The result was one of the most sophisticated titles ever released.
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Like the later Banjo-Kazooie for the N64, Donkey Kong Country was, on one level, an instance of Rare taking an existing classic and broadening it – in this case, Super Mario World. Critics may very well bemoan that Nintendo did it all first, and Rare merely refined the details, but just look at those refinements! Donkey Kong Country arrived pretty late in the SNES lifecycle, but that meant it had years of awareness on how to best utilise the console’s potential. And DKC truly was a great game to get lost in, anytime of the year.
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My routine around this time would be: wake up, have breakfast, watch some telly, play Donkey Kong Country, watch more telly (maybe a Christmas movie premiere), go back to the game, have dinner, go back to the game, go to bed, wake up, repeat. I guess from her point of view, it cost enough to buy, so I might as well get my (well, her) money’s worth from it.
3 and the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2) remain special to me because I could truly immerse myself in them for hours at this time of year, and especially because it was Christmas, my mum generously let me spend more time than I would normally be allowed with these games. Games like Donkey Kong Country ( or earlier examples like Super Mario Bros. There were no worries about having to go to bed early or going to school the next day, while I maybe just had family commitments, eating and sleeping to make allowances for.
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I was given the game as a present in Christmas 1995, a full year after its release date, but I believe that games that double as Christmas presents have that extra-special something about them.Īs a child, Christmas Day comes in the middle(ish) of the end-of-year break from school, and as such you can really got lost in whatever presents you’re given. I mean, I couldn’t afford this sort of thing out of my own pocket, and I was rubbish at saving money. Offering variety, scope, spectacle, humour, plenty of challenges, it was a must-buy, or at my age, a must-want. It elevated developers Rare to the top of the heap – after all, it had everything. When it was revealed that this was actually a SNES release, jaws dropped even further – hit the floor, practically. There were those who genuinely believed it was a title for Nintendo’s rumoured (but never-to-be-released) 32-bit console.
When it was released in 1994, praise for Rare’s literal game-changer was ecstatic. It was the theme used for the underwater levels in the Super Nintendo classic Donkey Kong Country – a phenomenal game with an exceptional soundtrack.
However, the one track that made me stop and pay attention, the one that made me realise just how unbelievably beautiful video game music could be, was Aquatic Ambience. Take the end credits theme for Super Mario Land, an absolutely lovely piece which, despite featuring an upbeat rhythm, felt airy, radiant and expansive, perfect for winding everything down in time for a well-earned “Thank You for Playing” closing screen. Mostly, though, it seemed as though gentler music was reserved for a game’s final credits sequence, when battle was over and respite had finally been earned. The closest thing to beautiful the game’s soundtrack had was the light, pretty theme that accompanied the underwater levels, where a gentler, more harmonic tone proved more appropriate for the more graceful character action. You can find examples of all of these kinds of themes in the first Super Mario Bros.
In the 8- and 16-bit eras that coincided with me growing up, music in video games was many things – bright and inviting, spooky and sinister, exciting and catchy, or intense and suspenseful. What was the first piece of music in a video game that you thought was beautiful? As in, stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous?
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