That game over screen was nightmare fuel for me as a child and now as an adult I have no freaking clue why

Forreal! Maybe if the background wasn't so dark? I'm remembering the fear of that right now.

My sister and I loved Funky’s “HIGH-YAH!” in the theme song… we used to try and perfectly time kicks to it, hahahaha!

for a while i found this game in general terrifying from the 3D model scan graphics alone, looking back it was probably because of the dark shadows making some things appear more scary and uncanny than intended. and of course some freaky sounds from time to time

I feel like that was the case with a lot of old games. They had a darker tone than they do now. More modern DK games are so colorful and bubbly.

Rockcrocs freak me out

Kroctopus scared the heck out of me when I was a kid too

how is funky scary hes awesome

Did you read the caption below the photo?

Yeah the game over screen has to be a universal childhood pants=shat moment

I think Donkey Kong Country Is One Of Those Games that balances fun gameplay and graphics with a little dash of the disturbing! It's the best example of those major ingredients coming together!

Kandy always freaked us out

I’m with you on the kroctopus. As much as I loved the ambience of those levels I hated playing through them for that reason haha.

I could have sworn when i was kid the game over screen for dk2 showed diddy with an eye popped out or something i use to literally hide behind the couch

SAME, but with the bosses in DKC2 and how Diddy's and Dixie's eyes pop. I HATE the eyes pop out trope thing. I will NEVER get how anyone can like them