Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Donkey Kong Country (SNES).

Early Concepts#

Donkey Kong#

Donkey Kong's design was very different during the initial concepting phases. His design would be done by 2 different people over the course of development before his design would stick.

This features 3 different designs for Donkey Kong, however it lacks Ryman's Design. One is by Shigeru Miyamato, one by Kevin Bayliss and the final is a Pre-Rendered 3D model of Kevin Bayliss's Design

Shigeru Miyamoto's Design#

One of the earliest designs for Donkey Kong more resembling his design seen in Donkey Kong) on the Game Boy a year later.

Another drawing by Miyamoto now holding a barrel and sporting some angry eyebrows and for some reason a heart tie.

Another drawing featuring Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. standing back to back. In the final game Donkey Kong Jr. would be replaced by Diddy Kong.

James Ryman's Design#

These early sketches of Donkey Kong were drawn by James Ryman and are from 1993, Donkey Kong has more slim limbs and a radically different face. This was before Miyamoto requested adding a tie (something he had included in his own redesign of DK that would be used in Game Boy Donkey Kong).

Some more early sketches of James Ryman's Donkey Kong it also features a shaded version.

This features the shaded version of James Ryman's Donkey Kong that was seen previously.

A 3D test render of James Ryman's Donkey Kong.

Kevin Bayliss's Design#

This is the first drawing of Donkey Kong done by Kevin Bayliss who would go on to design most of the cast in Donkey Kong Country.

This is another drawing of Donkey Kong which while featuring a similar body to that of Mr. Miyamoto's design it has a drastically different head more resembling that of the characters from Battletoads a game Kevin Bayliss had previously worked on.

Another drawing of the Battletoads-esque Donkey Kong now with him pounding his chest.

Donkey Kong with his fist out now more resembling his design seen in the final game

Another drawing of Donkey Kong with his fist out just now from the back.

A side on view of Bayliss's Donkey Kong.

Early Character Sketches#

To do:
Properly bring over and highlight the design differences here, including the artists commentary.

Kevin Bayliss, one of the games artists, shows off his early sketches of characters, including early iterations known characters and some discarded ideas.

Watch on YouTube

Story Concepts#

Some early story boards for Donkey Kong Country that were released by Gregg Mayles in 2015 and 2019. These use a similar Donkey Kong design to that of James Ryman's.

"Donkey Kong vs. Super Wario"#

The Story would've revolved around Donkey Kong trying to save Mario after he had been turned to stone by Wario.

"Donkey Kong and the Golden Bananas"#

This story is similar to that of the final game just that instead of there being only one golden banana there is a whole horde of bananas that was stolen.

SCES 1994 Promotional Video#

Watch on YouTubeUsed for promoting DKC and the Super Game Boy, here are some differences between this build and the final version:

13:25 - Ropey Rampage with no lightning or rain.
13:34 - Poison Pond rendered with blue water/background.
13:51 - The banana counter goes above 100, on Ropey Rampage (rain). No lighting changes to the Kongs either.
14:09 - Klump is not defeated by DK.

(Source: DKC Atlas)

Dumb Drum Battle#

Doesn't that room look familiar, eh?

Boss Dumb Drum would originally have been fought in a room much like the bonus rooms, however he was moved elsewhere in the final game. The original room still exists in the ROM (room ID 21), but without the boss itself.

Early Naming Sheet#

A naming sheet posted by Gregg Mayles on Twitter dated March 8, 1994 reveals that the game was originally called Donkey Kong's Monkey Mayhem. It also shows that the technique Rare used for the 3D art in this game was to be named Render FX (R.F.X) instead of Advanced Computer Modeling (ACM).

Candy Kong was originally Honey Kong (a nickname in which she, herself, used to refer to Donkey Kong in the final game) or Blondie Kong, King K. Rool was Kommander K. Rool, Rock Kroc was Krocrock, Slippa was Mr. Hister (a name which made it into an unused early hint message in the final game), Squidge had the honorific "Mr.", and Clambo was Ms. Clamity.

Unused concepts revealed in this sheet include an eel named Mobo, a fireball named Fizzle, a yeti named Frozone, fish named Bloop and Gloop, a "nasty beetle" named Veedub (likely a reference to "VW", and therefore, to the Volkswagen Beetle), a Kremling named Klanger, a robot Kremling named Krocbot, and a statue Kremling named Krumble. It also shows two unused Animal Friends: an owl named Hooter and a mole named Miney. According to Mayles, Hooter was eventually retooled into Squawks (parrot); instead of a lantern, the owl would've used its night vision to illuminate dark areas.

Despite being cut from the original game, Shuri, Puftup, Kloak and the beetle (renamed Click-Clack) made it into Donkey Kong Country 2. A fish enemy named Gloop later appeared in Donkey Kong Land, though it's unclear if it's connected to the Gloop seen here.

Other characters missing from this list who appear in the final version are Bitesize (piranha), Chomps Jr. (little shark), Gnawty (beaver), and Manky Kong (orangutan). It's possible Bitesize and Chomps Jr. replaced Bloop and Gloop.