Only thought of this yesterday while listening to "Good Grief" by the Foo Fighters (from their debut album). In high school my best friend Amanda and I (and our mutual friend Gareth, who Amanda had gone to primary school with) played Donkey Kong Country for the Super NES. We also played other games, but this was our favourite. We spent hours upon hours playing this game, working up toward the end, discovering secret stages and hidden stashes of golden bananas. Oh, and trying not to die. It was so easy to die!
Every time I hear any song at all from the Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album (which, if you didn't know, Dave Grohl recorded all by himself - drums, guitars, bass and vocals, all of it - by running from one studio room to another), I think of this video game. Naturally it's the album least known by Foo Fighters fans of today. They've had such monstrous hits from their subsequent albums. But this album will always be my nostalgic favourite.
This album isn't the only one that reminds me of DKC. Soul Asylum's Let Your Dim Light Shine also takes me back, because it was during my DKC fanatic days that I bought this album. We would listen to music while playing, so no wonder these songs get me all nostalgic.
That mutual friend of ours, Gareth, actually got RSI from playing too many video games. I was working at the Subiaco Pavilion Markets one time (in my mum's clothing store, but that's another story), when Gareth came in to visit - his arm in a sling. Gareth always knew the cheats and the secret stages, so we relied on him to figure out those last little bits we'd been missing.
I think what I loved so much about this game was its visual beauty. And the cool music that went along with it. I'm not a huge fan of video games these days. They've got a bit too high-tech for me. I'm not a fan of the whole 3D thing. Call me a granny, I don't mind. I like platform games best. More to the point, I really like DKC best. Oh, and I had the second game too. Diddy's Quest. But I never got the third.
I still have my Super NES, but it doesn't work anymore. And that makes me sad. Then again, if it did work, I'd have no spare time for revisions. I'd be playing DKC all weekend!
Every time I hear any song at all from the Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album (which, if you didn't know, Dave Grohl recorded all by himself - drums, guitars, bass and vocals, all of it - by running from one studio room to another), I think of this video game. Naturally it's the album least known by Foo Fighters fans of today. They've had such monstrous hits from their subsequent albums. But this album will always be my nostalgic favourite.
This album isn't the only one that reminds me of DKC. Soul Asylum's Let Your Dim Light Shine also takes me back, because it was during my DKC fanatic days that I bought this album. We would listen to music while playing, so no wonder these songs get me all nostalgic.
That mutual friend of ours, Gareth, actually got RSI from playing too many video games. I was working at the Subiaco Pavilion Markets one time (in my mum's clothing store, but that's another story), when Gareth came in to visit - his arm in a sling. Gareth always knew the cheats and the secret stages, so we relied on him to figure out those last little bits we'd been missing.
I think what I loved so much about this game was its visual beauty. And the cool music that went along with it. I'm not a huge fan of video games these days. They've got a bit too high-tech for me. I'm not a fan of the whole 3D thing. Call me a granny, I don't mind. I like platform games best. More to the point, I really like DKC best. Oh, and I had the second game too. Diddy's Quest. But I never got the third.
I still have my Super NES, but it doesn't work anymore. And that makes me sad. Then again, if it did work, I'd have no spare time for revisions. I'd be playing DKC all weekend!
OOOOOhh, YAY! Am I the first to comment? :) LOVED Donkey Kong. Fun.
ReplyDelete:)
I LOVED Donkey Kong. LOL
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun was had by all. Those memories have a sweet sadness to them don't you think.
ReplyDeleteGlad there are other fans out there! LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnn, it was a lot of fun indeed :)
The sentence write after your DKC picture is a little off, Trisha.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the whole 3D thing either. It would put a much bigger strain on my eyes, plus, I really do think that 3D just doesn't work right for me because of my poor eyesight. Things barely pop at all, no matter what quality I'm looking at.
Hehe, thanks Brooke - I already had to correct it before, didn't bother to read the whole thing through though. It's corrected now ;)
ReplyDeleteI heart the Foo Fighters. And the first album Dave Grohl recorded was awesome. He is SO talented! :D
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I ever played this. Since video games weren't around when I was growing up I never got very much into them. Well, there was a period when my kids were young that I kind of got into Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario Bros.--those were pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteContrary to my usual practice of subscribing to comments, to save time during the challenge I will not be doing so at the moment. If you want to respond to my comment , please email me directly from your email notification for the comment.
Thanks. And I truly appreciate your efforts.
Lee
Tossing It Out
My brother had a NES and we spent hours playing some terrible Street Fighter game or something. But my absolute gaming love is Mario Kart on the Gamecube. I once did a 24 hour marathon of Mario Kart with a whole bunch of people! (And I still have my Gamecube, and it still works too!)
ReplyDeleteI used to LOVE Donkey Kong. Now I love Doodle Jump. And Just Dance II on the Wii.Still, I love the expression it's time to get your Donkey Kong on...
ReplyDeleteI never played Donkey Kong, but I remember it. My favorite was Atari's Pitfall. I could play that for hours on end. :) Good thing we don't have any gaming systems, or I'd never get any writing done!
ReplyDeleteDonkey Kong Country was a great game. Was the first Foo Fighters record the one with the raygun on the cover? That's the only one I had.
ReplyDelete@Arlee - I loved Sonic too,but I had a slight bias against Sega Master System because of someone I knew who had one ;)
ReplyDelete@Angeline, I played Street Fighter a bit, but Mortal Kombat more. :D We used to pretend the people we hated were the ones we were beating up in that game. err... yeah lol. I also had Mario Bros games for my SNES. They provided MANY hours of fun!
@Samantha - haven't heard of any of those games. But yes, that's a classic saying, "on like Donkey Kong". hehe
@Alison - my bro had a hand-me-down Atari for a while there. Space invaders, wooo!!!
@Dan - yep, that was the one. It's a great album!
I'm horrible at video games. I have no coordination but my son loves that game.
ReplyDeleteI know the game Donkey Kong Country, but I can assure you that I love Foo Fighters. A greeting.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of this Donkey Kong thing, but it looks like fun! I used to love playing something that was about this little guy finding treasures and gems...
ReplyDelete@Clarissa - I'm not the best either, but this was one you didn't always have to be really fast at. :D
ReplyDelete@Leovi - YAY Foo Fighters! :)
@Rachel - It was heaps of fun. Man I miss it so badly! To get to the secret stages you had to find these shiny golden statues of certain characters, i.e. of Rambi the rhinoceros, and of the emu guy (can't remember all their names). They looked so pretty!
It's on like Donkey Kong!!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a blast~ I loved playing Donkey Kong at other people's houses! All we had at our house was this ghetto version on Nintendo called Nintelevision and we had about 3 games. Lame ones too.
ReplyDeleteTrisha, what a creative "D" entry! Huzzah! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
What a fun memory! I only played DKC a few times, at friend's houses. But, I know how addicitng these games can be. Thanks for sharing ~ :)
ReplyDeleteGreat "D" post! :)
ReplyDeleteDonkey Kong, now those were the days!
ReplyDeleteMy son has the new Donkey Kong and loves it. Talk about advancement in video game technology! :)
ReplyDeleteStopping by through the A-Z challenge.
I'm so uncoordinated I always died almost immediately, but I still love remembering playing these games as I would play them with my nephews. While reading your post, I could hear their giggling at my ineptitude. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love taking these kinds of nostalgic trips, great post!
I'm a video game junkie... I recently had the chance to play an old version of Donkey Kong in an arcade... joysticks and all... now THAT was fun!
ReplyDeleteLoved DKC, and also still have a Super Nes. Though I play most of my old favorites on the Wii.
ReplyDeleteMan, this post took me a back!
EJ
I never played Donkey Kong Country, but I loved Donkey Kong! This post is like a little nostalgia package. Fun!
ReplyDeleteMy SNES still works! But my DKC was loaned to a good friend in middle school, and that dirty troll moved the next year without giving it back. sigh
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Marie at the Cheetah
Marie, I'm jealous that your SNES works! :P That sucks that somebody stole your game!! I still have my games.
ReplyDeleteKarie Marie, I never played Donkey Kong - probably would have loved it. hehe
Thanks to everyone who stopped by! :)