From British developer Rare,
Donkey Kong Country was released for the Super Nintendo on the 21st of November in 1994 — becoming a massive hit due to its phenomenal level design, fantastic music, and groundbreaking graphics that, to be quite fair, still hold up pretty nicely.
While Rare had been developing games for a while,
Donkey Kong Country was the game that put the developer on the map; granted, they had created other renowned titles like Battletoads and R.C. Pro-Am, but none of them became such a household name; without taking away from the aforementioned series, of course.
Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of
Donkey Kong Country, and Steve Mayles — one of the character designers that worked on the
Donkey Kong Country series — shared an illustration he drew himself, as he celebrates the game's anniversary.
Steve Mayles' drawing perfectly captures the essence of
Donkey Kong Country by featuring Donkey, Diddy, and Rambi in what seems to be Jungle Hijinx: the first level of the game. Most definitely a beautiful homage to the game that started it all, and the series as a whole.
Take a look: