Donkey Kong Country: How Rare Faked 3D on the Super Nintendo

In June 1994, a crowd at a Chicago trade show thought Donkey Kong Country was running on Nintendo's next console. It was a Super Nintendo game. Rare, the secretive British studio of Tim and Chris Stamper, filled a farmhouse in Twycross with Silicon Graphics workstations, converted a 3D boxing demo for the Super NES by the next day, and rebuilt Donkey Kong with a necktie Shigeru Miyamoto says was his idea. Then came David Wise's soundtrack, a promotional VHS mailed to Nintendo Power subscribers, a launch against the Saturn and the PlayStation, and a famous Miyamoto quote that isn't in the interview it supposedly came from. This is the case file of Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario World? Tell me in the comments 👇 Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:55 The Farmhouse 1:41 Supercomputers in a Barn 3:19 A New Donkey Kong 5:17 Squeezing the Jungle 6:53 The Sound of the Jungle 7:55 Selling the Jungle 9:13 Game Over? Sources: Nintendo Power vol. 62-72 (1994-1995); Donkey Kong Country US manual and Nintendo Player's Guide (1994); Electronic Games (January and May 1995, Steve Kent); Steven L. Kent, The Ultimate History of Video Games (2001); Nintendo Magazine System (UK, September 1994); Gregg Mayles in Retro Gamer and Edge (2010); Nintendo Life (2014); Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo Online Magazine (2000) and IGN (2010); David Wise (Square Enix Music Online 2010, Nintendojo 2011, Game Informer 2019, Polygon 2014); Kevin Bayliss and David Wise (Midwest Gaming Classic 2022); Rare (rare.co.uk 1998, Scribes 2005); Bad Influence! (CITV, 1994); GamesMaster (Channel 4, 1994); "Donkey Kong Country Exposé" (Nintendo of America, 1994); Los Angeles Times (October 1994); Bloomberg Businessweek (May 1995); Nintendo UK; Nintendo Japan; Sega; PlayStation Blog; Microsoft (2002) Images: "GamesMaster" (Channel 4, 1994): Summer CES 1994 and Tim Stamper, uploaded by Gamesmaster Uploader · SNES longplay by LongplayArchive (played by Retro Game Spacko) · console photos (Super NES, Super Famicom, NES, Saturn, PlayStation): Evan-Amos, public domain (Wikimedia Commons) · 1994 "ACM" TV spot (Nintendo of America), compilation by vini64 · "Bad Influence!" (CITV / Yorkshire Television, October 13, 1994), Violet Berlin's report from Rare, uploaded by Gamesmaster Uploader · SGI Indigo workstation: Wolfgang Stief, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) · "Donkey Kong Country Exposé" promotional VHS (Nintendo of America, 1994), S-VHS capture by The 14th Doctor · Shigeru Miyamoto (June 10, 2015): Japanese government (大臣官房人事課), CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · Nintendo Power issues 64, 65, 66 and 69 (Nintendo of America, 1994-1995), archive.org scans · Electronic Games, January and May 1995 (articles by Steve Kent), archive.org scans · SGI Power Challenge server: airsynth, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · Donkey Kong Country US instruction manual (Nintendo, 1994), archive.org scan · Kevin Bayliss and David Wise (2024): Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · Donkey Kong arcade cabinet: Iain Campbell, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · David Wise and Kevin Bayliss panel (Midwest Gaming Classic 2022), uploaded by Hair of the Dogcast · Japanese Super Donkey Kong TV ad (Nintendo, 1994), uploaded by ドラえもん · Tim and Chris Stamper (2015): MrIanReynolds, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Nintendo, 1995), longplay by LongplayArchive · Super Mario World (Nintendo, 1990), longplay by World of Longplays (longplays.org). Music: original chiptune. Synthetic voice. Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island are trademarks of Nintendo. Unofficial video, not affiliated with Nintendo or Rare. #DonkeyKongCountry #SNES #Nintendo #RetroGaming #VideoGameHistory #DonkeyKong #Rare #SuperNintendo #GamingHistory #RetroStages