Donkey Kong Country

A simple game with considerable difficulty spikes one could reasonably refer to as “completely unfair”, so it’s a good thing it is plenty charming. All of the bosses are dreadfully easy and the only times I died came from obstacles one could not reasonably expect to avoid the first time around, but the music is still great and the attempts at in-level narrative often pay off—I’m quite fond of the level you have to keep turning the lights off to make the monsters go away. It’s far from the SNES’s best, but it’s plenty better than many ninety-minute platformers.

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