History VideoGame / DonkeyKongCountry1

** The setting is also the most restrained of the series. While the characters are anthropomorphic and one boss appears to be a living oil drum, you'll find no ghosts, robots, banana birds, or sentient Tiki masks in this game.

** The scenery, while still very pretty to look at, is a bit basic in the details compared to the sequels.

** Underwater levels are completely underwater from start to finish. This is not the case in later games, where levels with water may have surface areas, and even when the level is again entirely submerged, it exits out to a little dry-land area at the end.

* BleakLevel: Some of the caverns, especially when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcklfVCEAcg "Life In the Mines"]] is playing.

* DistressedDamsel: Invoked by Cranky Kong in the SNES manual's plot setup: when Donkey tells Cranky that the Kremlings have trapped Diddy in a barrel and stolen all of his bananas and he vows to get them back, Cranky thinks that that is a stupid idea for a video game plot because it doesn't have "the screaming damsel in distress". And at the end of the manual's setup, when DK has enough of Cranky's complaining and goes off to save Diddy and retrieve the bananas, Cranky follows after grudgingly while muttering, "Well, it's not exactly rescuing a Princess, but it'll do in a pinch."

->''NOT ON 32 BIT. NOT ON [[UsefulNotes/Sega32X 32X ADAPTERS]]. NOT ON [[UsefulNotes/SegaCD CD-ROM]]. NOT ON [[Creator/{{Sega}} SEGA]]. IT'S 16 BIT AND IT'S ONLY ON [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SUPER NES]]. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY. JUNGLE FEVER SPREADS NOVEMBER 21.''

The best-selling game for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] ''not'' to be developed by Nintendo, and the third-best-selling overall[[note]]Behind ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars''[[/note]], with over 9 million units sold. At the time of its release it became the fastest-selling game ever made up to that point.[[note]]However, note that overall sales figures are skewed by the game being bundled with consoles in certain markets.[[/note]] Shortly after its release, the game received a follow-up on the original UsefulNotes/GameBoy in the form of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'', which would become the first game in ''its'' respective series.

* AllThereInTheManual: The plot of the game is almost entirely in the manual; the only hint in-game that there's foul play going on is when DK or Diddy enter the cave in their treehouse where they hoard their bananas, which elicits a sad response from them when they find out it's empty. Cutscenes were added to the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance port to give an in-game explanation of the plot.

* BigStormEpisode: Ropey Rampage, the second level of the first world combines this with JungleJapes. The rain clears up once you reach the exit.[[note]]Because the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor could not implement the rain effects like the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo and UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance could, the level takes place during normal weather in the game's GBC version.[[/note]]

** In the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake, Really Gnawty causes [[StalactiteSpite stalactites]] to fall from the ceiling.

* CompletionMeter: The game keeps track of bonus rooms and K-O-N-G letters the player finds in each level. The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance port also has a virtual scrapbook for special pictures found in-game.

* FishingMinigame: In the GBA port, Funky Kong gives you a choice between his jet barrel and a fishing minigame. This is also present in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor port, except it's only accessed through the bonus menu and not through the main game.

* FlunkyBoss: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKOgyZovuPI Boss Dumb Drum]], who pops out common mooks for you to fight. In fact, you can't even hit him at all, he dies after all of his mooks die.[[note]]In the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake, Drum doesn't damage itself — instead, TNT barrels appear after defeating a wave of enemies, which the Kongs must pick up and throw at the boss.[[/note]]

* PaletteSwap: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Cranky Kong in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version of the game, after a boss battle with "Really Gnawty" (a recolored version of the first boss, "Very Gnawty", which is itself a [[KingMook big version]] of a [[TheGoomba normal enemy]] called "Gnawty"). Cranky lampshades it again after the Kongs defeat Master Necky Sr., a palette swap of Master Necky Jr.

** The name of the level "Manic Mincers" is a reference to classic UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum game ''VideoGame/ManicMiner''.

* SoundTest: There's a cheat that allows you to access the music menu. On the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake, hold Select while pressing B, A, L, L, A, Down[[note]]It spells out "BALLAD", see?[[/note]] on the game select screen. In the SNES version, press Down, A, R, B, Y, Down, A, Y.

** Boss Dumb Drum is an animated iron barrel that hovers above the top border of the screen and spits {{Mook}}s relentlessly. Once in a while, it descends to try to squash Donkey and Diddy. The player just has to move out of the way, because it eventually breaks itself doing that. If Drum only released enemies and kept itself afloat, they would be unable to win. In the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance remake, Drum doesn't damage itself -- instead, TNT barrels appear after defeating a wave of enemies, which the Kongs must pick up and throw at the boss.

* UpgradedBoss: In the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version, most of the bosses have different attack patterns than their UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} counterparts:

* HappyDance: Donkey and Diddy Kong will do a short dance whenever the player completes a level in the game (SNES version only).

* LevelInTheClouds: In the Game Boy adaptation (''Donkey Kong Land''), Chimpanzee Clouds is a sub-area which, along with Monkey Mountains, makes up for the third world. It has only three levels, but they're long (the second is in fact the longest in the game), and in them you have to navigate with the help of aerial platforms. The small cloud platforms collapse shortly after Donkey and Diddy stand on them, but the larger ones are durable.

* InfiniteFlashlight: One such searchlight is held by Squawks in a BlackoutBasement level to help the Kongs traverse a very dark cave.

* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Donkey Kong's bananas are considered the "perfect food" according to the narrator of the manual, so much so that Donkey Kong and Diddy are willing to go on a wild adventure just to take it back from K. Rool and his many minions.

* LastLousyPoint: the 101st percent can be obtained by reaching a BonusStage hidden inside ''another'' BonusStage. The first bonus stage is a matching game where you time your jumps to match three objects. You can only get to the second bonus stage by winning the worst item (a single banana), which causes a barrel to drop. You then have to grab that barrel and crash through the wall before the "celebration fanfare" is over. And you can only use Diddy, because he holds the barrel in front of his body (whereas DK holds it over his head, and you don't have enough time to throw it and then enter the resulting opening).

* FlunkyBoss: One of Dumb Drum's two attacks is dropping increasingly lethal enemy types into the arena.
* FollowTheMoney: Bananas are often used as hints to where the bonus stages are; in some areas, they spell out letters suggesting a specific controller button to press. Chances are that if grabbing that banana will be [[ViolationOfCommonSense hazardous to your health]], it may be prepping you for a LeapOfFaith.