It’s time for Lottie to talk about it…
This is the tale of one ragey, poor skilled retro gamer that for some reason ended up on a self made challenge to play through the console Donkey Kong Country games in succession until completed.
(Thankfully just to get to the end, no 101% etc )
Otherwise known as the ultimate nightmare spanning a whopping 66 streams from 11/4/24 to 26/9/25.
So here is a saga summary game by game!
(Load 1st person narrative)
Donkey Kong Country 1: SNES
My most nostalgic of the challenge. This game is full of wonderful music and amazing game play. It has aged so well, challenging but extremely playable. So many hidden little secrets that of course these days walk throughs are happy to tell you all about. I love all of the cute animal buddies, Expresso the Ostrich being my firm favourite in this game. Most memorable parts are the first mine cart level and the final boss, what a tune! This is a game I would recommend to everyone, a must have in the retro gaming played through bank.
Started 11/4/24
Finished 25/4/24
Donkey Kong Country 2: SNES
The only other game in this challenge that I had completed before. This was even a game that had been streamed on our channel as Will and I played this on co-op mode back in 2022, however I ended up finishing it on my own then as Will had rage quit (quite the challenge in itself to have to swap between two controllers for the last sections of the game!).
This time I played in solo mode and of course my preferred character to use was Dixie Kong. Falling with style using her hair made certain elements of the game far more manageable. It was also interesting to have a new combo character style move which was not an option in the original game. Cute animal buddy of choice for this game was Squitter the Spider, even if that is a very unfortunate name. Beyond adorable with all of those little trainers on! I think the most memorable part of the game was the very annoying ghostly shirts that laugh and throw things at you, and I did quite enjoy the rollercoaster style levels, similar to the minecart format in the original game. What really made this game difficult however was the save mechanic. In DKC1, you could save at any time you wandered upon Candy Kong’s barrel (not a euphemism), however in DKC2 it was far more evil. You needed a certain amount of tokens in order to save at Kong Kollege, and had to reach it a few levels into a new world after a boss. If you ran out of lives before getting there or didn’t have enough coins to pay for the save…well tough, you have to do it all again from your last save.
Brutal.
Started 2/5/24
Finished 27/6/24
Donkey Kong Country 3: SNES
I remembered a little about seeing this game, but it was a first play through for me. Most of my notes in our Twitch diary was me commenting about how quiet these streams were, so I think in general it was a less popular game in the series. In this game you don’t play as either Donkey or Diddy Kong, which seems bizarre, instead you are back in the safe hair of Dixie, but this time with a baby cousin Kong in tow, Kiddy. A different character bought a different combo character move which helps the game feel different but along the same theme and style. Strangely I think the map was the most memorable part of the game for me, you could use a hovercraft to travel to areas you couldn’t normally access which was a new feature, Funky had certainly changed his style, less surfer dude. Animal buddies play felt greatly reduced in this game which was disappointing, I wasn’t particularly keen on either of the new buddies, so I think I will stick with Squitter as the favourite for this game. In this game you became the buddies whereas the previous games you would ride them or be carried by them more often. Thankfully the save mechanic had not carried over from DKC2- A lesson well learnt there for Rare clearly.
Started 4/7/24
Finished 29/8/24
Donkey Kong 64: N64
This is the game that nearly broke my gaming spirit. I would never recommend this game to anyone. Because of the era it was released in, it became less of a platformer and more of a 3D action game with platformer elements. It was a huge collectathon and in my opinion with some lazy game design. Repeatedly having to change characters to collect their particular bananas by firstly releasing locked up Kongs, then once released finding a barrel in order to change your playable character to go back to places you had already been was tedious. Yes I could have used a walk through to make it the most efficient game play, but I wanted to experience it as I would have originally. On-top of that for anyone wanting to play the game, take the mini DK arcade machine game very seriously when you find it and complete it twice. What you win is completely necessary. The camera control was messy, although it was a whole new type of control for Nintendo so I can forgive it in some respects for that. The best part of the whole game is the DK Rap opening title of the game. Everything else was entirely awful for me. No controllable animal buddies in this game which was really sad, but as you had 5 Kongs to play with it was probably deemed unnecessary. Also a big statement incoming.
NO ONE NEEDED TO MAKE CANDY KONG SEEM SEXY TO PEOPLE PLAYING THE GAME.
Yes she was the character that Donkey Kong had a crush on, but it starts to cross the line of yuck especially in the final boss/credits section.
Some notes I made in the twitch diary about this game. “Gosh this game is poop.” “Hate Game!” And my personal favourite “Got so angry I got the cold sweats.”
Started 5/9/24
Finished 9/1/25
I had a week off between games here to do a Hama bead stream where I did make a Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jungle Beats: GameCube
Yes I used the bongo controllers for this game. A mad crazy game that I had but hadn’t realised it was a platformer until I started this challenge. That’s right, a bongo controlled platformer, told you it was mad. Not a game for those with delicate hands as every time you needed to collect bananas or stun enemies you needed to clap…and it was a lot of clapping. I loved the unique control of this game and I think playing it on the regular controllers would have lessened the fun/ experience, so I’m glad I had the bongos. I enjoyed this game in the most part up until I got to the end…and it wasn’t the end. I was ready to be finished, I had fought a tricky ‘final boss’ and then it unlocked a whole new stage. I was less than impressed. I know for many back in the day these ‘extra’ levels would have felt like amazing value for money, but I am a person who likes to know when it is the last boss, that it’s the last boss. I like to know when I am getting to the end and I do not enjoy a whole additional world. This is unfortunately something games after this era continue to do. I like a beginning a middle and an end. I wonder why it irkes me so. Twitch diary “Got to the end boss, then was f****d off for the rest of the stream that there were more levels.”
It really disheartened me clearly!
Started 23/1/25
Finished 27/2/25
Donkey Kong Country Returns: Wii
Now we’re talking. Back to the original style. Amazing graphic upgrade and back to feeling energised with the series. I’m so glad it made a come back in this way! Back with the original duo, clearly Nintendo were reaching for their nostalgic audience here trying to create a crowd pleaser. The most memorable part of the game for me were the levels where you were playing silhouetted, they were just so beautifully done. I also really loved how being fired from barrels was in this game, such stylish camera angles. Great level of challenge and I was happy to come back to each stream for more. This game did however have a few levels that had an alternative exit, and sometimes theses were particularly tricky to find, requiring some help from YouTube videos to find them! I believe again a shortage of animal buddies, only Rambi returned, but Diddy had a jetpack so a swings and roundabouts kinda deal there. I think the main disliked levels for me were the rocket barrel levels. They were very infuriating! Took many a go! On the whole I would recommend this game to others plus it was fun to use the Wiimote and Nunchuck controller set up bringing a different control element where you had to shake to roll etc. An added dimension to the game play.
Started 6/3/25
Finished 8/5/25
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze: Wii U
Same style as DKC returns, thankfully they had stuck with the magic formula. This time you could also play as Dixie or Cranky. I highly suggest you don’t ever play as Cranky. Pogoing around on his walking stick is incredibly clumsy and invoked much rage. The difficulty level of this game seemed ramped up, with more rocket levels to boot. I still enjoyed this game and if I’d have played it in isolation rather than right at the end of this epic saga I probably would have enjoyed it more. I was however highly disappointed that it did not utilise the Wii U Game Pad when in TV mode. Also a lack of animal buddies in this game. It makes me wonder if other people enjoyed them less than me in the original games, hence why they were dropped?
Started 20/5/25
Finished 26/9/25
Saga Summary
Well. It was a journey that’s for sure. Some Twitch viewers were there for the whole lot, so very well done to them for surviving watching me experience such a wide range of emotions through gaming, and joining in with the rage from time to time. What did I learn from the experience? That I never need to play a whole saga from start to finish back to back ever again is probably up there in the big lessons. However I did love experiencing the journey of the development of the games, it’s like watching a TV series you have seen before but binge watching it, and suddenly noticing all the strange jumps in character development or story line that you hadn’t really noticed when it was spaced out. I will never recommend DK64 to anyone, that would be cruelty. It was also pretty amazing to see the shifts in graphics through the eras of consoles. DKC1 stands the test of time and remains my favourite, I don’t think the music could be beaten by any of the other games in the series.
So there.
