The music makes this game so bearable with how hard the gameplay is. I love this monkey game

The first Donkey Kong Country is definitely a great platformer, but personally I find that it's a bit less polished than its SNES sequels. You can tell that the level design philosophy for the series was still being sorted out, as it's a bit choppy in places. The bosses, other than K. Rool at the end, underwhelm. Expresso is janky. In the end, though, you still have a game with fun gameplay, iconic visual design, and outstanding music, and it makes for a memorable game all the same.