Rhythm games haven’t always been so explicit.
Today’s generation of rhythm games – including such noteworthy examples as “Thumper” and “Crypt of the NecroDancer” – are very clear about their design choices in relation to the objectives, generally providing an on-screen timed graphic of some sort meant to coincide with a gamer’s button press.
It all works within the flow of the music, but the idea being conveyed is clear. “Press a button … now!”
If the person playing times their button presses well enough, they are rewarded with praise, advancement, and sometimes even rewards.
This simple concept, of indicating to a gamer when and where they should push a button, as though the music itself isn’t enough of an indicator, has been around quite a while.
1996’s “Parappa the Rapper” is often credited with popularizing this template, and that game absolutely deserves every ounce of praise it has ever received … though it wasn’t exactly alone in creating this sub-genre.
Of course, musical games like “Simon” predate Parappa by a good bit, and if you consider them for longer than a minute, you do realize that while the rhythm of those games is an afterthought, it does emerge organically, particularly as it relates to the avoidance of running out of time.
Moreover, though Simon was an external device/toy unconnected to any dedicated hardware, it was absolutely electronic in nature with a requirement of interactivity in order that it might operate properly.
Within that context, we might accurately say that the origins of the rhythm video game actually lie nearly 50 years past.
And yet, the true heyday, the “golden era” if you will, was the mid-90s to mid-2000s.
“Parappa the Rapper” beget “Beatmania” which beget “Dance Dance Revolution” (Dance Dance is a whole different conversation that we shall come to at some point in this countdown, I can assure you) which went on to beget “Bust a Groove,” and on and on we went, along through games like “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” which themselves became MONSTER hits (with gamers and non-gamers alike).
The newer games within the genre (released within the past decade or so) distinguish themselves by offering interesting thematic elements such as specific characters and music an audience might gravitate towards (Kingdom Hearts! Zelda! The Beatles!), as well as deeper environments to explore that don’t merely consist of one static screen, or perhaps if we’re really gonna get crazy, a screen that scrolls towards you while the notes/button presses come flying at you in real time.
But there’s a noticeable, familiar chaining to this system. “Press a button … now!. Press a different button … now!”
It’s pretty much always this way.
And it doesn’t have to be.
To understand this, we merely need to circle back to a different sort of rhythm game that predates the likes of Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, and Parappa the Rapper. One that’s less explicit in its stated intent, yet no less demanding when the game fires up.
You are not visually or verbally told to press certain buttons … the game merely demands it of you instead.
You are required to do things a certain way to progress, and that way is rhythmic in nature.
Jump. Jump. Bounce. Bounce.
Pause. Jump. Pause. Jump.
Attack. Move. Attack. Move.
Enemies are spaced from one another to encourage these inputs. The music is smooth and appealing enough to pull you in, yet urgent enough to pull you forward.
Patterns emerge. The soundtrack mirrors the action and vice versa.
Jump. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Jump. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
And as you progress through the game, this oddity, of there being a rhythmic nature of one’s inputs, becomes more and more obvious, until eventually, there is little point in denying what is happening.
For those who have been paying attention, “Donkey Kong Country” offered up its own kind of rhythm game when it launched as a reboot/rebranding of Nintendo’s big ape in 1994.
And the series’ first sequel, “Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest,” managed to not only continue that tradition in resounding fashion, but also remains an absolute masterclass in incredible platforming to this day, refining and perfecting what its predecessor laid the groundwork for.
And what is that, exactly?
A true A+ rhythm platformer.
Donkey Kong Country 2 at a glance:
- Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
- Released: 1995
- Platform: Super Nintendo
- No. 17 in Complex’s “Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time”
The initial idea to reboot Donkey Kong as a side-scrolling platformer came about through a collaboration between Nintendo and developer Rare, and the primary inspiration was more about Rare’s capacity to utilize pre-rendered 3D graphics than about revitalizing an older intellectual property. The story goes that Nintendo was concerned about some of the niftier graphical games Sega was releasing for its Genesis (like “Aladdin”) and wanted to knock out a visually impressive game quickly. Hence, Rare, which had the technology in place to produce pre-rendered graphics, was handed the keys to Donkey Kong and given a very long leash.
Funnily, it’s those “impressive” visuals that suffer the most in a modern context, as they often end up looking muddy and struggle-bus-ish on modern displays. What gave the series life and a lasting legacy was the gameplay.
Rare developers have spoken of wanting to make Donkey Kong Country a game that would “flow seamlessly” for a skilled player. Levels were deliberately designed with that in mind, with obstacles and enemies spaced strategically to allow for and even encourage chaining together advancement.
Bounce on an enemy’s head forward to see, oh hey, there’s another enemy to bounce on, which you do, which takes you to a higher platform, and a quick hop into a barrel allows you to reach a one-up balloon which was floating away, and oh yeah, another moving barrel … and so on, and so on.
Progression is tied with skill and timing.
In other words, rhythm.
I am personally convinced (and I doubt even first-hand contradictory reports will sway me otherwise) that this reliance on rhythm making the experience that much more satisfying is what led to this character/property eventually transitioning into the genre of – wait for it – rhythm game in the 2000s.
Yes, titles like “Donkey Konga” and “Donkey Kong Jungle Beat” were honest-to-gosh rhythm games, marketed to take advantage of a growing genre of game people couldn’t seem to get enough of at the time.
Did it make sense for Donkey Kong to get wedded to the rhythm genre in this manner?
Abso-friggin-lutely.
And it’s because the Donkey Kong Country games were rhythm platformers.
The first Donkey Kong Country, due to its commitment to outstanding design, was a certified hit, moving over 9.3 million copies.
That’s a lot of bananas.
Naturally, the sequel was put on the fast track and landed on the Super Nintendo the following November. “Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!” completed the trilogy in 1996, and more sequels have come along since: 1999’s “Donkey Kong 64,” 2010’s “Donkey Kong Country Returns,” and 2014’s “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze” (the first of these was a 3D collect-a-thon; the latter two titles were developed by a different company altogether, Retro Studies).*
* Here is where I point out that this series, as a whole, has an absurdly excellent batting average. “64” probably leans too hard into the collect-a-thon sphere, taking Banjo Kazooie principles and injecting them with enough steroids to fell an elephant. Yet it has its fans. Returns and Tropical Freeze are ridiculously well thought of in most circles. Coupled with the Game Boy versions of the SNES classics employing some sort of sorcery to run on such rudimentary hardware, and you’ve got a situation where basically any game in the Donkey Kong Country series is gold. Of course, Nintendo, in its wisdom, has decided to go a DECADE without releasing another sequel since Tropical Freeze landed in 2014. Make it make sense.
But it’s 1995’s “Diddy’s Kong Quest” where Rare quite possibly peaked with the concept (at least for this writer).
Simple refinement is, of course, a major component of that.
The graphics have more detail and in general a more polished look about them in Round 2. They have many of the same trappings as the first DKC, but the worlds here look busier and more lived in, and the character models feature more creative details.
The levels are simply great, no qualifiers needed. One reason is that they boast more variety this time around, often leaning into a particular mechanic to enable completion of a specific level. Yes, you have to have rhythm. But you also have to learn a mechanic (such as switch-flipping, climbing vines, or controlling an animal friend’s differing movements) and execute it properly to advance. The original Donkey Kong Country was good about this. The sequels are downright bountiful.
But it’s not overdone. If every level requires a gimmick to defeat, do you in the process lose sight of the original intent? Possibly, and it’s why I’m less enamored of DKC3 in comparison. Of course, that’s splitting hairs when you consider the programmers’ intent. They’re making each level its own main event. “Something special herein lies.” No throwaways. I admire that a great deal. Regardless, I find DKC2 to be Goldilocks in this aspect: many levels require new mechanics, but not ALL of them, and this is a pleasing ratio. (My brain appreciates getting to go on autopilot occasionally.)
The music, composed once again by the talented David Wise, while perhaps never exceeding the first game’s transcendent “Aquatic Ambiance,” nevertheless still manages to find more consistent highs. Both soundtracks are excellent, but tracks like “Stickerbush Symphony” and “Hot-head Bop” keep the bar at a higher level overall.
The biggest point of pride in Donkey Kong Country 2’s design, however, is the more thoughtful implementation of hidden items and secrets, and how those items get discovered.
In particular, and in keeping with the theme of rhythm-based play, DKC2 encourages liberal use of blind jumps to discover hidden items and paths forward.
Now, blind jumps in video gaming, by and large, are like playing Russian Roulette with a hammer and a decreasing set of unbroken fingers … sure, you could technically call it a “game” of chance, but there’s nothing particularly enjoyable about the experience.
Donkey Kong Country relied on them to an unfriendly degree, and they’re back in DKC2.
What makes them more bearable this time around is more obvious design in the levels that gives the player a clearer indication that their blind faith to jump into a pit of death WON’T in fact shed them of their very lives.
A faint outline of an item just off screen might appear. Or a suspicious-looking gap directly underneath an item super high up in the air (indicating a barrel might be located there that will propel you upward) might be the indicator. The point is, there are now visual clues, or at least, better visual clues that tell you that yes, your faith might be rewarded here and that encourage more exploration.
Perhaps more importantly, the introduction of Dixie Kong as a playable character elevates the blind jump from a teeth-grating (or knuckle-smashing) affair into something that is downright enjoyable. Dixie is paired with the first game’s Diddy Kong as one of two playable characters (replacing Donkey Kong himself from the first game). While Diddy’s most positive attribute is his speed, Dixie has a spinning midair attack that allows her to slowly descend from a jump. The net effect is that of her slowing down the action and floating through dangerous areas … an absolute godsend in difficult spots, but also the sort of thing that makes blind jumps a thing you can sometimes back out of.
Blind jumps that don’t instantly result in death?
Donkey Kong Country rescued the water level and Donkey Kong Country 2 rescued the blind jump.
Those two games deserve Hall of Fame treatment for those two achievements alone.
But anyway, blind jumps here often lead to hidden secrets. And the sheer volume of hidden items and secrets propel exploration as well. For example, one learns early on that each level contains a particular set of secrets to discover, which means that if you haven’t yet found one of those items, you know it’s there somewhere.
This was such a smart, compelling system, that Mario adopted the same thing eventually through its use of collecting large coins to unlock secret levels in the New Super Mario Bros. series. That system got its start here in Diddy’s Kong Quest … and the game hit on that golden formula a full decade ahead of Mario.
Is the payoff quite so good here? Eh. Maybe not. But honestly, I can say that while other platformers may have previously asked me to explore them to death, none hooked me into following through in the same way Donkey Kong Country 2 did.
This is truly a game for all the completionists out there.
So what makes it worth playing today?
A gamer looking to dip their toe in with a special platforming series they haven’t experienced before really can’t go wrong with any of the Donkey Kong Country games – with the full caveat being that this sort of platformer leans more into the “memorize your surroundings” aspect more so than the “have quick reflexes” requirement. Most games have some measure of both, and while I find the mix here to be deeply enjoyable, not everyone will.*
* And hey, if we’re going to compare this game to “Simon,” perhaps it makes more than a little sense that memorization matters a great deal here.
Personal opinion holds that DKC2 is the best of the Donkey Kong Country bunch and the one to pick if you’re limiting your choices to just one (many, MANY other people agree with me on this). Indeed, I doubt very much I’ll include the other two SNES games in this countdown, since they all retain the same basic strengths and weaknesses, and each game resembles the others to a very large degree.
And that makes sense … the games were released back-to-back-to-back over three calendar years. There wasn’t a ton of time to sit around and think up new spins on the formula (other than the new intricate level creation, which is still mighty impressive as an achievement when you look back at the warp-speed deadlines involved).
DKC2 builds on the first game in all the ways you’d hope and expect, and moreover it provides an exploration/reward system that is delightfully sublime. It elevates the initial concept to its highest possible level. So, if you’re going to choose only one … this is the one.*
* But honestly, play all three.
Come for the funky visuals (at one point considered cutting edge but which now are simply quaint/odd), but stay for the gameplay.
That gameplay, which I adore, sometimes gets digged at for being “simple,” or leaning too heavily on memorization, but that’s missing the larger point, methinks. Again, it’s not plainly obvious. There is no flashing neon sign here.
But…
Are we not experiencing something unique-feeling?
Are we not living and breathing the very best in level design?
Are we not, in our own way, making music?
Yes. Yes, we are.
Dave’s Score: 10/10
Check out the whole Retro Gaming Essentials list here!
How to play
- Original hardware (SNES)
- Game Boy Advance
- Virtual Console (Wii, Wii U, 3DS)
- Nintendo Switch Online