Donkey Kong Land

The Good
Donkey Kong Land is one of the first Game Boy games I ever played. Everything in this game melds almost seamlessly and has no low spots in the gameplay!

First off, the graphics. THE BEST GAME BOY GRAPHICS EVER ! Except for Game Boy Color games that is. Donkey, Diddy, and all the Kremlins look fantastic! Smooth, fluid animation moves these characters in the handheld history books! I've yet to see any other game on the original Game Boy to look this good and play smoothly. The backgrounds are awesome! Super detailed, very clear, and surprisingly expressive, I paused the game many times just to look at them!

Sound is obviously something that one wouldn't expect much from the Game Boy, but it's better than most. More exactly the music. I can't remember who did it, but it's by and large some of the best music ever composed for the system. The rest of the sound is made up of the usual beeps and such, but played with headphones, it's an extremely immersive experience. And I should point out, the music in the water levels is the best in the whole game!

The controls are very simple. A is jump, B is run and pick up stuff, select changes the characters, and start is pause. Simple intuitive, responsive, nuff said.

The gameplay is very addictive and is nothing but pure platforming action! No puzzles, no item hunts (except "KONG" which you need to save your game) and no annoying characters. Jumping on stuff hasn't been this fun since Super Mario Brothers! And it's fast! No waiting! Jump, swim, and ride birds all the way to the end! Plus the bosses are really cool. Especially that giant clam! And this is one of the few Game Boy games I know of that you can save your game. With three save slots! Very nice.

The Bad
Those "leaps of faith" tend to be VERY annoying in the city levels. And sometimes the characters blend with the background too well.

The Bottom Line
Get it! You'll love it! One of Rare's finest efforts. Plus it comes in a yellow cartridge! Add some color to that drab grey collection of cartridges!