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Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
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| Donkey Kong Country |
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Also known as: Super Donkey Kong (JP)
 This game has a notes page This game has a prerelease article |
Donkey Kong Country combines monkeys, bananas, and barrels into one package for the first time in human history.
Contents
Sub-Pages
 | Unused Bonus Room Layouts A gaggle of inaccessible bonus rooms. |
| Unused Object Graphics Graphics never seen in normal play. |
 | Unused Object Subtypes While the objects are used, these variations are not. |
Free Movement Debug
A simple level debugging tool is left in the game. In this mode, all enemy objects lose their solidity and freeze. The player can use the control pad to move up, down, left, and right freely. Some gravity is still present, but not much. The code 7E053501 will activate this mode. 7E053502 will activate the mode and also remove enemy object graphics from view.
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 remains unused: Room 21. Using the code 7E003E21 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.
Unused Animations and Frames
Again, codes will be provided unless the animations / frames don't have pointers.
Donkey Kong
7E0D1360 to 7E0D1378, 7E0D1402
The head scratch part of this animation is still used for D.K.'s death animation, but he gets back up to scratch his head instead of sitting down like this.
7E0D130C to 7E0D1338, 7E0D1406
An alternate winning animation for D.K.
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)
D.K. turning while swimming. In the final game there's no animation, you just automatically turn.
(No pointer, but graphics are stored in ROM)
D.K. pushing something. The only object you can push in the game is the tire, and there's no special animation for that.
Barrels
7E0D13C8, 7E0D141B
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.
7E0D13D8 to 7E0D13F4, 7E0D141B
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 rim appearing on the inside of the barrel.
Queen B
| Queen B hit - Used. | Queen B hit - Full. |
|---|---|
| Queen B hit frames used in-game | Full Queen B hit animation |
(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
| Rambi charging - Used. | Rambi charging - Full. |
|---|---|
| Rambi charge frames used in-game | Full Rambi charge animation |
7E0D1330 to 7E0D134C, 7E0D1427
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 of the unused frames from Donkey Kong Country, but not all of them.
Slippa
7E0D1354 to 7E0D1364, 7E0D1425
A different version of Slippa's death animation. In-game, Slippa uses the same animation for dying as 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 38C1C1 from 48 to the appropriate value.
Group 22: Two bananas - diagonally down.
Group 2C: Two rows of three bananas - No spacing.
Group 42: Three rows of two bananas, spaced 24 pixels apart.
Group 4A: One row of two bananas, spaced 24 pixels apart.
Group 4E: Two bananas - diagonally down, spaced 32 pixels apart.
Group 5E: Forming the word "IN"
Group 6A: Two rows of five bananas - No spacing.
Group 7E: Downward arc of five bananas.
Group A6: Half-circle of seven bananas.
Group A8: Five bananas - diagonally up.
Group B2: Half-circle of eight bananas.
Group B4: Large thin arrow pointing left.
Group BA: Four bananas heading up at a 30 degree angle.
Group CC: Large thick arrow pointing left.
Group D0: Full circle of fifteen bananas.
Group D6: Two rows of four bananas, spaced 32 pixels apart.
Group DE: Three rows of four bananas, spaced 32 pixels apart.
Group EE: Five bananas heading down at a 30 degree angle.
Group FA: Two rows of five bananas, spaced 32 pixels apart.
Group FC: Three rows of five bananas, spaced 32 pixels apart.
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: 3C8B66 to 3C8B83
Croctopus palette with brown/yellow markings. The game uses palettes with blue and purple markings, but never this scheme.
Klaptrap
Green Klaptrap
Chestnut Klaptrap
Grey Klaptrap
Green palette address: 3C8788 to 3C87A5
Chestnut palette address: 3C87C4 to 3C87E1
Grey palette address: 3C87E2 to 3C87FF
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: 3C8530 to 3C854D
Speaking of Kritter, he too has an unused palette, which gives a him a blue-violet skin color.
Zinger
Grey/Purple Zinger
Blue Zinger
Grey/Purple palette address: 3C8DDC to 3C8DF9
Blue palette address: 3C8DFA to 3C8E17
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 3C03C8.
Greetings
Cranky seems to have gone through a personality change during development -- from "nice old man" to "angry old man".
Donkey Boy? Where's Diddy?
Donkey, you young whippersnapper!
Long time no see!
Donkey Boy! It seems
like years since we last met!
It's about time you visited
your frail, old Grandpa!
Hey! Can you spare
your old pappy a banana?
And what have you brought
for your old Grandpa?
Well, you've amazed
your old Grandpa
by getting this far!
So, you've finally come
to get some game play advice
from your old Grandpa!
Diddy boy! Where's Donks?
Diddy, you young pup!
Boy, I can't believe
how much you've grown!
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!
Burn rubber for the
golden rhino
in Bouncy Bonanza.
The bananas in
Stop & Go Station
will put you right!
Avoid Mine Cart Carnage
and jump early
to get the extra life.
Rolling some rubber will
put you on the right road
in Millstone Mayhem.
On Snow Barrel Blast, sometimes
down will not take you out;
it may help you go forward.
On Croctopus Chase, there's a
right way and a wrong way
to get past the barrels.
In Ice Age Alley,
birds of a feather flock
together to get your wings.
Bouncing the Bouncer will
slide you to success during
Slipside Ride!
The TNT gives you a couple of
real wall to wall blasts
in Torchlight Trouble.
For Elevator Antics, you'll
have to climb higher
than a hornet's nest!
For you Trick Track Trekkers,
the Gnawty twins
gnow a secret!
In Mine Cart Madness,
you're just 3 bounces
away from bonus land.
Once you're in the Poison
Pond, the right way is not
the only way to get the point.
Blackout Basement could give
you a sinking feeling, but
you'll end up sky high!
Let Diddy hold out the TNT
in Manic Mincers.
Take enough rope and
you'll amaze yourself
in the Misty Mine.
The Loopy Lights vulture's
barrel will blow you away.
The Platform Perils vulture
knows it's sometimes better
to come down to earth.
You're in Tanked Up Trouble
if you're all gassed up
and nowhere to go!
In Orang-utan Gang, follow the
last barrel down to discover
a barrel of laughs!
A single banana is
all you need for
a bonus in Tree Top Town.
Get on down with the bananas
and get ready to party
in Temple Tempest!
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.
Gnawty the beaver can
be rolled or jumped on.
I'm back to my cabin for a nap.
Beta Script
An early version of the game script can be found in the ROM, starting at address 2DE076. It's largely the same -- only three differences in game dialogue exist. Unfortunately, the top of the script has been overwritten, so any other differences cannot be determined.
| Beta | Final |
|---|---|
| I can't play this game, the colors are all to rich for my poor old eyes! |
I can't play this game, the colors are all too rich for my poor old eyes! |
Merely a grammatical fix for the final version.
| Beta | Final |
|---|---|
| You can roll over Hister, or just squash him with a jump attack. |
You can roll over Slippa, or just squash him with a jump attack. |
Apparently Slippa was named Hister before the game was finalized.
| Beta | Final |
|---|---|
| You dudes need some lives or something? Jungle Japes is the place for that! |
You dudes need some lives or something? Jungle Hijinxs is the place for that! |
The first level of the game was originally named Jungle Japes, rather than the retail version's Jungle Hijinxs.
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 -- whether or not this debug mode still exists in the game is unknown. 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. Probably went with the above font 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.
Donkey Kong Country Promotional Video
Cleanup > To do
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