DF Retro has quickly become one of my favorite series, and an episode celebrating Rare's ascendance to legendary status sounds phenomenal. Thank you, guys!
Yeah! So legendary that IMHO DKC (SNES) is the GREATEST Platform/Adventure of ALL TIME. PERIOD. A SHAME that after de SNES ERA DK went DOWN the hill. Then Nintendo SOLD Rare and the new versions of DK (wii+WII u) Are nothing but a SHADOW of its former Greatness. Half of the charisma, lower graphical and Music Standards for its time. =>Just to Remind: Donkey kong Country was Crysys/uncharted 4/God of war 4 of its time when it comes to graphics, music, sounds, gameplay and mechanics + extras. A Propper new DK should have AT LEAST the Crash Reamake style (graphics and gameplay) OR if 2d, it should have something like ORI the blind forest of Dragon Ball fighter Z .
even today. even with pixel indi games, donkey kong country stay one of the best game ever made and allways incredible to look, 25 years later. That's what is just incredible, that's why video game is art, an not a consume product.
Donkey Kong was nothing more than colors showcase...The game has about four sprites on screen while scrolling...How could it be a limit of a system!!! Music was a great point of game but it took big part of game size
ImaFnT-Rex I'd love to see snes's audio emulating yamaha synthesizer for street of rage, The Adventures of Batman and Robin musics with its over echoed sound and muffled filter
Robert Siegfried The SNES' graphical and sound prowess over SEGA also required extra memory. This resulted in many multi-platform games to have extra game scenes or even features on the Genesis, that the SNES didn't have room for.
All of those game designers and engineers are still young, maybe one or two in their early 50's. It's amazing how young they are and yet developed this legendary game. They must have been very talented and extremely good at figuring out how to solve problems. It will be awesome to read a full story on the RARE team as individuals and how come they were so good at what they did in the game industry.
Most programmers and etc at the time were young and still to this day most are young and either move on or forced to retire like alot of tech people.....
The guy with the long hair looks like he's in his late 30s, but he probably has good genetics and takes care of his skin. Considering that this video came out about 25 years after development started, it's unlikely he was a teen at the time. Most the other guys look like they're in their late 40s, early 50s.
I love it but there are a ton of great sound tracks for fighting games out there but for me the original Mortal Kombat intro music is the 1 i truly adore.
the attract theme (the song played in the arcades when nobody was using the machine, also the song that DF opened this video with) is possibly the best fighting game track of all time IMHO I'm biased though, I dumped hundreds of dollars of quarters into KI1 lol
Donkey Kong Country was way ahead of its time in 1994. The graphics blew me away. Amazing game aswell. Same with Toy Story, that looked next gen but was on the Megadrive!
I think it was mainly down to the fact that cartridge sizes became cheaper so making higher quality assets wasn't construed to small cartridge sizes in the later years of that generation.
I remember seeing DKC as a child and immediately being drawn to it. When my parents finally bought it for me for the holidays it was one of the first times games felt special to me. That indescribable feeling of pure joy and wonderment. The DKC series will stay with me for a lifetime
Skuntac I had that VHS, not sure I do anymore. I think some of that promotional footage in this video was from that VHS. I wonder if anyone has uploaded it to UA-cam.
Cheezity that, along with Goldeneye n64, Ridge racer type 4, Ocarina of time, Super Mario 64, Tekken 3, Tekken Tag , and halo 3 have the best video game soundtracks of all time for me.
Hmm I preffered Tekken 2' soundtrack over 3 myself although some of the Arcade versions of Tekken 3's music is better that the Rearranged versions like King's tune. Remember when you use to be able to distinguish Tekken tunes by just naming the character lol? Tekken Tag has such an incredible soundtrack and the Arcade version is awesome to listen to because some of the tunes are very different than the final console game. I love Rage Racer's soundtrack out of all the Ridge Racer games :)
Yeah these games were so great growing up as a teen in the 90's. I think I was about 18 when the first one was released, great stuff. And HEY it's a Video that's NOT about the X. Praise BE!!! ha I also wish they would make a new BOOGERMAN or at least release it as a retro title on hmm..one of the platforms. Of course I have all these games emulated on my Laptop anyway. ;o)
Good companies these days are everywhere. You guys just have to look for the right ones instead of pretending that EA, Activision and Ubisoft are all we have. Here's a tip: indie industry. There are literally hundreds of great indie games available on current gen platforms.
The Donkey Kong Country games belong to some of my favorite games of all time. Seeing you guys make an extensive item like this is just awesome. Great job!
Wow for Rare to think that Donkey Kong and its graphical style was impossible to run on the SNES just because its impossible in paper but by putting effort just to be proved wrong is a great example of a masterpiece...this is something to be proud of and this is something many developers today should learn from, but unfortunately these days we all have that mentality of "if im not making money why am I working for". People back then had more of a let me prove myself and every body else that I can do anything. Great video! And much respect for John for doing this video and Rare for their accomplishments...
It goes without saying that Rare lived up to its namesake and truly shook the industry! Seeing how they employed many tricks that pushed hardware to the limit is a huge inspiration when I work on my own content!
Donkey kong country & Killer Instinct were 2 of of probably 10 or so games that i bought new for the Snes and i played them to death, getting those huge combo's on KI was such a thrill at the time and managed to overshadow my Beloved MK 2 for many months. Yet another hugely enjoyable DF retro episode.
@@bobjilesen8450 Its more to do with retirements. unfortunately staff get old and Rare was a company that aged. When the Stamper Bros retired the company lost its direction.
@@steffennilsen2132 Tropical Freeze does look great, but I know what you mean. It and DKC:R don't stand out like the original trilogy. The style used now is more cartoony than pre-rendered.
What a great video. Even till this day,DKC1 and 2 remain as some of my favorite games of all time. I never grow bored of 101% and 102% both games. Challenging yet rewarding. The visuals,gameplay,challenge,atmospheric soundtracks and graphics, these games aren't just good games, but experiences I will cherish forever
Amazing episode! I'd love to see something similar on Westwood Studios. Another British company who were pioneers in a lot of these CG techniques, maybe even earlier than Rare.
I still have the VHS tape that nintendo sent me promoting this game. I coudln't believe the graphics were on a SNES. Surprised I didn't wear out the tape.
A successful episode of DF Raretro. DKC is one of my all-time favorite games. Thanks for this. Also, the artist at the beginning of the video looks like a melding of Michael Sheen and Gavin Rossdale.
This was really insightful and cool. I loved Donkey Kong Country on SNES as a kid even though I was never too good at it, but the music and visuals kept me coming back. And after playing the hell out of Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 on Mega Drive and SNES, Killer Instinct was another great cool fighting to play when my friend first showed me in the late 90's
You do such a great job with this series. It's an obvious labour of love to craft these long form documentaries that I can't imagine make much sense from a pure monetary perspective. I'm sure I speak for many of your subscribers when I say thank you for all you put into this.
You cannot judge any developer for what they’ve made at the dawn of 3D graphics....on console. What they did create is absolutely amazing, considering it was a new medium and it was all new to them. Pioneers in a sense
Donkey Kong Country brang me into gaming. It's a legendary series and DKC2 is one of the greatest games of all time. Rare and Nintendo were such a dream Team...but it ends sadly, especially for rare. 😐
My favorite game series for the SNES of all time and I'm so glad the soundtrack is given high honors and mentions because I still listen to the soundtracks to this day! Very well-done! Thank you for this! :D
I remember getting an advertisement for Donkey Kong Country on a VHS tape in the mail. The visuals on display blew me away, and my dad bought the game for me. It ended up being one of my favorite SNES games.
Damn I knew that Try would be in a DF Retro episode! These collabs with this and My Life in Gaming's RGB episode on the PS2 are awesome! I would recommend anyone to check out MLiG and their RGB Master Class series on how you can optimize your retro console video quality!
Outstanding piece of work DFR. Having new interviews with that actual people involved puts this at a level above the rest. The variety of the content in your output is perfect - interviews, technical talk, footage, commentary and background - long may it continue!
I appreciate the 60fps screen capture, quality interviews, and very good editing. With this you really have given the DKC series a proper retrospective review.
Great video; the developer interviews are a nice addition. I remember receiving a VHS tape in the mail discussing the tech of DKC, including how they had like 7 layers of snowflakes falling in the first snow level. It was an effective advertisement and got me excited about the game.
This was a great episode! It's nice you got some of the developers who worked on the games for an in-depth look at how the games were built. Really neat :)
Awesome episode! Thank you! Although I was never a fan of Donkey Kong Country, I enjoyed the DKC-parts in this episode. Now, as a Sega kid, I want an episode about Vectorman!! ;)
DF Retro is a great addition to the DF brand. Every month I look forward to a new episode. You really put in the research and quality. Keep up the great work!
Honestly, as a gamer who was years into the 16-bit era when DKC came out, while the graphics were OUTSTANDING and rather unbelievably so, I think we kind of tended to take them a bit for granted. There are SO MANY tricks going on in the game that you wouldn't otherwise realize were so difficult to pull off if someone didn't point them all out. Rare crafted a masterpiece, and I think people focused on the big targets, the CGI sprites, and didn't really realize what it took to really pull it all off so well. This is a game that I will forever marvel at every time I play it. Better games will come along, but I will always remember the magic that this game pulled off. And I will always appreciate it immensely. As an SNES owner at the time, this game single-handedly breathed new life into the system by showing that it was capable of things that people previously thought were impossible.
One of the greatest games of all time.. remember the first time playing this.. just has a SNES for a few months.. and around Xmas my uncle was shopping at Toysrus in Brooklyn.. leaving the store he kicked something.. someone left a bag with a snes and this game inside right at the pull up area right outside the store so he brought it home and let me borrow the game for a bit lol.. was blown away by the graphics and music especially in the water level.. the secret areas.. ended up getting it my next birthday.. and followed by DK country 2 next Xmas.. one of the best Xmas of my life lol.. me and my cousin played the hell out of that game.. all Xmas Vacay.. The Swamp level.. Bee levels.. Carnival levels.. but nothing beat levels with the Thorned vine borders that you can’t touch without getting hurt, needing to use the barrels and the bird to fly around lol such good gameplay you couldn’t get anywhere else.. not even in Super MARIO world , which was a classic in its own right
Amazing work, John! We truly appreciate how much work you put into this series and it really shows! The interviews are a great addition as well. Can't wait for the next!
Fantastic episode, on SNES I owned Donkey Kong Country 2 and Killer Instinct, amazing games for the time. On Game Boy I had DKC and KI also. I still have my "Killer Cuts" CD lying around I will rip it to flac for some nostalgia trip :D
Amazing retro article! DF is absolutely the best! Keep on making these great videos! The talent and resourcefulness and brilliance back then still stand unmatched today.
I always thought DKC2 was better, but I'm actually playing through it having completed DKC1 just before it again. It's a lot more trial and error than the first. Both awesome games though!
Love this video. But two mistakes you made were: 1.) You said the GBA had a vertical resolution of 192 pixels, which is wrong. It has a resolution of 240x160 Pixels (compared to SNES's 256x224 (or 256x240 on PAL consoles)). The DS is actually the handheld you're looking for with a total resolution of 256x192 pixels. 2.) You made it seem like Killer Instinct Gold on the N64 was a port of the Arcade Killer Instinct. Killer Instinct Gold is actually a port of Killer Instinct 2, and a pretty good one at that. Only the SNES and GameBoy had ports of the original Killer Instinct at the time. Still, as I said, great video. Awesome that you got so many of the people who worked on the games in there. Good job!
SMEXY STREAM 1 i can't believe rare had to manually recolor those 24bit color sprites down to 4bit color,these day's it can be done automatically using color blending and /or dithering,and since the resolution has to be blurred down too, it can blur out those dither artifacts. 2 i can't believe donkeykong land was done from scratch!!?? by another tesm using a cgi computer along with a level editing programm. What they could,ve do was just to futher down convert those sprites and the game engine from the snes game to recompile it to the gameboy and then using that level editor program to put those tile sets in a different order to create new levels, that would,ve save them time & money.
These videos are absolutely brilliant. I've watched this one twice now and I love the pacing of the presentation. This era, in particular, was so interesting. The way they were learning the ropes as they progressed and made their own solutions in uncharted territory makes the time period quite special.
I really need to get my hands on Silicon Graphics workstation, like Max Impact from the mid 90s and model something with it just because. See how Blender was back on those machines compared to the modern version. I find SGI machines fascinating.
I used an Indigo Maximum Impact back then at my university’s computer lab and they were magical compared to the power of regular PCs and Macs of that day. Just being able to manipulate a model in real-time 3D using IrixGL was impressive. Now, even an entry level PC or Mac with integrated graphics would be orders of magnitude faster than an Indigo Max Impact in terms of CPU and 3D performance (although it wouldn’t look anywhere near as cool). Irix can be challenging if you haven’t used it before, SGI monitors have their own output standard and the machines are obnoxiously loud and slow by today’s standards. A single 400 MHz CPU was considered fast back then.
HEY! Where is the second part of this video that is teased at the end 46:21 ? Where he interviews Rare about Dinosaur Planet and Banjo Kazooi? I searched through all the DF Retro videos and can not find it! After watching this excellent video I was really looking forward to watching that as well! Did you guys end up making that video?
Incredible video, Rare was just MAGIC back in the 90´s, I was watching this video with all those ex Rare members talking about how they created my best chilhood memories and I was just wanting to give all of them a huge hug and say "thanks guys for give me a reason to be a gamer for life". In my opinion there never was nor will be a western developer as legendary as RARE.
Rare doesn't have a lot of the assets anymore due to floppy disks going bad or something. This happened when they did the GBA games I think and it made creating the GBA games a lot harder. Even if they still have the old assets stored on floppies they also need those old expensive Silicon Graphics machines to run them as well. A similar thing happened with the original Toy Story film, some of the original animations are lost forever due to bad floppies. You'd be surprised how often this sort of thing happens, entire source codes for games get lost or simply thrown out because people don't think they are going to be important in the future and hard drives break with no back ups made. Supposedly Sega lost the source code to Sonic 1 and Konami lost the source code to Silent Hill 2, for example.
You don't really need to the original assets. I'm sure Retro Studios could easily enough recreate the visuals from scratch. They'd just need to be told to be more gritty and realistic (and faithful!) with their models and textures than what they've done so far for the series. They could bring the old visuals into a new generation, retaining the detail whilst making everything look less...90s CGI.
I'm not sure a remake with the original assets uncompressed would look too good. It would probably have that typical "very early 3D CGI", barrel-like look.
These are the kind of videos I support the Patreon for, the regular ones obviously take a lot of work and are always interesting (fanboy wars in the comments aside), but DF Retro gets you a level of insight you just wouldn't find anywhere else.
I keep coming back to this video. Something about the technical achievement of these games and how they managed to pull them off is something that I can't get over. This is like GoldenEye on N64, except while GoldenEye was maybe more of a technical feat, this has held up quite a bit better. Everything Rare from SNES to N64 is really fascinating stuff (don't get me wrong, I loved their NES stuff, but I got the impression that they really moved into the revolutionary era when they bought their SGI workstations).
![DF Retro's Failed Consoles: Sega 32X - We Play Every Game [Part One]](/img/n.gif)
My nostalgic heart swells.
Sup Mick
DKC features the music that helped birth a modern legend confirmed ✅
Probably from an injection
DF Retro has quickly become one of my favorite series, and an episode celebrating Rare's ascendance to legendary status sounds phenomenal. Thank you, guys!
The Geek Critique it's my favorite thing on this channel and I love that it's the one thing DF makes which actually has tolerable comments
Me too, love DF Retro.
Yeah! So legendary that IMHO DKC (SNES) is the GREATEST Platform/Adventure of ALL TIME. PERIOD.
A SHAME that after de SNES ERA DK went DOWN the hill. Then Nintendo SOLD Rare and the new versions of DK (wii+WII u) Are nothing but a SHADOW of its former Greatness.
Half of the charisma, lower graphical and Music Standards for its time.
=>Just to Remind: Donkey kong Country was Crysys/uncharted 4/God of war 4 of its time when it comes to graphics, music, sounds, gameplay and mechanics + extras.
A Propper new DK should have AT LEAST the Crash Reamake style (graphics and gameplay) OR if 2d, it should have something like ORI the blind forest of Dragon Ball fighter Z .
You are a good man, Geek... a good man. Continue uploading, perhaps maybe a Sonic Adventure 2 retrospective?
even today.
even with pixel indi games,
donkey kong country stay one of the best game ever made and allways incredible to look, 25 years later.
That's what is just incredible, that's why video game is art, an not a consume product.
These retro videos are awesome
yessir they bring back all kinds of great memories. what it would be like to be a kid in the 80's and 90's again...
The amount of love and care put into these videos is staggering. Well done John and DF team!
frombauer don’t thank them, thank the moon’s gravitational pull!
Aquatic Ambience is such a chill jam in DKC.
The SNES When pushed to its limits was capable of some truly spectacular stuff.
I still get amazed seeing Doom running on my snes... How does it even work????
Donkey Kong was nothing more than colors showcase...The game has about four sprites on screen while scrolling...How could it be a limit of a system!!! Music was a great point of game but it took big part of game size
ImaFnT-Rex
I'd love to see snes's audio emulating yamaha synthesizer for street of rage, The Adventures of Batman and Robin musics with its over echoed sound and muffled filter
Robert Siegfried
The SNES' graphical and sound prowess over SEGA also required extra memory.
This resulted in many multi-platform games to have extra game scenes or even features on the Genesis, that the SNES didn't have room for.
The Genesis controller was missing a button or 3, it sucked.
All of those game designers and engineers are still young, maybe one or two in their early 50's. It's amazing how young they are and yet developed this legendary game. They must have been very talented and extremely good at figuring out how to solve problems. It will be awesome to read a full story on the RARE team as individuals and how come they were so good at what they did in the game industry.
The guy in the video looks barely 30! How young were these guys, like preteens?
Most programmers and etc at the time were young and still to this day most are young and either move on or forced to retire like alot of tech people.....
The guy with the long hair looks like he's in his late 30s, but he probably has good genetics and takes care of his skin. Considering that this video came out about 25 years after development started, it's unlikely he was a teen at the time. Most the other guys look like they're in their late 40s, early 50s.
Donkey Kong Country graphically holds up ridiculously well even until this day. The look of the game is timeless.
The KI theme is probably the greatest fighting game anthem ever made.
Let's bear in mind the MK 2 anthem, that's also great sttuf!
I love it but there are a ton of great sound tracks for fighting games out there but for me the original Mortal Kombat intro music is the 1 i truly adore.
the attract theme (the song played in the arcades when nobody was using the machine, also the song that DF opened this video with) is possibly the best fighting game track of all time IMHO
I'm biased though, I dumped hundreds of dollars of quarters into KI1 lol
I jammed the hell outta that CD back in the day!
FINALLY interviews with the people behind the games are getting incorporated. And the Rare people are lovely. Cool!
Donkey Kong Country was way ahead of its time in 1994. The graphics blew me away. Amazing game aswell. Same with Toy Story, that looked next gen but was on the Megadrive!
I think it was mainly down to the fact that cartridge sizes became cheaper so making higher quality assets wasn't construed to small cartridge sizes in the later years of that generation.
Whoever chose the music tracks for this video, thank you for acknowledging how amazing of a soundtrack Tropical Freeze has
I really love Panicky Paddles, which is the tune playing from 8:43.
DKC blew my mind when I was 7. I didn't think graphics would get any better.
I remember seeing DKC as a child and immediately being drawn to it. When my parents finally bought it for me for the holidays it was one of the first times games felt special to me. That indescribable feeling of pure joy and wonderment. The DKC series will stay with me for a lifetime
Agreed! If people have a Wii they definitely need to pick up the SNES trilogy on the Wii VC before the service shuts down in 2018.
I still have the VHS Nintendo sent to promote this game.
Skuntac me too :)
Me too......I think.
Skuntac I had that VHS, not sure I do anymore. I think some of that promotional footage in this video was from that VHS. I wonder if anyone has uploaded it to UA-cam.
bump
o my gosh was the sticker white on that vhs?
DKC to me has the best gaming soundtrack ever made. Wonderfully put together video DF! Keep it up!
Cheezity that, along with Goldeneye n64, Ridge racer type 4, Ocarina of time, Super Mario 64, Tekken 3, Tekken Tag , and halo 3 have the best video game soundtracks of all time for me.
Hmm I preffered Tekken 2' soundtrack over 3 myself although some of the Arcade versions of Tekken 3's music is better that the Rearranged versions like King's tune. Remember when you use to be able to distinguish Tekken tunes by just naming the character lol? Tekken Tag has such an incredible soundtrack and the Arcade version is awesome to listen to because some of the tunes are very different than the final console game. I love Rage Racer's soundtrack out of all the Ridge Racer games :)
Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast has the best soundtrack ever made imo.
Good game companies these days, are rare!
Aaron Greenfield true
Aaron Greenfield I see what you did there lol
Yeah these games were so great growing up as a teen in the 90's. I think I was about 18 when the first one was released, great stuff. And HEY it's a Video that's NOT about the X. Praise BE!!! ha I also wish they would make a new BOOGERMAN or at least release it as a retro title on hmm..one of the platforms. Of course I have all these games emulated on my Laptop anyway. ;o)
Good companies these days are everywhere. You guys just have to look for the right ones instead of pretending that EA, Activision and Ubisoft are all we have.
Here's a tip: indie industry. There are literally hundreds of great indie games available on current gen platforms.
Paulo Lameiras most people saying that,only played western AAA in their life most likely
The Donkey Kong Country games belong to some of my favorite games of all time. Seeing you guys make an extensive item like this is just awesome. Great job!
Wow for Rare to think that Donkey Kong and its graphical style was impossible to run on the SNES just because its impossible in paper but by putting effort just to be proved wrong is a great example of a masterpiece...this is something to be proud of and this is something many developers today should learn from, but unfortunately these days we all have that mentality of "if im not making money why am I working for". People back then had more of a let me prove myself and every body else that I can do anything. Great video! And much respect for John for doing this video and Rare for their accomplishments...
John brings another gem! DF Retro is on another level, as always.
In the really off chance anyone from the old Rare are reading these comments.. Thank you SO much for GoldenEye and Perfect Dark!
Stealth old rare is at retro studios in Nintendo
Outstanding work
It goes without saying that Rare lived up to its namesake and truly shook the industry! Seeing how they employed many tricks that pushed hardware to the limit is a huge inspiration when I work on my own content!
Donkey kong country & Killer Instinct were 2 of of probably 10 or so games that i bought new for the Snes and i played them to death, getting those huge combo's on KI was such a thrill at the time and managed to overshadow my Beloved MK 2 for many months.
Yet another hugely enjoyable DF retro episode.
Thank you RARE PLAYTONIC for making my childhood so awesome !
T.T
To this day Donkey Kong Country still looks, sounds, and plays fantastic. It's dissapointed how hard Rare fell.
Rare didnt realy fell...almost all of the original team quit the company after microsoft took over. So it whas an empty shell with the name rare.
@@bobjilesen8450 Its more to do with retirements. unfortunately staff get old and Rare was a company that aged. When the Stamper Bros retired the company lost its direction.
I Honestly think DKC on SNES look better than DK Tropical Freeze and those games are ~20 years appart
@@bobjilesen8450 So you're saying Rare fell, then.
@@steffennilsen2132
Tropical Freeze does look great, but
I know what you mean. It and DKC:R don't stand out like the original trilogy. The style used now is more cartoony than pre-rendered.
donkey kong 2 still holds a special place in my heart. Beautiful game and beautiful music. Amazing experience.
DF fucking Retro man. This is definitely on my top 5 of all things on UA-cam. When I see a new upload, it immediately makes my day 16.83 times better.
What a great video. Even till this day,DKC1 and 2 remain as some of my favorite games of all time. I never grow bored of 101% and 102% both games. Challenging yet rewarding. The visuals,gameplay,challenge,atmospheric soundtracks and graphics, these games aren't just good games, but experiences I will cherish forever
I have all Donkey Kong Country Games and my SNES here. And still like to play the games. And the Soundtrack is still awesome. So much nostalgika.
Traded in my SNES and games as a teen for newer stuff. Bought a cheap SNES and the DKC trilogy in 2008 because I missed it.
We can't stop here. This is Donkey Kong Country.
You won’t see this, John, but your work is so admirable. This is always a good watch when I need something to consume! Thanks for all you do!
Amazing episode!
I'd love to see something similar on Westwood Studios. Another British company who were pioneers in a lot of these CG techniques, maybe even earlier than Rare.
I still have the VHS tape that nintendo sent me promoting this game. I coudln't believe the graphics were on a SNES. Surprised I didn't wear out the tape.
Aquatic ambiance is one of my favorite game songs ever
A minor correction: GBA had a resolution of 240x160 so 160 vertical resolution, not 192. 192 was the DS vertical resolution.
Yeah, I thought I heard that too!
glad someone pointed that out, was annoying me
Ah yes, good catch. I was absolutely thinking of the DS resolution and made a flub.
Favorite UA-cam channel, you guys are making exceptionally good content, loved this, thanks
A successful episode of DF Raretro. DKC is one of my all-time favorite games. Thanks for this.
Also, the artist at the beginning of the video looks like a melding of Michael Sheen and Gavin Rossdale.
This was really insightful and cool. I loved Donkey Kong Country on SNES as a kid even though I was never too good at it, but the music and visuals kept me coming back. And after playing the hell out of Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 on Mega Drive and SNES, Killer Instinct was another great cool fighting to play when my friend first showed me in the late 90's
You do such a great job with this series. It's an obvious labour of love to craft these long form documentaries that I can't imagine make much sense from a pure monetary perspective. I'm sure I speak for many of your subscribers when I say thank you for all you put into this.
You cannot judge any developer for what they’ve made at the dawn of 3D graphics....on console.
What they did create is absolutely amazing, considering it was a new medium and it was all new to them.
Pioneers in a sense
7:22 It's amazing that Donkey Kong's currently iconic design is a Battletoads head with a coconut on top. Kevin Bayliss is a legend!
DF Retro: The only time you don't see flame wars in the comment section. Only discussions about classic games.
George Vasquez . Them sound like fighting words!
Donkey Kong Country brang me into gaming. It's a legendary series and DKC2 is one of the greatest games of all time. Rare and Nintendo were such a dream Team...but it ends sadly, especially for rare. 😐
I feel sorry for anyone who hadn’t experience the 90’s!
I'm glad I was born in a generation I could easily emulate them :P
My favorite game series for the SNES of all time and I'm so glad the soundtrack is given high honors and mentions because I still listen to the soundtracks to this day! Very well-done! Thank you for this! :D
Dkc is an awesome series! Good to see a talk with its developers
I remember getting an advertisement for Donkey Kong Country on a VHS tape in the mail. The visuals on display blew me away, and my dad bought the game for me. It ended up being one of my favorite SNES games.
Damn I knew that Try would be in a DF Retro episode!
These collabs with this and My Life in Gaming's RGB episode on the PS2 are awesome!
I would recommend anyone to check out MLiG and their RGB Master Class series on how you can optimize your retro console video quality!
Outstanding piece of work DFR. Having new interviews with that actual people involved puts this at a level above the rest.
The variety of the content in your output is perfect - interviews, technical talk, footage, commentary and background - long may it continue!
I remember that when i finally got an SNES it had Donkey Kong Country bundled along with it. Still love that game.
Great episode, love this show.
I got the same bundle for my 7th birthday or so. Great times.
I appreciate the 60fps screen capture, quality interviews, and very good editing. With this you really have given the DKC series a proper retrospective review.
Awesome video, I remember being blown away by dk country back in the day.
This video has everything! Nostalgia, developer interviews, technical information, UA-cam Collabs and a grand piano too!
Incredible job.
Great video; the developer interviews are a nice addition. I remember receiving a VHS tape in the mail discussing the tech of DKC, including how they had like 7 layers of snowflakes falling in the first snow level. It was an effective advertisement and got me excited about the game.
Both absolute masterpieces. 2 of my favourite games ever 😍
I love this video so much! DKC is one of my favorite games. So cool to see stuff like this. Thanks for making this! :)
Df's casting couch
I just came
😫💦💦
Lmao
Hahahaha
This was a great episode! It's nice you got some of the developers who worked on the games for an in-depth look at how the games were built. Really neat :)
nice to see the faces behind part of my childhood
DK 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games, this episode was awesome TKS for that!
Rareware and Nintendo made Magic...
Papi2K Gaming what ever happened to rareware. Since they left, I haven't heard anything from them. Xbox not doing anything
law35penn
Their actually working on Sea of Thieves, I believe.
Awesome episode! Thank you! Although I was never a fan of Donkey Kong Country, I enjoyed the DKC-parts in this episode. Now, as a Sega kid, I want an episode about Vectorman!! ;)
I'm not saying "ditch the square glasses and trench coat," but my kids aren't coming over until you do.
DF Retro is a great addition to the DF brand. Every month I look forward to a new episode. You really put in the research and quality. Keep up the great work!
Honestly, as a gamer who was years into the 16-bit era when DKC came out, while the graphics were OUTSTANDING and rather unbelievably so, I think we kind of tended to take them a bit for granted. There are SO MANY tricks going on in the game that you wouldn't otherwise realize were so difficult to pull off if someone didn't point them all out. Rare crafted a masterpiece, and I think people focused on the big targets, the CGI sprites, and didn't really realize what it took to really pull it all off so well. This is a game that I will forever marvel at every time I play it. Better games will come along, but I will always remember the magic that this game pulled off. And I will always appreciate it immensely. As an SNES owner at the time, this game single-handedly breathed new life into the system by showing that it was capable of things that people previously thought were impossible.
Back when graphics mattered, Donkey Kong country was something that SEGA couldn't shake
One of the greatest games of all time.. remember the first time playing this.. just has a SNES for a few months.. and around Xmas my uncle was shopping at Toysrus in Brooklyn.. leaving the store he kicked something.. someone left a bag with a snes and this game inside right at the pull up area right outside the store so he brought it home and let me borrow the game for a bit lol.. was blown away by the graphics and music especially in the water level.. the secret areas.. ended up getting it my next birthday.. and followed by DK country 2 next Xmas.. one of the best Xmas of my life lol.. me and my cousin played the hell out of that game.. all Xmas Vacay.. The Swamp level.. Bee levels.. Carnival levels.. but nothing beat levels with the Thorned vine borders that you can’t touch without getting hurt, needing to use the barrels and the bird to fly around lol such good gameplay you couldn’t get anywhere else.. not even in Super MARIO world , which was a classic in its own right
Amazing work, John! We truly appreciate how much work you put into this series and it really shows! The interviews are a great addition as well. Can't wait for the next!
Fantastic episode, on SNES I owned Donkey Kong Country 2 and Killer Instinct, amazing games for the time. On Game Boy I had DKC and KI also. I still have my "Killer Cuts" CD lying around I will rip it to flac for some nostalgia trip :D
Thank you for this huge work!!! It's awesome!!!
DF Retro is the best part of this channel. The quality and level of research here is astounding
Rare was the Naughty Dog of Nintendo!!
If they had put out their Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted and the Last of Us games during one generation, I think I'd agree.
you aren't lying. but they were even better because they had DOZENS of amazing games.
Rare were far above naughty dog back in the 90s
Rare was the Rare of Nintendo. Naughty Dog who?
I know this is some sort of compliment, but to an N64 owner this is ass-backwards 🤣
John, the level of quality in these videos continues to rise. I could sit and binge watch these retro videos all day. Thank you for doing them.
Boy I can’t wait to watch this!!
Amazing retro article! DF is absolutely the best! Keep on making these great videos! The talent and resourcefulness and brilliance back then still stand unmatched today.
That's cool they playing the music from donkey kong country tropical freeze. And donkey kong country and donkey kong country 2
These documentaries you put together are such treasures. So insightful and a what a trip down memory lane. Thank you!
I always thought DKC2 was better, but I'm actually playing through it having completed DKC1 just before it again. It's a lot more trial and error than the first.
Both awesome games though!
I loved both but DKC 2 had more secrets hense more replay value.
DKC 2 is fun but pisses me off
DKC2 did have more secrets and was legitimately harder. Still can’t be the original 😉
I’ve watched this DF retro so many times. Great work.
Donkey Kong Country is still one of my favourite games.
Love this video.
But two mistakes you made were:
1.) You said the GBA had a vertical resolution of 192 pixels, which is wrong. It has a resolution of 240x160 Pixels (compared to SNES's 256x224 (or 256x240 on PAL consoles)). The DS is actually the handheld you're looking for with a total resolution of 256x192 pixels.
2.) You made it seem like Killer Instinct Gold on the N64 was a port of the Arcade Killer Instinct. Killer Instinct Gold is actually a port of Killer Instinct 2, and a pretty good one at that. Only the SNES and GameBoy had ports of the original Killer Instinct at the time.
Still, as I said, great video. Awesome that you got so many of the people who worked on the games in there. Good job!
SMEXY STREAM 1 i can't believe rare had to manually recolor those 24bit color sprites down to 4bit color,these day's it can be done automatically using color blending and /or dithering,and since the resolution has to be blurred down too, it can blur out those dither artifacts.
2 i can't believe donkeykong land was done from scratch!!?? by another tesm using a cgi computer along with a level editing programm.
What they could,ve do was just to futher down convert those sprites and the game engine from the snes game to recompile it to the gameboy and then using that level editor program to put those tile sets in a different order to create new levels, that would,ve save them time & money.
These videos are absolutely brilliant. I've watched this one twice now and I love the pacing of the presentation. This era, in particular, was so interesting. The way they were learning the ropes as they progressed and made their own solutions in uncharted territory makes the time period quite special.
I really need to get my hands on Silicon Graphics workstation, like Max Impact from the mid 90s and model something with it just because. See how Blender was back on those machines compared to the modern version. I find SGI machines fascinating.
I used an Indigo Maximum Impact back then at my university’s computer lab and they were magical compared to the power of regular PCs and Macs of that day. Just being able to manipulate a model in real-time 3D using IrixGL was impressive.
Now, even an entry level PC or Mac with integrated graphics would be orders of magnitude faster than an Indigo Max Impact in terms of CPU and 3D performance (although it wouldn’t look anywhere near as cool). Irix can be challenging if you haven’t used it before, SGI monitors have their own output standard and the machines are obnoxiously loud and slow by today’s standards. A single 400 MHz CPU was considered fast back then.
HEY! Where is the second part of this video that is teased at the end 46:21 ? Where he interviews Rare about Dinosaur Planet and Banjo Kazooi? I searched through all the DF Retro videos and can not find it! After watching this excellent video I was really looking forward to watching that as well! Did you guys end up making that video?
Dck Is a másterpiece.
Harpuli entreeeee dossss tierrass!!
This is honestly one of the most interesting videos I’ve ever watched. You guys did a phenomenal job!
Would love to see DF Retro on Ultra64: What was promised/demoed and the gimped version that was delivered.
Incredible video, Rare was just MAGIC back in the 90´s, I was watching this video with all those ex Rare members talking about how they created my best chilhood memories and I was just wanting to give all of them a huge hug and say "thanks guys for give me a reason to be a gamer for life". In my opinion there never was nor will be a western developer as legendary as RARE.
Amazing episode tf retro i love playing donkey kong country awesome video :-)
I love how the Genesis Aladdin was the kick in the rear needed to push these talented developers to make these games.
I have this dream of a remake of DKC using the original assets uncompressed.
Probably won’t ever happen, sadly.
stromstans
25th anniversary is coming up, maybe Nintendo can make it happen 😉
Rare doesn't have a lot of the assets anymore due to floppy disks going bad or something. This happened when they did the GBA games I think and it made creating the GBA games a lot harder. Even if they still have the old assets stored on floppies they also need those old expensive Silicon Graphics machines to run them as well. A similar thing happened with the original Toy Story film, some of the original animations are lost forever due to bad floppies. You'd be surprised how often this sort of thing happens, entire source codes for games get lost or simply thrown out because people don't think they are going to be important in the future and hard drives break with no back ups made. Supposedly Sega lost the source code to Sonic 1 and Konami lost the source code to Silent Hill 2, for example.
You don't really need to the original assets.
I'm sure Retro Studios could easily enough recreate the visuals from scratch. They'd just need to be told to be more gritty and realistic (and faithful!) with their models and textures than what they've done so far for the series. They could bring the old visuals into a new generation, retaining the detail whilst making everything look less...90s CGI.
I'm not sure a remake with the original assets uncompressed would look too good. It would probably have that typical "very early 3D CGI", barrel-like look.
Donkey kong country trilogy is the love of my life of the game industry, i became a musician because of it, and it's my most beloved franchise.
I thought DF Retro was over. I'm glad it's back
PhoenixFIrebird - it'll never be over.
These are the kind of videos I support the Patreon for, the regular ones obviously take a lot of work and are always interesting (fanboy wars in the comments aside), but DF Retro gets you a level of insight you just wouldn't find anywhere else.
C-C-C-COMBOBREAKER
I keep coming back to this video. Something about the technical achievement of these games and how they managed to pull them off is something that I can't get over. This is like GoldenEye on N64, except while GoldenEye was maybe more of a technical feat, this has held up quite a bit better. Everything Rare from SNES to N64 is really fascinating stuff (don't get me wrong, I loved their NES stuff, but I got the impression that they really moved into the revolutionary era when they bought their SGI workstations).
DKC 1 and DKC 2 are some of the greatest games ever made, 3 is awesome too but not as good
Two classic Snes games. Great video, very comprehensive.
Keep up the excellent work
A new DF Retro and on saturday no less? Madness! And AWESOME! Excellent work John :-)