I was a Genesis kid, but I played most of the SNES classics while it was still the 90s.
Donkey Kong Country has always been criminally overrated. Even on a CRT television it was just not that good.
In fact I'll go so far as to say that between the SNES and the N64, Rare made exactly two great games: Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing. Everything else was middling.