Some days back I wrote about playing Super Mario World on the MINI SNES. That post was titled Super Mario World (The Secret Stage You Never Knew About). While doing so I asked the readers what game should I play next. A number of different games were mentioned but the first that got nominated was Donkey Kong so that is what we went and did. We played and beat the MINI SNES version of Donkey Kong Country. However I did not do this on my own, yes I had help. I fired the MINI SNES up and then enlisted the help of my youngest daughter who is still in her preteens. As I was setting up the SNES nostalgia took over and memories started flooding in. I reminded myself that I need to get the "1ups" located in the first stage. Horror memories of the dreaded mining stage started flooding in. Its too late to back out now, its game time!
"First" Reactions:
Most importantly my child had a blast playing this game which was 1000X better than any opium boosts I got from the nostalgia. The stages she liked playing the most were the bonus stages. You know, the ones where you have to collect three golden frogs/ostrich (ect) and upon doing so get to a stage filled with "Coins", each 100 coins collected gave a "1UP"/extra life. This meant each time we got to an area in which it was possible that such a bonus was going to be active I made sure it was her turn to play. As for myself, I can forget things that happen in real time rather easily (Ex. I just placed my keys down, where are they?) but for some reason every single "hidden" secret that I found as a child came flooding in as I entered each stage. This doesn't mean I whizzed threw the game. Nope, kid me would be laughing at how bad I was at playing. In truth my daughter was the main star of this duo. She routinely asked,"Dad, do you want me to beat that part for you". My answer was unashamedly, "Yes I Do". What can I say, the kid is a natural retro gamer.
Game Play
Game play notes won't be in order, I'm writing my thoughts as they come. As noted, we did not whizz through this game. We got stuck on numerous sections. The coal mining stage named "Mini Cart Carnage" being one of them. Along with being (what I consider) the hardest stage in the game the Mini Cart Carnage stage also so happens to be one of, if not the funniest stages in the whole game. We lost many virtual lives in that stage but the look on my daughters face after we beat it was priceless. To say she was exicted would be an understatement. Not going to lie, I was also excited and oddly slightly bummed as I knew the stage was now over and so was the fun that was had trying to beat it. Side Note: The boss level's at the end of each section seemed to be some of the easiest stages to overcome. The first boss "Very Gnawty" only required the player to jump on its head three times. Not much of a boss if you ask me.
The game supplied the players characters with an oversized banana after winning the boss battles. Another stage that gave us some trouble was the "Stop And Go Station". This stage required our playable characters (Donkey and Diddy Kong) to jump and hit barrels that said "Go" to change them to say "Stop" (or was it vice-versa?). Doing so put our enemies to sleep for a small period of time. We needed to make it to the next "Stop"/"Go" barrel and hit it before our enemies "woke up" again. It took numerous attempts and more virtual lives were lost but we eventually beat the stage (there's that look of excitement again). Some other stages provided some slight difficulties and lots of entertainment such as the "Snow Barrel Blast" world where we had to jump in said barrels and then proceed to shoot our characters out of those barrels into other moving barrels. However for the most part it was the aforementioned stages that gave us the most difficulty until.
The Main Boss
When we made it to the main boss who was waiting on a ship we were uncertain if it was the last stage or not. The game showed that we were 65% completed but my childhood memory was telling me this was the last stage (how could this be). There is only one way to find out and that is to play and beat the stage. We did just that but it didn't come without its surprises. Even though I played this game as a kid I somehow completely forgot the "fake out" the main boss does. Just when you think you beat him and the game is seemingly over BOOM he is back for more and is much faster and dangerous than he was at the start of the battle. It's a good thing my daughter kicked ass in those bonus stages as we needed every extra life we managed to get our hands on to beat this final boss. Once we did so I realized the reason for the game showing only *65% completed. It was because we didn't collect all the secrets in the game such as all the hidden bonus stages. Overall and with all things considered the games graphics still hold up and the games "fun" value is still as high as it ever been. Donkey Kong Country (DKC for short) is easily one of the trade mark games from its time period. While playing, its easy to see why.
DKC Worlds
- Kongo Jungle
- Monkey Mines
- Vine Valley
- Gorilla Glacier
- Kremkroc Industries Inc.
- Chimp Caverns
- Gangplank Galleon (Final Boss Ship)
DKC Bosses
- Very Gnawty
- Master Necky
- Queen B.
- Really Gnawty
- Dumb Drum
- Master Necky Snr.
- King K. Rool
List Of Games On Mini NES CLASSIC
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Donkey Kong Country
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Course
Secret of Mana
Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario World
Final Fantasy III
Super Castlevania IV
EarthBound
F-ZERO
Mega Man X
Star Fox
Star Fox 2
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Metroid
Super Punch-Out!!
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Yoshi's Island
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platform game. A reboot of the Donkey Kong franchise, its story begins when King K. Rool and his army of crocodiles, the Kremlings, steal the Kongs' banana hoard. The gorilla Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong set out to reclaim the hoard and defeat the Kremlings. Wiki
