![]() There are 33 stages and 7 boss battles to navigate on the way to completing this game, a fairly large amount by the generation's standards (Sonic the Hedgehog by contrast had 18 stages and 6 bosses). ![]() Conceptually, the game is a fairly simple platformer where Donkey Kong, accompanied by his sidekick Diddy Kong collects bananas and avoids enemies to get through stages on his way to get back his stash of bananas from the final boss. Any album that I can enjoy no matter the mood is a great album, and the fact that it come from a SNES game is all the more remarkable.Donkey Kong Country was the first game to feature Donkey Kong as a character outside of the arcade series featuring Jumpman, or Mario as he would later be called. It’s a great album to listen to while doing homework too. It contains very soothing and atmospheric tracks and some very upbeat songs as well. The truly astounding about this album is that I can so easily listen to it at anytime. Another think I should mention is that the songs used for the Kong family (Kranky's theme, etc.) naturally take on a happier, less mature tone and therefore aren't as enjoyable to listen to outside of the game. Personally I think the fact that it’s not perfectly done helps give the music some charm. Too bad they didn’t put as much time into the sound quality as the do now with games. Like I said it still was a big improvement over many of the previous games though. Although I think it did a good job for 94’ it’s unlikely that you will fool anybody into thinking this isn’t from a game. The fact that it’s done completely electronically gives the game a fairly unrealistic sound compared to today’s music. If there’s one problem to the album, it’s the same problem that plagues many other game soundtracks of that time and that’s the poor sound quality. In fact the main melody to the track “The Credits Concerto” sounds eerily similar the song Melrose by TD. ![]() The whole soundtrack seems to be influenced a great deal by Tangerine Dream. The song begins with very percussive jungle (not “jungle”) like beat and then goes off into a very floaty and dark interlude. This style is used in the first level’s song, “DK Island Swing”. The technique is worked to near perfection on the game and it's the most important aspect of making this music what it is. Although you probably wouldn’t hear that.Īs you listen to the album you will notice that many of the songs start off upbeat and then go off into some spacey ambient interlude. For example in “Cave Dweller’s Concert” you hear drops of water hitting the ground as you might if you were actually in a cave. A trait that Dave Wise would become known for by the time Donkey Kong’s sequel came out. ![]() The music also uses many environmental sound effects to help make the levels feel more real. I’m sure many people remember playing through that snow level for the first time and hearing that ferocious piano lick kick in just as the blizzard takes full effect. The underwater levels which use the track “Aquatic Ambience” feature very subtle but comforting keyboards while the factory levels use the track “Fear Factory” which is driven by a heavy synth pattern. Most of the tracks make extensive use of mallets and the pan flute to give it that world like feel. The soundtrack does an amazing job of accompanying the levels. And that was for one simple reason: The game’s superb soundtrack. But even to today, I still remember enjoying DKC more than anything else. As a four year old my time was spent between DKC and Super Mario World. Trace back to 94’ and you will recall a groundbreaking game for the Super Nintendo called Donkey Kong Country. They often involved plumbers, hedgehogs, or apes doing nothing more than moving and jumping from side to side. I know little of the other two composers, although I do know Robin Beanland went on to help create the outstanding soundtrack for the Nintendo 64 game Jet Force Gemini.īefore the gaming world was ruled by “massively multiplayer online role playing games” and “first person shooters”, video games took on a much simpler role. Rare is a British video game company credited with the production of many big games such as the Donkey Kong series and Goldeneye. He is also the only member of the three still on Rare’s staff (to my knowleadge). David Wise was the sole member of the Rare’s music team up until this point. This soundtrack was actually composed by a three-way collaboration consisting of David Wise, Robin Beanland, and Eveline Fischer (now Eveline Novakovic). Review Summary: This nostalgic soundtrack is nothing short of a landmark for video gaming music.
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