Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

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Blueguy Jr
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Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Blueguy Jr » April 9th, 2015, 2:32 am

(Yes it's the real Blueguy, I added Jr because the site wouldn't let me use my old name.)

Anyway, I've been playing the SNES versions of all three Donkey Kong Country games. While they're a lot of fun, and the graphics/music are obviously amazing, they're also brutal at times.

Which led me to thinking; What are the hardest levels in the original DKC trilogy?


I've got a few in mind...


DKC

Snow Barrel Blast: Try doing this level without the shortcut...

Oil Drum Alley: This one isn't as hard as it is tedious, because you have to time your jumping perfectly so the oil doesn't ignite from under your butt.



DKC 2

Klobber Karnage: Screw Animal Antics. That isn't as hard as Klobber Karnage. You have to be SPOT ON PERFECT with the barrels, otherwise you'll fall into the spike pit.

Animal Antics: Squaks. Brambles. Wind. Need I say more?



DKC 3

Rocket Rush: I hate this level. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I hate everything it stands for, I hate the concept, I hate the fact that there's no checkpoint. I actually don't have that difficult of a time when the rocket shoots upward, but when you start off going down, that's where it gets brutal for me. You have very little margin for error, so 1 or 2 bumps with rocky mountains means you're toast.


Lightning Look-Out: Many people consider this the hardest level in the original trilogy. I find it hard to argue. It's probably one of the most creative in the SNES trilogy, but it's also brutal. You have to be patient while at the same time on your toes, and switching between both strategies can be aggravating, especially when you're getting fried by lightning.



Thoughts? Your picks for toughest DKC levels?

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Rev
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Rev » April 9th, 2015, 12:18 pm

I played dkc2 about a year ago and there were a few stages that made me pull my hair out. I don't know the names of the stages though.

I had a really hard time with pretty much all the spike wall stages. There was one where you had to fly as the parrot through the spike stage while racing a dark parrot. This stage was brutal. Throw in the first half of the level with the barrol antics and you have a brutal stage. Also a lot of the special stages you have to use coins for were really hard. I also found the final boss fight aggrevating. The patterns weren't too hard but it took me like fifty lives to best him.

mbd36
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby mbd36 » August 12th, 2015, 4:45 pm

These levels gave me the most pain:

Screech's Sprint (DKC2) ... Ugh.

Final boss (DKC2)

Lightning Lookout (DKC3) ... Double ugh.

Poison Pond (DKC3) ... I had to turn the controller upside down and it was still tough.

The mine cart stages from the first game are also kind of annoying.

I beat these playing straight through without trying to complete them 100% so I missed out on "Animal Antics" which is supposed to be the hardest level.
Last edited by mbd36 on August 13th, 2015, 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

DaHeckIzDat
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » August 13th, 2015, 12:20 pm

Bramble Scramble, Castle Crush, and the haunted level where the wind blew. All of them were from DKC2, and they all had child me throwing the controller om the floor.

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Retrology
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Retrology » March 27th, 2017, 3:39 pm

Bringing back this thread with one overlooked but certainly brutal level.

Koindozer Klamber from Donkey Kong Country 3. I hate this stupid level.

For some reason, only the SNES version of this level has given me trouble. Probably because the screen for the GBA is zoomed out, but nevertheless. This is the level where a purple version of those green crocodiles with buckets on their heads (with the coins you need to collect on shields) try to push you off.

From my experience, failing to get on top of the Koindozer's shields has resulted in insta-kills because it's impossible for me to jump over the Koindozers, who push me off the cliff to my death. I swear, I lost about 31 lives (got to get Golden State Warriors jabs in as a Cavs fan as they are a rival team) before I was able to complete this miserable level. The shield's collision detection is erratic in addition. So if you lose Dixie (hair spinning ability in the air saves me on this level), you're ******.


What else grinded my gears?

Toxic Tower from DKC 2: No comment needed, though the Squawks/Squitter sections after Rattly's section is much easier.

Bombs Away from DKC Returns: I hate this level more than any other DKC level. Sometimes my controller doesn't even respond when I'm trying to duck to avoid shards of icicles as I'm on an out of control mine cart jumping over gaps. Thank God you can take an alternate path to avoid this level OR skip over this level if you die too much (which happened too much to count).

Voor
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Voor » March 27th, 2017, 10:36 pm

Man, DKC is such a classic series. I may be wrong, but it felt like those came out towards the end of the SNES era and extended the console another couple of years. The graphics and level design blew me away.

Here's a cool video:

https://youtu.be/P_d4NhUlg10

Voor
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Voor » March 27th, 2017, 10:38 pm

Also, I meant to ask: how are the Wii and Wii U sequels?

eneuman96
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby eneuman96 » March 28th, 2017, 2:07 am

Voor wrote:Also, I meant to ask: how are the Wii and Wii U sequels?



Both are among the best platformers for their respective systems. They're quite challenging in their own right and both of them have a ton of minecart sequences which manage to be surprisingly thrilling. Worth noting is that Donkey Kong Country Returns also has a 3DS port. The 3DS version runs at 30 FPS instead of the Wii version's 60, but it's perfect for playing on the go and includes both a bonus world and an easy mode.

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Retrology
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Re: Hardest Donkey Kong Country Levels?

Postby Retrology » March 28th, 2017, 4:17 am

Voor wrote:Also, I meant to ask: how are the Wii and Wii U sequels?


Haven't played Tropical Freeze (Wii U) yet, but DKC Returns plays exactly like the original trilogy with more expansive and modern gameplay effects. It beats the mine cart/rocket barrel levels to death, but it's a really good game. Really faithful to the original trilogy. I'd imagine Tropical Freeze would be the same as well. Really want to get it (need a Wii U first).


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