Donkey Kong Country cover art

Game entry

Donkey Kong Country

1994 · Platformer · Super Nintendo, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U · Nintendo

Donkey Kong Country holds position no. 249 in the world ranking on GameForever, with 1,786 ELO points and 73% of duels won out of 300 played. Its most contested head-to-head pits it against Assassin's Creed II: 3 wins to 3 across 6 duels. In its strongest family it holds position no. 3 out of 69 (1994).

World rank

no. 249

ELO score

1,786

Wins

73%

Duels played

300

Join the debate · 22

About Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country is a side scrolling platformer by British developers Rare in 1994. It featured revolutionary pre-rendered 3D graphics that give the game a very unique look compared to most other games on consoles at the time. The two playable characters featured in the game are the titular character, Donkey Kong and his nephew, Diddy Kong. Together the two swing, climb, jump, swim, cartwheel, ride animals, and blast out of barrels on their way to recover their stolen bannanas from the evil King K. Rool and his Kremling army. The adventure takes you through a variety of different environments and levels that continually change up gameplay. Donkey Kong Country also provides plenty of opportunities for exploration with almost every level having a multitude of collectible, shortcuts, and hidden bonus areas.

The community says

visuals aged weirdly better than sonic 2 imo, the pre rendered look still reads fine today, sonic 2 looks more dated somehow

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,786 ELO points over the last 215 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

In the same genre

All Platformer games →
  1. 17 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island1995 · Platformer 1,915
  2. 43 Super Mario Galaxy 22010 · Platformer 1,882
  3. 56 Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy2001 · Platformer 1,872
  4. 90 Super Mario World1990 · Platformer 1,848
  5. 97 LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga2007 · Platformer 1,843

Keep exploring

All-time best platformer games All-time best Nintendo games Best games on Super Nintendo All-time best Wii games Ranking of Nintendo 3DS games Best games on Wii U The best 1990s games Ranking of 1994 games Every Donkey Kong game, ranked Best games in the Donkey Kong Country series

Around this spot

The games Donkey Kong Country sits between in the world ranking.

  1. 246 Kirby and the Forgotten Land 1,787
  2. 247 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 1,786
  3. 248 Far Cry 2 1,786
  4. 249 Donkey Kong Country 1,786
  5. 250 Tomb Raider 1,785
  6. 251 Super Smash Bros. Melee 1,785
  7. 252 Halo: Combat Evolved 1,785

More games from Nintendo

Released in 1994

The standing

Where Donkey Kong Country ranks

The world rank mixes every family of games. Here is where Donkey Kong Country stands in each of the ones it belongs to. Its best standing, all families considered: 3 out of 69 (1994).

Where Donkey Kong Country ranks
Ranking Position Games competing
World ranking 249 5,110
Platformer 27 621
1990s 49 655
1994 3 69

The community

The debate

22 comments

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  1. McClure30

    visuals aged weirdly better than sonic 2 imo, the pre rendered look still reads fine today, sonic 2 looks more dated somehow

    Maryse_49

    Pour moi c'est l'inverse, Sonic 2 souffre plus des angles carrés que ce jeu de son rendu pré-calculé.

  2. barton_alaina

    Everyone praises the visuals and forgets the actual level design, which honestly gets repetitive by world three or four, same barrel gimmick recycled over and over.

  3. SilentHunter2

    What set this apart in 1994 was the visual style, nothing on the market looked like it. Against Sonic 2 the level design feels less tight though, Sonic just flows better from start to finish. Both hold up, but for pure momentum I still give the edge to Sonic.

    CoopKnight4

    it's fair for momentum, but level design isn't only about flow, exploring the levels has its own reward too.

    LuckyAce2

    Same, I never got why the level design gets a pass just because the graphics were new.

  4. felipe30

    This game still holds up perfectly for me, the atmosphere alone deserves way more respect!!

    Jacquet46

    Cette ambiance dont tu parles, c'est exactement pour ça qu'il reste dans mon top perso même sans être très haut au classement

  5. Carpentier2010

    Face à Mega Man 2, la comparaison est presque injuste tellement les deux jeux ne visent pas la même chose. L'un mise sur la précision pure, l'autre sur l'ambiance et la mise en scène. Perso je penche pour Mega Man 2 niveau gameplay pur. Vous en pensez quoi ?

    CoopRider

    I replayed it with my roommate one rainy weekend, we didn't leave the couch.

    AnaïsKid

    Les deux ont leurs forces, mais je trouve la comparaison difficile à trancher franchement.

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