My two favorite SNES games growing up were Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country. There’s a sentence that should neither amaze or surprise anyone. They’re two of the most iconic titles on the system and they’re still fun now. But, the most peculiar part of how the two series aged is how quiet the jungles became as opposed to the mushroom fields. Sure, there were three SNES games, and then a bloated Nintendo 64 game, then… silence.
There were games that featured Donkey Kong, of course. There’s one with a drum controller, which is novel for what it is. But it had been many years since what made the ape an icon in the first place, and for a long time it felt as if he would never return. Perhaps he’d found a rocking chair, some bananas, and some time off. There wasn’t a pressing need to outdo his overalled plumber friend. Until Mario gave him a window to do just that.
Donkey Kong has always been Nintendo’s secondary platformer series, for when Mario wasn’t in the spotlight as much as usual. It was the place where all the unconventional techniques and quirky characters could live and breathe, outside of the expectations placed on Mario. And, after Mario entered the 21st century without a new 2D game, he rattled off two fun yet conventional games, satisfying newcomers but leaving the more veteran players wanting a bit more.
And Donkey Kong Country Returns is that “more”. Insert whatever barrel blasting pun you’d like, but Donkey Kong came out after the immensely popular New Super Mario Bros. Wii with a goal: be better. More importantly though, the mission statement of “Returns” meant that it would emulate, or try to emulate, the elements that make Donkey Kong Country worth the re-visit. What, after years of stasis and experiments, made Donkey Kong’s return so impressive?
It begins with a little thing called respect.
There’s two parts to that equation, too. The first part is respecting the original’s impact and honoring it in little ways in the new product. Cranky’s sarcastic dialogues, 1-1 Jungle Hijinks, and the remixed music, for example, are the respectful elements that harken back to the original in obvious or more subtle ways. This is something the Mario games do well. The second, on the other hand, can fall on the wayside; respecting the original’s legacy by trailblazing as the first did, and not being comfortable with a simple recreation. It has to grant new concepts, challenges, and most importantly, memories. Unlike Mario, Donkey Kong combines the two to create a truly standalone experience, and forms one of the best sequels, let alone platformers, I’ve ever played. Not bad for an encore.
An important element in regards to making a sequel is the balance between familiar and new mechanics, the most familiar of which is the roll jump that expert players use constantly and the newest of which is Diddy’s jetpack, which incentivizes staying alive. The most important element of games and platformers more specifically is the penalty of death and the survival of ease. In Mario World, Yoshi was an extra hit and granted Mario more abilities that aided his quest. In the same way, Diddy’s jetpack grants Donkey with much-needed air time and stability after jumps. On his own, Donkey is a weighty and slow mover that can often die from too short a jump; with Diddy, these concerns are alleviated. All the player has to do is stay alive with Diddy and their mission will be much easier.
Granted, that doesn’t save the player from all death. The second and perhaps most important element is, once again, respect. Not of the source material, but of the player. World 1 is enjoyable but easy, and can be beaten quite quickly if the player so desires. World 8, on the other hand, is legitimately challenging and deaths occur often primarily due to ever-shrinking platforms sinking into lava. The in-between worlds consistently scales up the difficulty and, without sacrificing creativity, creates challenges. World 7, or Factory, is my favorite platformer world because of these two things, and as it is the combination of everything above (which I will delve into in more detail at a later point.) It’s the world in which the music is a perfect modern rendition of old tunes, the introduction of rocket barrel mechanics and unique platforming segments, and an atmosphere that oozes the industrial world as well as the original oozed of pollution at KremKroc Industries.
So, as sequels go, this is the template. Granted, this is more a reboot than a sequel. But, it does provide the structure by which sequels succeed and how some re-iterations of older games fail. Where some go for scale, others search for substance. DKC Returns finds the latter and expounds upon the original’s work and refines it to a near-perfect experience, and starkly contrasts against the plumber’s recent outings. And, as it turns out, Donkey Kong Country Returns is my second favorite Wii title, just like its SNES counterpart was back in the day.
A New High Score 