Donkey Kong Country hits different when it boots instantly in your browser. Released on the Game Boy Color, this retro classic from its publisher is ready the second you press start — no downloads, no setup.
They collect items, ride minecarts and animals, defeat enemies and bosses, and find secret bonus stages. The player traverses 40 side-scrolling levels as they jump between platforms and avoid obstacles.
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| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| D-Pad Up | ↑ | D-Pad up |
| D-Pad Down | ↓ | D-Pad down |
| D-Pad Left | ← | D-Pad left |
| D-Pad Right | → | D-Pad right |
| A | Z | Right face |
| B | X | Left face |
| Start | Enter | Start |
| Select | V | Select |
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The Story Behind Donkey Kong Country
Between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 19th highest-selling game for a Nintendo handheld console in the US. Rare developed more than 60 NES games, including the Battletoads series. Nintendo and Rare's partnership produced acclaimed Nintendo 64 games such as GoldenEye 007 (1997), Banjo-Kazooie (1998), Perfect Dark (2000), and Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001).
The brothers previously founded the British computer game studio Ultimate Play the Game and founded Rare to focus on the burgeoning Japanese console market. Diddy's Kong Quest was designed to be less linear and more challenging, with a theme reflecting Gregg Mayles' fascination with pirates. It adds a new animated introductory cutscene, redesigned user interfaces and world maps, the ability to save progress anywhere, minigames, and a time trial mode.
How Donkey Kong Country Plays
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platform game. The player can visit other members of the Kong family from the world map. A reboot of the Donkey Kong franchise, its story begins when the crocodile King K.
Funky Kong operates a flight service allowing the player to travel across different areas of Donkey Kong Island; Cranky Kong, the aged incarnation of Donkey Kong from the original Donkey Kong (1981), provides tips and fourth wall-breaking humour; and Candy Kong operates a save point service. These items can be found within the main level or by discovering hidden bonus stages, where they are earned via solving puzzles. Donkey and Diddy can defeat enemies by jumping on, rolling into, or throwing barrels at them.
Why Players Still Load It Up
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) called Donkey Kong Country "one of the few games that is actually as good as the hype", and Total! declared it the best game of 1994. It received perfect scores from several outlets. CVG wrote that Donkey Kong Country was the only SNES game that matched Super Mario World, but that it would be a conventional platformer without its graphics.
EGM and GamePro found searching for bonus stages was challenging, though GamePro said it was easy to "breeze through the game" without them and criticised the boss fights as simplistic. Consumers were unfamiliar with 3D graphics at the time. It said that experienced players may find the game, designed for the mass market, unoriginal.
Donkey Kong Country — Frequently Asked Questions
Who developed Donkey Kong Country?
Donkey Kong Country was developed by its developer and published by its publisher.
Where can I buy the original Donkey Kong Country?
Scroll to "Other Places You Can Get This Game" beneath the write-up — it lists trusted stores selling official copies.
What console was Donkey Kong Country released on?
Donkey Kong Country was released for the Game Boy Color in .
Can I save my progress in Donkey Kong Country?
It does — with a free account you can snapshot the game at any point using save states, then pick it up later from exactly that spot.