What might initially seem like a simple port of Donkey Kong Country turns out to be a whole new experience which, while borrowing heavily from the SNES game, still manages to validate it's own existence.
The best thing I can liken this game to is it's own soundtrack, which while being very reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country, has melodies often diverge slightly or entirely from their original versions.
The game looks good for a Gameboy game, and it sounds great too. But the platforming is unfortunately clunky and often results in some frustrating deaths that never entirely feel fair. The screen size can also add some artificial difficulty, though the levels are usually designed around the small screen.
Speaking of level design, I think the game definitely holds up in this regard, save for a few levels in particular. The last world even features a completely original (and very fresh) world theme.
I enjoyed collecting 'KONG' letters to save, I feel like it made them seem more valuable beyond secret-hunting. But there were definitely instances where I either couldn't find or reliably access a KONG letter and had to accept that I couldn't save after completing a given level.
In short, if you're looking for a fun little gameboy platformer, or are just desperate for more DKC, I think it's worth your time so long as you can overlook some funky controls and compromised visuals.
The best thing I can liken this game to is it's own soundtrack, which while being very reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country, has melodies often diverge slightly or entirely from their original versions.
The game looks good for a Gameboy game, and it sounds great too. But the platforming is unfortunately clunky and often results in some frustrating deaths that never entirely feel fair. The screen size can also add some artificial difficulty, though the levels are usually designed around the small screen.
Speaking of level design, I think the game definitely holds up in this regard, save for a few levels in particular. The last world even features a completely original (and very fresh) world theme.
I enjoyed collecting 'KONG' letters to save, I feel like it made them seem more valuable beyond secret-hunting. But there were definitely instances where I either couldn't find or reliably access a KONG letter and had to accept that I couldn't save after completing a given level.
In short, if you're looking for a fun little gameboy platformer, or are just desperate for more DKC, I think it's worth your time so long as you can overlook some funky controls and compromised visuals.
Why does a Crocodile live in a penthouse in a city?
Either way its basically DKC 1.5 and its neat. Some fun levels if you exclude the arrow platform ones.
Play it in GBC mode to save yourself some headaches.
Either way its basically DKC 1.5 and its neat. Some fun levels if you exclude the arrow platform ones.
Play it in GBC mode to save yourself some headaches.
As a kid who didn't own a Super Nintendo but did own a Gameboy, this seemed like an awesome way to get my DKC fix. Trying to go back to it, it feels a lot more primitive and janky than I remember though. Still impressive how much they were able to translate to the Gameboy
Pretty good. More DKC basically. Physics felt a bit off and bosses were somehow even worse than normal DKC. But just fine for the gameboy.
Good challenge, screen size kind of hurts it but every level will probably be memorable when I revisit (squid one was great). Decent versions of these tunes too
A solid and short game for DK's first Game Boy platformer (unless you count Donkey Kong '94). Jumping takes a while to get used to especially when bouncing off of enemies. And the save system is not good in my opinion. Don't like that you have to collect all KONG letters in a level in order to save. You can back track to previous levels to save, but it does get tiring. Good thing the sequels never kept this save feature. Despite those problems I did enjoy this game and I feel like it's best played on the Super Game Boy.
I thought this was Donkey Kong Country until I was like 15 and didn't understand the hype
why did they make this
Porting Donkey Kong Country to the Game Boy was a tough task which didn't end up very well
Another game my memory finally unlocked about: it's a remix version (similar to the case of the Mega Man Xtreme games) of various DKC1 levels scrambled and obviously not looking as great as the real deal. But I liked what they tried to accomplish here (considering they managed to put compressed but still high-detailed CGI sprites on Game Boy).
Had great fun with this one as a kid.
A handheld follow-up/remake of 'Donkey Kong Country', and almost as good in every way.
The first console game i've ever played.
This is probably the first 2D platformer I ever played. I don't remember anything about it other than the yellow cartridge. At that point I had only ever seen 3D games like Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time and simple, abstract arcade games like Pac Man and Galaga. I probably just straight up couldn't tell what I was looking at. I love it. This and Pokemon Red were the first games to challenge me not on a mechanical level, but an artistic one.
Mi primer videojuego en propiedad, ojo
Mono hijo de puta, te dije pan molido pendejo.
This is just DK Country but worse. It is interesting only to be played on the original system just for the experience, and not for too long.
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.
Like most Game Boy ports, it was a vastly inferior and clunkier way to play its original game. These bananas are, in fact, not pretty good.
My intro to DK, it was a solid platformer. Some great music for sure.
i commend the attempt at trying dkc on gameboy and it feels pretty good to play but god sometimes dying even when you have diddy or dying to a pit because the screen doesnt move with you or dying to bad enemy/obstacle placement you cant see ahead of you really breaks the spirit to its poor whittled down core after playing a game for monkeys by monkeys
Imagine playing this when the SNES exists.
pretty ass i wont lie to u
This game made me so mad as a child that I threw it across the room and I haven't seen it in 27 years. Pretty sure my anger enabled me to throw it out of the universe.
Passable for a gameboy platformer. The graphics aren't bad if you're playing on a GBC but forget it if its an original GB. Some cool aesthetics in here though with the cloud and city levels. Wish that had made it into the SNES version.
The platforming at least feels nice, but god does this game look ugly.
One recurring theme Jeremy Parish talks about in his Game Boy Works series are developers attempting console perfect graphics without adjusting for the resolution of the handheld, and this series is probably the definitive example of that folly. The graphics indeed look as much like DKC as they possibly can at the cost of some very cramped level design. The platforming also feels much more jittery, and the game gets very weird about pits during vertical sections. I ended up stopping at a level requiring jumping on lifts to change their direction, with it being impossible to tell which direction the lifts would go when playing on actual hardware.
That being said, the GB take on Temple Tempest is a bop.
That being said, the GB take on Temple Tempest is a bop.
good game, bit glitchy, no idea how anyone actually finished this without a super game boy
My greatest dream in video games would be for an HD collection of all three Donkey Kong Countries using the uncompressed original assets, and all of the Land games remade in that style. It'll never happen but a man can dream.
A messy Gameboy installment of the DKC series that doesn't work so good, but delivers on charm for me. I love that the game takes a lot of big swings, going for a bunch of new enemies, mechanics, and environments all new to this game. This all makes the game very memorable to me, despite it's clunkiness. The translation to Gameboy didn't go so well, and the gameplay isn't as tight as on the SNES and it can also be very hard to read. Still, I appreciate its daring.