Every Single Donkey Kong Country Level Ranked 

Thank you for watching!

I’m sure as a speedrunner there’s a lot of levels I hate you can blast through, and then other seemingly easy levels which are incredibly annoying lol

@@OGAutismonaut For sure, I couldn't believe it when you said misty mine was easy because there are an insane amount of things you can do there in terms of speedruns.

@@OGAutismonaut

Thanks a lot for the feedback, always love to hear areas I can improve on. With Triple trouble I still mostly like it, I just wish the boss’ attacks were a bit more varied and that you had more opportunities to hit them back. With the clam city thing, I honestly never knew this, I never usually go for 100% completion on the original games simply because I don’t really enjoy it as much as collecting everything in the modern ones. So long as I get both the bonus areas I’m usually happy with that so that’s just my bad to be honest I should’ve looked that up. Also if I actually did forget to include Blast n bounce that’s actually a massive mistake on my behalf since I actually had a lot to say on that one! I was gonna say that as a kid it unironically took me 6 months to beat it and because of that I understandably didn’t have a great time, but now I do think it’s quite good, even though I do think some of the barrel sections are a little fiddly. I’ve watched the exact summoningsalt video you’re referencing and yeah I do agree I should’ve gone back over. The main reason I didn’t is because the microphone I was using for most of this is absolutely atrocious, meaning in half the audio clips it sounds horrible. The only reason it’s listenable is because I fixed it all in post, so when I can afford it I’ll definitely be upgrading that since having to mess around with recording audio is easily my least favourite part of making videos. Overall though some really great points, and I’m glad you liked it! Oh, and yes if poison pond was purple it would easily be number one, no doubt, ignore that poisonous pipeline basically did the same thing that one doesn’t count

I wish you were able to include the levels introduced in the handheld versions btw; there's a ton there! even though they're of... rather mixed quality lol

I’ve played a few of the gba versions but since I haven’t played them all I thought it was best to just stick to the main franchise. I’ve heard some of the DK land stages in particular are very… Questionable though lol

Thanks a ton, completely understand with the length lmao 6 hours is a lot. King K roller truly is the best game on this list!

​​@@OGAutismonaut I consider the handheld games part of the main series, but I understand why you wouldn't. I still recommend you try them! for completion's sake hehehe (fyi if you do play the handheld games: the GBC port of DKC has one new level that is not in the original. that is the most obscure and missable level in the series so wanted to give you a heads up)

Thanks a ton, so great that all the work I put into this paid off! Retro studios is absolutely one of the best devs Nintendo has, it’s a shame they aren’t big enough to work on more than one game at once, I’d love another dk game from them before I end up looking like cranky lol

Oh not at all, I had a similar experience with Dripp Dropps ranking which is kinda the video that inspired me to make this, where id watch it on the long journeys to work a little more every day and it definitely made those times a little easier, so it means so much that I was able to provide that to someone else! Thanks a ton for the support, I’m gonna try and not leave it a year this time before I make another one lol

I’m surprised it rendered at all with how long it is

Here's an idea for a cheap alternative for rendering 1080p without a new graphics card. There may be a free alternative but Topaz Gigapixel is an AI upscaling program for pictures that I use use. I've outputted image sequences from my video editor and then put the image sequence through the upscaler. This can take a while for sure depending on how fast your CPU can upscale each image, but it IS possible and won't be as limited to the constraints of your GPU. Not sure if that company has a program that focuses more on stream lining animation projects, but many image AI upscalers could probably work for this purpose.

I can download this RU-vid video and send you a small ten second example clip of this video upscaled if you're interested in seeing what that would look like.

Thanks, I’ll definitely take a look! Putting my PC outside my room and waiting 3 hours only for it to freeze is not fun lol

I never actually knew this, I’ve only beaten the first game twice so I never noticed, cool

I’ve listened to it several times since in the editing process with headphones and it’s much better than I gave it credit for at first! I guess it unfortunately just gets drowned out by the gameplay noises since it’s so quiet lol

@@OGAutismonaut its frankly extremely hard to find a lowpoint track in DKC2s OST to begin with. Its kind of full of atmospheric bangers

Thanks for such a detailed response! The stickerbush symphony thing has always bugged me lol, it was a perfect opportunity with the time it plays even being in the same world, but they stuck in the generic savannah level song instead! It’s so clearly a reference to the stickerbush levels with the name, so it’s not like they didn’t know. Anyway, glad you enjoyed it!

​@@OGAutismonaut I finally reached the end and this video earned you another new subscriber. I wish you all the best and hope the YT algorithm will be kind to you :)

Poison pind

poison pay to win

Thanks a ton, I might have to go back and play those since I’ve also seen people asking for donkey Kong land which I also haven’t played. I’m interested to see where they stack up against the main list of levels!

Thanks a ton man, you’re never gonna believe this I was actually about to ask if it was dripp dropps video because no joke I’ve watched that one all the way through like 3 times and it’s fire too! Then I looked at the channel name lol You’re actually probably the one who inspired me to make this video, so it means a lot to know you liked it!

@@OGAutismonaut that means an awful lot to me. Almost enough to forgive snow barrel blast being that low

I watched your vid all the way through, it's a good video.

It was definitely pretty tough with how many levels there are, some of them could’ve been swapped around a little bit to be fair since so many of them are just so good! It’s crazy how it’s been 10 years now since the last game in the series, that’s even longer than the gap between dkc3 and returns. Maybe one day when I look like cranky we’ll finally get a new one, I definitely hope so. Thanks a ton for your support, glad you enjoyed!

If you like the level then I’m glad you enjoyed it a lot more than me! Then again I think you may be the only one who does like webbed woods lol

I love web woods, well designed level

The DK coin at end goal is so cheap😂

@@timhiltz6323 Only pros can get that dk coin

As someone who grew up getting the game for christmas the year it came out, Web Woods is a slow level in a game of high speed, but I think it is one of the most atmospheric. I replay the castle levels for a challenge, I replay the roller coater levels because I want some excitement, I replay most levels for the high speed platforming and action, but I play Web Woods....to [ V I B E ]. The music is so good, I love the backgrounds of both Web Woods and the ghost rope level, and it is such a serene little break on a playthrough. Like most of the mine levels. Just enjoy some pretty graphics and some cool music and enjoy your time. I wish more games managed to nail that combination. It's fair to say "I like DKC for playing fast ergo I don't like the slow level" but I don't think that makes them a bad level. Plus, Squiter was always a fav. Dude has 4 pairs of Js on and he's got a gold tooth. Squitter's fuckin BALLIN.

I hadn’t even considered the Star Wars thing until now… Damn that’s almost scary… Seriously, thanks a lot though, means so much to get so much positive feedback on a video I made! With Frederick, I’m glad someone else is able to have a lot of fun with him, at least much more than me lmao… Me personally, I’ve always hated the boss. In terms of laziness and how much effort was put into making it, it’s easily clear of Master Necky, it’d be silly to argue against that. However, even so I’d rather play Master Necky 10 times than fight Frederick once, just because I really don’t like how he plays. There’s definitely an element of personal opinion in there, so I completely understand if you disagree though! Glad you liked the rest of it

I found this out while making it actually, apparently it was because Evaline’s soundtrack was making some GBAs catch fire lmao. If it weren’t for the GBA compression being so high on a few of them I’d even say I prefer the GBA soundtrack

@@OGAutismonaut Holy shit I had no idea that was why they did it, that's amazing. I do love both soundtracks but that GBA compression...echh.

Easily one of the best levels in the game, difficult, but always fair with a great level theme too!

Thanks a ton man, I love that other people have different opinions on all these levels, it would be a very boring video if we didn’t lol. If you haven’t played tropical freeze and you like the others I really couldn’t recommend it enough! Easily the most polished dk game, and in my opinion it’s the best 2d platformer of all time

Really appreciate it man, means so much to know people enjoyed this! I don’t get the level of hate for DKC3! I mean yeah it’s not quite as good overall as 2 was, but that game was nearly impossible to follow up. Definitely the most underrated game in the series!

Wait, that list is yours? Cool! I actually used that list when I was finishing the script to ensure I had all the levels there. It was a really detailed list and I enjoyed reading it!

@@OGAutismonaut Indeed it is, and thank you! I had an obsession phase in like 2015 and I had to get that out of my system. So glad it was helpful!

Thank you Dr Jacob for your assessment on smokey peak, truly wise words

I live for Dr Jacob

Smokey beak

I completely understand anyone saying they love the level! The gameplay never clicked with me so I personally couldn’t put it higher, but I wouldn’t disagree with anyone putting it way further up

@@OGAutismonautits werid though. i think its a perfect level… but seashore war is my absolute fav. the music, the atmopshere… ill never forget my first time playing. like i cojldnt hear the music at all for a while due to noises outside, and kept dying over and over. i got really mad, but then, boom. ther music hit and i beat the level on that attempt. like the music gave me the ENERGY TO CONTINUE

Thanks!

Expand dong!

Thanks so much man, I do have a history degree lol

After listening to it a few more times with headphones on, I have to agree! In the game it just gets drowned out a little I guess

I’ve watched dripp dropps video like 3 times too lol, incredible video

Playing since 2013!

I’m now mad that I didn’t think of this

If you were somehow able to enjoy poison pond, then I’m really happy at least someone could lol Thanks a ton for your support, glad you enjoyed!

​@@OGAutismonautIt took me one normal playthorugh and 6 101% runs, but i can kinda enjoy it xD, hope to see more video like these, i love to see people's different opinions on games, especially if they say their genuine thoughts about stuff. Keep up the food work!!!

Glad you enjoyed it, really happy with how well this one has done!

I love when there’s loads of them around and all the “Eyeyeah!” noises overlap over each other lol

I spent so long mapping the path for dk’s barrel rolling animation lol, glad it didn’t go unnoticed!

Thanks a ton, this means a whole lot… Everyone starts off with nothing on their channel, I made around 30 or so cringy videos which I removed before this point, you’ll get there! My early videos are absolutely terrible lol, even my last one was pretty badly argued even though the editing was on point. So long as you’re improving just one or 2 things every time, in no time you’ll be killing it. You got this!

Returns is my personal favourite, it’s the one I grew up with and the port is one of my most anticipated games of the year! Getting out the wii u every time I wanted to play it was getting a bit old lol Dkc2 is fantastic too, easily the best of the original trilogy and one of my favourite snes games.

@@OGAutismonaut yes same here it was driving me nuts having to keep doing that also the returns port is going to be game of the year for me too I been waiting for years for Nintendo to finally do a version of returns thats in Hd with all the 3ds content.

Ho chimp min

That’s probably true lol, everything in this series gets replaced with a K

@@OGAutismonaut oh yeah. Kremlings hate Cs.

a

B

Thanks for your contribution

C

D

Thanks a ton! I did rank all of the games separately first yeah, definitely made getting through such a huge list easier lol. I played all the games and made a brief note of all my thoughts on them in the notes app first while ranking each of the levels in each game separately. Once I did that, I ranked them all into one and wrote up a full script with more detailed thoughts on the levels and corrected most of the mistakes I found. Then the long editing and recording process begins!

Did I forget wigglevine wonders as well? That’s a massive mistake on my behalf if I did. I had those two in the script, and especially with blast and bounce I had a lot to say about it! I’d put wigglevine wonders right behind weighty way. I think it’s decent but one of the more generic levels in the forest world. Blast and bounce I used to hate because it unironically took me 6 months to beat as a kid lmao, but now I think it’s pretty good. I’d put it right behind wonky waterway. Thanks for letting me know, I’ll make sure to be more diligent next time

This means a whole lot, thanks! Mario galaxy is the reason why I had to specify “2d” platformer when I said tropical freeze was the best platformer I’d played. I love the galaxy games and I’d love to cover them at some point! A ranking of all the galaxy’s in both games was in my drafts until my PC broke and I lost it last year lol, I need to start uploading more

Definitely in my top 10! Best 2d platformer ever made

Oh I have, I know exactly what you’re talking about. Those later sections with the spinning bracelet things are actually hell, if I were ranking these based on mirror mode this list would be very different!

neckys nuts

I love dk returns, easily in my top 10 favourite games of all time. I have always hated colonel pluck though lol, never look forward to fighting him, but I’m glad someone else enjoyed him more than me! The scurvy crew kinda stink too, having to repeat everything twice for no reason is also extremely slow. I don’t find the first time too bad though, it just drags on way too long. Anyway, glad you enjoyed it!

@@OGAutismonaut That I am! Very respectable video to make, really.

I get what they were going for but every time I get there I have a sudden urge to just quit playing lol

I like the concept and I even think that the level COULD be good with the same concept but I just don’t like the way they did it at all

the only bad level in this game. good thing its optional

@jacobsimoneau101 Problem is it blocks from a really good level

Maybe I just got lucky on temple tempest lol, but I’ve always liked it. Something about the mix between the atmosphere and the wheels I’m a big fan of. While I don’t like krockhead clamber, I’m happy someone else did! If we all had the same perspective on levels then this would’ve been a very dull video lmao, so I’m happy other people like things more than I did. Lanky and kiddy though… Lanky scares me…

@@OGAutismonaut You don't understand. He can handstand, when he needs to. For decades this has not been necessary, but some day in the future, he will need to. I pray you are on the right side of history when that happens.

When the time comes, I’ll gladly stand against the Lanky legions and their handstands, for to oppose the lankys is to be truly righteous. And if his long hands outstretch to take my life, so shall my glorious hands outstretch towards the heavens, to our lord and saviour, King K Roller, knowing that his furious T pose shall strike down the orange kongs and cast them back to the N64

I’m so happy with how well this video has done, thanks a ton for your support! I really need to upload more lol, last time my PC broke and I lost all my drafts so I’m praying that doesn’t happen again.

That’s definitely true, for a cranky player I can see it being a lot more fun. The main reason I put it that low is that I just find the design overall to be a bit lazy, without much other than the final section to help it stand out. But hey, if you enjoyed it more than I did, then I’m glad!

@@OGAutismonaut I wouldn’t have put it significantly higher, probably only 5 spots higher on the list of dkctf levels

Poison pond has always been my most hated level, even playing it when I was really young I always hated it, and replaying it now it’s only gotten worse lol

I’m honestly surprised anyone made it all the way through, congratulations!

Completely agree with everything you said, tropical freeze is one of those games where it feels too good to be real, and yet it is! Frosty fruits has always been the best one for me, although there’s definitely so many you could reasonably argue as the best Also yeah this video is waaay too long, don’t worry about it lol

The modern Pokémon games really have gone off a cliff in terms of quality lol, I more meant it in the sense that making a terrible Pokémon game is difficult in the same way that making a terrible tropical freeze level is, except game freak seem to be trying way harder on that account

Beating the entirety of donkey kong country 2 with a keyboard is mighty impressive, especially doing that squawks section in animal antics with wasd. I didn’t use save states and it was hard enough with a controller! I cannot imagine any scenario where I would enjoy poison pond more than frosty fruits lol, but if that’s you then I’m glad you had a much better time with it than I did! Glad you liked the video overall

It’s only for the first few don’t worry, for the earlier ones I split the audio and visuals and just ran with that, until I realised it didn’t sound particularly good so I used separate music files for all the rest. If I were to go back and remake this, that’s definitely something I would change

Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of ripsaw rage lol, but kong fused kliffs I actually really like! I guess technically the other games had autoscrollers too (trick track trek, forest frenzy etc) but dkc3 definitely went a lot harder on them so I can understand someone not liking that

Sorry about that lol, I’m happy you liked them more than me! It would be a very boring list if we all had the same opinions after all :D

If you disagree with me then that’s perfectly fair enough, I love talking with people about why they think I’m wrong. But if you can’t even comprehend someone having a different opinion to you then fair enough, smash that don’t recommend button

I will say though that the Land games aren’t actually ports but completely original games that use the DKC digitised sprites. They’re not masterpieces but they are legitimate DK games with their own sets of unique levels and enemies. Think of them as DKC 1.5, 2.5, etc

That’s true yeah, I honestly just didn’t have the time to play them all, I may just go back and do that at some point

I really like dkc3 on the whole! But that boss is pretty mediocre lol, way too slow, tonally broken, and K rool seems completely uninterested

@@OGAutismonaut I agree, especially considering that DKC3 bosses are pretty solid in general.

I knew I was gonna piss a lot of people off by putting it there lol, glad I’m not alone

Fair enough, I have done that jump may times with diddy too and never made it, but maybe he is just better, he is super kong after all

Far, far too long… Probably around 6 months lol

Probably not to well I’d imagine, maybe if it were like one of those ear bones which is tiny I’d be ok

Maybe donkey is into that idk, explains why he looks so happy while playing shoal atoll

If you somehow enjoyed poison pond then I am envious of your patience lol Jk, I’m glad you liked it more than me. My channel name I made like 10 years ago after I got diagnosed and just never bothered to change it cos I thought it was funny

I don’t entirely understand what you’re saying here. Both donkey kong returns and tropical freeze are definitely dkc games. They may not be made by rare, but at least for me they did a great job at translating all the themes of the original into a modern setting

If poison pond has 0 haters, I’m dead, but if you enjoyed it more than I did then I’m glad at least someone managed to!

@@OGAutismonaut the level is tricky but if you remember most of the bullshit fish placements it can be quite fun and the background really sets how the Kremlings ruined the environment and as a last water level it does its job pretty well

For the most part, I disagree. I don’t mind a level being hard, some of my favourite levels are so because they are difficult. But there’s a way to do difficulty in a good way, and the majority of levels lower on this list don’t do that. Either they’re hard because of bad controls, off screen shenanigans, or something else, injecting artificial difficulty in that way is absolutely something I think a level should be criticised for.

@@OGAutismonaut I think the majority of enemy placement makes sense. They are inline and match enemy placements and traps in previous levels but with a different method of set up. While in prior levels the enemies that are hidden like this “off screen” are led into with a chain of enemies or an element that would lead you to a solution to defeating them before you reached them, in later levels they expect you to be able to intuit this based on your gameplay. Some catch you off guard for sure, but I don’t think it ever reaches the level of unfair. These games are also made for multiple play throughs, so strategizing the layouts was another thing they accounted for and rewarded those who would go through again to find secrets. Part of that reward was being able to anticipate these enemies. There’s also the fact that playing through multiple times because you die means you have a higher chance of finding the secret even if it wasn’t something you set out to do.

I’ve never liked it to be fair, the second half is much better than the first but it’s definitely not one of my favourites lol. But hey, if you enjoyed it then I’m glad someone else was able to!

Completely understandable hating barrel drop bounce, that level is completely broken. I personally kinda found it fun, but I wouldn’t hold it against anyone for putting that one way way down. Webbed woods I do really dislike, but if you had more fun with it than me then that’s great! Red hot ride I do find extremely easy, with the only thing that might kill me being boredom, sure there’s some enemies laid around but none of them are especially impactful and you get so much time to move around that they may as well not even be there. I’m not sure if the timestamp is about clam city or snow barrel blast, but I think it’s the latter. In which case… Yeah I don’t blame people for being mad lol. I’ve never liked this level that much, the second half especially with the low frame rate barrels. The vibes are incredible but the gameplay I’ve never been able to get into. But I knew when I put it there that a lot of people really liked it, and I’m not saying you’re wrong in saying it’s a good level! It’s just not one of my favourites. Thanks for watching anyway, hopefully you still enjoyed!

@@OGAutismonaut the timestamp is about water levels in dkc1 being easy to get lost in tbh I'm shocked by a lot of your choices and I'm not even an hour in. I still respect the effort put into this video and I understand it's all subjective. If anything, your video has me considering making my own list!

I’d be really interested to see someone else’s thoughts on the levels, so if you’re up to the task then I’d love to see it! With the water level thing, that’s my bad I should’ve been more specific with my wording. The only on I got turned around on a lot was crocktopus chase, the others are mostly just a straight line so when I said maze I more meant just a really boring maze with lots of winding pathways so I should’ve probably used a different word there.

Thanks for such a detailed response! With the rocket barrel thing, yeah if you hate the controls which are a bit weird to be fair then I can understand not liking any of them. I personally really love the creativity and change of pace, but that wasn’t always the case. As a kid I had the exact same experience on crowded cavern lol, I died so many times on the final bat section that I just quit. With the maze like layout for the underwater levels, I should’ve been more specific with my wording. The only one I got turned around on was crocktopus chase, the rest I just found boring and by maze like I just meant that there’s a lot of pathways and none of them really go anywhere, so like a really easy one way maze lol. Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed!

Thanks for such a detailed response, always interesting to see people’s thoughts! Red hot ride I’ve never really liked, but if you got more out of it than me then I’m glad at least someone enjoyed it lol Volcano dome is a cool looking fight I guess and I do appreciate the K Rool references, but even so it’s such a slow and annoying fight that I’ve always hated doing it King zing absolutely stinks yeah lol, honestly he could’ve gone lower but above all to me he’s just a boring fight so I didn’t care about him enough to place him below some of the others which I disliked more Dumb drum is a pretty bad boss too, and he’s definitely very lazy, I do sort of enjoy the concept of his fight though of defeating his enemies, even if he does kill himself at the end for literally no reason While I don’t outright hate winky I can definitely see where the developers are coming from there, his levels definitely do him no favours either I used to find the volcano temple way harder than I do now, I died so many times as a kid trying to beat it. But on my last 2 play throughs of the game so long as I bring diddy I didn’t struggle at all outside of the final boulder section I didn’t even notice the “skeeter” mistakes until I had already posted the video and it annoys me too lol Good point about the pier, I guess the non peaceful bit is technically the sea and not the pier itself Me too! Completely understandable that seashore war is David Wise’s favourite song he’s made, incredible tune With the super kong cheat thing, I swear I’ve done that exact same movement with diddy multiple times and never managed to replicate what he does, but maybe that’s just me being bad I don’t know what it is about chain link chamber that makes me like it so much, I’ll definitely admit that toxic tower and castle crush are more inherently interesting. I guess I just really like the gameplay Fiery pigs truly are the bane of the average Englishman, can’t leave the house without my fiery pig repellant lol I actually never heard of Mr x until now, his design is cool! Great choice of song to sample too Frosty fruits is great, I played it again recently and I’d still put it at number one, perfect level I haven’t actually played the dk land games, maybe I should do that at some point, worse than poison pond you say? Hmm, might have to look into that! Anyway, thanks for the sub and congratulations on making it all the way through this long ass video!

EXACTLY. sky high caper. it's worth playing through the garbage that is donkey kong land 1 just so you can experience what might be the worst-designed level ever created for a platformer.

Hmmm I’m definitely considering it now, I have to see this

Oh no lol that level sucks, the controls are atrocious. I only put it that high because I guess maybe I got lucky and beat it fairly quickly, but the random shooting off to each side and reversed controls absolutely stink!

@@OGAutismonautIt just seemed unfair to introduce a new mechanic in a really hard level.

My brain is crying just thinking about having to try and render this with even more stuff lol