Tied up nicely
Image: Gregg Mayles

Gregg Mayles is one of Rare's longest-serving employees and can list some of the firm's most famous titles on his impressive CV. He's currently hard at work on the studio's next offering, Sea of Thieves, but has taken the time to post some interesting info relating to the SNES classic Donkey Kong Country.

Mayles has kindly shared some concept art faxed to Rare by none other than series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, which is apparantly where the idea for DK wearing a tie came from:

Donkey Kong's revised design in the game is often credited entirely to Rare, but it would seem that Nintendo's most famous employee left quite a mark on the project.

He's also shared some snaps of the Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and "Grandpa" Kong:

Here's some concept art for the bad guys, too:

All of these images are taken from a concept manual produced by Rare before the project became Donkey Kong Country. The working title was Donkey Kong and the Golden Bananas:

Be sure to keep your eye on Mayles' Twitter account for more behind-the-scenes information - we know we will!

[source twitter.com]