Banana thieves
Donkey Kong lives a relatively peaceful life in the Kong Jungle with his grandfather Cranky, cousin Diddy, friend Funky and girlfriend Candy. Donkey Kong loves bananas, in fact, he has a massive hoard of them beneath his house. The evil Kremlings, lead by Captain K. Rool, despise Donkey Kong and hatch a plot to steal his banana hoard. One night, while Diddy is on guard, the Kremlings attack, knock the chimp out, and steal the bananas. When Cranky tells DK what has happened, he vows to get his hoard back, and teach a lesson to the thieving Kremlings.
Monkey business
Donkey Kong Country comes to the GBA as yet another port of an existing Nintendo title. This time, however, it is unclear which version this port of Donkey Kong Country has originated from. Normally, Nintendo’s ports to the GBA are somewhat enhanced versions of the original, usually better on the GBA than the original. Donkey Kong Country breaks this trend, as the port seems to be a heck of a lot worse than the SNES original. For all we know, it could have been an enhanced GBC port (the pictures and Funky’s Fishing give us this idea), and we’re just being unfair, but for the purposes of this review, we’re comparing it to the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country.
For all intents and purposes, Donkey Kong Country’s gameplay remains relatively intact – our concerns with this port lie within the game’s presentation and visuals. Donkey and Diddy work as a tag team; Donkey is strong but slow and Diddy is fast but weak, so you switch between the two in the appropriate situation. If one of your Kongs is hit by an enemy, he’ll run away and reappear in a barrel that you must smash to get them back. Unfortunately, sometimes the collision detection between your Kong and the enemy may be a little off. DK’s bananas are spread throughout the levels – collect 100 and you’ll be rewarded with an extra life. Donkey and Diddy can also ride four different animals – Rambi the Rhino, Expresso the Ostrich, Enguarde the Swordfish and Winky the Toad – with each animal giving the Kongs a distinct advantage over the Kremlings in a given situation.
This version of Donkey Kong Country brings a few new tricks to the party. Throughout the levels are a series of photographs for an album, which is essentially a collection of renders of DK and the gang, the enemies and locations featured in the game. DK Attack allows you to pick any stage you have completed, and take part in a ranking challenge. You’re assessed on things such as score, time remaining and so on. Funky’s Fishing requires you to catch a certain number of a certain type of fish before the time limit expires. Candy’s Dance Studio is a Dance Dance Revolution clone, where you are required to complete commands in synch with Candy and her partner. Finally, a bunch of changes have been made to the presentation of the single player mode, such as some new cutscenes, an entirely new world map, and the ability to save anywhere you want. There are also a stack of minor changes through the game that only experienced Donkey Kong Country players will be able to notice.
Donkey Kong Country isn’t the longest journey for an experienced gamer. Most people should be through the main game within about 5 hours, though it may take a while longer to complete the game with 100%, with all of the photographs, and so on. The new challenge mode may be worthwhile if you have a few friends or family around, but won’t really be a great asset if you are the sole player of the game.
Oh! Mister Hart! What a mess!
One cannot comprehend how the luscious visuals of Donkey Kong Country were massacred for the GBA port, especially considering the GBA is a more powerful system than the SNES. The game’s entire colour palette seems to be completely washed out. Most of the ACM (Advanced Computer Modeling) is still intact, but appears much more pixelicious than before. The backgrounds have taken quite a hit, as there is only two levels of scrolling, as opposed to four in the SNES version, not to mention a downgrade in the quality and detail of background environments. Almost all of the special effects have been terminated, for example, there’s no longer any day to night transitions, no shadowing in the caves and the rain now looks horribly pixelated. Finally, the overall flow of the action is less smooth than the original game.
On a lighter note, Donkey Kong Country’s aural experience has made the journey unscathed. The music has been recomposed, and sounds pretty good, though not as good as the original due to the limited output of the GBA speaker. Sound effects are almost a carbon copy, with only a few effects changed, such as the tag sound. All effects are pretty clear, though it is advised that you use headphones rather than relying on the GBA speaker.
Buy a SNES instead
When it comes to the crunch, the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country pales in comparison to the nine year old SNES version. In actual fact, you should be able to purchase a SNES and a copy of the game for a mere $40, $30 cheaper than it would cost you to purchase the GBA version of DKC. The question you have to ask yourself is “Is portability worth $30?”
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