PRODUCED / DEVELOPED BY: Rareware (actually Rare)/ Nintendo
PLATFORM: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (this version)
GENRE: Action / Adventure
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 to 2
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
Well... What can I say? If Mario got a series of his own before the first "Donkey Kong", I think that Donkey should have a series of his to. Well, it's not the actual Donkey from the arcade: the Donkey of this game is a grown-up version of Donkey Kong Jr, while the original DK appears here as Cranky Kong. However, pop goes the Review:
STORY – 8.5
The story is that classic cliché
of "The kidnapping of something very precious": Donkey Kong obliged his
little partner Diddy to keep an eye out for his banana hoard. Then, the
anthropomorphized banana- lover crocodile Kremlings, led by their boss
King James K. Rool, go to the banana hoard, trap Diddy in a barrel, and
steal every single banana in the hoard. When he wakes up, Donkey stays
very angry and searches all of DK Island for the Kremlings and the bananas.
GAMEPLAY - 9
You must control Donkey (or Diddy)
through the search for the bananas. However, if you are in the 1-player
mode, you control one Kong whilst the other one follows you automatically.
In the 2-player mode, obviously, another player control the second Kong.
Donkey Kong is the stronger Kong, and he's useful at finding items on the
floor. If you hold the Down button and then press the Y button, he'll slap
the floor and reveal some hidden items (mostly bananas). Diddy is small,
but is the fastest Kong of the group. He's the most recommended Kong to
use in water and for finding secret caves. Both Kongs also have roll attacks:
those can be performed running and then pressing Y button. Donkey has the
"Barrel Roll" and Diddy has the "Cartwheel".
To proceed in the game, there are barrels of every kind: cannon barrels that shoot you to inaccessible places, checkpoint barrels, and DK barrels; in these, you'll find the monkey that you lost when being attacked by an enemy. Some barrels can send you to bonus levels, where you can win extra lifes and items. Those bonuses can be found in secret caves accessible only by breaking the entrance with a barrel or through well-hidden shooting barrels. If you complete all the bonuses in a course, an exclamation point will appear in the front of the level's name on the map.
You'll also find scattered across the worlds three Kongs that can help you:
CRANKY KONG: The original Donkey Kong
from the 1981 arcade gives some hints for the players.
FUNKY KONG: A surfer Kong that operates
a flight system that can send you to worlds that you already completed.
CANDY KONG: Donkey's love interest
saves the game.
As I mentioned above, there are bonus levels where you can find very useful items. If you complete them all, an exclamation point will appear in front of the course's name. Some items found throughout the game are the bananas, which grant an extra life when you collect 100, as in Mario’s games; Life Balloons, which are red balloons that give you an extra life; and KONG letters, which also give you an extra life if you find the K, O, N, and G in every course.
You can find animals that help you to defeat some enemies. They're found in boxes with the animal's head drawn:
Rambi: The strongest animal on the game,
can defeat most of the enemies and open secret caves.
Expresso: An ostrich that jumps high
and can avoid small enemies, but has trouble with larger ones. He can also
flap his wings by tapping the B button.
Winky: Jumps high and can defeat the
bees.
Enguarde: A swordfish that has the
same functions as Rambi.
Squawks: Found only in the level Torchlight
Trouble, carries the lamp to light your way.
The first four animals have bonus coins shaped like them scattered through the levels. If you collect three, you'll be warped to a bonus level where you play as the animal.
MUSIC – 9.5
The music is very nice, and it got
a very surprising and spooky effect. My favorites are the battle with K.
Rool, the one in mines, the roller coaster-mine, the water levels, the
theme from "Slipslide Ride", and the ones in the temple and forest (not
jungle).
GRAPHICS – 7.5
The graphics are sort of dark and the
backgrounds are almost unnoticeable. However, they were made with a revolutionary
technique at the time that now I'm too lazy to remember.
FUN FACTOR! - 9
The funniest part on the game is where
Cranky starts bragging about his time as a videogame star and how the times
in those games were
hard. However, mostly those dialogues
are re-used numerous times.
FINAL NOTE - 8
Well, it's good, but it could be better.
However, the game had two remakes and a Gameboy (or, as we like to call
it here in Brazil, "tijolão", the brick) version. It would also
be followed up by two sequels. The "tijolão" version is named "Donkey
Kong Land", and the two sequels would have "tijolão" versions too.
The remakes were for the Gameboy Color in 1999 and the Gameboy Advance
in 2003. The sequels were only going to have GBA remakes.
BE PREPARED FOR MY NEXT REVIEW:
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong
Quest SNES and GBA versions comparison
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