Donkey Kong Country Exposed (Updated w/ Starfox 64 promo vid!)

[Salsashark]

It was very impressive on a technical level and had great atmosphere and music

This is why I liked it so much, and still have fond memories of it. Gameplay was adequate.

I mean....I hate everything!

[Glass Joe]

You liked that trash but didnt like DKC? Come on man... the justifications you give for KI fit exactly with DKC. DKC wasnt game of the century but it was a solid, well-executed platformer with lots of variety (for an SNES game), a shitload of levels, and plenty of secrets for the completist nuts.

Every section of DKC felt exactly like the one before it. There was nothing fresh about it. If you played the first level, you played the whole game. To be fair you are right about KI. It was garbage, but at that time the only fighter I ever really played was SFII. It didn't have to do much for me since I hadn't played 10 million other games in the genre that were better in every way.

[sonic6]

I remember getting that video in the mail...even watched it a couple times. And yes, I was also one of the people who bought DKC 1, then stayed away from the sequels.

[Rico]

I never got the "PLAY IT LOUD" campaign cranking up the volume isnt gonna make a game more enjoyable or anything.

Oh and DKC was the shit if you didn't have fun playing co-op then you have no soul.

[kedawa]

To be fair you are right about KI. It was garbage, but at that time the only fighter I ever really played was SFII. It didn't have to do much for me since I hadn't played 10 million other games in the genre that were better in every way.

No, you only played the single greatest game in the genre at the time, the one that started the 2D fighter craze in the first place.
If anything, KI would seem a lot better if you had played all the other me too fighting games that were being crapped out back then, because KI's actually not nearly as bad as most of them.
I can understand where you're coming from, however.
I played a lot of shitty fighters back then, because SFII got me hooked on the genre, but I got tired of playing the same game all the time, and being better than almost everyone you know at the game sorta kills the fun.
As bad as they were, those mediocre fighting games were fun for for a week or so because starting from scratch and learning new moves was something that just wasn't possible with SFII at that point.

[Diff-chan]

Every section of DKC felt exactly like the one before it. There was nothing fresh about it.

There was nothing fresh about any platformer circa 1994 except for maybe EWJ. Every single one had wacky animal mascots with an attitude walking around rote environments bopping on the heads of generic enemies. But DKC mixed it up with a wide variety of levels, tons of secrets, animals you can ride, etc.

If you played the first level, you played the whole game.

Im having a tough time thinking of a platformer where this ISNT the case. Unless its a different power-up or something (Kuribou's shoe). Lets be real, variety of gameplay was never 2D platformer's strong suit. They relied on different environments and levels that got more devious as time went on.

It didn't have to do much for me since I hadn't played 10 million other games in the genre that were better in every way.

Name some of them pls. Aside from the obvious - Mario, Sonic 1, Rocket Knight, things of that sort, DKC was one of the better ones. EWJ came out around the same time and was amazing but I played both at the same time (and they were different enough to enjoy both), and YI was a year away.

If you didnt like platformers or whatever that's cool but DKC was not garbage in the slightest.

edit: WRT Miyamoto I remember two seperate mags at least (GP and NP) that interviewed him and said he helped redesign the characters. So he's fronting now too, rampantly even.

[kingoffighters]

The graphics were alright, but the music was really awesome. The SNES has an amazing sound chip and I still can't believe the quality of the music on some games.

[Glass Joe]

I actually love platformers and to be honest, you make a ton of valid points. The only thing I can really say is DKC just didn't click with me on any level. It bored me to tears. I kept playing hoping it would get better and it didn't. I can't explain to someone why I didn't love DKC but I did Mario,EWJ,Rocket Knight,and even Buster Busts loose on the Genesis. I can tell you however that the games I mentioned I can still play today and love playing them more than I enjoyed playing DKC for the first time. Gargabe may be to harsh a word, but I just didn't like anything about it.

[Nash]

The SNES has an amazing sound chip and I still can't believe the quality of the music on some games.

Actraiser had some of the best music to ever come out of the SNES (or any system for that matter).

As for Donkey Kong Country, I loved it back in the day but I don't think I can play it now.

[burgundy]

they ruined the old DK character designs.

Can we be honest about this? Original DK was a pile of shit and fur.