Donkey Kong Country Returns
Flash back to 1994. It was an awkward time for gaming. Videogames had just hit puberty and designers were struggling to figure out what the face of gaming should look like. They were trying to find an identity. A transition was ocurring. A growth spurt if you will, between 2D and 3D. In 1994, the industry was stuck right in between and the transition was about as uncomfortable as a freshman's first day in high school.
Imagine videogames as the captain of the school chess club and 3D as the head cheerleader. Now let's say he was able to gather up enough courage to ask her out. How do you think that's gonna go down? (No, she's not going to see some hidden inner beauty within him that compels her to say yes. We are not basing this analogy on a hollywood fable.) Yeah, well it went about as well as you'd expect. The first time he got the courage to ask her out it came in the guise of the 3DO. More sophisticated then his 8th grade peers he had left behind, but not man enough to sweep her off her feet. 3DO developers had to settle with alot of 2.5D presentations, scaling sprites and video overlays to create the illusion of 3D. Basically the dude was bragging to get the girl to go out with him. It didn't work. The next attempt came in the form of the Sega Saturn. Almost there, but came across just a little too quirky and 3D wasn't going to have anything to do with sprites. Fail. Back to the drawing board. 1994. A year and a half away from the debut of the Playstation when our hero would finally get the girl, he decided he better get some lower profile dating experience in the mean time. If he couldn't score a hit with 3D, maybe he could get to know some nice looking 2D instead. So he went and asked his friends at Rare Ltd. for some helpful dating tips. Better than just guiding him along, Rare decided to play matchmaker, picking him up and introducing him to silicon graphics. It was love at first sight. The two were a perfect match and Nintendo decided to sponsor the couple for the homecoming dance.
Yeah, that's pretty much how it went down. Rare was experimenting with a silicon graphics workstation. They would render a series of still frame pictures in CG (like stills from a 'Toy Story' movie), then they would place them together in a sequence and create an illusion of motion. By doing this they were able to get an image of Donkey Kong possessing incredibly lifelike texturing and lighting, to appear as though he were seamlessly walking from left to right across the screen, or jumping in the air, or throwing barrels, slapping a high five, giving a thumbs up or any number of other animations. They were only limited by how many frames of CG they could hold on a videogame cartridge. They then laid these animations over a pre-rendered CG scrolling background image. The result, named 'Donkey Kong Country', was breathtaking. Hue, color, lighting, shadow and textures came together like never before seen in a videogame thanks to the power of the silicon graphics CG. The combination created an incredible level of depth and realism. You could imagine what the various objects in the game world would feel like. Rubbery trees, smooth crystals, wooden planked pirate ships. You could almost smell the bananas in the air. (No, they were really hanging in the air...) It reinvigorated the SNES. A 16 bit 2D gaming system. The game went on to sell over 8 million copies proving to the world that videogames didn't particularly need 3D... yet.
In addition to the new graphical process, the game was reknowned for skillfully crafted gameplay and level design. Moving and jumping possessed it's own unique feel, lighter and more exaggerated than a Mario game but still retaining a satisfying quality. Enemies and objects were placed within the game worlds in such a way to allow for gamers to string together jump combos. The game, laden with a bevy of secrets just begging to be discovered, rewarded exploration by the player. Little touches of polish helped the game reach above expectations. The lush and richly colored sunset would slowly slide beneath the horizon as the gamer progressed through a level. Rain would start to spatter down on top of the protagonist. As he traversed the landscape, the drizzle would grow steadily into a full fledged storm. The storm would be echoed in the increasingly difficult segments of the darkened level. The rain would begin to dissipate and surrender to sunlight and birdcall again as the player made it through the perilous portion of the stage and on to the goal at levels end. It was truly a game worthy of the Nintendo seal of quality. Donkey Kong Country also possessed some very catchy, moody and atmospheric music which helped to further enhance it's unique ambience. More than a hit, Donkey Kong Country became a classic.
Two sequels would follow on the SNES. Both outstanding and worthy of a playthrough even now. When gaming turned solidly to 3D on the N64, Donkey Kong Country would live on in a new installment. Donkey Kong 64 tried hard. It was a very good 3D platforming adventure. In it, Rare crafted a huge sprawling world with lots of nooks and crannies to explore, lots of secrets to find and lots of items to collect. As great as it was however, 3D in it's infancy could not surpass 2D at it's prime. The game would come to be loved by N64 owners but failed to leave the same indelible mark placed upon them years prior by it's 2D side-scrolling predecessor. Also, the game lost major cool points by including one of the most ridiculous and embarassing intro songs ever to disgrace a videogame. Click below to hear it, but we are not responsible for any loss of I.Q. points suffered in the process.
After Donkey Kong 64, the series slipped away into oblivion. We would see Donkey and Diddy in other games through the years. The most notable of these being Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Unfortunately a new dedicated platformer starring the primate pair never came along, and gamers were forced to look elsewhere for platforming satisfaction.
Until now. 16 years after the release of the original Donkey Kong Country, Nintendo is poised to release an all new installment in the classic franchise, this holiday season. Best of all, the game, which releases on 11/21/10, is a return to it's 2D sidescrolling roots. Retro Studios (developers of the critically acclaimed and awe inspiring Metroid Prime series), has been commissioned by Nintendo to create 'Donkey Kong Country Returns'. Instead of using pre-rendered CG, the game will make use of 3D characters and objects while gameplay adheres to strict 2D sidescrolling. The game looks beautiful. It is a testament to how far graphical technology in gaming has evolved that these new 3D characters can match and even surpass their original CG counterparts in realism and animation quality. Nintendo has stated that it was very important to them that the game retain the same feel of the original SNES series albeit with updated graphics. From what we have seen and heard so far, Retro has been successful in this endeavor. Gameplay looks as though it will be just as challenging and well paced as the original. Some segments look as though they will be even more intense and rewarding than what he have seen previously in the series. (Watch the video clip of the giant octopus trying to take down our heroes while destroying a pirate ship and portions of the level itself in the process.) Even the music has been dredged back up from those adolescent years of gaming. Nintendo mastermind Shigero Miyamoto has stated that it was very important to him that the original music from the old series be included in the new game to assist with recreating that same feel of atmosphere so prevalent and poular in the 16-bit games.
All of this combined means we are in for a real blast from the past. Gaming is looking back on it's high school yearbook and remembering the glory days of it's youth. Donkey Kong Country Returns is set to be the best of 1994 married with the best of 2010. Nostalgia overload may set in while playing and we're looking forward to it. In fact we can't wait, to return to the country!
-- The Nintendo Sage
