DKC Atlas Forum

Share your experiences playing DKC games, and which one is your favorite.

For me, believe it or not, the first video game system I've ever owned is a GBA SP. I played the first level of DKC GBA at a friend's house but I didn't like it much because it was too hard and I thought it looked ugly. On the back of the box it said "award winning graphics", and I remember thinking "but Crash Bandicoot's are way better" because I didn't realize it was a port. Anyway, it wasn't until much later, when I bought DKC 2 GBA that I really appreciated the series. The graphics were better, and the whole the felt like a great epic adventure. I was amazed with every new world how big the game was (obviously I didn't own a console... in fact Wii is my first). This game made me a DKC fan.

One day I looked up DKC3 online because wanted to see if there was any news on it (again I didn't know it was a port). I ended up discovering that it was originally an SNES game, and was excited to see screenshots of DKC3. When I got DKC3 GBA, I was disappointed. The new world had all sorts of problems, the presentation was pretty bad, and many things like the camera collecting and time attack were gone. At first I thought I had a glitched cartridge that went straight to the file select screen!

I eventually got to play the SNES games on emulator, later on SNES, and now I own them on VC. I was surprised with the first DKC's lack of features, and it just didn't feel like much, but the graphic and sound amazed me. Though I prefer GBA Treetop Town BGM to this day. DKC2 SNES was also amazing with graphics and sound, but again it felt a little lacking, also I don't like the physics as much. DKC3 SNES, on the other hand, was amazing to me in every way. I never knew it had a different soundtrack, the graphics were far better, and the whole thing, for a change, felt like so much more than the GBA version. Honestly, the GBA version was half-assed, I really hope they make a proper port.

Somewhere around this time I barrowed DKC GBC from a friend. Obviously, it looked like crap, sounded mostly like crap, and played like crap, but there seemed to be more effort put into it than any of the GBA ports. It had a lot of features and somehow managed to fit the whole DKC plus one level into that low-tech cartridge. I hadn't played DKL at that point, so I was just left wondering why they made original music. Then I got the DKL ROM, but... that's for another thread.

Wow, that's the second longest post I've ever made. Anyways just post your experiences with the games, I'm sure mine is pretty different than most people. :p

I was amazed when I bought DKC for the Game Boy Color, simply because they had managed to fit a game that was far ahead of its time on the SNES, onto the 8 bit Game Boy Color system. Sure, it suffered from a bit of slowdown at times, but it was amazing in comparison to GBC standards.

The music was ported rather well, too, even though the musicians only had four channels or whatever they're called to work with within a song. I loved the brand new piece for the forest levels... something that really needs to be remixed. I certainly agree with you, though - there was a lot more effort put into the game than the GBA ports... I'd prefer the GBC version to the GBA one anyday.

As for the DKC series, I was introduced rather late to the series (in 1997 and 1998). A friend of mine had a SNES with DKC and DKC3 on it, and DKC3 was my favourite for some time. One day I borrowed the SNES off him for a weekend or two and ended up beating the game - I just got immersed in the world so easily and couldn't get out.

It wasn't until a few years later that I bought my own SNES, along with the full trilogy. Worst of it all was DKC2; the mixture of tough levels and amazingly tricky secret locations within the levels... I praise the original DKC team for the way they were able to hide so many secrets into the games...

I haven't really played the games as much as I'd like to have. I've beaten DKC about four or five times now and DKC2 only twice so far, shamefully. DKC3 on the other hand, I try to play it at least once a year, sometimes even more.

I'm going through the entire trilogy again this weekend; I've beaten DKC already and I'm tackling the lost world in DKC2 at the moment. DKC3 I'll have a shot at later on.

I have been playing or watching other people play DKC since I was a baby. My dad and Grandma taught my brother to play and I loved watching them play all the levels. Those were the best times of my life. I remember when my brother got DKC2, and everyday after he got home from school we'd go into the bedroom and he'd play and I'd watch. We had a very strict no talking rule, but it was still fun. My dad never played DKC2, he just liked the first. Then one day I went to a friends house and saw they had DKC3, and at that time I hadn't discovered the magic that is the internet, so I had never even heard of DKC3. I asked my grandma, and she said they used to have it but someone borrowed it and never gave it back. I later got my grubby little fingers on a copy, and loved it. Since then I've got another copy of each for SNES, the GBC version of number one, the GBA version of number two, and borrowed DKL. I saw DKL a couple weeks ago at Play N Trade, and I should've bought it. I think it was like 12 bucks though, so I skipped it.

Well, when I was a little kid my parents bought a Super Nintendo for the family. They also bought a crapload of games for it, including Donkey Kong Country, which is the first video game I ever played. I wasn't really interested in playing video games until I saw Donkey Kong Country. It just looked, well, better than all the other ones. I played it, and got hooked on Donkey Kong. I had no idea a sequel existed.

As fate would have it, my local grocery store began a video game rental section shortly after I got my Super Nintendo. I tried out DKC2, and ended up buying it at Wal-Mart. In 1997, My grandparents bought me Donkey Kong Country 3. I liked it a lot.

I got a Jungle Green Nintendo 64 in 2000, with Donkey Kong 64 included. I loved DK64 so much, I once spent a whole weekend after I got it just sitting there and playing it... with the help of the Nintendo Power guide, of course.

What is there left to say? After that, the number of kick-butt Donkey Kong games has drastically reduced. It was fun camping out at Gamestop to buy Barrel Blast, at least!

My mouth dropped when I'd played Donkey Kong Country for the first time since I bought it from the Internet.
It had breathtaking graphics, wonderful 3D animation, and cool music. (My favorite song in the game is Aquatic Ambiance in the water levels....*sigh*)
And DKC 2 was even better with Diddy starring as the main character, more 3D animated bliss, two endings, and pirate-themed kremlings.

DKC3 was an OK game when I played it. Bad thing about is that Diddy's kidnaped along with Donkey Kong and the final game of the DKC series.
But it still has the same animation as the other sequels and fun music.

Diddy_Gal wrote:kidnaped

Hey... clever pun!

I've gotta say I agree with you. I really missed playing as Diddy when DKC3 came out. That little guy has always been my favourite, even though Dixie's hair is pretty darn cool. I think Diddy was the most fun in DKC, but he certainly showed off a wider variety of talents in DKC2.

I actually met my first girlfriend whilst she was playing DKC. Funny that... I'd walked down to my best friend's house one day, and didn't realise his cousin Yas was there... Just to be unusual, I climbed in through his loungeroom's window, and there they were; playing DKC! She was playing Coral Capers at the time, so Aquatic Ambience became 'our music' Hehe. Those are some fond memories of young love and Donkey Kong Country... I hope nobody laughs too much about this...

Ah, who am I kidding.

Woah, that gives me the hope eventually finding a new girfriend while playing DKC

My first experience with DKC, mhh...
I know that I got DKC a few months the after watching the DKC videotape (and the tape/the graphics was the reason I wanted to own a DKC cartridge). The first few levels weren't that difficult for me, but: I couldn't save my game progress at first, because I wasn't able to the barrel-blasting parts in "Barrel Cannon Canyon"! Eventually I've lend the game one of my friends, but that didn't help either. A few weeks later I finally found the last barrel-shortcut helping me finishing the level.
About 2-4 months to finally have a save-state and beating the first boss!

That's a funny experience, right?

Edit:


I'm sure I had one Donkey without the chains mounted in his head and also one Diddy. If I can't find them, then it is for the same reason I don't have my old Nintendo magazins any more.

DKC was one of the first games I played when I moved to the USA at four years old. I was to young to care about graphics or anything like that, and I have to admit, it was hard. I also played DKC2 after, both were very hard for me. Yet I still played them. I played them over and over and over again, so much, because they were so fun. Finally after a year or two (Can't remember) I beat the first DKC. The second one I could get as far as the swampish levels (Forgot the name *Smacks self >_<*) then it would be over for me.

I never had a chance to play DKC3 until the GBA port came. I know it's not that good compared to the original (Heck, when I tried DKC2 for GBA I wanted to kill myself. It was HORRIBLE in my opinion.) but it was fun.

Funny thing to add in, a lot of things in DKC 2 scared me, note that some of these contain spoilers.

1. In stronghold showdown, for some reason the whole cutscene scared me. I have no idea WHY TO THIS DAY, that scared me. I keep looking back at it over and over, and have no clue what the heck I was thinking. Ah well.

2. The animal noises. Dear god the animal noises were HORRIBLE. Whenever Squitter and Rattly got hurt and made those GOD-AWFUL NOISES I'd jump all the time. I would mute the game whenever I'd be playing as them. (Therefore, Rattle Battle isn't a nice experience for me, love the music, HATE the noises.) Today I still cringe when I hear them.

Heh, good times.

I agree what you say, but I, in the other hand, loooooved that cutscene. Maybe because it was made with in-game stuff. Or maybe because it was dramatic. Or maybe because it was the first cutscene I ever saw in a DKC game. Still... I loooved it =)

Metroixer wrote:The animal noises. Dear god the animal noises were HORRIBLE.

You mean as in scary or as in bad?

Speaking of noises in the game. Why did Dave Wise replaced all of the original DKC sound effects? I mean, some of them are awesome, but some of them are really not fitting. Sorry for saying this, but the 1-up and Balloon grabbed sound effects from DKC2 and DKC3 are annoying, I preferred the ones from DKC.

Metroixer wrote:In stronghold showdown, for some reason the whole cutscene scared me.

Kiddy14 wrote:...it was the first cutscene I ever saw in a DKC game....

What about the one at the end of DKC, when DK and Diddy have a tussle after the Cast of Characters? That was one of my favourite memories of the game. It was great to see that mischievous side of them both, once all the teamwork had been completed.

I actually went straight to Stronghold Showdown before I completed DKC

Kiddy14 wrote:You mean as in scary or as in bad?

I mean as in scary bad. Like a mixture of both. Not only do they not fit with the animal (How does a snake make that noise? O_O) they just came out so unexpectedly. I know it's DKC so not a lot of the stuff in there makes sense in the first place >.>.

Well... I kinda see I forgot to add my experiences in the topic so expect an essay next...

I remember my SNES and DKC before I could remember stuff, it was the first game that my dad bought for the family's SNES. I think he bought it in 1995, and since I was born in 1993, I only was like 1 or 2 years old.

I remember he would usually play the game, and I would watch. I was too "dumby" and little to actually understand how to play video-games. How my dad would usually go through "Snow Barrel Blast" and I would like "go almost crazy" everytime he fell off the screen. And that are the levels I mostly remember as "epic" in DKC. With those small pits and the slippery terrain it was really hard for my dad, as he would usually just push buttons expecting to not fall

The snow storm that starts in the middle of Snow Barrel Blast always amused me and my dad, primarily because it was awesome, and it added a touch of "nervousy" to the game, and those fast rotating barrels made it even horrible.

Eventually, he stopped playing the game, and I would just play Jungle Hijinxs a lot while grabbing baloons. It was hard because neither me and my dad new there existed the "roll jump", so I usually spent half an hour to grab lives until the counter said 99 and I made my mom play Rope Bridge Rumble. She would usually spend like 40 lives but then we played Really Gnawty's Lair and then we headed to Oil Drum Alley. We would usually get a Game Over in the level or in Trick Track Treck, and we stop.

About in 1997, we got DKC2. I remember I saw it in a re-seller, I saw fellow Diddy but saw a "girl" with blond hair with him. I was like huh? Then I read: "Donkey Kong Country 2". I made my dad buy it and we started playing it. I remember the first moment I found it awesome. In DKC I always wanted to complete the game to go to that "ship world" in the other side of the island. Since we never completed the game I never got to see it, but I saw DKC2's ship and I was amazed, my hopes of playing in the ship were true! I was excited. Team-Throw wasn't that amazing to me though. And the thing I still wonder is why the sound effects were different? I never liked that 1-up sound effect it had. And the world map faces were scary to me, DKCs were silly, but DKC2s faces frame rate was so accurate, it was scary, specially Dixie's face Then I saw Lockjaw's Locker, a pretty hard level, my dad would usually lose against the starfish, but he made it and we got to Crocodile Cauldron.

I remember I was playing with my cousins, and one of them had her foot really near to the SNES' electric plug. We were playing Lava Lagoon and I warned her to stay away from it. She didn't pay attention so when I didn't expect it, the SNES' reseted and so I got mad at her. Nothing really would have happened if the next wouldn't happened: The game told me to choose a file but I didn't notice anything, then it asked me to choose the game-play kind, and I was like, it never asks me this. Then I saw it, it put me in the main world! The file was erased! So I turned it off, and never played it again...

Then we moved and got some boxes where my SNES and its games where. I eventually forgot about it and it got lost in the years. Even tohugh I still played it at a friend's emulator, which had DKC3. He only showed me DKC3 once, and I found weird Dixie was swimming in water in the map (I could remember her, but I never got to see Kiddy).

About a year ago.. exactly in June 2007, I was going online and I decided to make a new account. talaivaneizer was it. So I thought, what should I look at first. So I thought "what was that game I used to play? Donkey Kong Country I believe" I searched and I found out some vids, and the "Grey Donkey Kong Glitch" as the first results. But I also found out there was a Donkey Kong Country 3. So I looked at it and found Dixiegurl56's channel, with her KRevice Kreepers run. I was amazed, not only it was another game, the music was awesome, and well... the run itself amazed me!

I then asked her for a friend invite and asked her for those new awesome DKC videos. She told me about emulators and ROMs and I managed to download them. I was amazed at DKC3s new theme, and how you could swim in the world map. Gave to me another look and thought it was a "fresh" DKC concept, while still keeping its DKCs roots. I was (and still am) in love with DKC3. Even though it has the NSCKB, which made me angry when sometimes I threw Dixie somewhere high but she wouldn't swap and stay there with a "ohh" expression and her hair extremely curl =P

And then I started to look for the so famous speed-runs =D

So... I continued to be in YT and got many friends and not so friendly guys, but then I found out Blaziken257. He introduced me in the GBA versions of DKC and into the DKLs. With his Toxic Tower GBA run. I remember I was like, "why are the sound effects different and the level green?" I saw the title and it said GBA, so I searched for it and realized it was another version of the game! I was amazed so I just downloaded VBA and some ROMS and loved DKC3 even more! With the new soundtrack, it was amazingly accurate. I can even say the new soundtrack is better than the old SNES =D

So I got so "into it" and didn't like the emulators "choppy screens" I decided to look for my SNES. I found it about a week ago but sadly it only had DKC, and even though I looked for them, I couldn't find my SMK neither my DKC2 catridges. My dad improvised a coaxial cable (which i'm stil using) and we tried to turn it on. It turned red but nothing happened, we eventually made the game to work but sometimes it would throw a blank screen, which lead me to lose 2 files.I eventually got it to work perfectly.

So this "Holy Week" vacations my parents got me DKC2 and DKC3 with their respective manuals in re-sell! I was so happy! I could play DKC2 and DKC3. Even though DKC3 threw me a minor bug (I wanted to save for the first time in Lake Orangatanga's Wrinkly's Save Cave and when it fade black never entered it =P) I loved how awesome it looked!

So... that's my experience with DKC games. All my life eh? =P

That bug in DKC3 where the game froze after you saved was probably the machine's fault, not the game's. Old cartridge systems do stuff like that sometimes, especially if they've been sitting around collecting dust.

Jomingo wrote:That bug in DKC3 where the game froze after you saved was probably the machine's fault, not the game's.

I agree, but it didn't saved. I was in the world map and pressed B. The screen went black and nothing happened next
Nothing else has happened to the games. Neither DKC2 or DKC3 have had problems, and the catridges are in a really good shape! =)

I remember playing DKC when i was 6...the first time i've beaten by an enemy i thought the red tie of DK was blood
When i brake a DK barrel i didn't understand why that monkey when a red cup was following me...and i believed he was an enemy
When i reach K rool i couldn't defeat him
A year later i bought DKC2 and i couldn't beat Toxic tower...the first time i defeated k rool was in DKC3...
Once, in Toxic Towe, Diddy entered to the Rattly barrel and Dixie not...this was the first time i saw glitch...(and is the only glitch i have seen in a real SNES)

DKC on a SNES at my cousin's house when I was very young.
Loved it.

One day, I was playing the first factory level in DKC and when I got to the Rambi crate, I pressed something and Diddy turned all silver and had static where the color should be. It was in my SNES, not a ROM, back in 1999. It turned out to be that famous glitch people abuse so much these days and upload to youtube.