Donkey Kong

"Simply a classic!"

Hello, and welcome to one of my reviews (Mwah!).

As you know, this review is about Donkey Kong for the Game Boy.

As you also might know, this is an improved version of the original Donkey Kong.

Anyway, onto the review:

Plot/Story: 5
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Your average crap here. Princess (I think) gets captured by big bad ape(TM). Plumber with large hammer(TM) must go and saveth her. Although the concept of an italian plumber with a large hammer, saving a princess from a large monkey may sound interesting, it really isn't. Nothing too awful, though. It's actually quite epic. Er, yeah.

Graphics: 8
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That score up there may seem odd now. Since it's 2003 at the moment. But, really, the graphics look neat. Little tiny, well done sprites. There's a pretty good amount of frames for each one, too. As you know, each sprite (a sprite is a 2D character, simply put) has a number of 'poses'. Each pose is called a 'frame'. So, the important thing here is that you have many 'frames', NOT 'frame rate'. What point is it for a sprite to move faster, when he barely has any poses to move from?
Anywho, the graphics may not be up to today's standards, maybe not even back then's standards, but they look pretty neat. No matter how far into the future, they'll still be loved by many.

Sound: 4
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Some sounds in this game are a tad annoying, which is why I rate it below average. Other than that, I really see nothing that stands out. It's a throw stone better than most Game Boy games, though.

Music: 7
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The music is surprisingly good for it's time. Most of it is pretty catchy, and really goes with the stage. Some if it is even pretty good, too. The music on the last few levels are great.

Game Play: 9
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Honestly, the game plays well. There's a few enemies to kill, few platforms to jump, and even several Zelda-type puzzles to solve. Not only that, but Mario actually has some pretty neat moves to use as well. He even has that side-jump from Mario 64! It's all good. Very fun indeed. The only thing that keeps this from a perfect score is, quite frankly, a few things tend to be rather annoying. For example, some of the puzzles have irritating bits: there's a switch puzzle, and a bunch of locked cages with enemies in them. Basically, you must manipulate the switches, free enemies, trap more, and try to get them all in one spot. This is especially irritating because of how the enemies tend to move a tad too fast. Other than that, though, it's all good fun.

Control: 10
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I see absolutely nothing wrong with the controls. Spot on, with much quality, and no bugs/glitches. Just like Nintendo always make 'em. Mario even sports a couple new moves, like the side-jump from Mario 64, and Mario Sunshine.

Replay Value: 7
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It's a fun game, but will you replay it? I say yes. Yes, indeed. It's one of those games that you'll come back to every now and then, to just plain have fun. Not just to refresh your memory of it(if you have any, that is),but to just have nice, simple fun.
Heck, even I come back to it many times. I've had this thing since it's official release date in the US, and I STILL come back to it.

Overall: 8
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It's a very good game. Even if you were to completely forget it's age, and just compare it to today's games, it'll still be a great one. The only flaw I see is: sometimes, the game is difficult and annoying. And, if you'd like to consider this a flaw, which I don't, it's an old Game Boy game, with graphics/sound/music ect, not up to today's standard. Still, it's very good fun. The graphics ect aren't so bad, either. I still like them!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/03, Updated 03/31/03