Donkey Kong Country is a 1994 platform game in which the gorilla Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong try to recover their stolen banana hoard from the crocodile King K. Rool. Developed by the British studio Rare for the Super Nintendo, it was one of the first console games to use pre-rendered 3D models, converted into sprites with little loss of detail. Its visuals were hailed as groundbreaking, and it set a record as the fastest-selling video game at the time. Across its sequels and rereleases it sold 9.3 million copies, making it the bestselling Donkey Kong game.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.