From the Vault #4 Donkey Kong Country – [2023 Archive]

From the Vault is our series where we revisit and re-release older episodes from the podcast archive. This episode was originally recorded in 2023 and is now making its return from the vault.

In this episode, we swing into Donkey Kong Country—breaking down its groundbreaking visuals, unforgettable soundtrack, and tight platforming that helped define the SNES era. We also dive into how the game holds up today and why it remains such a beloved classic. Plus, this one features Jeff the Producer in the mix, bringing his thoughts and energy to the conversation as we revisit this iconic adventure.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome back, everybody, to the first official episode of season six. Today we're going to be talking about Jared's pick, the iconic Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo. This is one of my favorite Super Nintendo games, but first I wanted to ask you all, when did you boys first learn about and discover Donkey Kong like as a franchise or a character? Because this is one of Nintendo's like biggest franchises, and we haven't talked about Donkey Kong yet. It's kind of crazy. We're I think this is our 41st episode, and we haven't even talked about Donkey Kong. This game came out during URL's generation. Did you all play this growing up, or when did you first play Donkey Kong?

SPEAKER_05 0:39

I remember my mom picked it up uh one day and it was totally unexpected. Like, not a Christmas gift, not a birthday gift, nothing. It's just like, hey, I went and picked this up for like $20 from a store called Ames. I didn't know anything about the game except that it was, I mean, it looked cool. I remember it came in a green box. Like it had like a green case, and you opened it up and that had the actual game in it and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

It had like leaves and shit on the side from what I remember. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

It was pretty cool. And I played through it then, and I remember my cousin had a VHS tape that had like tips and tricks on what you can do for the game. Because like back then, you know, you didn't have really the internet to just look anything up on. I mean, I guess you did, but not everybody did.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:14

So they picked up a VHS tape. I remember standing out of his house and we watched it, and that's when I figured out you can like throw the barrel, like one of those uh metal barrels, and like jump on it and go through the level, and we thought that was like badass. I learned it from a VHS tape back in the 90s.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

I think that the that VHS tape came if you were I I want to say a Nintendo Power subscriber.

SPEAKER_05 1:33

That might have been it.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Did you have a Nintendo Power Carter?

SPEAKER_05 1:36

No, I didn't. My cousin did.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

I I got one around like the Wii era, and they never did any cool shit like that. I never got this DVD like explaining shit to me, but I guess that was the internet time.

SPEAKER_04 1:47

I could be wrong on that, but I think like it came with something like through Nintendo that you had to subscribe to.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Yeah, that sounds about right. What about you, Jared? Did you get this on a Christmas or like when did you play Donkey Kong Country?

SPEAKER_04 1:59

I have no idea. Like, this is just one of those games that uh in my memory I just always had. Like I can't I can't remember the the exact time or day I had it. But with the whole series itself, I I had two games growing up. I had this, and I had early on the Donkey Kong on the Game Boy, which was kind of like the old arcade slash NES Donkey Kong.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

It's called Donkey Kong Land, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Well, no, no, no. You're thinking I had that too. It was a yellow cartridge, but that was Donkey Kong like more like this. The Donkey Kong I'm thinking of was like where you your Mario, like or whatever they called him back then. It's a robot.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

That game's pretty fucking good.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Well, the Game Boy, I wouldn't mind to play that on this podcast, the Game Boy version, because it like expands upon that. Like the first four levels are like the old arcade where you're running and jumping barrels and that sort of thing, but then it turns into like kind of like a puzzle game because you gotta find a key to get to a door, like each level. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Like a lot of rankings of Donkey Kong games, that one is usually like in the top five. Like people still look at that game fondly. Where I'm a bit younger than you guys, like I was thinking back, I'm like, when did I discover Donkey Kong? It would have had to be probably like Super Smash Bros. Melee or something. Like, I I sort of remember like whenever I played, I was probably four. I didn't really know much. I remember wondering like why is there a gorilla in this fighting game? Like I had no idea he was this iconic video game character. I just thought honestly, I didn't think or know that most of those characters were Nintendo characters. I thought they were just random because at the time I probably knew of just like the Mario characters and like Pikachu or something. My generation, the GameCube generation, Donkey Kong was sort of like in a weird slump or something because the only mainline games being released at that time, I don't know if y'all remember this, was the Donkey Kong Jungle Beat games where you use like that bongo accessory.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

You could go in GameStop and buy literally buy a set of Bongos, and it was like a rhythm game where rhythm games were real big at that time, like the 2000s, like DDR and that kind of shit.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Yeah, do you think it's cause Rare like went to Microsoft?

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Yeah, I I really do because the last game that they published to Donkey Kong was Donkey Kong 64, and that was the generation before my generation. So I'm assuming Nintendo was just like, I don't know what to do with this character, so let's try to throw shit off.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

I think basically Microsoft didn't let them like develop any more console games, but they did let them do handheld, and that's why you have the remakes on Game Boy Advance.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

That is right. They did re-release the Donkey Kong Country on the GBA. All right. My cousin had it. I remember seeing or watched him play that. But yeah, Donkey Kong kind of made his comeback in 2010 when Donkey Kong Country Returns came out on the Wii. And then most recently Tropical Freeze in 2014. The still $60 game. Ain't that right, Carter?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

Always. Always has been, always will be. What's uh what's old uh Jeff Collector CIB DKC his?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Well, listen, the whole Super Nintendo era was all hand-me-down for me. I didn't get anything new back then, so everything I had Super Nintendo wise, Donkey Kong Country, all those games, uh, they were all hand-me-downs. So I had an older cousin that was like 10 years older than me. So whenever the shoe got the 64, I got the Super Nintendo.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

So I love it.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, I gave it away.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

But you're a 64 guy over Super Nintendo guy, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, that that was also a hand-me-down, too. My first 64 was a hand-me-down. I eventually got a uh new one, but uh as far as Donkey Kong Country, of course I played the shit out of it. The mine levels were my favorite even back then before I knew what coal mining was.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Always meant to be. In my blood. That's his biggest inspiration on being a coal miner, is riding the minecart in the DK.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Did you say that in your job interview, Jeff? Like the moment you played minecart rampage in Donkey Kong, you knew he's the epitome of about all I know.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

So, yeah, guys, I know about coal mining. I played Donkey Kong Country. I'd be a great candidate for that.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

That was on his resume under experience was driving the minecart.

SPEAKER_05 6:04

We're not going to crash, trust me. I know how to get around it.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

Yeah. I just remembered something, guys. This is off the cuff. Uh, have you all ever been to that putt putt golf course in uh Beckley? The one that kind of like there's this we're we're all from West Virginia, and there's a putt-tutt golf course that's like modeled after like iconic, I guess iconic, like places in West Virginia, and it's like each course or each hole has like a thing tailored to the state. Well, I remember in there was a little mini arcade, and it had the original Donkey Kong in it, like from 1983 or 1980 or whenever it came out, and I remember playing it there. Yeah. I don't know if y'all remember that.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, it used to be called the Little Brick House. Uh, we used to go there all the time. It's changed a lot. Now they have like a rock climbing ball instead of the Donkey Kong game.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Hmm, sad. Because that honestly, Donkey Kong's like pretty much like Nintendo's most important character in a way, because like he basically kicked off their whole video game thing. I mean, that was like their first huge release. I mean, it the first time Mario was ever revealed. Like, this character is seriously important, not only Nintendo, but video games as a whole. So it's kind of cool that I played that original machine. I forgot I even did. So yeah, we we recently played through Donkey Kong Country and it was fucking fun, but I think we should explain how we played this game because we usually, if we can help it, we try to take like do a weird little spin on a game. So this time where this game is co-op, we decided that we would uh group up in the team. So this time around, me and Jared got in the group, and then Carter and Jeff got in a group, and we raced against each other to see who could beat the game first. Because we started, we had a countdown. We were like on at 4-0 or whatever time it was, we're gonna start the game and see who can win. That honestly is like one of my first big positive of the game, Donkey Kong Country, is how the game handles co-op. Because instead of Mario World, where if you die, you have to like restart the level as the other brother, like if you're playing with somebody else. This game handles it to where if one is Donkey Kong and the other is Diddy, then whenever you get hit, you just tag in and continue. I love that style of co-op. It was fucking fun. Like, what it like how was your experience with the game? Because I know you all had some complaints about Nintendo's online service.

SPEAKER_05 8:10

No, and Nintendo's online is pretty garbage for like like the lag and stuff was just so terrible because there was stuff that I know is coming, because I know the game off the back of my hand. We were playing the the mine level, and I knew that there was like a Kremlin coming through, and I would try to jump it, and it's like it was delayed, and I would get hit every time. I was like, what the hell? And then also every time it was Jeff's turn to play, he'd instantly tag me in and just make me run through the levels.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, honestly, I thought there was something wrong with my controller because I was having trouble with my Joy-Cons. My pro controllers wouldn't work, so I'm playing with a Joy-Con, which is already trash. Yeah, that's bad. So and and the input was so delayed. I honestly thought there was something wrong with my controller, but then I played it later, like the next day, without uh Carter and being online. And it was definitely not the controller, it was just online service.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

I could have just said without being online. I don't think I messed it up.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

It pissed me off too because like not long before we were playing that, I was on my PlayStation 5 playing with you all on Call of Duty, no lag whatsoever. None. I mean, that there's how many people in a Call of Duty match is constantly like fast-paced and crazy, and I don't have good internet, but it ran great. And then I go to the Switch and I'm playing with one other guy on a Super Nintendo game, and it's fucking struggling, like struggling to keep up. And I'm like, come on, Nintendo, you gotta get your head out of your ass. Like, what is this?

SPEAKER_04 9:29

It's not like a struggle, like a lag to keep up, it's just like a a very slight, like half-second delay on your input of buttons like that. And in a game like a platformer like that, where you have to be kind of precise, it sucks.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Oh, yeah, for sure. Because I mean, platformers, that's up what it's all about, is like you gotta be precise on your inputs and stuff. So it it can really affect you.

SPEAKER_05 9:52

Uh it had me questioning if I was any good anymore or not, because I was like, man, me and Jeff are getting our asses beat at this game. That's what I thought back in. I was like, I'm not drunk. I know it's late and I'm sleepy, but I'm maybe that was the problem. That's the problem. Functioning alcoholic.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

So yeah, I mean that that's Nintendo's online service. That that that has nothing to do with the quality of the game itself, because the game itself, before we even played this, I already knew it's one of my favorite Super Nintendo games of all time. I fucking love this game, and I was so excited to play this with you guys. Jeff, you said that you haven't played this since you was like 10 years old or something, like it's been forever. Like, what was your initial impression of the game? Be like, how do you feel it holds up still?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Uh, I mean, it's it's an okay game. Uh, I'm gonna be honest with you. Uh I felt like there were games of that generation, maybe even a few years older, spoiler, that did it better. I wasn't a fan of it. Uh it's a fun game, it's not like it's not a go-to for me by any means, but it was it was a good game.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

This is what we just hurt the the crowd booing.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

I knew that was coming. So the sounds, obviously, the audio was awesome. I did love the audio of the game. David Wise.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

See, I know I know his name because I have his the vinyl record of not only this game, but the freaking Donkey Kong Country trilogy.

SPEAKER_04 11:13

Yeah. Of course you do. That is that's the that's the actual guy. I saw him, like, I looked up a little bit of things for this, and like they talked when he got this job, he thought it'd be like a one-time, like, not even he might not even get to finish Donkey Kong type thing. And then they I think they just kept him on board for the the later ones, too.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

This soundtrack, and it's so different from any other platformer, especially at the time. Like, it's a lot more like atmospheric than most uh platformers at the time. I don't know, there's something about this soundtrack to me, especially like aquatic ambience, the water level music. Oh yeah. There's been plenty of times I've literally put on the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack on vinyl while I'm working out and listen to it in the background. Like it still holds up today. From a soundtrack from 1994, I think it's almost perfect. Like there's not a track on it I hate by hand.

SPEAKER_05 12:31

Good music's good music. I did the little I was doing a little uh research on it through YouTube, and there was uh a video about how cool it was, how and and they're right, it starts out, you just hear the drums like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then it keeps building, building, building. And I didn't realize this part, but like because I usually beat the level too fast. It literally builds up and it has the whole like orchestra like da da da da da da throughout the whole level, and then in the I think when on the nighttime when you're leaving, um, it does the reverse. It starts out with that, and then it just goes down to like just the drums again.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Oh, that's pretty cool. It like revolves itself or it uh yeah, it fades itself back out, yeah, which is pretty cool. Everything about this game, like not only from the audio, but also the visuals was so revolutionary at the time. Like I'm not a hundred percent sure on the uh specifics, but I know Rare developed this brand new technology and they showed it to Nintendo at the time, and they were fucking mind-blown at this, like it's kind of sort of 3D-ish. Like, if you look at the game now, it's like like there's actual animations. It kind of reminds me of like how Mortal Kombat games looked.

SPEAKER_05 13:33

How like they used uh like 3D sprites and stuff instead of just your regular 2D stuff to actually come up with like it's a 2D game, but they use like the sprites and stuff look 3D based on how they designed it. I researched some of that too.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

Well, I always thought that Donkey Kong looked so good like back in the day, like it looked different than your average like platformer or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

For sure. I mean nowadays I've read so many people say that it looks ugly now. I disagree. I really do. I still think it looks really good. How do y'all think the game looks? Because I I really do think it does H1.

SPEAKER_05 14:05

I think if you took like a Super Nintendo and hooked it up like through like RCA cables to a 4K TV, it'd look like shit. But if you hook it up to a CRT, Jared, you you got that set up now. I bet it looks just as good as it always has. Yeah, yeah. I sent you all the picture. Like it looks awesome, like through the old TV. Yeah, it wouldn't look good if you were to like, you know, blow up like that little like whatever pixel it is to or standard definition to on a high def TV, it's gonna stretch everything out and look horrible. Like I think on Switch it doesn't look that like it looks good, but it's still a little pixelated and not great.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

It needs like a smooth filter on it.

SPEAKER_05 14:40

Yeah, there's something going on, but it's just where they gotta blow it up to HD, and it's not like they went in and made like an HD remaster of it. They just took the game and they emulated it, and that's what you got. But if you played it the way it was meant to be played on like a CR TV, it looks pretty good. I'd say it looks amazing the way it's supposed to look.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

I agree. I still think the game looks great. But like we said earlier, me and Jared was playing through the game and we did it to where it was co-op. And one of my favorite things about this game is like there was like several times where me and Jared would be really, really low on lives, and the game almost becomes kind of strategic. Like you're constantly looking out for like these secret areas, because there's secrets fucking everywhere in this game. Like if you grab a barrel and run into walls, you're likely to find a secret if you look hard enough. Because there would be times to where like if you lose a life and you get a game over and you haven't got to the uh save point yet, the candy cong save point, you will have to go back a long distance. So me and Jared would be in a level just scrounging, looking around everywhere to try to fucking find a life because we didn't want to go back that far. Because we were trying to race uh Carter and Jeff. But what pissed me off the most about Carter was I guess from your childhood you knew of some sort of code to where you would get lives or some shit from the beginning.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

Yeah, the barrel code.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Oh god. Because what Big Jared had to do was I did know of a level that's super easy to grind lives on. We would have to get in the funky like airship and go back to the second world and on the first level, you can go there and grind, grind, grind lives. We did that about four or five times. Like I would go through that level five times per time we would have to go back and grind levels, and it would I think that's why we lost, to be honest, because we would have to go back and grind lives so much. Did you ever run out of those 50 lives?

SPEAKER_05 16:20

Um, no, we were damn close though a few times.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah, we got the single digits when we finished.

SPEAKER_05 16:26

It was tough though. Just like I said, I guess where it was the lag, because I went back and I actually played it on Super Nintendo where I've got that hooked up, and I went like it took me like 15, 20 minutes to get all the way to the second candy save point, and I had like I did the B-A-R-R-A-L cheat again, and I got like I had like 64 lives, like it wasn't even close to me dying. It was so smooth to play it that way.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

Even on the Switch, like without the online feature, it's still pretty smooth and runs okay. I I tried it both ways after it's just when you try to co-op online that it starts screwing around.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Jared was sending pics, so I started taking pictures. Like when we first started playing, I was taking pictures, but I wouldn't send them immediately. I'd send them like 30 minutes to you know, we I would say 25 minutes remind me, Carter, I'll send this picture. Or 35 minutes remind me, I'll send this picture to make it look like we were farther behind than what we were.

SPEAKER_05 17:19

Yeah, we were way ahead of that point.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

That kind of made me slack a bit because I would look at it like that was my Donkey Kong. It was Donkey Kong, I was Diddy Kong. And I would be like, Oh Jared, they are like in the second level still. We're good. Like, don't worry about it. That was my hope. A little bit of gamanship goes a long way. Yeah, you all have a preference of character because you can play as either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Diddy is 10 times better.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

100%. I I was Diddy and Jared was Donkey because didn't you say, Jared, you want to like play to who's looks the most like you or something?

SPEAKER_04 17:52

Like, I'm bigger than you, so I I'll take those. Yeah, that's what we did. Jeff was Diddy and I was Donkey.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

I was Diddy, yeah. That's what we did.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

But there are different there are differences in the characters though, because like there were times like in one boss level in particular, me and Jared would have to tag out from time to time because the one where it's like the barrel and it will drop the various like enemies you've fought throughout the game, there's one where it drops those fat ass fucking like crocodiles with the biggest.

SPEAKER_05 18:32

Most of the time. Yeah, Diddy can soar through the levels, he's a lot faster and everything, but uh Donkey Kong just he can pretty much take out any enemy that there is. Now Diddy Kong does have an advantage, like in that bumblebee rumble, you can just like pick up the barrels and he holds it in front of him, so when the you can just hold it and let the bee run into you, then it'll get hit by the barrel. Donkey Kong has it over his head, so if you you have to like literally time it and throw it right. I mean it works fine, but it's just Diddy Kong has a little advantage there. Well, Diddy Kong.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

If you're holding a barrel, you can run through the levels and not have to worry about getting hit because if when Donkey has it above his head and you let's say you run directly into an enemy, you're you're gonna die.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Yep. I've got a few trivia questions for you all. Okay. As far as rare goes, where do you think this ranks is in in terms of sales?

SPEAKER_03 19:16

Hmm. What do you mean? Like how many units were sold?

SPEAKER_04 19:19

No, rare games, like first, second, third, fourth. Like, where does this rank?

SPEAKER_03 19:24

I would say first if I had to guess. I mean, I I'm gonna say Golden Eyes first, unfortunately. Uh DK C is first.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

That's what I figured, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Okay. Now, in uh in terms of Super Nintendo games, where does this rank in sales? Second.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

I would say second just to Super Mario World.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

I'm gonna say fourth Super Mario World, and I don't know. I don't think you'll I don't think you'll guess the the other one kind of shocked me. Link to the past, maybe? I thought you would say that Mario All-Stars. Oh, wow. Oh, it's a Mario World, Mario World again. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

But yeah, I mean this game, like it did, like I I'm pretty sure after this game released and did so well, that's when Nintendo bought a 49% share in in Rare, and then they became like a second party developer. Like it was that groundbreaking for the time. They were like, Holy shit, you guys are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. We want you a part of us. So that's when they went ahead and bought them.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

Yeah, I saw like they broke down the development time in terms of man hours like between everybody. This game took 22 years to develop. Like if you took everybody's hours they put into it. That's a lot of time. That's all like a year's worth of time in for each of those people, like a year.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

And it's uh it's hard to believe it's a 16-bit Super Nintendo game when you look at it, just because like the animations and stuff are all 3D looking. I mean, like it's clearly a Super Nintendo game, but I don't know, just like some of the stuff in it looks like okay, this is pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Did you all have a favorite animal like companion in the game? Because there are like various different animals you can get to help you across the levels. You have the ostrich, the frog, the rhino, the swordfish, and then I'm pretty sure in one or two levels there's a parakeet. I don't even know if you can count that. It but basically just provides a light. It's like a it's a level gimmick to where you can't see, but if you have the parakeet, it like shines a light ahead. Yeah. Did you all have a favorite?

SPEAKER_05 21:13

I like Rambi, the rhino, just because you can run into anything and I don't really have to worry about it. The frog can still get hit, but it does really good though, because you can jump on just about everything in the game.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

Yeah, frog is tough. Uh Wanky. I might it was that its name?

SPEAKER_05 21:27

Yeah, if you if you play through it, it's like Wanky or Winky's walkway. Might be Winky.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Yeah. Mine might may be the ostrich, honestly, because it's it's just so damn fast, and you can glide across basically level.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Winky is right. You got Rambi the rhinoceros, Ungarde is the swordfish. Yeah. Winky Expresso's the ostrich, and Squawk is the parrot. Cool stuff. Now you know. Now you know.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

The game kind of does reuse some of the same level designs over time, but it wasn't a downside to me because they usually put a twist on it to. Like keep it fresh because the first minecart level that you go to is pretty straightforward. You're on a track and you're going through the minecart, and whenever you jump, you bring the entire minecart with you. So it's just like you're just jumping with the minecart. But the second level where you use the minecart, you and your friend who's playing as Diddy or Donkey jump out of the minecart and you have to like hold right to keep the momentum. So just that one little change in that like design of it, like kind of keeps it to where it's fresh and you don't know what to expect. It constantly keeps you on your toes. There was one other level where it's like side scrolling and you're riding on like a uh platform, that was one of the fucking levels that drove me crazy. I had to have that was a tough one. It was. I had to have Jared go through that for me because me and Jared are good at different things in this game. I noticed Jared is way better at like timing and shit. So if there was ever like a bonus room where you have to jump into the letters of like Nintendo or Rare, I'm like, here you go, I can't do this. But I was kind of more it maybe just be due to the fact that I had Diddy Kong the entire time, but I was better at the platforming for the most part. So whenever like he would see this like big platforming thing, he would stop and just tag me in immediately. I'd say, okay. But yeah, uh like I was saying about the auto scrolling, like later on, I think in The Last World, they make it to where you have to grab those fuel canisters, and if you don't grab them, then the platform will just fucking drop. And it's just like you're on edge the entire time because you gotta grab each one of those fuel containers.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

That is exciting. That was an exciting level.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

That's like even if they reuse a level aesthetic, they usually change like either the the color of the level because there's that one underwater level that's like green and it looks completely different. It's like it's like in infected, like the water.

SPEAKER_05 23:38

Yeah, I love how they did the themes of each world had its own, like everything looked appropriate. Like that was part of the uh like the chemical plant. Shout out to Sonic. And um it was pretty cool that uh they made the water green, and then they had like those different spike barrels, like the enemies even looked appropriate for each world, like it had its own design, and they did incredible with that.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Yeah, I will say fuck the snow world. Those first few levels on the snow world were fucking awful.

SPEAKER_05 24:02

You slip and slide.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

Ugh. Every time I hit that world, I'm just like I struggle. Like I can breeze through the game until I get to that world, but then I'm just like, okay, Jared, this is where you take over. I can't do it. The one complaint I have with this game, because for the most part, unlike Jeff, I really do enjoy this game, is the bosses. I feel like they're kind of lacking a bit. Uh it's usually like you enter the same room where it's full of bananas, and it's like the same old rinse-repeat strategy over and over and over until you beat him. You can beat some of the bosses in no shit, like 10 seconds.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

Yeah, that's true. Especially the first one. Like that's like not even a boss. It's just a beaver that you just jump on its head three times or four times and it's over.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

And the ostrich, like whenever he just he comes from left to right, you jump on his head, he rinse and repeat, and it's over. But I will say that the King K rule final boss is fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 24:52

Yeah, they have uh three bosses that were really unique. Um, the Bumblebee rumble's pretty unique when you have the Bumblebee going around, and I thought that was a pretty decent boss fight.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Definitely more challenging than the other.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

Yeah. The uh dumb dumb drum or whatever it is that drops out all the enemies, but then you just gotta let it smash itself until it dies.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

It's kind of knowledge, like, okay, how do how do you defeat these enemies, like the ones that you've went through the entire game? Because I remember one in particular that me and Jerry kept kept nine to was the Armadillo over and over and over. Just because you have to like break through their shell and then you can attack them. And it's usually it's better for Donkey. But that Kin K roll uh Kin K rule music is fucking fantastic, though. I like I can't think of a better well, I'm I'm sure I could, but a final boss theme that is just like that.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

There's there's two boss themes that come to my mind when I think of Super Nintendo. That one, iconic, and then at the end of uh, which we'll probably find out later. Um, no spoiler, but Yoshi's Island, that final boss fight is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

It's scary. Like we had that. Usually scare me to death. Yeah, that dun dun dun dun and you see them in the background. Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Real quick, I got two little tidbits left on my little list. I love tidbits. Or just like little things I learned. This game originally was going to be called Donkey Kong Mayhem until they decided country.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

I might prefer country.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

And so does Russell Wilson.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Broncos Country, let's ride.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Let's ride.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

Let's ride Donkey Kong Country. Let's ride.

SPEAKER_04 26:22

That's the way we should have opened this podcast. Yeah, it's a start over. But also, like several of these characters had different names before like they decided. Like I saw uh Candy Kong had like a ton different names before they decided Candy. One was Didi Kong.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

Fucking Jeff wanted to stop and just stare at her the whole time. It was creepy. Like he but Jeff, we're we're fine.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

But anyway, like the funniest one I saw was Diddy Kong. Like one of his original names was just Junior.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Keeping him busy.

SPEAKER_04 26:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is like a little, I guess, uh inside joke to my son because his name on PlayStation is basically my name with Junior on it. So they just call him Junior.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Yeah, Donkey Kong Jr. I did I do know that they were or Nintendo wanted Rare, like if they were going to use a separate companion with Donkey Kong to use Donkey Kong Jr. I don't know if you guys remember back when we played Super Mario Kart, that was one of the characters, and it was Donkey Kong Jr.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Yeah, because that's like there's a whole family tree on Donkey Kong, right? Like Diddy's not Donkey Kong's son, he's like his nephew. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:32

Cranky Kong, wasn't he the OG, like Donkey Kong that was throwing the barrels at Jump Man who became Mario?

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He he's like the OG, the original. Nintendo at first wanted them to use Donkey Kong Jr., but Rare was just like, we don't really like this design. We're gonna go ahead and make a new one.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Yeah, I saw that, and I think like Hideo like wanted them to still use a tie. Hideo, Miyamoto. Miyamoto, okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:58

I know I'm working on Metal Gear Solid right now, but here's what you need to do.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Oh shit. Hideo is Carter's guy. Miyamoto is my guy. My bad, my bad. Hey, it's okay. But yeah, let's go ahead and hop into our scores, guys. Jared, kick us off your game.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Uh I mean, I think we've talked this game to death. It's a great platformer. If you haven't played it, get out of the rock that you're under and go find it on several different, you know, platforms and play through it. I think it's solid. It's iconic in the Super Nintendo platformer world. I don't have many flaws about it. Tanner mentioned some of the bosses are weak. I'm gonna give it an 8.5.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

That that is a solid review and pretty close to mine. I know Jeff said he wasn't very uh that big of a fan of this, but this is still within my top five favorite Super Nintendo games. I love the music, I love the feel of the game. Honestly, like you all were saying earlier about Diddy Kong and how he can like just if if you're a master at this game, you can flow through it. It feels a bit like Sonic, where it's a lot momentum-based. Like you can just flow through these levels and it feels amazing, like with the rolling into the enemies, and you you don't have to lose your momentum throughout the entire time. But there's enough gimmicks in the game to keep it fresh, like with the minecarts, the underwater levels, the swinging on the ropes, the the barrels. I mean, there's just so much, and it it's a genuinely tough game. It's uh I mean me and Jared numerous times will get stuck on a level, and you would have to sit there and just like seriously focus. Like you could you can't just like breeze through this game like certain uh platformers from that era, and I really like that. It's a lot of fun, it's very cooperative. So if you actually do play with someone, please play on the Super Nintendo so you don't have to deal with that fucking lag bullshit. This game was super influential, uh, not only for Nintendo, but it basically revived Donkey Kong. Like it made him not a villain anymore, it made him a uh protagonist. It started the whole Donkey Kong Country franchise. And yeah, I just I I think this game is fantastic. I had the same score written down as you, Jared, 8.5. Nice.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

I'm gonna jump in before Jeff tears it down, and uh he'll probably love some of the stuff I'm about to say. Anyway, so this is game is fun, uh Super Nintendo classic game, which is right up my alley, always has been, always will be. And there's a lot of just fun stuff to do through this game. And it was very hard because at first I was gonna give it a lower rating just because when me and Jeff played through it, I was like, man, this game is not near as good as I thought it was. Then I played it on by myself and I was like, oh yeah, this is still that game. It's still pretty awesome. It was just a lag from the Switch Online, really does like it changes how the game works. It's really not as good. But I played on Super Nintendo and it was awesome. I've even played the Game Boy Collar version, which is a whole different monster. That's not even I don't even consider that a part of the actual main game. It's the same game, but it's zoomed in where it's a Nintendo, where it's a Game Boy Color screen. But for some reason, I always go back every year and I beat Super Mario World, and I don't go back and beat like this is the first time I've played Donkey Kong Country in years, and I haven't. All that being said, uh there is a lot more stuff that this does a little bit better than Super Mario World, and you touched on it, like where you can just change, like you can change between Diddy and Donkey Kong in the middle of a level. Um they both have different things. Like it's just a a palette swap for Mario and Luigi on Super Mario World. But um, for some reason, I just like Super Mario World as like one of my favorite 2D games. I've went ahead and I've written down an eight out of just a flat eight out of ten right on the money. Um, damn good game though. Like and and I had a fun time playing through it because it's been so long, but I absolutely love it. I still the music is far and away some of the best you'll ever hear, even versus games nowadays. It's just amazing. But yeah, I'm at an eight out of ten.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Alrighty, Jeff. Your first official score as a jammer, what do you get this thing?

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Well, look, visually it was good. The sound, it was good. Great. Uh the sound was great. I will give great to the sound. Uh, but you I wasn't going to compare it to any other game, but you mentioned it, so now I have to. You said Sonic. Sonic 2. It came out two years before this game. It did it better. Sega is just better. Raw. Um that's debatable. Uh Sega does what Nintend. But the game was fun and it is co-op, so that does save it a lot. Um, it's not a game that I would go out and look for to play, but at the end of the day, after I've looked through a few other games and can't decide on one, I might end up leaning on this one. So I would call it a solid 5.9. It's not quite a six, but it's better than a five.

unknown 32:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

Okay, so you got it as uh almost above average.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Yeah, yeah. Okay. I think Jeff's bitter because people consider this game to be the final nail in the coffin for Sega. This was the game that won Super Nintendo that era.

SPEAKER_05 33:04

Oh, we'll have to do a Sonic review too. I got a lot to say about that one.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Next to the Jared, math guy.

SPEAKER_05 33:12

Uh 7.7.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

Okay. Nice.

SPEAKER_05 33:16

Because I was teetering between a 7.7 and 8, and I kept looking around. Then when I played it on my own, I was like, oh yeah, that's eight.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

I mean, I can see Jeff's score. It's it's not a like it's not it's not a chrono trigger. It's not like you play it and it's just like, oh my god, like fantastic. But yeah, I can see his uh flaws in the game for sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

And he's impression. It's 2022. Like uh tomorrow it may be less because it'd be 2023, but yeah, true. We're recording this on New Year's Eve.

SPEAKER_05 33:44

I love that we got that different point of view now, because like I liked it that it was a platformer that I grew up with, and Jeff, like he said he had it as a hand-me-down, so I assume you had it probably later on in life anyway. Right. But um, so you get a fresh perspective on it, because and I hate giving like picks based off of nostalgia, and I'm not really trying to give it a nostalgia pick. I even said in 2022 I just don't see like 2D platformers being that far advanced to compare to what they were back then.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Alrighty, boys. Moving on from Donkey Kong Country, we got 11 games on this wheel. Let's go through them real quick to remind the audience, and especially if you haven't listened to the previous episode, we got uh Legend of Zelda Linked to the Past, we got Metal Gear Solid 2, we got Obscure the Aftermath, Tom Clancy on the N64 or PS1, Diddy Kong Racing, Resident Evil 2, The Godfather on the PS2 or Xbox, I think it's on, Pokemon Gen 3, basically Ruby Sapphire or Emerald, Yoshi's Island, Taswanted, and Mario RPG. There's a lot here I would love to play this weekend. So let's see what we're getting. Here we go. Three, two, one. Carter, I think the uh the curse has been lifted. We're going to Link to the Past.

SPEAKER_05 34:57

Nice! Thank God. I'm I'm usually the last two every season. Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

He is he has been the last two for the previous three seasons, and finally he's fucking broke his streak. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 35:14

Link to the past.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

What um what's your all's backstory? Well, not backstory, but like have you all played this before?

SPEAKER_05 35:20

Uh I played it for once or twice.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

What about you two?

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Well, for me, once again, it's a hand-me-down game. Super Nintendo.

SPEAKER_05 35:30

No, he's fucking livid already tearing it down.

SPEAKER_04 35:33

Uh as far as like my history with it goes, I can remember I bought this game late in the Super Nintendo. Like the Super Nintendo was dead when I bought it, and it just sticks out to me because the year's probably like 99 or 2000, and I find this like in a might have been EB E B Toys. Was that a place? EB Toys, I'm sure it was. E B no this was the Toy Story in the mall in Beckley.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 36:01

Well, like I said, the year's like 99 or 2000, and they just have like a random like box, like you like Jeff's saying in the cage, like that little damn like uh raccoon tail attached to that ball with a battery that just goes back and forth. Like I can they had like a box full of just Super Nintendo games, like ah, these pieces of shit, it's old now. Like, and they were like five bucks a piece, and I saw Zelda there, and I was like, okay, I'll I'll get this.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

That hurts me a bit. That's why I wish I could time travel. I definitely remember the little ball with the tail on it, though.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm talking. Like, they had uh several of those boxes set up in the middle of the store with shit in them. And usually it had those type of toys, but this time, like it was just in the box or just a cartridge. No, it was completely new, like sealed in the box.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

God, that hurts.

SPEAKER_05 36:49

Man, that's rough. Like uh the majority of my Super Nintendo games were bought at uh when I got older at uh this pawn shop across the road. I used to just walk over there, two dollars a piece Super Nintendo games.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

But yeah, I've never beat this game, and I will 100% beat it, and I will be ready for next week. I'm pumped to go back to Zelda. This will be our second Zelda game. We we did Ocarina a time at the start of season three. So yeah, I am pumped for this. All right, Link Carter.

SPEAKER_05 37:18

Hey, I might get to play it on my Game Boy Advance.

SPEAKER_03 37:20

You're going back to the GBA again?

SPEAKER_05 37:22

Well, I got the GBA version, I beat the Super Nintendo version to death. You know, I might have played it a time or two.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Portable. There you go. Alrighty.

SPEAKER_05 37:30

All right, Donkey Kong Country, let's ride.