Played Donkey Kong Country for the first time since the demo kiosk at Target. As a kid I thought the CG graphics were muddy and the levels frustrating, but as an adult, I'm deeply inspired by how much skill and craft were behind the muddy cg graphics and sauceless levels that still suck completely.
Comments
I recently watched this video from @modernvintagegamer.com about SNES graphics. The "transparency and color math" chapter @ ~2:55 has some DKC examples, but the whole video is great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RVQsqC3A6g
platform design that doesn’t stress readability or flow
overemphasis on collecting items (ex. I don’t want to turn left at the beginning of the stage just to see if there’s something there)
They're tightly associated with the Amiga and ST; Shadow of the Beast and Turrican are examples, plus parts of Battletoads.
One time
Because it was new snes content at the end of its life cycle
Meanwhile Dkc2 got grinded until they could beat it
Oh boy, DK Land 1 was certainly a game.
This is the core philosophy behind DKC. The levels are made for speedrunning (before the term existed)