Antihero

What a coincidence I finally get around to it when it turns 30. Usually, SNES era games aren't in my wheelhouse, but at the request of a good friend, I decided I'd give it a shot. What awaited me was a game that rewarded patience and learning the rhythm of its 40 levels, akin to some of my favorite games like Oddworld or the Xbox Ninja Gaiden series. Paired with its lush visuals and earwormy score by David Wise, Donkey Kong Country stands up as a bonafide classic, despite its frustrating lives and spaced out save points. At times, I would go back to Millstone Mayhem and do that trick akin to the infamous koopa stair in Super Mario Bros to make sure I even had enough lives, spending a majority learning the stages til I got their pieces down pat.

The sequel's gonna sit on my backlog, as I've got to finish the Sly trilogy and Custom Robo first before descending deep into the Falcom void for the Legend of Heroes series. But knocking out a game I never got past the second world of around the time I started my Cohost back in January, it feels nice.

So, I toughed it out. But before I did, I learned of that neat little 99 lives trick, which helped me learn the levels a lot more and have fun with it. Sadly, the lives don't save when you exit the game! But world 4 was a gigantic gauntlet. Starting with an ice level, then a level teaching you about these two types of ropes, leading into another frustrating ice level, then an intense underwater level before giving you a breather with an animal buddy gimmick level. After enduring all that? I'm motivated to tackle those last two worlds!

Donkey Kong Country is a game I'm glad I've revisited after starting it, then stopping around world 2. It's a game that made me realize how much playing games like Ninja Gaiden Black, Celeste, the Souls series, etc. taught me about patience and how even the toughest looking levels can be figured out with enough time of taking it slow and testing the waters. Here's to finishing the game tomorrow, streaming it to a friend and us having a laugh as I go through Donkey Kong's banana gathering adventure has been genuinely lovely.

So I've gotten to world 4. Snow Barrel Blast is bar none the most frustrating level yet. Ice physics, some vile enemy placement, Rare was on some crazy shit for this one.

Source: Play (U.S.) 12 (December 2002)
Scan source: RetroMags