The Super Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country trilogy has a legendary reputation for two reasons. Being bloody epic, whilst also boasting some of video gaming’s very best soundtracks.
British composer David Wise is responsible for most of it. Eveline Fischer also played her part in this most epic of musical stories.
Join us now, today, here, for a journey through some ambient masterpieces. As Donkey Kong Country music turned platforming games with monkeys into profound legends.
Donkey Kong Country Music: Aquatic Ambiance, Stickerbush Symphony, and a World of Classics
Okay, we’ll break the music down across each game to see its evolution. Wise also didn’t work much on the third game, so it’s worth flagging up the change in style.
There’s a pretty obvious place to start with Donkey Kong Country music. Right from the first game, first world, the fourth level. It’s quite a legendary number.
Donkey Kong Country Music as Landmark Moment in Gaming History
That is Aquatic Ambiance, which is David Wise’s most famous piece of work. It appears on the level Coral Capers, which in 1994 stunned us with its detail.
We’d been on holiday to Barbados that year (lucky us) and remember the sweeping sand dunes on the ocean floor. Playing this level in Christmas 1994 brought it all flooding back, helped along by that glorious music.
Rare’s Donkey Kong Country may not be the best game from the trilogy, but there’s no denying the DK Country OST is iconic.
Wise had to go through a convoluted process to create the music he wanted. The Super Nintendo is a fantastic games console, but technically it had severe limitations (as the brilliant video from Nerd Writer demonstrates).
Inputting data over five weeks to deliver this work… we must doff our caps to Wise on that effort. In paid off enormously as the music was a massive talking point in 1994.
At times ambient, other times it ramps up the African drums with added dollops of electronic music and bass, the DK Country OST just somehow works so perfectly with the game.
Right from the off the music is incredible. This is what players were treated to from level one, the type of music scarcely heard before in video games.
It’s multi-layered, too, developing to ensure as players progressed through the level the music would become more contemplative.
On that level, a sunset kicks in right at the edge of the stage to coincide with the more contemplative close to the piece.
What a hell of an intro to Wise hitting peak form! And things don’t let up from there, either, the music stays at that quality throughout the game.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest Music is a Highlight of the DKC Trilogy
Okay, we’re claiming it! David Wise’s Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (1995) soundtrack is one of the best in video game history.
This thing stunned us back in 1995. We had a cassette player/recorder and stuck it up next to our TV to capture the music, fearing we’d never be able to hear it again.
Diddy’s Kong Quest music has the same vibes as the first game, yet tinged towards a greater sense of melancholy.
We’ll nod to Stickerbush Symphony (listen above) as it’s up there with Aquatic Ambiance as a defining track from the series.
As glorious as that one is, we do think Hot Head Hop comes very close to matching it. A favourite of ours, there’s just something about it.
It’s set on a lava level (that’s why there’s bubbling noises in the background), one of which requires a level of patient and commitment to complete as you drift about on blue balloons.
We just remember listening to that play as we progressed through the stage. Not a bad memory to have, eh?
Bayou Boogie from the 11th level of the game ramps up things further. This one is very dramatic, set in a swamp and making the mood all dramatic again.
Again, we’ll highlight the technological limitations of the Super Nintendo back in 1995. This was a 16-bit console with an S-SMP audio chip consisting of an 8-bit CPU, 16-bit DSP, and 64 KB of SRAM.
Basically, as the Nerd Writer video highlights, it really shouldn’t have been able to do this type of music on the DK Country 2 OST. And so we nod to the commitment required to get this music onto the Super Nintendo.
It was common in the era, creatives giving it 110% to overcome technical limitations to deliver something exceptional.
Fully worth the effort! 30 years later people still rave about the DKC 2 OST.
Donkey Kong Country 3 Soundtrack Where Eveline Fischer Left Her Mark
We did some research to find out why Wise didn’t work on the Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie’s Double Trouble (1996). It’s not clear why, to be honest, with duties instead going to Eveline Fischer.
Fischer did a great job on the soundtrack. No denying that.
However, it’s generally thought of as the weakest selection of music from the series. It’s very good, just not outstanding.
You can see she was channelling what had gone before in the first two games, as there’s the usual sense of chillout ambiance going on. We particularly like the music between level selection and how it also reminds us of being kids in 1996.
The Donkey Kong Country 3 soundtrack was the most technically polished game from the SNES trilogy. It’s a very fine platformer, too, but arguably doesn’t have the edge on its predecessor.
However, it was pretty much the last major launch on the Super Nintendo prior to the arrival of the Nintendo 64 (already out in Japan) in the West.
And that makes for a fitting swansong on the SNES, which many still argue is the greatest games console of them all.
David Wise 5 and the Live DKC Experience
David Wise maintained a pretty quiet presence throughout the 1990s and 2000s. It’s only over the last decade he’s become much more vocal about his involvement in the industry.
That seems to be thanks to the advent of the internet era. Over the last 10 years he’s realised just how popular his music is.
One of the results from that is the David Wise 5, who tour around doing gigs from time to time! Not always just in the UK, we must add! This type of thing isn’t uncommon now, indie game composer Floex provides regular live shows.
The Wise 5 consist of former Rare employees. Here was their most recent gig in, of all places, our beloved Manchester city centre.
Awesome night in Manchester with the Dave Wise 5 Live @FormatGG @drdoak @Kev_Bayliss @RealKrystalFox https://t.co/bJCRTlcQhi
— David Wise | Music Composer & Sound Design VGM (@David_Wise) October 26, 2023
Now, we were supposed to be at that gig. But we were ill, so had to skip it. That’s a bummer.
But to get over that, we’ve instead just been playing the DKC trilogy again. Why? As it’s bloody excellent, that’s why, and we hope to hear Donkey Kong Country music live one day. And we fully intend to.
