Donkey Kong Country

"Die hard fans of the SNES version should love this one as well"

There are very few platformers that I enjoy more than the first three games in the Donkey Kong Country series, except perhaps Super Mario 3 and World. The first Donkey Kong Country was released by Rare in 1994 as one of the most visually impressive (not to mention entertaining) SNES games. In 2000 the game was ported to the Game Boy Color, and while it was impressive for a GBC game, the hardware could not support everything that was needed for keeping it true to the SNES original. Then in 2003 the game was redone for the Game Boy Advance. Since the hardware of the GBA matches the SNES so closely, the porting job was nearly this time perfect and only a few changes were made.

Visually, this game is just as stunning as ever, and for the most part looks like the SNES version. A few graphical improvements have been made, such as adding animations to the backgrounds and cropping the screen to fit onto the GBA screen. A few of the effects that were cut for the GBC version, such as the blizzard in the snowy mountains, have been put back, but others are still missing. Some transparencies and animations are gone due to the GBA's hardware limitations, but they are barely noticeable. Many of the characters and enemies have been re-mastered with better color and motion, so in the end the visual changes are excellent overall with no flaws or glitches (you won't even notice the missing effects unless you do a side-by-side comparison of the GBA and SNES games).

The changes in the audio will be a bit more noticeable to the fans of the original, but like the visuals it is much better than the GBC game. Nothing about the audio is bad, it's just not as good as the SNES version, so as long as you don't try to hard to compare it to the original you won't mind. The audio has been optimized for the GBA's audio capacities and for the most part the music is the same (or similar enough) to the SNES game and the all of the great sound effects are still there.

For those unfamiliar with the original game, you play as Donkey Kong (the grandson of the DK that harassed Mario in the old Donkey Kong game) on a quest to find his missing bananas that were stolen by the evil K. Rool. Plots don't get much deeper than this do they? But what exactly are you expecting from a game staring a giant ape with a red tie?

You will journey through 34 stages in six levels to recover your stash and chase the bad guys off of your island. Along the way you will have the help of your buddy Diddy Kong as well as the rest of the Kong family. Aside from the main goal of getting to the exit of each stage there are bonus rooms to find, secret items to collect, and other mini-games. On the world map in each level are Candy Kong (who used to save your game, now she runs a dance studio), Funky Kong (who will take you to previously cleared stages as well as runs a fishing game, and Cranky Kong (who gives you hints, criticizes you, and complains about how things were better in the old days). Wining these minigames gives you useful items, bananas, and 1-ups.

The game is single player, but there are two controllable characters on the screen, Donkey and Diddy. You can switch between characters at any time (if you have them both) and the one you are not uses follows you not doing anything, but not getting hit either. If one is hit he runs off and you are left with only the other one unless you find your partner in a barrel latter on. If you lose both you lose a life and have to try the stage again. Each of the characters has different abilities: Donkey is stronger and can kill some enemies Diddy can't, use a powerful hand slap, and holds barrels over his head giving him a different throwing arch. Diddy is quicker, holds barrels in front of him which can act as a shield, and is slightly smaller.

Not only are the Kongs helping you, but you can also find crates with animals that can assist you in different ways. There are four different animals that you can ride which give you different abilities. Your rhino can charge enemies and break down walls to bouns rooms, your swordfish can help you swim, your ostrich can fly (sort of) and run quickly over short enemies, and your frog can jump really high as well as crush spiked enemies the Kongs can't touch.

Donkey Kong is one of the few games that is both a flawlessly made technical masterpiece and is a ton of fun at the same time. For die hard fans of the SNES version (such as myself) this is a great game to get since the game is so much like the original. For people who have never played the original this is also a good game to get since its not too dated compared to other GBA games, not to mention it is one of the best games ever made. Donkey Kong Coutry 2 is also on the GBA now, and is also a must have for fans of the first. Supposedly Donkey Kong Country 3 will be coming sometime, which would be great since it was so hard to find for the SNES.

GBA vs SNES

There have been a few changes to the game, not just the audio and visual optimizations for the GBA hardware, however most of these changes are done to the world/level maps or are add-ons, so none of the stages are affected significantly. The most noticeable change is that the level maps have been completely redone. Rather than have the whole level on one or two screens, the maps are several times larger than the GBA screen, and scrolls around to keep your characters in view. They have also been completely redone so each stage title is on a background similar to the level you'll be in.

A few minigames have been added as well, such as the Funky's Fishing or Candy's Dance Studio as mentioned before. These games are not really that much fun, but they are short and you can do them the one time needed without becoming bored. You also have a scrapbook, which you can fill with pictures you find throughout the game. Some of the pictures are found like you would any item, others are won by the Kong's contests, and others you must do something to earn, such as defeating an enemy a certain way. Cranky will give hints to how to find the pictures, though some clues are more vague than others.

Another big change is that you can save anywhere on the map, instead of only at Candy's. This is useful for when you travel with the GBA and may have to stop at any time, and just so you don't have to back track to get to a save point. Funky's Flights is now accessible at any point as well, so you can easily backtrack to old levels to find bonus items. The game also keeps track of whether or not you've found all the secret rooms and special items in a level, and you can view this through a menu. This is perhaps the most useful addition to the game since it makes it much easier for people who want to do everything to keep track of what still needs to be done.

The minigames are kind of pointless, but they only take a few minuets. You only have to do them to get all of the scrapbook pictures, so if you don't want to get everything you can simply walk on by. So many of the ports nowadays contain useless junk and/or radically change how the game is played, but the add-ons here are decent and none of them change anything about the main game.

To make a long story short, one of the best SNES games has become one of the best GBA games.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/05, Updated 09/12/05