One of the major reasons I wanted a Game Boy at the height of its popularity was because so many developers offered down port conversions of their popular console titles. At the time I didn’t realize the tech discrepancy between the Game Boy and other mainstream systems, and when I finally got my gray brick it was like a punch in the face. So many of these conversions were missing major elements from their console counterparts. Others were completely broken because developers were trying to push the system too far. Nintendo was one of the few developers that understood how to make a console quality title for the platform. I must admit I was quite excited the first time I saw a commercial for Donkey Kong Land. Unfortunately this too suffers from an overzealous development cycle, but thankfully not all is lost.
Strap yourself in, because the story this time around is a little weird. Cranky Kong is sure that the only reason Donkey Kong Country was so popular was simply because of its high graphic fidelity. To prove him wrong Donkey and Diddy once again set out to reclaim their banana horde, but this time on the Game Boy to prove that graphics don’t matter. You wouldn’t actually know there’s a story without consulting the instruction book. The fourth wall breaking scenario did manage a chuckle out of me. Regardless, the set up is pretty much the same here. This allows for some recycling of concepts and content. Think not of this as a spin-off or sequel. Donkey Kong Land is more of an expansion to Country. This is a neat idea for a Game Boy conversion for sure.
Donkey Kong Land, like its predecessor, is a side scrolling platform game. You can control the two main characters as you jump and roll through over thirty different stages. Like how Mario collects coins the two monkeys gather bananas and one hundred will score them an extra life. Both Donkey and Diddy Kong can only take one hit before dying, but if you have the partner character unlocked the other will simply take their place. When both are out of play it’s lights out and you lose a life. The mechanics here are identical to those of its console brother for better or worse. The levels however are completely new albeit based around the same themes as in Donkey Kong Country. You still hop on enemies heads and can use a roll attack against them. This doesn’t work as well as it did in the past. More on that later.
The level designs here are less complex and generally shorter than in Donkey Kong Country. This is a Game Boy game after all. What’s interesting is that Rare was able to port over a significant number of enemy models and environmental elements. It’s unmistakably still Donkey Kong Country. What’s nice is that there are less auto-play barrel sections where you simply blast around a level. Animal friends (that you can ride which offer different dynamics) return. Donkey Kong Land plays it very safe to Country by recycling nearly all of it’s gameplay elements. It doesn’t necessarily push them forward nor does it refine them though. Because of this it’s safe to say that if you like Donkey Kong Country you’ll enjoy Land as well.
With all that out of the way let’s get to the problems. The character sprites are too large. No doubt this was to show off the digitized graphics on the handheld. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of screen estate . You simply cannot see enough of the stage at any given time. This leaves many hazards just out of view. It leads to a lot of frustrating and cheap moments because you have less time to react. I realize this was a graphical showcase but I’d much rather sacrifices be made elsewhere. The blurry screen only makes enemies harder to see and react to. You basically have to walk through each stage which screws up the pacing.
In addition there’s something terribly wrong with the physics here. Momentum is seriously off regardless of terrain. The characters move too slow allowing less for running starts leading into jumps. There’s a feeling like you’re constantly jumping against wind, and it’s a major drag. It makes some platforming sections more difficult than they should be, especially if you’re used to the physics in Donkey Kong Country. You would think Rare would have toned down the platforming precision, but that’s not the case. You’re still dealing with small platforms, and aerial enemies blocking the way. Donkey Kong Land becomes a frustrating experience when any kind of precision platforming is required.
Land’s biggest issue, however, is the collision detection. Enemies often hit when it’s apparent you cleared them. Other times you expect to lose a life, but instead no contact is made. Rolling into enemies is a gamble because of how imprecise the collision detection is. Even by the end of Donkey Kong Land I couldn’t figure out exactly what the game wanted from me. To make matters worse this happens with elements of the environment as well. I can’t count the number of times I’ve timed a jump and end up completely missing the intended platform when I had pixels to spare. The developers should have focused more on optimizing the experience for the platform rather than shoving an engine the Game Boy can barely handle into a cartridge. A hit to graphic fidelity would have been worth the cost of a tighter and more precise experience.
These are big problems for sure, but they aren’t quite enough to ruin the experience. At heart this still offers the Donkey Kong Country experience, but with brand new stages. What’s nice is that not everything is recycled. The flying pig enemy in particular (featured on the cover) is one of my favorites in the entire series. It just fits, and it’s one of the few aerial foes you can bounce off of. It’s also quite surprising just how many returning gameplay elements made the cut. The bouncing tires return (and in some instances they can still be moved). The partner system is in again (though you can’t see the other kong while they’re out of play) and there are a plethora of secret bonus rooms to find here. The fact that Rare was able to fit this much stuff into a Game Boy game is really impressive.
Donkey Kong Land is easily one of the prettiest games ever released on the original Game Boy. The character models are instantly recognizable and retain their CG look despite being heavily pixelated. It’s pure wizardry that Rare was able to maintain a steady framerate here. While slowdown and flickering are present they are by no means a constant problem. The one issue I do have is that, with the light backgrounds and characters, it can be difficult to spot some obstacles here. Sometimes you need to squint. The soundtrack was also ported over surprisingly well. Everything is recognizable albeit toned down. David Wise’s music and style manages to come out despite the archaic bleeps and blips of the old sound chip. Some of the tracks didn’t make the conversion, but the game includes a few original pieces of music which is quite nice.
