The poster Segata Sanshiro famously had a e-fight with the poster Kevtones on neogaf in the early aughts about DKC.
He said DKC was a bad game with cheap deaths, bad difficulty spikes;etc.
You know what? He's right about the flaws. And it still doesn't matter because over 30 years after its release I still can't stop playing it. The other week I dropped by a retro game shop and saw a crt set with DKC set up. I reset the SNES, started a new file, and cleared the first world in one sitting. I had to leave and I still wanted to keep playing.
I hooked up my SNES Classic and started a new game of DKC and once again, couldn't stop playing despite the difficulty spikes, weird hit boxes, and cheap deaths. Somehow DKC remains fun and pure despite all of this.
The game design is clever, requires your full attention, is full of detail, requires mastery, and is just plain fun while being a joy to look at. The sequel, Diddy's Kong Quest, is even better and perhaps the best 2d platformer of its generation, ironing out all of the originals flaws.
What caught me off guard was playing DKC on that CRT at the game shop. It looked so good. Usually when I play DKC on emulation or whatever, it looks so bad compared to what I remember, but through the view of a crt it hasn't aged a day and it somehow manages to hide all of the visual flaws we think it has. Over 30 years later it's still a sight to behold.
Bow the fuck down.
I have never played DKC3 but for the first time ever I'm willing to give it a try.
