Donkey Kong Country

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

Donkey Kong Country is the first game of what we now know as the Donkey Kong series, revitalized by Rare and turned into its own thing apart from that handful of arcade games tied to Mario. The game starred Donkey Kong (the grandson of the arcade's Donkey Kong), and his sidekick Diddy Kong as they journey to take back their banana horde from the evil King K. Rool.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong act as the first and second player characters, and as such both function on more or less the same game mechanics, the difference being Donkey Kong is larger and stronger, whereas Diddy is smaller and more agile. They could both run, jump, roll, swing on vines and ropes, launch themselves from barrels, bounce on tires, swim, ride minecarts, and throw barrels. There's not a whole lot of variation here in this first game between them, the way there will be in future installments.

There are three supporting characters in this game. Cranky Kong is Donkey's grandfather and the original Donkey Kong. He has a cane that he swings around and throws dynamite in the opening cutscene. Other than that, he mostly gives out hints and complains about "kids these days." Candy Kong is Donkey's girlfriend and saves your game for you. Funky Kong is a chill, laid-back surfer dude who lets you use his plane to travel between worlds you've already visited.

After the supporting characters, we also have a set of Animal Buddies who help out Donkey and Diddy throughout their journey. Rambi is a rhinoceros who charges forward at high speed and can jump. Enguarde is a swordfish who swims more quickly through water and can stab enemies with his nose. Expresso is an ostrich who can leap high and can float some distance. Winky is a frog who can hop really high. Squawks is a green parrot who, in this game at least, follows you around with a torchlight. That's it.

King K. Rool is the villain of the game, a rotund crocodile who leads the Kremlings in taking Donkey Kong's bananas all for themselves. Donkey and Diddy fight him once during their journey, as the final battle. During the battle, he will throw his crown, charge around, jump up really high, and drop cannonballs from above. As the leader of the Kremlings, a lot of their stuff can also be applied to him of course, but there is enough for them to be their own thing as well.

The Kremlings are an interesting bunch. As I've covered this series, I've come to discover that the developers seemed to give them a different name if they did anything slightly different. And each subsequent game gave the same basic enemies different names. So, let's sort through it all, shall we? Kritters are the first and most basic version of the Kremlings, and would likely be the most basic character model's name for a Smash character. Just as Kritters, they mostly just walk around, but a few jump. Others include: Krash, which is a Kritter riding a minecart; Klump, a big, fat Kremling that can't be defeated by ordinary means; Krusha, a musclebound Kremling that also can't be defeated by ordinary means; Klaptrap, a small crocodile that crawls along the ground and bites you; and Rock Kroc, a golem of sorts that comes alive under a certain type of light.

Several other enemies exist in this world. These include: Gnawties, beaver things that serve as your Goomba stand-ins; Neckies and Mini-Neckies, vultures that fly around and spit nuts; Armies, armadillos who roll up into a ball to attack; Zingers, giant bees who buzz up and down and back and forth; Slippas, snakes who slither across the ground; Manky Kongs, evil apes who throw barrels; Bitesizes, who are fish; Chomps and Chomps Jr., sharks; Clambos, clams who spit pearls; Choctopuses (Choctopi?), who spin really fast and chase you; and Squidges, squids who dart around really fast. None offer up much in terms of moveset.

Of course, we have a selection of bosses that Donkey and Diddy have to deal with. These include: Very Gnawty, basically just a really big Gnawty; Master Necky, a really big Necky who spits nuts and pecks at you; Queen B, a really big Zinger who will try to sting you; Really Gnawty, Very Gnawty all over again; Dumb Drum, an . . . oil drum that hops around and spits out enemies; and Master Necky Sr., the first Master Necky all over again.

The stages for this game are a bit difficult to categorize. They all appear as a set of stages within various worlds, but the themes of each world are loose at best, and most stages fall into general stereotypes across the board. Technically, you have Kongo Jungle, a jungle world, Monkey Mines, a cavernous world, Vine Valley, a forest world, Gorilla Glacier, an ice world, Kremcroc Industries, a factory world, Chimp Caverns, another cavernous world, and Gangplank Galleon, King K. Rool's pirate ship. Yet, the stages within these worlds tend to be a massive conglomeration of all these worlds, plus the game's iconic water levels. I think I'd be best served just including a basic stage to represent all of these.

And as for our items, of course we have barrels, and bananas, and coins, and rocket barrels, and tires, all of which could function very well in the role of items.

All right, let's see what we've got so far:

Characters:
Donkey Kong: run, jump, roll, swing, launch from barrels, bounce on tires, swim, ride minecarts, throw barrels
Diddy Kong: run, jump, roll, swing, launch from barrels, bounce on tires, swim, ride minecarts, throw barrels
Cranky Kong: walking stick, dynamite, hints
Candy Kong: save
Funky Kong: airplane
King K. Rool: throw crown, charge, jump high, cannonballs
Kremlings/Kritter: walk forward, jump, ride minecart, Krusha (maybe his own), Klump (maybe his own)
Animal Buddies:
Rambi: charge forward, jump
Enguarde: swim, stab
Expresso: jump, run fast, glide
Winky: leap
Squawks: fly, flashlight

Bosses:
Very Gnawty
Master Necky
Queen B
Really Gnawty
Dumb Drum
Master Necky Sr.

Stages:
Jungle Level
Forest/Trees Level
Mine/Cave Level
Underwater Level
Snow Level
Factory Level
Gangplank Galleon

Items:
Barrels
Barrel Cannons
Bananas
Banana Coins
Tires

Thanks for reading! Next time, we'll cover Donkey Kong Country 2!