Never considered Donkey Kong Country's ugly pre-rendered graphics to be pushing the SNES at all. Yoshi's Island on the other hand did (and needed a Super FX2 chip to help deal with the inventive effects and gameplay ideas). And I know it wasn't obligatory for the challenge but it still would have been nice and it was the SNES that inspired the challenge.
It wasn't obligatory for the challenge. Also, nintendo themselves tried to push the limits of the SNES at the end, with donkey kong 3D. Also Earthworm Jim had me rubbing my eyes at the time.
I would've loved doing this challenge if I actually had time for it.
Some nice pieces though a bit disappointed at the lack of actual SNES-like feeling.
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I know, I hated Donkey Kong Country... Ever noticed how silly new technologies look a few years later? When I saw the Gollum in LoTR I was like, this is going to be laughable in a decade... It's sad :/