Donkey Kong

"An excellent remake of one of the most popular games of all time."

Anyone who played video games in the 80s remembers this game. It's simple and fun gameplay made people crowd around the cabinet like mobs to try it out. Well, this GB/Super GB remake of this classic is living proof that old games CAN be improved on and made more fun as long as it's done right.

Story: 5
The same story as the original Donkey Kong, but this time the big DK won't go down so easily!

Gameplay: 9
You start off by playing the original arcade levels of DK. Very nostalgic and fun. When you beat those original levels, however, DK suddenly gets up. With new found energy and resolve, he steals the girl once again, this time forcing Mario to trek through many more worlds to save the day.

Once you beat the first four boards (called world 0), and get to world 1, the real fun begins! Not only do you have to jump over enemies and use a hammer to pound them into submission, you must search for a key to unlock the door to the exit of each level.

Luckily, Mario has been taking gymnastics, so he will be able to utilize many moves to reach platforms and such. He can back flip, do long jumps, etc. You can see a demonstration of his new abilities if you don't press start at the title screen for a few minutes.

In each world Mario will have to face DK, only to have him escape with the girl once again. The world themes are nice and varied. Mario will have to trek through a jungle, the city, plus other types of worlds and finally (surprise, surprise) a skyscraper, where the final battle takes place. I don't wanna spoil that for you, but it's very exciting!

One nice thing about all the levels is that they're not one screen big like the original arcade levels. The levels are huge, and you'll have to explore them all thoroughly to find the key, not to mention once you have the key you have to get to the door in one piece AND make sure you don't drop it! If you have to, you can throw it at enemies as a weapon.

Sadly, the gameplay is very linear, but this fact doesn't stop the game from being a very enjoyable straightforward action game!

There is a save feature so you don't have to play through the worlds all over again, which is nice.

Graphics: 8
Very good animation and detail on everything. The visuals aren't phenomenal, but there's nothing wrong with them at all. Scrolling is never choppy. The Super Game Boy background is very cool looking, not to mention the extra colors are perfect.

Sound: 9
The music is actually pretty good in this game. It captures the fun action mood of the game well. The songs of each world also sound appropriate (i.e. the jungle world songs sound jungleish). If you play this game in a Super GB, you will discover an awesome special feature! Instead of the girl screaming using a square wave channel on the GB, she will actually scream, ''Help! Help!''

Control: 10
Mario's plethora of moves aren't hard to execute at all. Everything is seamless and easy to do.

Replay Value: 2
Sadly, once this game is over, it's over. You might wanna dust it off after a while once you've beaten it.

Bottom Line?
Fans of the original version and new gamers alike will find this game extremely fun. The action is even more exciting now plus the Super GB features are quite cool, which is why I give it a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/01, Updated 07/19/01