Donkey Kong Country’s visuals were a big draw at the time of release, and though they still clearly do things with the SNES hardware that are technically impressive, they just don’t look good anymore. Stiff, awkward animation and blurry, indistinct and washed out colours override the spectacle of seeing the quasi-3D sprites. They’re not awful, but certainly not great. The biggest problem with the visuals though, is that they seem to have had a negative effect on the gameplay. The lack of definition in the sprites seems to be the catalyst for the floaty, poorly-controlling movement in the game, but that is just a guess. Either way, the game just does not control well. Platform edges and character hitboxes are difficult to judge, and the game somehow moves sluggishly and feels too loose at the same time. Precision is important in a 2D platformer like this, and DKC is nowhere near where it needs to be in that regard. The frustration caused by this counters any goodwill the game earns from its imaginative settings, often interesting level designs and intriguing hidden secrets as well as the excellent sound and music.
