Donkey Kong Land Game by Nintendo/Rare Reviewed by Adrock gbcam@hotmail.com Size: 4 MG Save: Battery, 3 slots Released: 1995 Works with: Any Game Boy **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Can you play Donkey Kong Country on Game Boy? Rare thinks so. They've mananged to pack ACM graphics into a 4-color palette. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: It plays a heck of a lot like the SNES game. And that is one of it's plus sides. This game is really, really fun. Also, you don't have your second character follow you, you just press select to switch. One hero on screen at a time. You must get all the letters in a certain level to save your game. Try going back to an earlier level to save if the level you are on is too hard to find them all. Also, no Funky, Cranky, or Candy. Have you read the manual to this game? Cranky challenges the DK's to redo their DKC challenge on Game Boy. Donkey says bring it on. So he calls up the Kremlings and tells them to steal Donkey's bananas again. Seriously! That's the storyline! The guys at Rare must of finished the game, then thought, "Oh yeah, we don't have a story!" Then asked some bum on the side of the road to assist them with a killer theme for the game. Give me a break. Liked: A fun game for Game Boy, that retains it's SNES roots. Hated: Dumb-beat storyline. Ignore the first couple pages of the manual. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: This game uses the ACM graphics brilliantly. But, the game blurs really bad, and it's hard to see enemies on the screen. This really stinks. But, it looks good on Game Boy Color, since the characters and backgrounds are different colors. You'll notice new levels of detail on CGB. And it also looks good on Super Game Boy, since it sharpens the graphics just a little. Perhaps Rare should of put a little white border over all the characters, to make them stand out from the background. Liked: ACM graphics look beautiful on Game Boy. If you want to show this game off, try going to one of the levels with a white background. The Super Game Boy frame looks cool too. Hated: Graphics blur horribly on monochrome Game Boys, ruining the game. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: The sounds are cool. They sound a lot like the SNES games. And the music is also really sweet. Other Game Boy games have something to learn from this one's music and sound Liked: Cool sounds and music that can compare to the SNES games. Hated: Music and sound is perfect. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The control is simple. B and A replace Y and B, and select will change your current character. Liked: Cool controls that retain the SNES feel. Hated: Sometimes jumping to platforms can be a problem, especially if you can hardly see them. **************************************************************************** Improve: A nice Game Boy Color title would be all the Donkey Kong Land titles on one game pak, in full color. That would eliminate some of the blur. RIYL: ACM graphics, DKC 1,2,3. **************************************************************************** Final Words: Hey, this is a pretty cool game. It looks nice on any Game Boy, but you might want SGB or CGB to play it in it's true, luminated form. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: ***** Graphics: *** Sound/Music: **** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: ***** Total: 21 out of 25 Final Score: 84% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: None.