Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
With Donkey Kong Country Returns HD now on Switch, it’s time to settle the debate: What's the best Donkey Kong Country game ever released?
In this video, NintendoUp ranks all five mainline Donkey Kong Country console titles. We'll breakdown what makes each of these 5 games unique—and find out which one takes the top spot!
What Are the Top 5 Best Donkey Kong Country Games?
For such a long-running franchise, there’s not actually that many Donkey Kong Country games. Sure, the Super Nintendo was spoiled with 3 of them, but then there was a 14-year gap until Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii.
Luckily, Donkey Kong fans got the 3D collectathon Donkey Kong 64 and other spinoffs during the long wait, plus a bunch of ports and remakes of the SNES games. And, yes, even a Game Boy spinoff trilogy which featured new levels. Those games, called Donkey Kong Land 1, 2, and 3, are good, but none of them are better than the console Donkey Kong Country titles.
When all is said and done, there’s only 5 main Donkey Kong Country games released for home consoles.
With the new release of the rather disappointing DKCR port for Switch, I thought it would be time to finally figure out which Donkey Kong Country game is the best. So without further ado, let’s find out.
Donkey Kong Country 3
Donkey Kong Country 3 is a great game, and just because it’s last on my list doesn't mean it isn’t one of my favorite games. I have great memories playing this game as a child.
I can recall one of the best nostalgic moments of my life was playing this game after watching an episode of the old Pokemon anime, and then finding out that school would be cancelled due to a snow storm. There was something about the atmosphere of playing the waterfall level, combined with nothing but good feelings and good news, that contributed to such a memorable moment for me that has stayed with me for decades. So, yeah, I have special feelings for this game.
That being said, I really hoped after Donkey Kong Country 2, that Donkey Kong would finally be playable again. Instead, we got Kiddy Kong. Or, more appropriately, Dinky Kong as he’s known in Japan.
Look, Dinky Kong isn’t bad, but I don’t understand why he exists. As far as I know, he has barely shown up since this game, so he feels like one of the many characters from the TV show Dexter that appear for a few episodes, then just disappear forever.
Nothing about Dinky Kong is better than the OG, Donkey Kong, so I wish they just brought Donkey Kong back.
As far as the levels are concerned, Donkey Kong Country 3 has great atmosphere. Maybe even better atmosphere than the original game. I love the snow levels and the new penguin enemies. There’s just something fun about stomping on penguins. I don’t know, maybe I’m a simple man with simple needs.
But despite some great level themes, like the factory levels, there’s also the kind of boring mill levels. Don’t get me wrong, the first time I played a mill level, I liked it. But they got boring after a while, and the scenery just didn’t work for me. As mentioned, though, there’s lots of good stuff. Hell, maybe I’ll do a separate video just on Donkey Kong Country 3.
The music was composed by Evelene Fischer, or Novakovic now, and the tunes are pretty good. I’ve already done a Top 10 video for the best music from Donkey Kong Country 3, so here I’ll just say that David Wise actually composed the music for the GBA port of the game. There’s some debate on which is better, but I’ll just say this: Donkey Kong Country 3 for GBA is the only version which features a song by Alabama 3, the composers of the Sopranos theme song, called “Ain’t Goin to Goa.”
Okay, maybe that’s a joke, but maybe not.
Anyway, I need to move on from DKC 3 or this video will be an hour long, but let me know in the comments if you’d like a full video about each Donkey Kong Country game.
Donkey Kong Country
The original Donkey Kong Country is a classic, and without it we wouldn’t even have this video, and the world would be a darker place for that.
So many characters were introduced in this 1994 Rare re-imagining of Donkey Kong. We of course got Diddy Kong, but also Candy Kong, Cranky Kong, Funky Kong, and all the animal buddies like Rambi, Enguarde, Winky, Espresso, and Squawks. While not every animal buddy has had success after the Super Nintendo, they still hold a place in every Donkey Kong fan’s heart.
And who could forget about the Kremlings? Oh… Nintendo, that’s who.
King K. Rool remains the ultimate villain of the Donkey Kong series, and I loved his final boss fight in this game. It was such a fourth-wall breaking tease.
This game was also the first to feature the beautiful David Wise music we’ve all come to love, and basically every other staple of the franchise for many decades.
Read the full article on NintendoUp.com
Credits:
DKC 2 Symphony
@BenZimmermannMusic
DKC 3 GBA HD Arrangements
@drawnquartered1284
#donkeykongcountry #nintendoswitch #retrogaming
With Donkey Kong Country Returns HD now on Switch, it’s time to settle the debate: What's the best Donkey Kong Country game ever released?
In this video, NintendoUp ranks all five mainline Donkey Kong Country console titles. We'll breakdown what makes each of these 5 games unique—and find out which one takes the top spot!
What Are the Top 5 Best Donkey Kong Country Games?
For such a long-running franchise, there’s not actually that many Donkey Kong Country games. Sure, the Super Nintendo was spoiled with 3 of them, but then there was a 14-year gap until Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii.
Luckily, Donkey Kong fans got the 3D collectathon Donkey Kong 64 and other spinoffs during the long wait, plus a bunch of ports and remakes of the SNES games. And, yes, even a Game Boy spinoff trilogy which featured new levels. Those games, called Donkey Kong Land 1, 2, and 3, are good, but none of them are better than the console Donkey Kong Country titles.
When all is said and done, there’s only 5 main Donkey Kong Country games released for home consoles.
With the new release of the rather disappointing DKCR port for Switch, I thought it would be time to finally figure out which Donkey Kong Country game is the best. So without further ado, let’s find out.
Donkey Kong Country 3
Donkey Kong Country 3 is a great game, and just because it’s last on my list doesn't mean it isn’t one of my favorite games. I have great memories playing this game as a child.
I can recall one of the best nostalgic moments of my life was playing this game after watching an episode of the old Pokemon anime, and then finding out that school would be cancelled due to a snow storm. There was something about the atmosphere of playing the waterfall level, combined with nothing but good feelings and good news, that contributed to such a memorable moment for me that has stayed with me for decades. So, yeah, I have special feelings for this game.
That being said, I really hoped after Donkey Kong Country 2, that Donkey Kong would finally be playable again. Instead, we got Kiddy Kong. Or, more appropriately, Dinky Kong as he’s known in Japan.
Look, Dinky Kong isn’t bad, but I don’t understand why he exists. As far as I know, he has barely shown up since this game, so he feels like one of the many characters from the TV show Dexter that appear for a few episodes, then just disappear forever.
Nothing about Dinky Kong is better than the OG, Donkey Kong, so I wish they just brought Donkey Kong back.
As far as the levels are concerned, Donkey Kong Country 3 has great atmosphere. Maybe even better atmosphere than the original game. I love the snow levels and the new penguin enemies. There’s just something fun about stomping on penguins. I don’t know, maybe I’m a simple man with simple needs.
But despite some great level themes, like the factory levels, there’s also the kind of boring mill levels. Don’t get me wrong, the first time I played a mill level, I liked it. But they got boring after a while, and the scenery just didn’t work for me. As mentioned, though, there’s lots of good stuff. Hell, maybe I’ll do a separate video just on Donkey Kong Country 3.
The music was composed by Evelene Fischer, or Novakovic now, and the tunes are pretty good. I’ve already done a Top 10 video for the best music from Donkey Kong Country 3, so here I’ll just say that David Wise actually composed the music for the GBA port of the game. There’s some debate on which is better, but I’ll just say this: Donkey Kong Country 3 for GBA is the only version which features a song by Alabama 3, the composers of the Sopranos theme song, called “Ain’t Goin to Goa.”
Okay, maybe that’s a joke, but maybe not.
Anyway, I need to move on from DKC 3 or this video will be an hour long, but let me know in the comments if you’d like a full video about each Donkey Kong Country game.
Donkey Kong Country
The original Donkey Kong Country is a classic, and without it we wouldn’t even have this video, and the world would be a darker place for that.
So many characters were introduced in this 1994 Rare re-imagining of Donkey Kong. We of course got Diddy Kong, but also Candy Kong, Cranky Kong, Funky Kong, and all the animal buddies like Rambi, Enguarde, Winky, Espresso, and Squawks. While not every animal buddy has had success after the Super Nintendo, they still hold a place in every Donkey Kong fan’s heart.
And who could forget about the Kremlings? Oh… Nintendo, that’s who.
King K. Rool remains the ultimate villain of the Donkey Kong series, and I loved his final boss fight in this game. It was such a fourth-wall breaking tease.
This game was also the first to feature the beautiful David Wise music we’ve all come to love, and basically every other staple of the franchise for many decades.
Read the full article on NintendoUp.com
Credits:
DKC 2 Symphony
@BenZimmermannMusic
DKC 3 GBA HD Arrangements
@drawnquartered1284
#donkeykongcountry #nintendoswitch #retrogaming
