Donkey Kong Country (1994 video game)

The game that started it all: Donkey Kong Country is the first of what would be a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games, and was released for the SNES in 1994. Not only is it one of the best selling SNES games of all time (Specifically the third best-selling game, surpassed only by Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World), but it's the best-selling SNES game to be developed by a company other than Nintendo: in this case Rare.

As was the case of many games of the time, the plot is simple: the evil Kremlings, an army of anthropomorphic crocodiles led by the nefarious King K. Rool raid DK Island one dark and stormy night, and make off with the Kongs' banana horde. Angered by the theft of his favorite food, Donkey Kong sets off with his little buddy Diddy on an adventure across the entirety of DK Island, beating down any Kremlings in their way while they take back their bananas.


 * Acrofatic: King K. Rool's enormous gold-plated gut doesn't hamper his speed at all: not only can he run incredibly fast across the deck of his ship, but he's able to jump surprisingly far.
 * Adaptational Badass: Some of the bosses have new tricks up their sleeves in the GBA rerelease: for example, Queen B. will turn invincible and summon a batallion of Zingers that you have to defeat after taking a hit, and Really Gnawty will drop stalactites on you once he's been damaged. Dumb Drum also gets a weird version of this where his fight is the same, but you have to throw a TNT barrel at him to actually hurt him. At least you have to put in effort to kill him this time!
 * Adaptation Dye Job: Gnawties are blue in the GBA rerelease instead of green, which makes them consistent with the original game's box/cartridge art. Very and Really Gnawty are also recolored, with Very Gnawty being brown instead of green, while the brown Really Gnawty is now blue.
 * Advancing Wall of Doom: A few of these appear in the form of Gnawties riding huge stone wheels in the temple levels. They aren't insta-kill hazards, but since you can only take two hits at most they're still not something you want to be run over by.
 * Anti-Frustration Features: There are a lot of bonus rooms, some of which being very tricky to find. You have to find them all to truly complete the game, but thankfully the game takes the edge off of this by only requiring you to find them, not beat them. Also, once you've found all the bonus rooms in a level, the level's name on the map screen will now have an exclamation mark at the end to show that you don't need to waste your time on it.
 * Autobots Rock Out: King K. Rool's boss theme starts off sounding like a happy-go-lucky sea shanty, which is appropriate for the pirate ship setting but rather unfitting for the final boss fight... and then it transitions into a badass hard rock musical number. Now that is a final boss theme!
 * Bee Afraid: Zingers make their debut here, and are led by Queen B., the boss of Vine Valley.
 * Big Bad: King K. Rool, the king of the Kremlings and the croc responsible for the theft of the Kongs' bananas.
 * Big Guy, Little Guy: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have this dynamic, with DK being the Big Guy to Diddy's Little Guy.
 * Blackout Basement: This game gives us the trope namer! The level in question is a factory level where the lights will intermittently go out and come back on, forcing players to memorize level geography and enemy placement so they can safely navigate the pitch-black darkness. There are two other levels that deal with darkness in similar ways: the first is Torchlight Trouble which has you explore a dark cave with Squawks the parrot lighting the way with a flashlight, and the second is Loopy Lights which has a gimmick focused around hitting barrels that temporarily light up a dark mineshaft full of dangerous enemies and a lot of bottomless pits.
 * Breakout Character: Diddy Kong is definitely one of gaming's most successful sidekicks. Thanks to his popularity in this game, he'd go on to be the star of the sequel and appear with Donkey Kong in tons of Mario spinoffs. He even earned the privilege to be in Super Smash Bros., starting with Brawl!
 * Breakout Villain: King K. Rool is in a similar boat: thanks to his popularity, he'd go on to be Donkey Kong's arch-enemy all throughout the nineties and popped up in quite a few spinoffs during the early 2000's. And after years of Smash fan demands, he'd finally make a playable appearance in 2018's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * The Chick: Candy Kong. She's the only female Kong in the game, and is in charge of saving the player's progress.
 * Definitely Final Dungeon: The Chimp Caverns are given a volcanic makeover in the GBA version, which makes it feel like a more appropriate final world than the original. Unfortunately, none of the levels were edited to reflect on said volcanic makeover.
 * Difficulty Spike: Gorilla Glacier (World 4) is where the difficulty really picks up, throwing you into levels where platform hell, annoyingly placed enemies, and dangerous barrel cannon rides start becoming a lot more commonplace.
 * Dual Boss: When you fight Master Necky Sr. in the GBA version, he'll have the younger Master Necky backing him up.
 * Elite Mooks: Krushas are the deadliest troops in K. Rool's army. Not only do they literally laugh off anything Diddy does to them, but even Donkey Kong can't hurt them unless he jumps on them. Then there are the Grey Krushas found in the last level, which can't be hurt at all unless you chuck a barrel at them.
 * Eternal Engine: The fifth world, Kremcroc Industries, is home to the game's factory levels. The boss is even a mechanical being as opposed to an animal!
 * Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: Squidges and Croctopuses (Croctopi?) are hostile squids and octopi respectively, and they're common threats in underwater stages.
 * Feathered Fiend: Neckies and Mini-Neckies are vulture enemies that menace DK and Diddy, with Master Necky and Master Necky Sr. being gigantic ones serving as boss fights in the second and sixth worlds of the game. While Neckies usually attack with collision damage via their flying, Mini-Neckies and certain normal Neckies will also spit/throw coconuts at the Kongs.
 * Flunky Boss: When Dumb Drum isn't trying to crush the Kongs, he's spitting out enemies to do his dirty work for him. Queen B. also summons Zingers to help her in the GBA version.
 * Foreshadowing: King K. Rool's boss fight on a pirate ship seems to predict the entire Kremling crew taking on a pirate motif in the sequel, with King K. Rool rebranding himself as Kaptain K. Rool.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Not to the extent of some of their other games, but Rare still had fun with their usual innuendoes here and there. "Necky's Nuts", anyone?
 * There's also this remark from Funky in the GBA rerelease: "Dude, tell Candy she can ride my wave anytime!"
 * Gonk: It isn't immediately apparent when you're looking at their sprites, but Manky Kongs are butt ugly. As their official 3D model would show you, they have weirdly-shaped heads and mouths full of crooked teeth.
 * The Goomba: Gnawties, the goofy little beaver enemies are basically Goombas in rodent form: they can only walk in a straight line and are easily disposed of. Green Kritters are in a similar boat.
 * Grumpy Old Man: This game marks the appropriately named Cranky Kong's first appearance, and when you visit him he'll complain about how modern games (for the time) suck compared to Atari-era games while beating DK and Diddy over the head with his walking stick.
 * Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: This is especially evident later on, where the easy bosses almost feel like a reprieve from the hard levels you have to beat to get to them.
 * Improbable Weapon User: King K. Rool takes a page out of Oddjob's book by throwing his crown as one of his attacks. Don't get complacent when you jump over it, because it'll come hurtling right back to him!
 * Jiggle Physics: The fat bellies of the Klump enemies will visibly wobble while they move around.
 * Jungle Japes: The game's first world, Kongo Jungle consists mostly of these kinds of levels. Orang-utan Gang in Vine Valley stands out as being the sole jungle level outside of Kongo Jungle.
 * Killer Gorilla: While this game marks Donkey Kong's first outing as a proper playable hero, he's very much a threat to every Kremling unfortunate enough to come between him and his bananas. There are also orangutan enemies called Manky Kong that will toss barrels at you.
 * King Mook: Every boss is this. King K. Rool at least looks distinct from other Kremlings thanks to his girth, Mad Eye, and royal garb, but every other boss is just a giant version of an enemy (or in Dumb Drum's case, an oil drum that belches up enemies).
 * The Lancer: Diddy is DK's best friend and nephew, and serves as his trusty sidekick in this adventure.
 * Mook Maker: Oil Drums, which belch out a never-ending stream of enemies. Dumb Drum is a boss version of this, and primarily attacks by siccing a pair of enemies on the Kongs.
 * Mordor: The world map for Chimp Caverns in the GBA version abandons the original version's "underground lake" vibe and turns it into a hostile hellscape with lava peeking out from cracks in the ground.
 * Muscles Are Meaningful: The heavily muscled Krusha enemies are nearly invincible, and can't be harmed by Diddy at all while even Donkey Kong's rolling attack is useless against them.
 * Not-So-Harmless Villain: Gnawties are easily the weakest enemies in the game, and both Very and Really Gnawty are among the game's easiest bosses. However, the brown/red Gnawties that ride the giant stone wheels encountered in temple levels are some of the most dangerous enemies in the game thanks to being huge and invincible, as well as prone to relentlessly chasing after you.
 * One-Hit-Point Wonder: Each individual Kong can only take one hit, meaning that if you're stuck with one Kong, you'll lose a life upon taking damage.
 * Powerup Mount: This game introduces the concept of "Animal Buddies", animal mounts you free from special crates that can help you out. To specify:
 * Rambi the rhino is the first one you encounter and the most iconic of the bunch. He's a powerful juggernaut of a rhino who can demolish any enemy in his path just by running into them. He can also attack with his horn, which comes in handy when it comes to looking for secret level entrances hidden inside of fake walls.
 * Engarde the swordfish is only encountered in underwater levels, and serves a similar purpose to the Frog Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3 by providing smoother underwater mobility. He can also stab enemies with his pointy nose.
 * Expresso the ostrich is faster than all the animal buddies and can flutter through the air, which gives his jump a slight boost before letting him slowly glide across vast distances. However, he can't hurt enemies at all.
 * Winky the frog can jump really high and help you get to secrets and goodies that would be otherwise out of your reach.
 * Purple Is Powerful: Master Necky Sr. is the final threat before King K. Rool, and is a giant purple Necky with a decently challenging boss fight. Purple Klaptraps are also late-game enemies, and can be annoying to fight since they'll jump when you jump and will crash into you if you don't time it right.
 * Rodents of Unusual Size: The Gnawties are already big for beavers, but Very and Really Gnawty are gigantic, and are at least a head taller than Donkey Kong.
 * Scenery Porn: Even decades later, this game's levels are gorgeous. The underwater levels are serene and peaceful, the jungles feel alive, and the ice cave and snowy mountain levels do a great job at showing the beauty of wintery climates.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After you've beaten King K. Rool in the GBA version, you can find Very Gnawty hanging out in DK's tree house. The second he sees him he'll take off running in a panic, never to be seen again.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Gorilla Glacier is the obligatory ice world, featuring levels that take place on snowy mountains, an icy cave, and a stretch of chilly ocean.
 * Snakes Are Evil: Slippas, coral snake enemies that often appear in jungle and cave levels, and are the enemies most likely to come popping out of Oil Drums.
 * Tactical Suicide Boss: If K. Rool never tossed his crown at you, he'd be unbeatable.
 * Token Evil Teammate: Manky Kongs, evil orangutans who were exiled by the Kong family and have thrown in their lot with K. Rool as a result. Funnily enough, they get a Token Good Teammate in the form of the heroic Lanky Kong in Donkey Kong 64.
 * Tree-Top Town: We've got the trope namer in this game, which is the first of several levels set in villages built high up in the trees.
 * Underground Level: The second and sixth worlds, Monkey Mines and Chimp Caverns are full of these, ranging from mineshafts with minecarts to underground walkways. Chimp Caverns goes even further with this since the entire map is subterranean, while the Monkey Mines map screen is the exterior of a craggy mountainside.
 * Unique Enemy: Mint-green Zingers are a lot rarer than their yellow, pink, and brown/orange brethren, appearing only in two levels and somewhat rarely at that. Other rare palette swaps are the purple Klaptraps encountered in Loopy Lights, and the grey Krushas in Platform Perils.
 * There's also the Rock Krocs, intimidating rocky Kremlings that only appear in Stop-and-Go Station.