Donkey Kong Country

"When bad ports happen to good games..."

This has to be the first port of a Super Nintendo game to the Game Boy Advance that doesn't live up to the console version. The Game Boy Advance can handle the graphics (just look at Golden Sun) and the controls shouldn't be a problem (I don't have any problems with the Game Boy Color Donkey Kong Country), but they are. I think that Nintendo rushed this port out before it was at it's full potential, and therefore it doesn't live up to the original.

Graphics: 3
What happened... I can't understand why Nintendo didn't port the game over how it was originally and instead revamped the graphics. The graphics are jagged and bland, and because of that nothing seems to look good at all. I feel as if Nintendo didn't put any work at all into the graphics and because of that the game is hard to look at.

Sound: 10
I can't believe it, they did one thing right and ported the sound from the original game. Everything sounds almost as good as it did on the Super Nintendo and every sound is there. I had my brother play the SNES version while I played the GBA version and everything sounded almost exactly alike. It perplexes my mind as to why Nintendo directly ported the sound and nothing else.

Control: 5
This aspect makes me wonder what happened. When I played the port of DKC on my Game Boy Color everything was fine, but on the GBA nothing seems to work like it is supposed to.
You'll press your monkey to go in a certain direction and they'll keep walking in that direction after you've let go. Another problem is when I try to jump at certain points, I have to bash the key for it to work. Most of the other control works fine, but the key aspects don't and that really hurts gameplay. I even tested the game on other people's GBA and GBA SPs to see if it was just my Game Boy, it isn't.

Story: 7
Your banana stockpile is stolen by the evil Kremlings and their leader King K. Rool and it is up to DK and Diddy Kong to get them back. There really isn't much to the story, accept for the fact that you have to talk to some of the dumbest characters to get where you are going (you can thank Rareware for their usually stupid characters).

Life Span: 10
This game usually takes a while to complete no matter what system you play it on and the GBA port is no exception. The life span is also increased by the fact you won't want to play it for long periods of time due to the graphics and control. The first DKC didn't offer much in the way of extras but this version has a few mildly amusing mini-games exclusive to the GBA. This game is long and probably won't keep your attention long enough to finish it.

The only problem I think this game has was it was a rushed port that didn't get full attention. Hopefully if they release any of the other Donkey Kong Country games they will be just as good as their SNES counterparts.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/03, Updated 06/17/03