Anniversary: Donkey Kong Country Is Now 30 Years Old (SNES)

TF>3>JB>R>1>2>L1

can't change my mind

Happy anniversary Donkey Kong Country!

It is still fun to play or to watch a longplay of it, while relaxing and enjoying the music and atmosphere.

One of the all time best platformers ^__^

Also, Fear Factory is one of the best songs in a 2D platformer. Right up there with SMBW Airship and Legend of Last World. I prefer the DKCR remix, but I can't ignore its origin game.

One of the best platformers ever made and one of the very first games I ever played. This is making me feel old. 😅

I've played DKC 1, 2 and Returns and love them all. Must get round to Tropical Freeze at some point!

How many articles today are going to remind me of my age?!

I was 13 years old when this came out. Yikes! Now excuse me while i change my depends. LOL damn time goes by! 😝

While you could argue that the game quality may have been surpassed by some its sequels, if you were there ( as I was) there really was a “wow” factor that can really happen once . Still remember playing snow barrel blast , thinking how great everything looked and being like “ wouldn’t it be awesome if it started snowing “ and when it did , I couldn’t believe how cool ( ha ha ) it looked . I got that game for Christmas that year ( 13 at the time) and it truly is something I associate with Christmas time. Been enjoying listening to the music on the Nintendo music app.

I remember my dad getting this for me when I was a kid, i think he paid frickin like 80-90 bucks! Game carts were outrageous at times in the 90s ...still can deatroy at this game based on just muscle memory

It’s a great platformer. I do think DKC 2 is just a little better in some ways, but I kind of prefer the first one anyway because it’s simpler. It’s also important to remember what a big deal the graphics were at the time. In some ways they’ve aged worse than proper pixel art, but at the time we all thought they were unbelievable!

Got it for my 6th birthday a week after release. Still remember my older brother trying to pull a fast one on the car ride back and saying "hey if you let me play for an hour first you can have the SNES for as long as you want after." My response? I cried and Mom set the record straight. Lovely game and great memories playing it

I remember this game releasing like it was yesterday. It can't be overstated how amazing it looked compared to other games at the time.

That said, DKC2 and DKC3 are much better games.

My friend used to draw his own stages for Donkey Kong Country in his notebook.
Some kid noticed and told him that Nintendo was going to sue him and that he was breaking copyright law.
Good times.

This game is so good, definitely my favorite SNES title. Hopefully we get a new entry soon!

I've tried to get into the SNES Country games since this was originally released but I just hated the way the controls felt. They seemed really off after years of playing Mario and Sonic.

One of my greatest childhood game of all time. The first time I play this I thought I was playing a PlayStation game.

The visuals in this game were truly mind blowing at the time, never had I seen the like. Amazing soundtrack, and still a joy to play through to this day. Although DKC2 will always be my personal fav.

Man, THE memories of playing this game! It's December 1994, it's my 7th birthday and my parents get me DKC. I played it to death, I really can't count the number of times I have beaten it and 103%'d it over the 30 years that have passed. On our CRT TV the graphics seemed soo increadible, the gameplay sooo smooth and Cranky so...cranky that it really felt like playing an animated film. I think I can beat it blindfolded by now. Hope to scratch that itch with DKC Returns in January.

I love this game, but damn do 2 and 3 do it better! Still, happy anniversary to this classic

So many good memories with this game. I poured over that silly VHS Nintendo Power sent me and then rented this game so many times. I had already been exposed to the PlayStation but this game captured my attention like nothing else, and that really has to do a lot with the music. The game really felt like it was rewarding progress with music, Gang Plank Galleon and the credits of course being the biggest ones. It's amazing my DK Jamz tape didn't get worn out because the moment I got that from the NP catalog it was constantly in play. DKC2 managed to top it in every way but no other game has come close to those two. And I think it's because the music has never risen to the occasion again.

Donkey Kong Country is one of those few games that I can replay almost infinitely. It is like Jet Force Gemini, where I play through it almost yearly sometimes a couple times in a year even.

I still love the way the game looks and sounds, it brings me back to a simpler time and it is always fun when I can get my brother to join in for some co-op, me using the obviously superior Kong, that being Diddy. While I will agree the gameplay has been improved in the sequels that came to follow there is something about the original that makes it more likely for it to be the one I replay. It's such a timeless game.

You know what’s old after reading this article?

ME! I’m ancient…. My goodness…

I even remember this game being released

@batmanbud2 Glad to see another person's support of DKC3. It's my favorite of the original trilogy.

My mom and I are working thru this. She played it as a kid, but it is my first time!

Incredibly important game for Nintendo, but am I alone in thinking the game itself was only okay? If anything, it's more an example of what shrewd marketing can do (to Nintendo's credit).

I grew up with DKC 1 and 2, didn't get to play 3 until years later due to the N64 releasing. Personally, I'd go 2>1>TF>R>3, (objectively I'd say that TF is better than 1, but I still think 2 is the better platformer). All are good, but 3 was disappointing after the first two, (I did love the world map idea though).

This game and its two SNES sequels still look, sound, and play like a dream. Easily Rare's best games.

That Is The Best Video Game Eever.

One of the best games ever made. I'll be revisiting it again soon, as I do a sort of DKcember annually where I play through all the Country games. I'd love the GBA version just to shake things up, though.

Man that game is so good… the snow still looks fantastic to me, this game was so big and fascinating to me I still remember the magazine ads for it. Tropical Freeze is an absolute masterpiece for me, platforming perfection, but I have a lot of love for the original Donkey Kong Country. Take a bow, Rare.

Great game,
but when compared to modern games,
and even the sequels a couple of years later,
most of the bosses are piss poor.

30 years later and its still one of the best platformers ever made. Loved the DK Country OG trilogy

30 years of some of the best 2D platforming ever made. I think the biggest strength of the original games is all the variety of the animal buddies.

Dang. This was my first SNES game alongside Mario world. I love this game. I think it’s time for another playthrough

Happy Anniversary to DKC. One of my favorite SNES games.

Love reading everyone's memories of this fantastic game. I also got it for christmas. I would have been 11 at the time. My parents and older siblings all chipped in to buy it for me as it pretty expensive and we wasnt a well off family. I was absolutely glued to the game until i completed it. Although my personal cart is long gone now and is probarbly in someone elses treasured collection its one of my most treasured christmas memories. Really is one of the greatest games of all time.

I can’t beat the game with one life within an hour like Cranky Kong, but I’ve played the game almost my entire life and can beat it in a breeze, no problem. It's my favorite game, plain and simple.

It’s hard to believe nowadays with the series being dormant for a decade, but there was a time when DK seemed to be ALMOST as big as Mario. It’s pretty stunning how Nintendo put their full trust in a Western studio to give one of their biggest characters such a radical overhaul. I can’t imagine them doing something like that today.

I still have hope the DK series will come swinging back. Just getting Switch ports of Tropical Freeze and Returns is lame, but considering New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey, finally bringing King K. Rool back in Smash, a theme park expansion, and adding DKC’s OST to Nintendo Music from the start and DKC2’s right after, Nintendo must have been keenly aware of the IP’s appeal for some time. It’s very disappointing that Switch won’t get its own DK game, but here’s hoping the next system will mark Donkey Kong’s true return!

I know this is more a thing for Time Extension, but it's telling that people have also forgotten that the Sega 32X also launched on the same day.

Sheesh, I remember renting it from Blockbuster when it came out Thanksgiving 94. Wow I'm old lol.

It's the best platformer ever made. Runner-Ups include: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic and Knuckles, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 3D Land, Batman (NES port), & Jak and Daxter.

Wow I am getting old. I remember playing this game for Christmas of 94. Great times.

Happy 30th anniversary DKC!🎉🎈🍌

I have very fond memories of this game. I got it for Xmas 1994, but the hype in the run up to its release was phenomenal. I remember the coverage on Bad Influence TV show, and the anecdote about when it was shown at E3 (or whatever it was at the time) and everyone thought it was for Nintendo’s next console.

I also remember playing levels repeatedly because I was looking for the ‘!’ exclamation mark to show on the map to show that you’d 100% completed a level. I was expecting it to show on the map itself, in the spot where you enter the level. Little did I know that they just added the ‘!’ to the end of the level’s name! I gave up in the end. I probably got 100% on loads of levels without even realising it 🙈

I want a remaster or remake of the SNES trilogy so much. I can’t stand the new ones and their control styles.

It's a lot of fun for what it is, and the use of pre-rendered CG for sprites was pretty revolutionary at the time, but it simply doesn't have the sheer depth of something like Super Mario World (which I got the same Christmas). Stripped of its unique graphics and fantastic music it's a pretty rudimentary platformer.

Great game. Rare was such a great company back then. Their games were way better than Nintendo's at the time.