13. Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Imagine the gaming world in 1993/4, Project Reality (N64) was in the public consciences, but still several years away and the SNES still had plenty of life left in it. Donkey Kong, one of Nintendo’s greatest characters was finally resurrected after years without a starring role.
Needless to say, the gaming world was stunned. How could the SNES produce such fantastic graphics? Was this really an N64 game in disguise? Rare’s 3D pre-rendered artwork absolutely WOW’d the world back in 1994 and fortunately the game play also lives up the impressive visuals. It’s one of the Super Nintendo’s essential platformers, and plays at an impressive change in pace compared to Super Mario World, with lush environments and quirky loveable characters.
And lets not forget the excellent music, with the infamous Aquatic Ambience regularly featuring on lists of the ‘all time greatest game music’. DKC is an impressive package that will surely feature amongst some of the most heavily rotated games on the SNES Classic Mini.