Description

There is also a competition version of Donkey Kong Country. The actual English version of the Japanese version is Super Donkey Kong.

When used with Nintendo Power Memory carts, this game takes up 8 blocks for the game and 1 for the save file. The Nintendo Power cost is 1000 yen.

In the Sears 1994 Canadian Wishbook it appears with a different box art without any 3D renderings and instead a classic Donkey Kong style logo with the word Country under it and an old style barrel.

Here is the article excerpt from "Chopping Block: Gamin' for Grrrrls" by Barbara Hanscome in Game Developer Oct. / Nov. 1995:

Donkey Kong Country
Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country wasn't designed "for girls" or with girls in mind, but girls certainly like it. In a nationwide survey of 1,600 kids take by interactive TV producer Margy Gilman, Donkey Kong was listed in the top five favorite games of girls (along with Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Lion King, and -believe it or not- Mortal Kombat).

The game takes players on a jungle adventure with two primates: Donkey Kong (a big macho ape) and Diddy (a small, agile monkey). Your goal is to help them recapture their horde of bananas, which have been stolen from them by the evil Kremlings. You help Donkey and Diddy run and jump over obstacles, grab ropes and swing through the forest, even swim through water worlds capturing bananas, letters (that spell out Donkey Kong of course), and extra lives. You've got to move fast or any number of beasts will run you down. When you "lose a life," you start over from the beginning of the level; if you lose several lives in succession you "die" and start over from the beginning.

Going by the research into what girls like in games, there would be little in Donkey Kong to get a girl hooked on video gaming. The game isn't based in reality; nor does it involve a story. (You're supposed to be helping Donkey and Diddy regain their hoard of bananas, but if you don't read the players guide, you don't know this or care.) Game feedback is based on the number of points you score and the level you achieve- which research says girls find less motivating than feedback based on trying. So why is the game popular with girls? Could it be that a large number of girls out there enjoy the fast action, the funny animations, and three-dimensionally rendered jungle worlds, and the challenge of attaining points and mastering levels?

Candy Kong Pictured: Unfortunately, Candy Kong, the only female character in Donkey Kong Country, serves as little more than a showpiece.

What I find disappointing in Donkey Kong is that the game features only one female character: Candy Kong, an ape in a hot-pink bathing suit with nothing better to do than pose provocatively in a booth and help Donkey and Diddy save their points. Basically, she's stuck playing Vanna White while the guys go out for a swingin' banana hunt. Humph! That not very "gender inclusive."

Another gripe: you're deprived of most of the game until you reach a certain level of skill. Donkey Kong contains seven environments, and 40 levels. Each level is wonderfully different and features new obstacles and characters, which you'll never see unless you play the game well enough and score high enough to reach these levels. Game developers I've spoken with call this setup "having to earn the game," and they say girls find this game plan more of a turn-off than blood-spurting from a corpse any day.

Sure, girls can master the game just as well as boys can, but research suggests that they'll become bored (or frustrated) with the experience long before that will happen.

Donkey Kong Country 2 coming out this December, might have a more "girl appeal." Girls might find the goal of the game more "worthwhile": you're actually trying to save Donkey Kong from capture by the evil Kremlings. But more important, it stars a female character (at last, a female saving a male in distress!). This game stars Dixie Kong, Diddy's little monkey friend, who sports a pink t-shirt and a long, platinum-blonde ponytail. Some might argue that she's really just Diddy in drag, but it's hard not to smile when watching her in action. Face it, she's cute. And she takes the lead throughout the game, dragging Diddy around and leaping above obstacles, her ponytail whipping about like a propeller. According to a Nintendo spokesperson, the company hopes Dixie will be the next flagship character for the Nintendo line.

Note: Errors in the copy were fixed, paragraph 2 had the first instance of Donkey misspelled as Donky. Also the collected letters spell out KONG, not Donkey Kong, and the description of how the game is "scored" is generally incorrect.

Related Media

References

• Nintendo Power 公式遊び方 Book Vol. 0, pages 22-23
• Nintendo Power 公式遊び方 Book Vol. 1, page 46
• 1994 Sears Canadian Wishbook, page 428, via HuguesJohnson.com
• Game Developer: Vol. 2, No. 5, October / Novermber 1995 "Chopping Block: Gamin' for Grrrrls" by Barbara Hanscome, page 54

ROM Information

Country USA
Revision Revision A
Internal CRC D17C
CRC32 3EAA5697
MD5 323A37CCBA32104BEEF7FF7DFC7CE894
SHA-1 8EE954E15B7D77A7941B107C8243B27ACEBDCBC0
SHA-256 DF2644D435330192A13768CC1F79C5AA3084A64217A5250C6DD4FFDBE2175BE4
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title DONKEY KONG COUNTRY  
Common Filenames
Donkey Kong Country (V1.1) (U).sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Donkey Kong Country (USA) (Rev 1).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Donkey Kong Country (NTSC)(Eng)(1.1).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)

Country USA
Revision Revision B
Internal CRC 2BCC
CRC32 762AF827
MD5 2E604BC12FB8F9467765C807C24877FA
SHA-1 CD606E77AB2034438E06891CD2D067DAD69B4D1A
SHA-256 628147468C3539283197F58F03B94DF49758A332831857481EA9CC31645F0527
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title DONKEY KONG COUNTRY  
Common Filenames
Donkey Kong Country (NTSC)(Eng)(1.2).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)
Donkey Kong Country (USA) (Rev 2).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)

Country USA
Internal CRC EF80
CRC32 C946DCA0
MD5 30C5F292FF4CBBFCC00FD8FA96C2DE3B
SHA-1 0FCEE45D9AF5D2F62995ED4B04D22146B906C86B
SHA-256 FA8CACF5BBFC39EE6BBAA557ADF89133D60D42F6CF9E1DB30D5A36A469F74D15
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title DONKEY KONG COUNTRY  
Common Filenames
Donkey Kong Country (V1.0) (U) [!].sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Donkey Kong Country (USA).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Donkey Kong Country (NTSC)(Eng)(1.0).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)

Country Japan
Revision Revision A
Internal CRC 8059
CRC32 3ADEF543
MD5 5D4890ACE4F1ACE435CBE9B74B0B16CD
SHA-1 DF02860E691FBEE453E345DD343C08B6DA08D4EA
SHA-256 D6E8F5066EA6B87ECF3A574259C264E3C68C84BBE76C32C1945A799AF581A65D
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title SUPER DONKEY KONG    
Common Filenames
Super Donkey Kong (V1.1) (J).sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Super Donkey Kong (Japan) (Rev 1).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Super Donkey Kong (NTSC)(Jap)(1.1).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)

Country Japan
Internal CRC 0C17
CRC32 50F2D1BC
MD5 A9B65F074001E139D42E80FA8E8BB023
SHA-1 6F02031B6B50D033958C4923AD05333ED78F22D8
SHA-256 98659F0F08F0888D35E0B3BA388A7FFFBE2ABB67C7016D50C06F4257C2A6867E
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title SUPER DONKEY KONG    
Common Filenames
Super Donkey Kong (V1.0) (J).sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Super Donkey Kong (Japan).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Super Donkey Kong (NTSC)(Jap)(1.0).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)

Country Europe
Revision Revision A
Internal CRC 53B7
CRC32 17657DB6
MD5 00F0BA49B5B2F140B307AFBED33C7997
SHA-1 6F246ABAE39820E3267704BDF342AD1D27121F19
SHA-256 8CBFE275D60187FC4453C3251F28399344B4642D40C3FA4EBED9C637806D0337
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title DONKEY KONG COUNTRY  
Common Filenames
Donkey Kong Country (V1.1) (E).sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Donkey Kong Country (Europe) (En,Fr,De) (Rev 1).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Donkey Kong Country (PAL)(Eng&Fre&Ger)(1.1).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)

Country Europe
Internal CRC A109
CRC32 7A33E836
MD5 CD502DADDCC7EA3FB2E86C1F0F8B93C8
SHA-1 535A5B674859A78852A1ED70B00ECA5EA5BE8417
SHA-256 DDE314FEA056445685B97F9C8B554D2BE81EA1FE6ACE935934592464908D05FB
ROM Speed 120ns (FastROM)
ROM Size 32 Mb
ROM Bank HiROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 16 Kb
Internal Title DONKEY KONG COUNTRY  
Common Filenames
Donkey Kong Country (V1.0) (E) [!].sfc (GoodSNES v0.999.5)
Donkey Kong Country (Europe) (En,Fr,De).sfc (No-Intro 2011-12-24)
Donkey Kong Country (PAL)(Eng&Fre&Ger)(1.0).sfc (Zapatabase 2011-01-30)