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 reaching the same milestone. Well, what with November historically being lousy with video games releases and Mother Time refusing to stop rolling on and on, we just can't get away from these anniversaries.
As devout DK fans (or, indeed, those of you that read the headlines before clicking on articles) will know, Rare's Super Nintendo platformer Donkey Kong Country today celebrates 25 years on this planet. It may have turned up as the 16-bit era was winding down and new-fangled polygons were starting to catch gamers' eyes, but its innovative use of sprites created from 3D models looked mind-blowing on a SNES back in the day, and kept many Nintendo fans happy as the nascent field of 3D gaming stumbled into existence on home console hardware.
Rare was on the cusp of a remarkable period that would see the UK developer produce some of the finest and best-selling games on Nintendo platforms. Visually, Donkey Kong County might not have aged as gracefully as some platformers of the era, but it was a landmark release and would go on to shape the big ape's appearance and adventures for many years to come.
We'd tell you to fire up your Switch and give it a play for old times' sake, but DKC isn't yet available with the other Super NES games via your Switch Online subscription. Donkey Kong Country does feature on the SNES Classic Mini, though, and there are multiple other ways to play it if you're feeling nostalgic. Failing that, you could always play Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and appreciate how far DK has come in two-and-a-half decades of platforming. Go on, go bananas.
Is that the end of the video gaming anniversaries for the day, then? Not on your life - consoles get released in November too, you know! If we didn't stick to 'significant' five-year increments, the site would be filled with nothing but celebration posts marking the passage of time and our inexorable journey away from childhood and into the unknown abyss...
Comments 47
Just finished cleaning my snes, great time to play DK
That game gave me night terrors of a giant, tie-wearing ape eating my family then stealing my bananas.
Ah, better times...
I'd love a new Donkey Kong Country with updated graphics, but new levels with the same old enemies and the same simple control scheme. King K Rool and the Kremlings should have been staple enemies in the series, like the koopas and Bowser in Mario games. I'd love to bonk a Kremling on its helmet again
At the time I honestly thought video game graphics couldnt get any better lol! Fantastic game we really REALLY need the originals on NSO!!
Hey, I remembered that it was 25 years since the computer-generated beast was back, not on any CD-ROM or 32X adapters!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbHL8-XkXMA
“In bird culture this is called a “d*ck move” 🤣 Frickin makin me feel like I’m old. I’m only 37 dang it!
One of the best games ever made from one of the best developers of all time. Happy 25, DK, I'm right there with you. For those who can't play it due to not owning an SNES, an SNES Mini, the GameBoy Advance version, or the 3DS VC release (or its ROM on a CFW 3DS if you're nasty), Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a great spiritual cousin to DKC made by the same developers, and you're helping them produce more great games on their own as an independent developer by grabbing a copy. One of the best 2D platforming games of the 2010s, definitely worth a look!
I remember playing this with friends in high school. So basically my high school education is around 25 years old. Wow.
A childhood favorite of mine, I'm not into platformers and action games as much anymore but I can still find some enjoyment out of this.
Posthumously I find DKC2 to be a much better game.
25 year's, I still have the promo video for the game when it released. I remember watching it through start to end 5 - 6 times within a couple of days of getting it. The graphics looked amazing at the time, and the waterlevel Aquatic Ambience soundtrack will be ingrained in my memory for as long as I live.....
I need to complete this.
Cool, can we get it on SNES Online please now? That’d be a great way to celebrate!
I'm trying to get my head around the fact that those two games were separated, by only 5 years.
You don't see massive jumps in graphics anymore these days.
And this was at the end of that gen. Scary thing is the Sega Saturn is also 25 years old and the Playstation will be hitting in in a couple of weeks time.
Man, I was only 2 when this game came out. Happy 25th, DKC! Still a great game today.
“Life in the Mines” forever!
Personally, I felt old when “The Little Mermaid” turned 30. And I watched it in theaters.
"Feel Old Everyone"
No, YOU feel old. I'm just as spry as I ever was...
Happy B-day, DK. There's hardly a bad game with him in it, if any, so well-deserved congratulations. And nice that he's still around too.
At this rate, the game will outlive me
Wait....
The music was also awesome, it really made the SNES sing
Still one of the best platformers of all time. And, to be fair, Funky Kong is very much 25 years old.
I remember getting this for my 11th Christmas and didnt stop playing it for 3 days solid until I completed. Not from a well off family and I'm the youngest of 5 so it was my parents and brothers and sisters that clubbed together to get me it as my main gift. It still remains my most memorable game for that reason alone. An absolute timeless classic in my eyes.
This game was cool, but the sequel was even better in every way possible.
We need a new Donkey Kong Country game for Switch! I would love to see return of Kremlings, K. Rool, animal buddies and David Wise. Please, Nintendo! Also, please make available the SNES DKC trilogy on Switch.
Gamexplain has been doing interviews with the developers. Good listen.
I don’t understand the visuals haven’t aged well compared to other platformers of the era argument. It’s still beautiful to me.
Amazing series. Still got that promo VHS tape I got with Nintendo Magazine System (they were amazing to read before it got changed to Official Nintendo Magazine or ONM) with interviews with the Rare staff and watching some guy in a DK suit monkeying around. The gag was the banana thing, they kept offering and eating them, was pretty nifty, it even showed you some very easy game secrets which I felt was pointless.
Ah the times.
The game that got me into gaming. The game that got me my first job so I could save up for a snes, my first ever console
Simpler times when I was happy and didn't know it lol
I would love remakes of DKC 1-3 anytime, Nintendo.
Um, I played the hell out of Donkey Kong when it was the hot game in the arcades, so yeah I feel oldish. Thanks a lot, Nintendo Life!
I still have my original DKC cart. The hype was definitely real as Nintendo really pushed it. I really enjoyed the game and have played it through countless times (and making sure to get 101% every time). The sequel improved on it in just about every way, though and felt more refined.
@dartmonkey You should totally add the DKC Exposed video to the article that Nintendo sent out to Nintendo Power subscribers to hype the game. I still have my VHS of this video, lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv_YCSbWP78
This was one of my first games I played as a kid. Fond memories of going down to my grandparents place with my brother and grabbing out the SNES and playing DK Country. Also remember the intro tune and music throughout this game!
Rarin to play it when I get home. Happy bday DKC.
I'd love a DKC Collection from Nintendo. (Physical please) That'd be rad!
Just like Sonic the Hedgehog has a special place in my heart because it was bundled with my first Sega Genesis, Donkey Kong Country has the same honors for the SNES.
The first SNES system my family bought was bundled with Donkey Kong Country, and DKC was the first SNES game I ever played.
To this day, I think Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2 are the best platformer games on the SNES. Yes, I think they are even better then Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island.
DKC is an amazing game all around, with great gameplay, some of the best video game music ever made, stunning graphics that hold up even to this day, and it rewarded the player for wanting to explore levels and I remember tossing barrels at every wall or taking leaps of faith off the screen and dying countless times.... Until that one leap pays off and you feel like the most awesome person in the world.
Not even the Mario games give you that feeling.
Happy Birthday DKC! Everytime I have fond memories of the 16-bit era, the first games that pop into my mind are the DKC and Sonic games.
So many memories with this great game. Anniversaries like this would be a perfect time to add the DKC games to SNES online and now that Nintendo isn't following a consistent release schedule they can do it right?
Maybe the announcement got delayed for some reason. It's okay Nintendo I can wait till the end of the day for these games.
DKC was my first speedrun game!
101% in 1h 14min seems slow nowadays but back then - as a 13 year old boy - it was a great achievement. No-one was able to beat me.
DKC isn't known very much for his 2 player modes, but I loved it so much that I wanted to have a second SNES Controller. The game had 3 save slots so I had to make the most out of them and bought one!
And I did it all without a second player (my family was useless for fluid and fastpaced games while I was fine handling two controllers at once).
Everyone into gaming should have lived through such exciting times.
And the graphics! Even my father was mesmerized by the swinging lights in the mines and the underwater areas back then. Well, I can go on forever as I have so many vivid memories, but..
Happy Birthday DKC 1 !!! Love ya!
One of my first 10 games I played. Happy Birthday Donkey Kong Country! 😊 It's also the 25 Anniversary of his buddy Diddy Kong!
@Expa0
"Posthumously I find DKC2 to be a much better game."
You're dead?
Can we get the whole freaking trilogy on Switch now or Switch online already?!
I used to bunk off school and play this round a mates house!
Good times..
I hope this will come to SNES app soon.
What was said about this game that wasn't said before? It's timeless, it didn't age a single day, 25 years and you can still play it like it was released today.
I am one of those people who defend that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is even better than the SNES DKC Trilogy, but of course the original games are still some of the best videogame classics.
My favorite series on the SNES. DKC2 will always be a favorite of mine.
Needs another article, Donkey Kong 64 is now 20 years old.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
He's the first member
Of the DK Crew
I still recall the ads, in 1994. I wanted this game so badly to play with my cousin.
There was this saying in Brazil, when one wanted to complain about public services: "Why make your life harder, if I can make it easier?" Everybody said that with maxed out sarcasm.
Now, Nintendo's ad for DKC was: "Why make your life easier, if we can make it harder?"
So DKC became my obsession for as long as I can remember.
Then it came DKC2.
And that, my friends, is the best platformer EVER. CREATED.
Yep. If there’s one thing to ruin me weekend this is it. I was 15 when this came out. Really does feel like a loooooonnnng time ago now. Somehow, even to this very day, I still haven’t played DKC 2 or 3!
Tap here to load 47 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...