Over its lifetime, Super Play reviewed more Super Nintendo games than any other magazine in the United Kingdom - 596 to be precise - so picking a sixth of them, let alone the order of merit, would never be an easy task. For the uninitiated, here at Postcards of Pop Culture we're breaking down all 100 titles from Super Play’s ranking from bottom to top. And while Super Play’s word was regarded among the most reliable around, it wasn’t the only publication with an opinion.
As always, the Super Play overview provided in the entry post for Donkey Kong Country was from the top 100 itself. The verdict from issue #27 reads:-
Er, ok? As far as verdicts go, this screams “yeah it’s good, just don’t believe the hype”. Now the review itself would analyse the fact that ground breaking visuals - and they certainly were - do not make a ground breaking release. Its a tough argument to break, and the recognition that DKC is of course a great videogame is there, but it doesn’t quite weigh up with the marketing campaign that was so prominent to promote it. As someone who often dismisses the hype machine in order to avoid disappointment, there is something to that. I bought Final Fantasy XIII day one. The disappointment still resonates.
But what about the view of NMS?
Now as odd as that verdict looks, it comes at the end of what is a 27-page brochure for Donkey Kong Country as opposed to a journalistic video game review. It even included a cut-out coupon to take to your video game retailer to reserve a copy of the game. It was heralded as the must buy SNES title of the year - the same year that gave us Super Metroid. I love both, and a platformer will always be more broadly accessible that any Metroid title, but Super Metroid gets my gun-to-the-head vote.
Total! Magazine were also firmly seated on the hype train with their review, from issue #34.
I mean, they’re not wrong about that soundtrack. Oof. Despite the verdict comments getting a bit silly even for my taste, its clear the view across the UK videogame magazine market for Donkey Kong Country was very high. Unfortunately, this redux also highlights the SNES videogame magazine market was already in decline by the end of 1994. These three publications would continue for some time to come, and Donkey Kong Country, if nothing else, serves as an absolute resurgence for the Nintendo brand and hardware.
With an average score across the board of 94.7%, Donkey Kong Country will be among the highest scoring Super Play top 100 entries, yet it sits at position 95/100. On a review score basis, which only serves as a snapshot in time, 41 entries in the list have a review score equal to or higher than DKC. And if it was ranking was determined on that basis, let alone its quality and impact for the console, DKC at least deserves to be in the console’s top 40. It’s an odd placement, especially given some of the choices to come, but it’s in the list. At the very least, DKC deserves that.
Come back next time for the review fallout of the next Super Play top 100 entry!