THE EVOLUTION OF DONKEY KONG COUNTRY
If there’s a common thread that runs through Rare’s early output, it’s that it could work miracles on less than state-of-the-art hardware. Knight Lore, for example, ran on the humble Spectrum, and then the Wizards And Warriors series and Battletoads redefined what was possible on the NES and Game Boy. But far from mere technical achievements, these titles were also object lessons in compelling platforming.
Donkey Kong Country continued this trend in the mid-Nineties, by coaxing the SNES into displaying 3D-rendered visuals created on advanced SGI workstations. At that point in time, nobody knew how to do this, but Rare artist Kevin Bayliss accepted the challenge. “I was focussed on creating a 3D ape character that looked believable,” Kevin ponders, “but it was a little bit daunting, because it just hadn’t been done before, and I hadn’t really got to grips with the Alias PowerAnimator software yet! Many test models were made to ensure we could create all of the moves that had been set by the designers. But I just wanted to make sure DK could beat his chest, slap the floor and perform the basics – but like a mountain gorilla. So I studied videos of apes intensely for a few weeks, and did my best to mimic some of the things I watched them do.”
As well as real-life primates, Rare naturally looked to the Eighties coin-op that it had been tasked with updating to inform the mechanics of its SNES platformer. “We chose barrels as a nod back to the original Donkey Kong arcade game,” Kevin acknowledges. “He obviously loved playing with them, and so it just made sense to keep this prop as a key element. We also wanted to have a constant throughout the game that was easily recognisable and worked well in a small compact space. Barrels stood out nicely on the backgrounds, and they had many uses – such as methods of transport and ‘banana storage’. So it was just a great idea to use them.”
Another great
