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 emerging, decades after the fact. Taking to YouTube yesterday, we've now had our first-ever look at the original Donkey Kong Country sketches, thanks to Rare's former artist Kev Bayliss.

Throughout the 8 minute video, Kev Bayliss showcases a few of Country's additional characters like Winky, Rambi, Kremlings and Expresso the Ostrich. He then moves onto Donkey Kong himself, detailing how he went from Shigeru Miyamoto's original sketch to Rare's initial design, before reaching the final rendered image.

It makes for interesting viewing, giving us a look into Donkey Kong Country's development process we'd not seen before. Bayliss ends on a positive note too, encouraging budding artists to keep practising.

Speaking of Donkey Kong while we're at it: our esteemed video team recently ranked All 55 Kongs across the franchise, so why not take a look and decide whether their decisions about Kiddy Kong were fair.

Are you an aspiring artist? Do you have fond memories of Donkey Kong Country? Let us know in the comments.

[source nintendoeverything.com, via youtube.com]