a 2D platformer to the latest "open-zone" 3D title Sonic Frontiers, and everything in between. But what would happen if you took the concept of classic 2D Sonic and mixed it with the...
Wednesday8th Jun 2022
Random Donkey Kong's Birthplace Indicates He May Enjoy A Spot Of Tea
According to Burger King, at least
Donkey Kong has been a mainstay in the Mario series for an extremely long time. The name was first given to the ape who wreaked havoc in the original Donkey Kong arcade game (who we now know to be Cranky Kong), but the Donkey Kong we now know and love is the son of Donkey Kong Jr. This dapper tie-wearing ape has...
Monday9th May 2022
News Get Your Funky Kong On With This Donkey Kong Country Ska Album
In a ska-bound land
David Wise's work on the Donkey Kong Country series soundtracks is arguably some of the most iconic of the SNES era. The original set the tone, from the 'Main Theme' to 'Aquatic Ambience' to 'Gan-Plank Galleon'. And because of Wise's excellent work, we've all heard of 'Stickerbush Symphony' from Donkey Kong Country 2 and the...
Monday11th Apr 2022
News Playtonic Celebrates 5 Years of Yooka-Laylee, Teases Some "Surprises"
What could it be..?
It's been 5 whole years since Playtonic's Yooka-Laylee launched (albeit Switch owners needed to wait a bit longer) and the publisher is looking to celebrate the milestone throughout the day, even teasing some "surprises". We'll be sure to keep an eye on Playtonic's feed and update on anything worthwhile, but we're absolutely...
Thursday22nd Jul 2021
Soapbox Nintendo Switch Online's Library Is A Snapshot Of '90s Gaming Shelves
Nintendo took its rose-tinted specs and threw them in the bin
Another trio of classic games have just been announced for Nintendo’s subscriber-only Virtual Console replacement, this time Claymates, Jelly Boy, and Bombuzal. They all have one very special thing in common: They’re all games nobody asked for, and nobody wanted. Nintendo could have...
Wednesday20th Jan 2021
Video 27 Years Later, Early Donkey Kong Country Concept Sketches Are Revealed To The World
Rambi, Kremlings, and other characters also shown
Back in the '90s, Rare had quite a reputation for being secretive about its internal practices. Though it has opened up significantly since being acquired by Microsoft, it's one of the reasons why we get interesting stories still
Saturday8th Aug 2020
News Rare Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary
Making games since 1985
The iconic UK-based developer Rare this month celebrates its 35th anniversary. For any Nintendo fan, arguably its best years were around the time of the N64 generation when it released one hit after another. We're talking Banjo-Kazooie, the first-person shooter Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, and how could you forget the...
Wednesday5th Aug 2020
And we would go bananas for a new entry
If there's one series we would love to see make a return, it's gotta be Donkey Kong Country. The last mainline outing was the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Wii U in 2014, and it was then enhanced for the Switch in 2018. So, who is willing to help out on a new Donkey Kong Country game?...
Wednesday15th Jul 2020
News Nintendo Expands Its Switch Online SNES And NES Service With Three More Titles
Available now!
Today, the Nintendo Switch Online service adds Rare's 1994 Super Nintendo classic, Donkey Kong Country. Alongside this is the arrival of the SNES title Natsume Championship Wrestling (originally released in the same year), and the 1990 Electronic Arts NES title, The Immortal. Here's the official rundown of each game: Donkey Kong...
Friday24th Apr 2020
News The Japan Retro Game Association Offers Super Famicoms To Avoid Lockdown Boredom
Donkey Kong Country saves the day
Despite all the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has also brought out some amazing acts of human kindness. Now we can add the Japan Retro Game Association to our list of lovely people, as they have offered to loan out 100 slightly yellowing Super Famicom consoles to Japanese residents...
Tuesday26th Nov 2019
Random If Cranky Kong Was Once Donkey Kong, What Does The Future Hold For Funky Kong?
DK devs weigh in
With Donkey Kong Country turning 25 last week and soaking up the lion's share of the anniversary headlines, we thought we'd give its younger sibling a chance to shine. Donkey Kong 64 celebrated its 20th birthday on 22nd November and we caught up with Mark Stevenson and
Friday22nd Nov 2019
News Playtonic's Steve Mayles Releases Special Donkey Kong Country Artwork To Mark Its 25th Birthday
As other staffers share mementoes from the period
Donkey Kong Country turned 25 yesterday, an event which is sure to have made many of us feel very old indeed. To celebrate the anniversary, Playtonic's Steve Mayles – who worked on the game during his tenure at Rare – has posted a special piece of artwork showcasing the game's heroes: Mayles...
Thursday21st Nov 2019
Anniversary Feel Old Everyone, Donkey Kong Country Turns 25 Today
And the birthdays keep on comin'!
Hmm. It's almost like video games themselves are conspiring to make us feel our age recently. Earlier this week Super Smash Bros. turned 20 in the PAL region, and today we posted about Pokémon Gold and Silver re
Thursday27th Sep 2018
News David Wise And More Set To Appear On Video Game Soundtrack Radio Series Diggin' In The Carts
A special eight-part series
Red Bull Radio has today announced the return of Diggin' in the Carts - a show which examines the music, creators, legacy and global impact of video game music. Several well-established guests are set to make an appearance, including none other than Donkey Kong Country composer, David Wise. Hosted by Nick Dwyer, this...
