THE HUB

OMG!!!

FEATURED MEMBER

DoctorIrish

DoctorIrish

The Doctor is in.

QUICK POLL

Grand Theft Auto IV: does it live up to the hype?

ASK THE PROS

THE GAMEPROS

FREE NEWSLETTERS

Sign up now to receive weekly or daily updates on your favorite games, stories, and more!



GBA | Action | Donkey Kong Country

Boxart for Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 3 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.5
  • SOUND: 3.0
  • CONTROL: 3.0
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 5.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.2

Review: Donkey Kong Country

Review by FENNECFOX | 06/09/2003 | 10:36:32 AM PST

Has it really been nine years since this was first released? Where did I put my pogs?

Released in 1994, Donkey Kong Country is a historically significant game, and this GBA port is a window back to that glorious age, when Nintendo was undisputed king, Rare was its prince, and all you needed to build hype was to mention Silicon Graphics on the box.

Faced with a sudden shortage of bananas, Donkey Kong and his kid brother, Diddy, race across several dozen stages, weaving past intricately devised enemy patterns and searching for hidden secrets. DKC was the first hop-n-bop to emphasize the "you're not done until you find all the bonus stuff" vibe that permeates platform games today, so you'll likely spend more time hunting down K-O-N-G letters and throwing barrels at random walls than actually playing the game itself. This makes an already-challenging game one of the hardest Nintendo's ever released?and yet you can't help but keep plugging away, wasting countless lives on getting each level done just right.

For the GBA version, Nintendo's added a set of extras that redefine "hit-n-miss." The two-player co-op mode is a lot of fun, especially if you're very serious about discovering all the hidden rooms. Otherwise, just forget about the bonuses?the hidden photos are annoying to track down, and the mini-games seem tacked on at the last minute. It would have been better if Nintendo spent more time on a little polish instead?the graphics and sound are both not quite up to the SNES original's standards.

Regardless, this GBA port proves what's been suspected for a while now: Platformers are a lot easier nowadays, and some Rare titles really are addictive despite themselves. Though not quite a substitute for the SNES version, DKC is still higher quality than 90 percent of the GBA's action lineup right now. Keep that in mind the next time you visit the game shop.