Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country combines monkeys, bananas, and barrels into one package for the first time in human history.

Unused Music
An early version of the boss music, found in US 1.0. It begins at a slower pace than the final boss music, but gradually increases in tempo until about halfway through the third loop, when it is close to the final version's pace. This song also has different instrument pointers, compared to any of the used songs, hence the sample pointers had to be changed in the SPC file for it to play correctly.

Unused Sounds
A voice clip for Donkey Kong. Use unknown.

Same sound for Diddy.

Sounds like some kind of an instrument.

A bubbly underwater sound effect.

This is interesting. A really high-pitched sound that fits most likely to an UFO.

Sounds like a menu choice sound.

Sounds like a Güiro and at halfway there's some kind of kick sound.

A nice little fanfare.

Sound Test
Press Down, Down, Down, Down, A, R, B, Y, Down, A, Y on the file select menu. Once the code is entered, press Select to play a song.

Debug Functions
There are a number of debug tools still left in the final ROM which can be accessed with cheat devices.

Camera & Collision Debug
Game Genie codes:

This displays debugging info for the camera and Donkey's (but not Diddy's) collision box.


 * 084A: Camera's X-coordinate.
 * 0118: Camera's Y-coordinate.
 * 0042: Level ID.
 * 0030: DK's current sprite ID.
 * C000, 3274, 3288, ADFC, D225: Unknown data.
 * FFF1, FFDD: Relative X coordinates of collision box.
 * 0019, 0022: Relative Y coordinates of collision box.
 * 0016: Unknown data.

DK's Problem Page
Game Genie codes:, ,

Activates a general debugging screen.
 * First two rows: The last 16 bytes of save RAM.
 * Third row: Level ID. - RAM $3E
 * Fourth row: ID of last exit taken. - RAM $40
 * Fifth row: Level status variable (see notes page for details) - RAM $1E15
 * Sixth row: Level ID for continue barrel - RAM $2E

"DATE CODE" probably displayed a build date during development, but in the release version it's been nulled.

Free Movement Debug
Pro Action Replay Code: (display objects),  (disable object display)

In this mode, all enemy objects lose their solidity and freeze. The player can use the D-Pad to move around freely. Some gravity is still present, but not much.

Level Completion Debug
Game Genie codes:

This function should be displayed if RAM is a non-zero value, but it's not called anywhere. It can be seen in the DKC Exposed promotional video (see below).


 * First row: Always . In the promotional video it's, which is probably a build date.
 * Second row: Level ID. - RAM
 * Third row: First byte shows the number of completed rooms. This counts the bonus rooms and the level exit. The second byte is the total number of completable rooms in the level.

Palette Debug
Game Genie codes: (note that due to the way this debug function works, the game will be paused whenever it's accessed; the first three codes enable the debug, while the fourth code disables the pause)

This function should be displayed if RAM is a non-zero value, but it's also not called anywhere. Since the debug function pauses the game, it was probably intended to be toggled with a button code.

The first two bytes of each line display the current palette addresses. The last two bytes display how many objects are currently using that palette.

The meaning of the last two bytes off to the side is unknown.

Map Error Checking
The overworld map will display "ERROR" when there is no text string associated with that room ID.

Unused Room ID
Of the 255 room IDs in the game, only one is unused: Room 21. Using the code on the map screen will transport you there.

This uses the same layout for the Jungle's small bonus room. There are no objects associated with it, so there is no way out. Even stranger, the music played in this room is the same music used for the boss areas.

It's possible that at some point in development, at least one of the bosses was to be fought here, as indicated by an image from Rare's old website, which shows the boss "Dumb Drum" in the room.

Unused Animations and Frames
. Again, codes will be provided unless the animations / frames don't have pointers.

Donkey Kong
to ,

The head scratch part of this animation is still used for DK's death animation, but he gets back up to scratch his head instead of sitting down like this.

to ,

An alternate winning animation for DK.

(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

DK turning while swimming. The final game has no animation, and you just automatically turn.

(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

DK pushing something. The only object that can be pushed is the tire, and there's no special animation for that.

(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

An unused attack animation similar to one of DK's attacks in Donkey Kong 64.

Cranky Kong
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)}

Cranky Kong is never seen walking in the SNES version, but the animation is used in the GBA version after the player defeats a boss.

Barrels
,

A continue barrel with the top busted open. Only one animation is used for the continue barrel in-game, and that's the continue barrel spinning. When you hit the continue barrel or spawn from it, the barrel is destroyed, so this animation never gets used.

to ,

A barrel falling apart, intended for your partner showing up in a D.K. barrel. The palette for this barrel is incorrect – the normal barrel palette is used here. This animation was made at a point when the base barrel graphics were different: note the steel hoop appearing on the inside of the barrel.

Early Necky animation
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

This animation uses an earlier design for the nut-throwing Necky. It has the coloring of Necky, but the proportions of Mini-Necky. This could mean that the two final designs branched off of this one.

Queen B
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

Queen B's hit animation has a good number of unused frames that give the animation a much more fluid look.

Rambi
to ,

Rambi actually has more unused frames of his charge animation than used ones! In-game, only 2 frames of animation are used, while he actually has 8 frames dedicated to charging. Donkey Kong Country 2 bumps the charge animation up to 5 frames, using some (but not all) of the unused frames from here.

Slippa
to ,

A different version of Slippa's death animation. In-game, Slippa's animation for dying is similar to the one it does for jumping.

Tire
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)

Different graphics for the tires used in the game, including the half tire. This actually used the same palette as the normal tire, even though the cream color seen here isn't really visible on the tire used in-game.

Unused Banana Groups
The following banana groups are defined by the game, but are never used in any stage. To see them in-game, change ROM address from 48 to the appropriate value.

Unused Palettes
Some objects have alternate palette data in the ROM that is unused in normal play. ROM addresses will be provided for each palette.

Croctopus


Palette address: to

Croctopus palette with brown/yellow markings. The game uses palettes with blue and purple markings, but never this scheme.

Klaptrap
Green palette address: to

Chestnut palette address: to

Grey palette address: to

Klaptrap has 5 palettes in the ROM, only two of which are used -- blue and purple. Like the Kritter and Zinger enemies, Klaptrap was meant to come in a variety of colors.

Kritter


Palette address: to

Speaking of Kritter, he too has an unused palette, which gives a him a blue-violet skin color.

Zinger
Grey/Purple palette address: to

Blue palette address: to

Likewise, two additional flavors of Zinger were planned to appear in the game. Notably, palettes very similar to these are used in the Game Boy Advance remake -- the only difference is that the wing colors were switched.

Unused Dialogue
Cranky has a large number number of lines that never pop up when you visit him. The text data beings at ROM address.

Greetings
Cranky seems to have gone through a personality change during development, from "nice old man" to "angry old man".

Level Tips
For whatever reason, almost all of Cranky's level tips were removed from gameplay. The only ones that can be seen normally are from the first world, but lines exist for almost every level in the game!

Other
Two more of Cranky's lines aren't referenced in the pointer table. The first is an enemy tip, while the second would be said when Cranky is finished talking. It is likely that they were removed due to being poorly written.

Early English Script
An early version of the game script can be found in the ROM, starting at address. It's largely the same, and only three differences in game dialogue exist. Unfortunately, the top of the script has been overwritten, so any other differences cannot be determined.

Merely a spelling fix for the final version.

Apparently Slippa was named Hister before the game was finalized.

The first level of the game was originally named Jungle Japes, rather than the retail version's Jungle Hijinxs. This alternate name would notably be used as the name of the first stage in Donkey Kong 64, as well as the Donkey Kong stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Early German Script
An early unused German script can found in the US ROM, which was changed/fixed a bit for the European version.

A simple grammar fix. "Im" is correct, while "in" was understandable but still incorrect.

The early script is missing an important space in the second line between "Blödsinn" and "gar". "Blödsinngar" is essentially meaningless, at least going by Google.

This rancid message was changed from mentioning Diarrhea and nausea to just Diarrhea. Hooray?

While "wäret" is an older and more poetic form of "wärt", this was likely changed because poetic speech isn't quite Cranky's forté.

"Baumspitzen" (treetops) was changed to "Palmspitzen" (palmtree tops) for accuracy.

Another grammar fix, the second time this mistake (incorrect usage of "in", when "im" should be used) is made in this script.

For some weird reason, this one was changed from the correct "die Seile" to "der Seile" (plural: die Seile, singular: das Seil). In the genitive case "der Seile" is correct, but here it isn't.

The redundant "zu" was ousted. "Oelfaß" was used instead of the more correct "Ölfaß", possibly because they couldn't use capital umlauts.

"Dich" (or "you") was introduced to add clarification.

A comma was added to the first line, but although "rhino" and "tür" should be uppercase neither got fixed. Moreover, it should be "Rambi, das Nashorn".

The US version is rather confusing: there's no way to reward Rambi for its efforts like it tells you to. In the PAL version you just need to treat it well, which makes more sense.

"Extraleben" is hyphenated in the final script.

The US version says "I knew a punk like you wouldn't finish the job", whereas the PAL version says "I knew a punk like you wouldn't succeed".

Another grammar fix: "meinen" was changed to "meinem". It's still the same word, however.

The first sentence is properly capitalized in the PAL script.

Unused Fonts
Five fonts remain unused in the game. The first two of them are loaded with every level but are never actually seen; the latter three are never loaded but can be found in the ROM. The backgrounds of most of these fonts have been left opaque for better visibility.



Hexadecimal font. This was used for debugging in pre-release versions of the game. The font can be seen in the Donkey Kong Country promotional video below, starting at the 8:26 mark.



Alphanumeric font with a few symbols mixed in. Used for further debugging.



Expanded alphanumeric font featuring a greater number of symbols, including a lower case S. This font has no shading at all, the characters are solid white.



A shaded version of the expanded alphanumeric font. Also includes the right angle bracket missing from the previous font.



Yet another unused alphanumeric font, different from the previous ones and this time including lowercase. It's worth noting that this font has some similarities to those used in Rare's older NES games, such as the lowercase-styled uppercase Y.

Donkey Kong Country Promotional Video
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US v1.0
The original release.

US v1.1

 * A glitch was fixed which allows the player to trade an animal buddy for Rambi. The exact directions are quite verbose, but involve entering a bonus area containing an animal buddy while riding another one, jumping on the provided animal buddy, jumping off and exiting, which will cause Donkey/Diddy to appear with Rambi.
 * The midway barrel in Coral Capers is positioned 10 pixels higher than in the original version.
 * In Trick Track Trek, the platforms that dropped pretty much instantly in v1.0 no longer do this.

US v1.2

 * It is no longer possible to skip the fanfare when beating a level for the first time.
 * In a case of "How did the developers not catch that?", most of the mini-Neckys had no collision whatsoever, meaning you could safely jump through them without taking any damage. This was fixed in this revision.
 * Two bugs relating to the mine cart were fixed:
 * In Mine Cart Carnage, starting at the midway barrel as Diddy and immediately rolling and jumping at the same time allows you to jump out of the cart. Afterwards, you can jump in mid-air indefinitely by rolling and jumping repeatedly.
 * In Mine Cart Madness, by falling down (not jumping) into the mine cart at the beginning as DK and getting hit by the Necky, Diddy can jump out of the cart and stay airborne indefinitely as above. However, as an extension, by rolling at the exact same moment you land on a Necky (it must be frame perfect), Diddy will magically hover to the right completely on his own. While this will cancel itself after a while, Diddy will retain his magic jumping capabilities.
 * The well-known warp glitch was fixed. In Kongo Jungle, passing over a corner and attempting to "enter" it as a level, with the right timing, warped you to a barrel in Orang-Utan Gang that had no purpose otherwise.
 * Two glitches in Slip Slide Ride were fixed:
 * One bonus area involves climbing up a rope to a barrel cannon. This barrel cannon will disappear once the bonus has been entered, and if you went back there and climbed the rope all the way up, you could jump to the left over the wall and end up inside the ice.
 * At the beginning, climbing up the very first rope, then jumping to the right along the wall will cause the Kongs to start crawling along the wall for some really odd reason.

Europe v1.0

 * K. Rool's behavior is a bit different: after the cannonballs drop from above, he will immediately throw his crown instead of just standing there for a while.
 * The mine carts get less momentum, which makes those levels much more difficult.

Title Screen
The Japanese version has a completely redone title screen. Unlike the international version's palette-based image (creating a limit of 16 colors per 8&times;8 tile), the Japanese title screen uses a mode that uses 8-bit graphics (allowing 256 colors) for a much higher quality picture.

Extra Map Icon
When starting a new game, Donkey moves from a starting position to the first world. In the international version, there's an icon at this position and a path from it that were removed in the Japanese version.

Level Changes
The Japanese version has got a whole bunch of level changes to, surprisingly, make the game easier (including things like extra DK barrels). It is unknown why exactly this was done.

Enemy Changes
In the Japanese version of the game, it is possible to kill Rockkrocs by using Donkey's Ground Slap move (Down+Y) when they are curled up (activated by Stop & Go Station's red light). Interestingly, the US version of the GBA port had this feature.

In the Japanese version of the game, Diddy Kong must jump on a Manky Kong enemy twice to kill it. Hitting it the first time freezes him in place with an early frame of his death animation while pushing back Diddy (like jumping on a Klump), the second hit is a normal kill.

Anti-Piracy & Error Messages
This game pak is not designed for use on your Super Famicom/Super NES. Use of this adaptor may result in serious damage to your console.

 This game pak is not designed for use with a video game modifyer (sic).

This product will not operate when connected to a device which makes unauthorized copies. Please refer to your instruction booklet for further information.