Oh ho ho! Here's a thread that's right up my (Ice Age) Alley!
I love all the Donkey Kong Country Games so much, with each game being wonderful in it's own way. Heck, I replayed all the Country games back to back early this year, 100 percenting each of them! DKC 2 is the best of the original trilogy of course, with the tightest and zippiest gameplay and sublime sense of atmosphere-grim and . It's the perfect sequel, really. DKC 3 may be considered the black sheep of the original trilogy, but I love the uncanny sense of tenseness you get exploring the Northern Kremisphere (or as I like to call it, Kanada). The more open, exploratory nature of the game is a wonderful change of pace, and wish future games had taken more inspiration from this game's more open world maps. Returns brought my favorite character back into the limelight, and is a wonderful return to form for the franchise as a whole. It may be a retread of the first DKC, but Retro managed to put it's own unique spin on the franchise make the return to Donkey Kong Island fresh and exciting. And Tropical Freeze is a Masterclass of Game Design. Each level is meticulously and beautifully designed in their gimmicks and layouts, the soundtrack is a fantastic celebration of everything Donkey Kong has been, and it's sense of atmosphere can rival even the Rare games. I could gush about these games for so long, you don't even know.
But my favorite Country game? To this day, it's still the first Donkey Kong Country. It was the game that got me into gaming in the first place! I remember seeing ads for the Gameboy Advance Port when I was about 8 years old, and I knew, I just knew I had to have this game. And once I got it? I was hooked. The colors may have been washed out for the original Gameboy Advances screen, but even still I knew I was playing something special. The fantastic gameplay, the absolutely iconic music, the at times somber and melancholic atmosphere, the sheer personality of the characters and the game itself had me under it's spell the entire time. I remember my first playthrough of that game so well, even a decade and a half later. From romping through Jungle Hijinx and uncovering it's plentiful secrets, to blasting through the Animal Buddy Special Stages collecting as many gold tokens as I could, to that tense first mine cart ride, to the triumphant feeling I experienced when I finally overcame the Queen B. fight in Vine Valley, to experiencing the beauty of Slip Slide Ride, to listening to the bop that is Tree Top Rock (seriously, the GBA version of that song is the best version), to facing off against King K. Rool himself aboard the Gangplank Galleon. This is the game that me love gaming, and I wouldn't be here today without it. I love this game so much, and it will always have a special place in my heart.