History VideoGame / DonkeyKongCountry

* BleakLevel: Stop & Go Station from the second world has a very oppressive and unnerving atmosphere compared to any prior level, no thanks to itscreepy, invincible enemies and minimalistic music.

* BleakLevel: The caverns.

* DigitizedSprites

** ''VideoGame/DKKingOfSwing'' (DS)

The 1998 Platform/GameBoyColor remake of ''Donkey Kong Country'' (not to be confused with ''Donkey Kong Land'', which we'll get to in a minute) has two extra mini-games: Funky Kong's FishingMiniGame and Candy's Challenge, where you perform in luck-based tasks similar to the various {{Bonus Stage}}s. Funky's Fishing Game is also seen in the 2003 Platform/GameBoyAdvance remake, though Candy's Challenge is replaced by [[RhythmGame Candy's Dance Studio]]. Also in the GBA remake, the player can fill the Kongs' scrapbook by finding cameras and performing in-game feats of varying difficulty. The GBA remake of ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' contains the mini-games [[RacingMinigame Expresso Racing]] and Funky's Flight Challenges, in addition to bringing back the scrapbook feature. There is also a new boss, Kerozene, to fight. In both games, all the mini-games must be won each time they're encountered and the scrapbook must be completely filled in order to achieve the highest completion percentage. (In the GBA remake of ''2'', there is an additional mini-game at Klubba's Kiosk called Bag a Bug, but playing it is completely optional.) The GBA remake of ''Donkey Kong Country 3'' contains the mini-games Funky's Rentals, Cranky's Dojo, and Swanky's Dash. There is no scrapbook feature this time around. All of Funky's challenges must be completed to achieve the highest percentage, but Cranky and Swanky's games need only to be won once. The game also adds a new boss, Kroctopus, and a new area, Pacifica, containing six additional levels.

Released in 1994 for the Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, ''Donkey Kong Country'' introduced the groundbreaking technique of using pre-rendered 3D graphics in a 2D console game and marked the final decisive milestone in the early-to-mid '90s UsefulNotes/{{console war|s}} between the Platform/SegaGenesis and SNES, with the latter emerging in the lead in the west.

The 1998 UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor remake of ''Donkey Kong Country'' (not to be confused with ''Donkey Kong Land'', which we'll get to in a minute) has two extra mini-games: Funky Kong's FishingMiniGame and Candy's Challenge, where you perform in luck-based tasks similar to the various {{Bonus Stage}}s. Funky's Fishing Game is also seen in the 2003 UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake, though Candy's Challenge is replaced by [[RhythmGame Candy's Dance Studio]]. Also in the GBA remake, the player can fill the Kongs' scrapbook by finding cameras and performing in-game feats of varying difficulty. The GBA remake of ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' contains the mini-games [[RacingMinigame Expresso Racing]] and Funky's Flight Challenges, in addition to bringing back the scrapbook feature. There is also a new boss, Kerozene, to fight. In both games, all the mini-games must be won each time they're encountered and the scrapbook must be completely filled in order to achieve the highest completion percentage. (In the GBA remake of ''2'', there is an additional mini-game at Klubba's Kiosk called Bag a Bug, but playing it is completely optional.) The GBA remake of ''Donkey Kong Country 3'' contains the mini-games Funky's Rentals, Cranky's Dojo, and Swanky's Dash. There is no scrapbook feature this time around. All of Funky's challenges must be completed to achieve the highest percentage, but Cranky and Swanky's games need only to be won once. The game also adds a new boss, Kroctopus, and a new area, Pacifica, containing six additional levels.

Each SNES installment also had a UsefulNotes/GameBoy counterpart; ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'', ''Donkey Kong Land 2'', and ''Donkey Kong Land III''. The ''Land'' games translated the pre-rendered graphics of its sister series as well as it could to the Game Boy's small, monochrome screen and usually featured new levels.

In 2010, Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/RetroStudios of ''Videogame/MetroidPrime'' fame released ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', a revival of the series with 2.5D graphics for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, with a later remake to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. A sequel called ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' was released in early 2014 on the UsefulNotes/WiiU and received a port for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in 2018.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' (UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor, UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance)
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'' (UsefulNotes/GameBoy)

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64)

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS)
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' (UsefulNotes/WiiU, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch)

* BorderOccupyingDecorations: The ''Donkey Kong Land'' games feature their own custom borders when playing the games on a UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy, done in the pre-rendered pseudo-CG style of the SNES games. The first game features a row of palm trees, the second game features a wall of bananas, and the third game features a wall of stopwatches (which serve as the game's main collectible).

*** The secret 201st Golden Banana, hidden in a room next to the Banana Fairy Queen's throne room, has a Rareware sticker on it. (The other 200 Golden Bananas spread throughout the game instead have stickers with the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 logo on them.)

* CompletionMeter: The game keeps track of bonus rooms and K-O-N-G letters the player finds in each level. The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake also has a virtual scrapbook for special pictures found in-game.

** The level "Manic Mincers" in the first game is a reference to classic UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum game ''VideoGame/ManicMiner''.

** ''[=DKC3=]'' has Wrinkly occasionally playing her UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} when you go to save... when that's the case, you can clearly hear a rearrangement of the ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' castle theme.

** "Where '''''YOU''''' gonna find it? '''''NOT''''' on Creator/{{Sega}}. '''''NOT''''' on [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis 32X adaptors]]. '''''NOT''''' on CD-ROM. It's [[KillerApp only for]] '''''SUPER NES.'''''"[[invoked]]

** The trilogy for the SNES was remade for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance with some additional content and some improved sound effects. The first one also was remade on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor with one new level.
** ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' received an updated version for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, which contains more levels and a new easy mode, which (among other changes) gives the Kongs an extra heart and adds new items to Cranky's store.

** Except for GBA ''[=DKC3=]'', which has a separate theme for Arich, [[ObviousBeta but NOT for K. Rool!]] It seems they ran out of time when making the game's completely new soundtrack.

Each SNES installment also had a UsefulNotes/GameBoy counterpart; ''Donkey Kong Land'', ''Donkey Kong Land 2'', and ''Donkey Kong Land III''. The ''Land'' games translated the pre-rendered graphics of its sister series as well as it could to the Game Boy's small, monochrome screen and usually featured new levels.

A RacingGame SpinOff appeared as ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing''. There was to be a sequel to ''Diddy Kong Racing'' called ''Donkey Kong Racing'' (go figure), but Rare's contract with Nintendo for usage of the Donkey Kong franchise ran out. Then Rare got bought out by Microsoft, demolishing any remaining hope that the contract might be renewed. However, Nintendo did toy with the franchise for a while, producing the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' trilogy of rhythm games with [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] as well as ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', an action-platformer that is not set in the DKC continuity, but is nevertheless very reminiscent of its style. Following this, they handed the character over to Paon, a company that produced ''DK: King Of Swing'' for the Game Boy Advance, ''Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'' for the Wii, and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJungleClimber'' for the DS.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: Everything related to the Kremlings replaces any hard C with a K, à la ''Franchise/MortalKombat''. Also appears in the form of including "krem" in other words, such as in the name of [[spoiler:''[=DKC3's=]'' [[BonusDungeon hidden final area]], the inactive volcano Krematoa. Completing its 5 levels forces the appearance of the BonusBoss in his docked submarine, the Knautilus!]].

Released in 1994 for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem, ''Donkey Kong Country'' introduced the groundbreaking technique of using pre-rendered 3D graphics in a 2D console game and marked the final decisive milestone in the early-to-mid '90s UsefulNotes/{{console war|s}} between the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and SNES, with the latter emerging in the lead in the west.

* SaveGameLimits: The first game suffers from a major dearth of save points, with a save point popping up every four or five levels on average. That doesn't sound too bad, but keep in mind, this game is NintendoHard. You didn't necessarily have to reach a save point before you could save; technically you could use Funky Kong to fly back to save points in previous levels, but it still made saving more of a hassle than it should have been. This became even worse in ''[=DKC2=]'', which not only has the same problem as ''[=DKC=]'', but saving your game after saving for the first time at Wrinkly's Kong College costs 2 Banana coins. This may not sound so bad, but the coin total will ''reset to 0'' after you have saved and turned off the console. This was finally fixed in ''[=DKC3=]'', which has a save point that can be accessed at any time, and saving the game no longer costs any coins.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3'' in comparison to the second game. After the very gloomy setting in ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' (Which was [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] than its ''own'' predecessor), the Kremlings have dropped the whole Pirate Motif, they don't carry weapons anymore, the enemy lineup is much goofier (Kremlings slip on ice, and there are cannon-wielding Owls as well as a ''crosshair''), and you spend much of the game exploring beautiful lakesides, lush green forests, clear waterfalls and swimming in beautiful blue waters. The game in general has a brighter and much more friendly and ambient visual and audio aesthetic this time around.

* AlliterativeName: Almost all the levels in the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series use either this trope or SublimeRhyme for the level names ("Hot-head Hop", "Gusty Glades," etc) Most of the rest rely on JustForPun; see ViewersAreGeniuses below. Every level in ''Donkey Kong 64'' except DK Isles has an alliterative name.

* AllThereInTheManual: The level and world names in ''Donkey Kong Land'', mostly because of limitations. This caused an interesting situation when "Construction Site Fight" and "Balloon Barrage" had their names pretty obviously switched as "Construction Site Fight" takes place on a large area with multiple balloons that the Kongs have to make their way across while "Balloon Barrage" takes place on a regular construction site with only one balloon.

* ContinuityNod: The fourth world in the first Land game is in fact the city that the very first ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' took place in, the one where the original Kong held Pauline hostage on top of a skyscraper.

* FakeDifficulty: Rears its ugly head in ''Donkey Kong Land'' with very slippery jumping controls and inconsistent physics when trying to roll/cartwheel to gain speed.

* MetropolisLevel: The final world of ''Donkey Kong Land'' is Big Ape City, an urban world on the tropical and otherwise wilderness-dominated Donkey Kong Island.

* RatchetScrolling: A very weird example in ''Donkey Kong Land'': One level in World 4 features conveyor ropes to carry the Kongs up or down and, in most areas, you have to ride the rope to scroll downward. If you try to jump, you will die.

** Within the coding of ''Donkey Kong Land'' is a string under the name [[Music/PinkFloyd "PFLOYD".]]

** The whole plot of ''Donkey Kong Land'' is a response to Shigeru Miyamoto verbally trashing DKC in an interview.

* AWinnerIsYou: Conquering ''Donkey Kong Land'' nets you a single word of congratulations as the plain-text credits roll.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLandII'' (GB)

* BehindTheBlack: This concept's used in force to make HundredPercentCompletion [[NintendoHard damn near impossible]], especially given how [[GottaCatchThemAll many collectible items]] are in the [[UpdatedRerelease GBA remakes]]. Fortunately, Rare was merciful enough to give occasional hints of secrets: [[FollowTheMoney that banana is visible through those tree leaves / half-off-screen / in that "bottomless" pit for a reason]], and [[CameraScrew the field of view might gradually pan down / up / ahead]], in preparation for a LeapOfFaith. Slow down a bit and watch for it carefully.

* ExcitedShowTitle: In the original trilogy, levels get this treatment when all of their bonus rounds are found\completed.