The game's manual explains that, after the events of Donkey Kong Country, Cranky Kong claims that the only reason DKC was a success was it's use of George Wood Voice Silicon Graphics. Cranky then challenges DK and Diddy to once again save their banana hoard from King K Rool, but this time on the Game Boy. It's a genuinely funny explanation for why this game exists outside of just being a tie-in to what was becoming one of the SNES's most popular series, and it's also a cute little allegory to how Rare may have felt making this game. Could they actually manage to capture the spirit of DKC within the limits of a handheld 8-bit console? The result ends up being mostly a success, believe it or not.
Land has to make a couple of big compromises to get there, though. The smaller screen size isn't actually as much of a menace when it comes to getting killed by offscreen enemies, but what it does do is make Diddy and DK feel a lot slower and less capable. The rolling jump you can normally do off platforms in DKC is way harder to pull off due to it being a lot more finicky to get the right amount of acceleration for it. The Game Boy's smaller memory also means that when a level gets vertical, falling down often doesn't mean landing on a lower platform but instead immediately dying because whatever was down there simply isn't there anymore. The CG sprites of DKC on the Game Boy certainly don't look great, but their silllhouettes are readable enough that I never found it much of a problem to spot enemies and read level design (granted this is probably a lot easier to do on emulator). While these limitations definitely keep this from being as good of an experience as the original, what we have here is still a very competent and fun set of DKC levels.
None of the levels are really 1-to-1 with DKC, as this game was made more as a companion to DKC rather than a port. But the original levels here can be just as fun, as a good amount of the feel of the SNES game is retained here in enemy placement and the prioritization of keeping things kinetic as much as possible. Surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of this game ended up being the water levels, as they introduce some neat new enemy designs like a jellyfish that you can go under or over, each having its own distinct risk, or a nautilus that chases you through parts of a level. The water levels also have a new underwater temple setting, and in fact there are a lot of new settings for the game here, which help keep things varied on a console that requires a lot of clever reuse and tricks to get a game like this onto it. As for the music, well I guess it should be no surprise the geniuses behind the SNES soundtrack can also make those songs sound great on the Game Boy. The compositions here are slightly different from the SNES versions, but this is usually because the song decides to take advantage of the GB's sound rather than see it as a limitation, an opportunity to make something new. The original tracks in this song don't slack at all.
At its best, this game can manage to perfectly capture the feel of DKC, and it can feel like you were just given a whole new set of levels for the game you never knew about. But not only are there the limitations I mentioned before, but there are also just some stinker levels here. The levels that take place in the sky setting are almost all bad, as most of them require waiting on slow, small platforms while trying to avoid enemies. The second one, in which you can change the direction of the platform by jumping on it, is probably the worst level in any Donkey Kong game. It's slow, it's way too easy to fall off, jumping and landing on the platform in quick succession feels bad, and the problems with acceleration really hit when you have barely any land to run and jump off of. Also, sometimes it feels like this game gives you no hang time off cliffs whatsoever, whereas I feel like the console DKC games do a good job of giving you some slack when it comes to jumping off cliffs. I was expecting a lot more levels like these when I played this, but as I said, there's a lot of neat stuff in this game. It doesn't fully succeed in capturing everything that's great about DKC, and the level design isn’t nearly as fine tuned and elegant, but it ends up serving as a fun supplement to the original, I would recommend it if your fiending for more DKC and have overlooked this game in the past.
Land has to make a couple of big compromises to get there, though. The smaller screen size isn't actually as much of a menace when it comes to getting killed by offscreen enemies, but what it does do is make Diddy and DK feel a lot slower and less capable. The rolling jump you can normally do off platforms in DKC is way harder to pull off due to it being a lot more finicky to get the right amount of acceleration for it. The Game Boy's smaller memory also means that when a level gets vertical, falling down often doesn't mean landing on a lower platform but instead immediately dying because whatever was down there simply isn't there anymore. The CG sprites of DKC on the Game Boy certainly don't look great, but their silllhouettes are readable enough that I never found it much of a problem to spot enemies and read level design (granted this is probably a lot easier to do on emulator). While these limitations definitely keep this from being as good of an experience as the original, what we have here is still a very competent and fun set of DKC levels.
None of the levels are really 1-to-1 with DKC, as this game was made more as a companion to DKC rather than a port. But the original levels here can be just as fun, as a good amount of the feel of the SNES game is retained here in enemy placement and the prioritization of keeping things kinetic as much as possible. Surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of this game ended up being the water levels, as they introduce some neat new enemy designs like a jellyfish that you can go under or over, each having its own distinct risk, or a nautilus that chases you through parts of a level. The water levels also have a new underwater temple setting, and in fact there are a lot of new settings for the game here, which help keep things varied on a console that requires a lot of clever reuse and tricks to get a game like this onto it. As for the music, well I guess it should be no surprise the geniuses behind the SNES soundtrack can also make those songs sound great on the Game Boy. The compositions here are slightly different from the SNES versions, but this is usually because the song decides to take advantage of the GB's sound rather than see it as a limitation, an opportunity to make something new. The original tracks in this song don't slack at all.
At its best, this game can manage to perfectly capture the feel of DKC, and it can feel like you were just given a whole new set of levels for the game you never knew about. But not only are there the limitations I mentioned before, but there are also just some stinker levels here. The levels that take place in the sky setting are almost all bad, as most of them require waiting on slow, small platforms while trying to avoid enemies. The second one, in which you can change the direction of the platform by jumping on it, is probably the worst level in any Donkey Kong game. It's slow, it's way too easy to fall off, jumping and landing on the platform in quick succession feels bad, and the problems with acceleration really hit when you have barely any land to run and jump off of. Also, sometimes it feels like this game gives you no hang time off cliffs whatsoever, whereas I feel like the console DKC games do a good job of giving you some slack when it comes to jumping off cliffs. I was expecting a lot more levels like these when I played this, but as I said, there's a lot of neat stuff in this game. It doesn't fully succeed in capturing everything that's great about DKC, and the level design isn’t nearly as fine tuned and elegant, but it ends up serving as a fun supplement to the original, I would recommend it if your fiending for more DKC and have overlooked this game in the past.
Space Chimps minus the space
Donkey Kong Country was a platformer with an interesting design, where the platforms and even playable characters' physics are kind of vague, they're kind of loosely designed. And on a console like the SNES, it worked very well as it made it easy for the player to flow and react in order to execute quick stage runs! Trying to cram that into a Gameboy does not really work.
The platforming tends to be frustrating, and even at times "too" loose. The entire game feels very haphazardly put together, thus the controls suffer a bit for it. I'm sure there's some miracle story that they got this game working the way it does, but I don't care. It's not fun. It doesn't really fit as even a remotely suitable experience to the SNES game.
The platforming tends to be frustrating, and even at times "too" loose. The entire game feels very haphazardly put together, thus the controls suffer a bit for it. I'm sure there's some miracle story that they got this game working the way it does, but I don't care. It's not fun. It doesn't really fit as even a remotely suitable experience to the SNES game.
Expresso learned he's wearing shoes in a 2D platformer and CAN defeat enemies by jumping on their heads, I'm glad for him!
A very strange little game, it is very limited due to the Game Boy, I died more from taking damage and falling out of the camera even though clearly there was ground under me than anything else, but the game itself is fun, the characters controls well and I liked the new levels, I recommend it more to people who absolutely love the DKC trilogy and want a fresh experience.
A very strange little game, it is very limited due to the Game Boy, I died more from taking damage and falling out of the camera even though clearly there was ground under me than anything else, but the game itself is fun, the characters controls well and I liked the new levels, I recommend it more to people who absolutely love the DKC trilogy and want a fresh experience.
I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY
I actually like this game. My first experience didn't go too well since I was behind the learning curve. But now that I'm over that hump, I have a lot of respect for this DKC demake.
-The artstyle remains intact
-I never had trouble reading the screen (chalk it up to my perfect, albeit short-sighted vision)
-Most - like 93% - of the bonus barrels weren't cryptically hidden (though with every DKC game, there were a handful I needed to hunt down with a guide up)
-Rolling through enemies no longer speeds our hairy heroes up to mach speed, goomba stomping does this instead (bopping the flying pigs in the sky levels was nerve-wracking for this reason)
-Obstacles entered the screen at a reactable speed, IMO (Killer Instinct has honed my hand-eye coordination)
BUT I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY
I actually like this game. My first experience didn't go too well since I was behind the learning curve. But now that I'm over that hump, I have a lot of respect for this DKC demake.
-The artstyle remains intact
-I never had trouble reading the screen (chalk it up to my perfect, albeit short-sighted vision)
-Most - like 93% - of the bonus barrels weren't cryptically hidden (though with every DKC game, there were a handful I needed to hunt down with a guide up)
-Rolling through enemies no longer speeds our hairy heroes up to mach speed, goomba stomping does this instead (bopping the flying pigs in the sky levels was nerve-wracking for this reason)
-Obstacles entered the screen at a reactable speed, IMO (Killer Instinct has honed my hand-eye coordination)
BUT I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY I HATE THE GAME BOY
This one feels like one of the more ambitious, but still really jank and ultimately pretty bad unlicensed, Chinese pirate games. The levels are visually unclear, especially on a shitty Game Boy screen, due to too much detail in the backgrounds and a lack of contrast with the characters and important objects.
It also feels a bit all-over-the-place with environments even from the first world on. You're in the jungle, you find a secret shortcut that you swim through for no reason, then you're in the snow, another shortcut has you on a classic Donkey Kong arcade style construction site for literally a second, then back to the jungle, back to the snow, onto a DKC2 ship... etc.
All in World 1. And all that without there being anything really interesting happening with the levels. Not to mention the leaps of faith and really janky barrel sections they immediately hit you with as well.
But the worst part is probably the controls and overall physics. It's just not fun to do anything and often you take damage or die for really stupid reasons. The roll doesn't always actually defeat enemies, doesn't accelerate satisfyingly, doesn't do the "coyote time" thing with mid-air jumping after rolling, instead you hold A to awkwardly float in mid-air for a second without that making any sense, the bouncing doesn't feel right, the momentum makes no sense... it just isn't very fun and overall just feels like an utter slog.
I somewhat respect what they were trying to do and I also do like the fact that the game isn't trying to be a direct conversion of DKC but instead is its own thing with its own unique ideas here and there, but none of that helps when I just don't enjoy playing it.
In contrast, Donkey Kong Land 2 did a much better job of delivering a stripped-down version of the DKC2 experience, even if it did lose some of its own unique identity in the process. But at least it's fun and can even be a more-or-less worthy substitute for the SNES version for those who wanted to play it on the go or simply didn't have access to that version.
It also feels a bit all-over-the-place with environments even from the first world on. You're in the jungle, you find a secret shortcut that you swim through for no reason, then you're in the snow, another shortcut has you on a classic Donkey Kong arcade style construction site for literally a second, then back to the jungle, back to the snow, onto a DKC2 ship... etc.
All in World 1. And all that without there being anything really interesting happening with the levels. Not to mention the leaps of faith and really janky barrel sections they immediately hit you with as well.
But the worst part is probably the controls and overall physics. It's just not fun to do anything and often you take damage or die for really stupid reasons. The roll doesn't always actually defeat enemies, doesn't accelerate satisfyingly, doesn't do the "coyote time" thing with mid-air jumping after rolling, instead you hold A to awkwardly float in mid-air for a second without that making any sense, the bouncing doesn't feel right, the momentum makes no sense... it just isn't very fun and overall just feels like an utter slog.
I somewhat respect what they were trying to do and I also do like the fact that the game isn't trying to be a direct conversion of DKC but instead is its own thing with its own unique ideas here and there, but none of that helps when I just don't enjoy playing it.
In contrast, Donkey Kong Land 2 did a much better job of delivering a stripped-down version of the DKC2 experience, even if it did lose some of its own unique identity in the process. But at least it's fun and can even be a more-or-less worthy substitute for the SNES version for those who wanted to play it on the go or simply didn't have access to that version.
para um jogo de gameboy ele realmente é bom, e pelo menos é diferente do original de SNES (diferente do Land 2 e 3) com fases novas e criativas que eu realmente gostaria de ver em um outro jogo do DK, mas é pequeno demais e algumas fases tem um nível de dificuldade alto demais e injustos.
When I played it the first time, the clunky controls and bad physics drove me away, it felt bad to play. But when I picked it again recently, it was better than I thought it was. I got used to the controls and physics and found the game to be fairly engaging. There were a few bad levels, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely not perfect, but it is not a bad game either.
Please, Nintendo, make a Donkey Kong Land with current DKC graphics and controls.
This game is very difficult, but most of times it's just because of its controls, they are terrible.
It is very impressive stuff for a console which couldn't handle not even NES graphics, and the soundtrack is actually interesting.
Some of the stages are very good and interesting, but many of them demand leaps of faith or surprise you with an enemy out of nowhere, mostly because of the screen crunch.
I'd like to play these stages and themes with good controls, though.
This game is very difficult, but most of times it's just because of its controls, they are terrible.
It is very impressive stuff for a console which couldn't handle not even NES graphics, and the soundtrack is actually interesting.
Some of the stages are very good and interesting, but many of them demand leaps of faith or surprise you with an enemy out of nowhere, mostly because of the screen crunch.
I'd like to play these stages and themes with good controls, though.
O tamanho da tela pode atrapalhar um pouco, pequenos defeitos nos controles, os gráficos complexos que foram reduzidos pra rodar no portátil e a facilidade que é morrer no jogo são coisas que afastam muita gente dele. Mesmo com tudo isso eu diria que são os únicos problemas grandes com ele, tirando isso temos uma "versão alternativa" porém única do primeiro Donkey Kong Country muito boa de se jogar, com fases criativas, level design muito bom, algumas fases chatas mas nada impossível e uma trilha sonora bem legal. É uma experiência de Donkey Kong completa, apesar dos defeitos.
It was bold of Nintendo to base those final levels on the aftermath of The Great Ape War, but I think it payed off.
O jogo é bem limitado graficamente e a jogabilidade fica a quem do restante da franquia, mas ainda sim é um DONKEY KONG NO GAME BOY! haha
Apesar dos problemas é um jogo bom, divertido e vale a experiência!
PS - O curtucho amarelinho é muito charmoso!
Apesar dos problemas é um jogo bom, divertido e vale a experiência!
PS - O curtucho amarelinho é muito charmoso!
They nailed it on GameBoy - an underrated solid DKC game. It's shorter and less difficult than DKC1, but they've managed to keep the feeling of the console game, despite the platform. Its only problem was low visibility on an actual handheld, but not a big deal on emulators with color palettes and a Super GameBoy mode within a button press. No reason to ignore it now.
And yeah, the tunes had no right to slap this hard. At times they're even better than on SNES.
And yeah, the tunes had no right to slap this hard. At times they're even better than on SNES.
This was short and sweet; it took about an hour and a half to beat.
Bosses are just as pathetic as in the original and the physics (especially for Diddy) feel wonky, but the level design accommodates for that. The graphics are genuinely impressive as fuck, even if it can sometimes be hard to see stuff due to the black-and-white screen. The music is great. Most of the levels are pretty decent, although there are a few bad ones (Sky Caper). The final world is surprisingly good, though.
Yeah, it’s Donkey Kong Country compressed to 8-bit form and shoved into a Game Boy cartridge, but it still manages to be fun.
Bosses are just as pathetic as in the original and the physics (especially for Diddy) feel wonky, but the level design accommodates for that. The graphics are genuinely impressive as fuck, even if it can sometimes be hard to see stuff due to the black-and-white screen. The music is great. Most of the levels are pretty decent, although there are a few bad ones (Sky Caper). The final world is surprisingly good, though.
Yeah, it’s Donkey Kong Country compressed to 8-bit form and shoved into a Game Boy cartridge, but it still manages to be fun.
Donkey Kong Land is certainly an impressive technical achievement for translating the Donkey Kong Country experience to the Gameboy. The levels vary wildly in themes, length, difficulty, and overall quality. The biggest obstacle however is the incredibly small area you can see at any given time. For this reason an extremely cautious pace and/or rote memorization is necessary, neither of which are particularly conducive to a fun platforming experience. This game is best played for its historical significance and some intriguing twists on DKC, but it is by no means a fun experience.
Love how the final boss is just K. Rools apartment. Imagine if the next Mario game's final boss is Bowser's airbnb
There's something so ironic about the fact that this game was made to prove that the original Donkey Kong Country wasn't just acclaimed for its visuals, but also for its gameplay, so they stripped down the visuals and let the gameplay shine. Because, like, the gameplay of Donkey Kong Land sucks while Country is still great.
It's impressive that they managed to at least somewhat replicate the style and feel of DKC, and there's a ton of variety with the level themes, enemies, and objects. But the momentum is off, the hitboxes are even worse, and the limited camera view makes the game practically unplayable. But the level design might be the worst offender.
The second level in the entire game is a freaking ice level. There's a level in world 3 that focuses on a type of platform that only moves up, down, left, or right, and it only changes direction whenever you jump on it, or whenever it hits a wall. You have to dodge enemies (usually by jumping on them) and navigate labyrinths while staying on this platform. It's just as horrible as it sounds. Who even thought of that? Two levels after that, a barrel cannon launched me directly into an off-camera enemy and I took damage. You can't make this shit up lmfao
To end this on a positive, this game has a shockingly great soundtrack. It's mostly completely original, and fits right next to any other DKC soundtrack despite being 8-bit. It's so underrated and I just thought I'd share some of the best songs for those of you DKC fans who want more music to enjoy.
Ruins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqyyFV9XF2g
Kremlantis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFU2fxy35t8
Cave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QSNUsLDhls
Airship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCbX4xdWjQ
Construction Site - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HMIWB8aes
Boss - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDoDZxoQvfM
It's impressive that they managed to at least somewhat replicate the style and feel of DKC, and there's a ton of variety with the level themes, enemies, and objects. But the momentum is off, the hitboxes are even worse, and the limited camera view makes the game practically unplayable. But the level design might be the worst offender.
The second level in the entire game is a freaking ice level. There's a level in world 3 that focuses on a type of platform that only moves up, down, left, or right, and it only changes direction whenever you jump on it, or whenever it hits a wall. You have to dodge enemies (usually by jumping on them) and navigate labyrinths while staying on this platform. It's just as horrible as it sounds. Who even thought of that? Two levels after that, a barrel cannon launched me directly into an off-camera enemy and I took damage. You can't make this shit up lmfao
To end this on a positive, this game has a shockingly great soundtrack. It's mostly completely original, and fits right next to any other DKC soundtrack despite being 8-bit. It's so underrated and I just thought I'd share some of the best songs for those of you DKC fans who want more music to enjoy.
Ruins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqyyFV9XF2g
Kremlantis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFU2fxy35t8
Cave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QSNUsLDhls
Airship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCbX4xdWjQ
Construction Site - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HMIWB8aes
Boss - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDoDZxoQvfM
Wow, this game feels like shit and all of the levels were really bad. They tried a couple new things... like collecting the KONG letters to make a bridge, but were those new ideas any fun?
No.
No.
So you're really just gonna sit there and ask me to 100% your game and then give me nothing to show for it but a black screen that says "congratulations," huh
Donkey Kong Land is such a strange idea.
I understand wanting to port the Donkey Kong Country games to a handheld, but I don't understand why they made it in the same visual style of the SNES game when it doesn't fit the Game Boy at all. I know it's probably because the visual fidelity was part of the allure of Donkey Kong Country, but when the visuals start to get in the way and make things hard to work with like here in Donkey Kong Land, you start to ask yourself why they kept going with this.
I can't say this is all bad though. They really are trying to translate Donkey Kong Country to the Game Boy, and you can see it through some well designed levels with interesting and fun mechanics/gimmicks thrown in every once and was while. The major issue is that the game controls really weirdly, so you can't really appreciate the ideas of the levels at all. It's super easy to run off ledges or miss seemingly easy jumps. I think a lot of that stems from the jump. I feel like you sink immediately to the floor once you let go of that jump button.
Another strong issue with the gameplay is the camera. Usually you can see enough to get by, but very often an enemy will come crashing into you from offscreen. Similarly, the game will register a death when you reach the bottom of the screen even if you know for a fact there's flooring beneath you. It's something that will rarely bother you but you'll notice it once and a while when playing and it'll mindfuck you.
Overall, it's a nice shot really. I don't think this game is good, but I appreciate the effort and can see this being developed more and turned into something great.
5/10 - Mediocre/Mid
I understand wanting to port the Donkey Kong Country games to a handheld, but I don't understand why they made it in the same visual style of the SNES game when it doesn't fit the Game Boy at all. I know it's probably because the visual fidelity was part of the allure of Donkey Kong Country, but when the visuals start to get in the way and make things hard to work with like here in Donkey Kong Land, you start to ask yourself why they kept going with this.
I can't say this is all bad though. They really are trying to translate Donkey Kong Country to the Game Boy, and you can see it through some well designed levels with interesting and fun mechanics/gimmicks thrown in every once and was while. The major issue is that the game controls really weirdly, so you can't really appreciate the ideas of the levels at all. It's super easy to run off ledges or miss seemingly easy jumps. I think a lot of that stems from the jump. I feel like you sink immediately to the floor once you let go of that jump button.
Another strong issue with the gameplay is the camera. Usually you can see enough to get by, but very often an enemy will come crashing into you from offscreen. Similarly, the game will register a death when you reach the bottom of the screen even if you know for a fact there's flooring beneath you. It's something that will rarely bother you but you'll notice it once and a while when playing and it'll mindfuck you.
Overall, it's a nice shot really. I don't think this game is good, but I appreciate the effort and can see this being developed more and turned into something great.
5/10 - Mediocre/Mid
pros: legitimately impressive handheld companion title to DKC, as little as possible is sacrificed to bring you a donkey kong country experience on the go. perhaps it would be redundant to play today if it was simply "donkey kong country but on the gameboy", but this is something of a sequel with all new levels, acting as a sort of "donkey kong country 1.5"
cons: I CANT SEE SHIT OH MY GOD MY EYES HURT WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GIMMICK WHERE I HAVE TO JUMP ON A PLATFORM TO CHANGE ITS DIRECTION WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WATER LEVELS WHY DO THE BOSSES HAVE SO MUCH HP THIS GAME SUCKS
cons: I CANT SEE SHIT OH MY GOD MY EYES HURT WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GIMMICK WHERE I HAVE TO JUMP ON A PLATFORM TO CHANGE ITS DIRECTION WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WATER LEVELS WHY DO THE BOSSES HAVE SO MUCH HP THIS GAME SUCKS
Can't believe that this clunky Gameboy game has better water controls than most platformers that came after it.
Pros: A semi-sequel to Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, this was a brand new game, completely unique, and it went out of its way to show you just how unique it was! Firstly though, this game was visually impressive as hell, getting a game that looked like Donkey Kong Country running on an 8-bit black and white handheld couldn't' have been easy, large sprites, fully animated, smooth framed, it was a stunner! DKC on SNES blew all of our minds with its visuals, and they did again here on Game Boy. It plays like DKC, with the gameplay staples like barrel cannons, rope swinging, animal buddies (just two here, Rambi and Expresso, but hey, you can still ride them!) roll jumping, tag-teaming, the works, this is solid DKC style gameplay! This game featured four big worlds full of 30 levels, with brand new enemies like Hogwash the Flying Pig, Nemo, Swirlwind, and new bosses like Hard Hat the mole. It also featured new archetypes for stages, like pirate ships, mountainsides, crazy cloud lands, underwater sunken temples, and last but not least, the CITY. Beautiful way to end the game, going back to the city where DK started, with construction sites, skyscrapers, blimps, the world acted as a great finale. And this game, in my opinion, stood on its own and succeeded, with creative levels and a good amount of effort. The design here is stronger than it is in the sequels on Game Boy, from beginning to end, this was its own adventure worth having.
Cons: Infamously, it's sometimes difficult to distinguish active objects from the background, as the entire screen can look a bit busy. They did at the very least fix this element in the GB sequels. The physics are also ever so slightly altered, and falling happens a bit faster... Can take some time to get used to, and sometimes the camera can't keep up with your movement, and you may just die by falling to an area that should have ground beneath it... And lastly, the ending of the game, there is no ending, after you defeat K. Rool, the credits immediately start rolling! That's it! But, none of that was able to deter me from having a great time.
What it means to me: This was my Donkey Kong Country, this is the one that was mine and mine alone. The first DKC, my older brother got that one, sure it belonged to the family, but he was the keeper of it. Once this game came along, I used my saved up money in a piggy bank, and took it to the store and purchased my very own Donkey Kong, hell, probably my first video game purchase with my own money ever! And man, did I love this game, obsessed over the new characters (Hogwash, my beloved... ahh), the worlds, the music! I recall taking a tape recorder up to my game boy and making a mixtape of the Donkey Kong Land OST, haha! It was a game I always had in my Game Boy when I was on the go, and on the Super Game Boy at home. Heck, I even got a Banana Yellow colored brick Game Boy to match this beautiful banana yellow game pak. This game was my world, and I can say with certainty, that it is my favorite game on the Game Boy.
Cons: Infamously, it's sometimes difficult to distinguish active objects from the background, as the entire screen can look a bit busy. They did at the very least fix this element in the GB sequels. The physics are also ever so slightly altered, and falling happens a bit faster... Can take some time to get used to, and sometimes the camera can't keep up with your movement, and you may just die by falling to an area that should have ground beneath it... And lastly, the ending of the game, there is no ending, after you defeat K. Rool, the credits immediately start rolling! That's it! But, none of that was able to deter me from having a great time.
What it means to me: This was my Donkey Kong Country, this is the one that was mine and mine alone. The first DKC, my older brother got that one, sure it belonged to the family, but he was the keeper of it. Once this game came along, I used my saved up money in a piggy bank, and took it to the store and purchased my very own Donkey Kong, hell, probably my first video game purchase with my own money ever! And man, did I love this game, obsessed over the new characters (Hogwash, my beloved... ahh), the worlds, the music! I recall taking a tape recorder up to my game boy and making a mixtape of the Donkey Kong Land OST, haha! It was a game I always had in my Game Boy when I was on the go, and on the Super Game Boy at home. Heck, I even got a Banana Yellow colored brick Game Boy to match this beautiful banana yellow game pak. This game was my world, and I can say with certainty, that it is my favorite game on the Game Boy.
Not exactly the game you're thinking of. Its not a port of Donkey Kong Country at first glance. There's several original levels (world 3 and 4 are completely original) as well as original bosses. The King K Rool fight isn't even a repeat of the one in DKC. the only thing I don't like about this game besides the screen crunch is the cloud levels are a pain in the ass to treck through. I must have game over'd countless times when I went through those stupid stages the first time as a kid. Overall its definitely worth a look.
Mono hijo de puta, te dije pan molido pendejo.
An impressive effort by Rare to make it work in the Game Boy hardware. The shortcomings vs the SNES release are obvious but expected, yet the game delivers a fairly good adventure that complements the console main game very nicely.
I love the silliness of the story in this game (only experienced via the instruction booklet, worth looking into it if you are playing a digital version). Another high point for me was the last world (City/Urban world) which I would have loved to see come to life in the console versions since it fits the tone of the original DK arcade game. I also enjoyed the addition of a couple of new enemies and all brand-new boss battles.
Now for the negatives: the screen size definitely affects the viewing and scale of the game, combined with a very weird camera movement and pan that doesn't do anything else than confuse the player and makes you miss platforms every now and then. New boss characters are cool, but the battle themselves are uninspired and on the simplistic side of things.
I love the silliness of the story in this game (only experienced via the instruction booklet, worth looking into it if you are playing a digital version). Another high point for me was the last world (City/Urban world) which I would have loved to see come to life in the console versions since it fits the tone of the original DK arcade game. I also enjoyed the addition of a couple of new enemies and all brand-new boss battles.
Now for the negatives: the screen size definitely affects the viewing and scale of the game, combined with a very weird camera movement and pan that doesn't do anything else than confuse the player and makes you miss platforms every now and then. New boss characters are cool, but the battle themselves are uninspired and on the simplistic side of things.
I was mistaken in thinking that the Donkey Kong Land series were just lesser ports of the DKC games. Instead, the Land games are closer to being portable bonus levels for each of the three SNES titles. At least, that’s what it seems like Rare tried to accomplish here.
At its peak, Donkey Kong Land feels like more Donkey Kong Country. You get to play as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and you start the game running through various jungle and pirate ship-themed settings. You roll and jump over kremlings, toss barrels, collect KONG letters and bop along to some great David Wise Donkey Kong music (with a distinct Game Boy flavor). The game even offers some neat novelties, like having an entire world set in a city, and a level where you use KONG letters to form platforms to cross bottomless pits.
There are also some Game Boy-specific quirks to the game that I loved — like how Donkey Kong and Diddy literally shrink down into nothing when you swap between them. Or how breaking a DK barrel will send the Kong you aren’t currently controlling straight up in the air like they’ve been beamed into space. Falling deaths happen with zero fanfare: The game just immediately dumps you back to the world map, which can feel like impeccable comedic timing when you goof up a jump. Plus, as I mentioned, the soundtrack rips, featuring new tunes and Game Boy-ified versions of classic DKC themes (Aquatic Ambience even gets a GB version, which transcends the platform it was made for, just like its SNES sibling).
It’s not all great, though. Many deaths can be attributed to simply falling faster than the game can keep up, despite there being a platform just off screen. I died multiple times because I climbed down a rope too fast, or had the audacity to jump down to collect some bananas before the game could load in the platform they were floating above. The game isn’t clear about when it saves your progress, which can have you repeating levels you already completed if you’re not careful. There are also a few truly miserable levels in World 3 that nearly made me quit the game — in particular an obnoxiously long level taking place entirely on tiny, auto-scrolling platforms. Gross!
In the end though, a lot of the “limitations” of the Game Boy work in Donkey Kong Land’s favor — giving the game its own distinct feel while keeping the gameplay and audio in-line with what you expect from a mid-90’s Rare platformer starring a couple of banana-loving Kongs. I’m glad I gave DKL a shot, and I’m definitely planning to play the other two games in the trilogy in the future.
At its peak, Donkey Kong Land feels like more Donkey Kong Country. You get to play as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and you start the game running through various jungle and pirate ship-themed settings. You roll and jump over kremlings, toss barrels, collect KONG letters and bop along to some great David Wise Donkey Kong music (with a distinct Game Boy flavor). The game even offers some neat novelties, like having an entire world set in a city, and a level where you use KONG letters to form platforms to cross bottomless pits.
There are also some Game Boy-specific quirks to the game that I loved — like how Donkey Kong and Diddy literally shrink down into nothing when you swap between them. Or how breaking a DK barrel will send the Kong you aren’t currently controlling straight up in the air like they’ve been beamed into space. Falling deaths happen with zero fanfare: The game just immediately dumps you back to the world map, which can feel like impeccable comedic timing when you goof up a jump. Plus, as I mentioned, the soundtrack rips, featuring new tunes and Game Boy-ified versions of classic DKC themes (Aquatic Ambience even gets a GB version, which transcends the platform it was made for, just like its SNES sibling).
It’s not all great, though. Many deaths can be attributed to simply falling faster than the game can keep up, despite there being a platform just off screen. I died multiple times because I climbed down a rope too fast, or had the audacity to jump down to collect some bananas before the game could load in the platform they were floating above. The game isn’t clear about when it saves your progress, which can have you repeating levels you already completed if you’re not careful. There are also a few truly miserable levels in World 3 that nearly made me quit the game — in particular an obnoxiously long level taking place entirely on tiny, auto-scrolling platforms. Gross!
In the end though, a lot of the “limitations” of the Game Boy work in Donkey Kong Land’s favor — giving the game its own distinct feel while keeping the gameplay and audio in-line with what you expect from a mid-90’s Rare platformer starring a couple of banana-loving Kongs. I’m glad I gave DKL a shot, and I’m definitely planning to play the other two games in the trilogy in the future.
Fun game but I can't see shit
Muito ruim.
You have to collect KONG letters to save???? What an awful decision. Hope you like walking all the way back to world 1 to reliably save.