This is the first thread in a set of threads I plan on doing, about various video game series. I've got plenty of series to look at in this set of threads, I'll try to do one every few days or so. This first one is about the Donkey Kong Country games.
Many of us grew up playing the Donkey Kong Country games. They were one of the better series of games during the SNES era. It was a great platform series that had enough of a balance of fun and difficult to appeal to nearly everyone. Something interesting was that with every sequel, the character who was the sidekick of the previous game would be the main character of the next game. Lets take a quick look at each game in the trilogy before I get to the discussion questions.
Donkey Kong Country was the first game in the series and it came out back in 1994. It introduced many elements that would be revisited in its two sequels. These included barrel cannons, animal helpers, finding the four letters that spell out KONG to get an extra life, and hidden bonus rooms within the main levels, to name a few. It went on to become the 2nd best selling game on the SNES, losing only to Super Mario World. An odd piece of trivia is that despite having his name in the series, this was the only game in the series where Donkey Kong himself was playable.
Donkey Kong Country 2 came out in 1995. It was a lot more difficult than the first game. You now not only had to find all the hidden bonus rooms to fully complete the game, but also had to find a hidden DK coin in every level. Eventually you unlocked secret levels, all of which had to be cleared in order to reach the true final level. The hero this time around was Diddy Kong, who had been in the sidekick role in the previous game. The new sidekick was Dixie Kong, who could use her hair to glide. Diddy and Dixies main goal was to find Donkey Kong. The enemies (many who had appeared in the previous game) took on a pirate gimmick for the most part. The roster of animal helpers also changed quite a bit, although a few familiar faces returned. My personal favorite new feature that came with this entry of the series was the animal barrels which temporarily changed you into one of the animal helpers for part of the level.
Donkey Kong Country 3 was the last game in the series, it came out in 1996. It followed a similar format to its prequel by making you unlock secret levels and finding the DK coin in every stage. That part was easier than in the 2nd game though due to the fact that you had to defeat an enemy in every level who had the coin and it was always the same enemy. Dixie Kong was the hero this time, after having played the sidekick role in the previous game. The new sidekick was Kiddy Kong. Neither Donkey nor Diddy were playable. The list of animal helpers saw some changes again, with Enguarde the swordfish and Squawks the parrot being the only ones to appear in all games. A couple of cool new feature were the shops owned by the Brothers Bear and the various vehicles that you could pick from to travel with on the main map.
So now that Ive mentioned each game a bit, lets get into the discussion questions.
1. What Donkey Kong Country game was your favorite and why?
2. Which one was your least favorite and why?
3. Should there have been a 4th game in the series? If so what would you have wanted this game to have been like?
4. If you could change one thing about the series what would it be?
5. Are there any particularly cool memories regarding the DKC games that you would like to share?
Ill go first. My favorite game in the series was the second one because it took everything that was great about the first game and made it even better. It was an almost perfect game and I have so many fond memories of playing it. Ill never forget how tough levels such as Bramble Scramble or Web Woods were, and how happy I was after finally clearing them. My least favorite game in the series was probably the third one because while it was a great game, I felt it did not live up to its full potential. Although in its defense it had a very tough act to follow.
I dont think that there should have been a 4th game, as Donkey Kong 64 would later on pick up where this series left off . however it would have been nice if all four characters (Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, and Kiddy) were all playable in the same game. That brings me to the one thing that I would change about the series if I could. I would have made it somehow unlockable in DKC2 (perhaps after defeating Kaptain K.Rool) to play as Donkey or Kiddy. Due to storyline reasons Donkey could not have been playable from the beginning, and Kiddy did not exist yet when the game was made. I think this change could have been possible somehow, although it might have pushed the SNES to its limits. Playing as a team of Dixie/Donkey, Diddy/Kiddy, or even Donkey/Kiddy would have been interesting.... as would using the teams of Donkey/Diddy or Dixie/Kiddy in DKC2.
Now its your turn to answer the questions.
Many of us grew up playing the Donkey Kong Country games. They were one of the better series of games during the SNES era. It was a great platform series that had enough of a balance of fun and difficult to appeal to nearly everyone. Something interesting was that with every sequel, the character who was the sidekick of the previous game would be the main character of the next game. Lets take a quick look at each game in the trilogy before I get to the discussion questions.
Donkey Kong Country was the first game in the series and it came out back in 1994. It introduced many elements that would be revisited in its two sequels. These included barrel cannons, animal helpers, finding the four letters that spell out KONG to get an extra life, and hidden bonus rooms within the main levels, to name a few. It went on to become the 2nd best selling game on the SNES, losing only to Super Mario World. An odd piece of trivia is that despite having his name in the series, this was the only game in the series where Donkey Kong himself was playable.
Donkey Kong Country 2 came out in 1995. It was a lot more difficult than the first game. You now not only had to find all the hidden bonus rooms to fully complete the game, but also had to find a hidden DK coin in every level. Eventually you unlocked secret levels, all of which had to be cleared in order to reach the true final level. The hero this time around was Diddy Kong, who had been in the sidekick role in the previous game. The new sidekick was Dixie Kong, who could use her hair to glide. Diddy and Dixies main goal was to find Donkey Kong. The enemies (many who had appeared in the previous game) took on a pirate gimmick for the most part. The roster of animal helpers also changed quite a bit, although a few familiar faces returned. My personal favorite new feature that came with this entry of the series was the animal barrels which temporarily changed you into one of the animal helpers for part of the level.
Donkey Kong Country 3 was the last game in the series, it came out in 1996. It followed a similar format to its prequel by making you unlock secret levels and finding the DK coin in every stage. That part was easier than in the 2nd game though due to the fact that you had to defeat an enemy in every level who had the coin and it was always the same enemy. Dixie Kong was the hero this time, after having played the sidekick role in the previous game. The new sidekick was Kiddy Kong. Neither Donkey nor Diddy were playable. The list of animal helpers saw some changes again, with Enguarde the swordfish and Squawks the parrot being the only ones to appear in all games. A couple of cool new feature were the shops owned by the Brothers Bear and the various vehicles that you could pick from to travel with on the main map.
So now that Ive mentioned each game a bit, lets get into the discussion questions.
1. What Donkey Kong Country game was your favorite and why?
2. Which one was your least favorite and why?
3. Should there have been a 4th game in the series? If so what would you have wanted this game to have been like?
4. If you could change one thing about the series what would it be?
5. Are there any particularly cool memories regarding the DKC games that you would like to share?
Ill go first. My favorite game in the series was the second one because it took everything that was great about the first game and made it even better. It was an almost perfect game and I have so many fond memories of playing it. Ill never forget how tough levels such as Bramble Scramble or Web Woods were, and how happy I was after finally clearing them. My least favorite game in the series was probably the third one because while it was a great game, I felt it did not live up to its full potential. Although in its defense it had a very tough act to follow.
I dont think that there should have been a 4th game, as Donkey Kong 64 would later on pick up where this series left off . however it would have been nice if all four characters (Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, and Kiddy) were all playable in the same game. That brings me to the one thing that I would change about the series if I could. I would have made it somehow unlockable in DKC2 (perhaps after defeating Kaptain K.Rool) to play as Donkey or Kiddy. Due to storyline reasons Donkey could not have been playable from the beginning, and Kiddy did not exist yet when the game was made. I think this change could have been possible somehow, although it might have pushed the SNES to its limits. Playing as a team of Dixie/Donkey, Diddy/Kiddy, or even Donkey/Kiddy would have been interesting.... as would using the teams of Donkey/Diddy or Dixie/Kiddy in DKC2.
Now its your turn to answer the questions.
