Donkey Kong Country

"Nintendo Go Bannana's with the ports again"

The first question that instantly comes to mind is why? Those with effective memories will remember that Donkey Kong Country has already been released in portable form for the Game Boy Color. It was and is almost exactly the same as this translation. Some have criticise Nintendo and others' current policy of recycling old Super NES titles for release on the Game Boy Advance as a cheap, cynical and easy way of publishing countless titles with even the slightest existing brand-recognition with minimal development and advertising resources to achieve greatest profit margins (money for old rope in other words). These sentiments do appear to have at least a modest degree of truth to them, as this appears to be all too clear with this title at first reaction as it is a translation of what is both an old Super NES and Game Boy Color title.

Grumbling aside though, Donkey Kong Country remains a classic platform title, although this translation is not quite as incredible as the eye-gouging original 1994 Super NES classic or as great a technical achievement as on both the Super NES and Game Boy Color. Everyone should remember the 1981 Nintendo coin-op classic Donkey Kong, developed by a then little-known industrial design graduate called Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong is a title where a carpenter called Jumpman (who quickly switched trades from carpentry to plumbing and changed his name to Mario) had to rescue Pauline from a raging ape called Donkey Kong.

This title's most noticeable feature is of course, the presentation. Visually, this translation of Donkey Kong Country is unfortunately something of a mixed bag. This title's graphics are constructed from spectacular and colourful pre-rendered three-dimensional polygons. Each character, world and level looks marvellous and meshes well together while the realistic animation is first-rate and rivals that from any of Pixar's work. This title's sound is also excellent, with several tunes that fit in with the theme of the various levels and several sound effects of the highest quality. Yet while this title's presentation is light-years beyond that of the excellent Game Boy Color translation, it is still not quite as polished as the eye-gouging Super NES original. Rareware have increased the brightness so much (presumably to make this title easier to see on the original Game Boy Advance portables) that the graphics appear to be washed out and lacking the same depth of details the Super NES original.

Nevertheless, Donkey Kong Country is still a genuine joy to play (even if it gets hideously difficult at times). This title's controls are both simple and responsive enough to master instantly. Your task is to help guide Donkey and Diddy Kong through a series of regions that are divided into a selection of different standard platform title levels. This title's design structure is fairly simple. If you are a seasoned veteran of other platform titles, then the sequence of running, jumping, rolling and swinging will seem like second nature. Likewise, if you have had the misfortune to have played any terrible platform based titles, then those annoying, yet occasional near-impossible leaps over those terrifying instant death drops into the abyss will also be familiar. However Donkey Kong Country demonstrates it's excellence by having some of the most important elements of any quality platform adventure absolutely spot on. This title contains numerous secret levels and areas to be discovered and explored with plenty of rewarding items to collect.

Jungle VIPs
This title also provides you with a plentiful variety of ways to progress through and explore each level that make this title a distinct individual experience. You can switch between controlling both Donkey and Diddy throughout this title, providing good fun and you can get assistance from and control one of the Kong Krew's amiable animal friends. These friends are Rambi the Rhino (who can GORE his way through any enemy in his path), Enguarde the Swordfish (who can sink most of his underwater opponents with a stab from his sharp sword nose), Expresso the Ostrich, Winky the Frog (who can out-jump both Carl Lewis and Jonathan Edwards) and Squawks the Parrot (who will help guide you through the cave level with his trusty old flashlight). If you are not riding on animals, you will be speeding along in mine carts, jumping between broken rail tracks. This title even contains the old ‘stop-go' switches – there is plenty of meat to the simian bone here for you to be able to sink your teeth into.

The only other real flaw that this translation of Donkey Kong Country suffers from apart from the presentation lacking the polish of the Super NES original is that some of the levels have very hard, instant death tasks right towards the end that are well beyond where the Continue Barrels are located. Even though this can be frustrating, you will still be returning again and again to play this title for months and even years to come. This translation also contains the bonus games Candy's Dance Studio and Funky's Fishing (an improved remake of Funky Fishing from the Game Boy Color conversion of Donkey Kong Country) that can be played against either a friend (using two copies of this title and two Game Boy Advance handhelds connected by a Game Boy Advance Game Link cable) or the CPU.

Also featured in this translation is the DK Attack challenge where both Kongs race through the levels before the one-minute time limit expires, with everything collected and defeated added to your score. This title is a genuine joy to play and provides plenty of value for money. Since most of you have probably played Donkey Kong Country before, this Game Boy Advance translation does not really offer anything new. Regardless of this, the Game Boy Advance translation of Donkey Kong Country is still a worthy purchase in what is an overcrowded genre on the portable and provides both a portable and ideal nostalgic trip back through time for those who have played it on the Super NES and Game Boy Colour. This title is also the perfect introduction to platform titles for novices.

Verdict
Although this translation is not quite as polished as the Super NES original, Donkey Kong Country is still an excellent title that is just a dream to play.
91%

Did You Know?: The grumpy geriatric Cranky Kong is in actual fact the original Donkey Kong.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04