Donkey Kong Country Original vs Remake

Welcome everyone to a different type of blog. Tonight I'll be looking at two version of the same game. So lets get right to it. No introductions are probably needed.

Similar to the Super Mario games that were released on the Game Boy Advance, the Donkey Kong Country trilogy was also remade on the same handheld system. Similar to the Super Mario games, the Game Boy Advance games came under some criticism, especially from people who love the original. Some gamers who've only played the GBA versions also criticize the game for it's graphics and other things. I'm going to take a look at both of these games here and try to see if the Game Boy Advance game is up to par with the original on the Super Nintendo and if it may even surpass the original in any aspect. First let's take a quick look at the game that started it all. 

Donkey Kong Country is easily one of the best games on the Super Nintendo.

Right from the opening screen seen in the video above you know that you were in for a great experience. In fact it was Donkey Kong Country that really showed off what the Super Nintendo was capable of. Revolutionary graphics, incredible and lively looking levels, and all kinds of small effect put this game way ahead of it's time. For example, the second level of the game features a thunderstorm, later levels include a blizzard the increases and decreases in intensity, clouded waters, and misty mines. All of these little things help to add to the amazing look that Donkey Kong Country has.

Visually I really have zero complaints about the game. It's simply beautiful and if you look at the above screenshot you can even see that the game actually has layered backgrounds that look really life like. The controls are pretty tight as well. The biggest frustration I've ever had with the controls is that sometimes when I use one of my Kong's roll attacks, he comes to a dead stop breaking my momentum. It's a tick annoying, but doesn't really hamper much unless I stop at the feet of an enemy. Each Kong's got it's advantages. Diddy's quicker in all aspects, but DK himself has the power to defeat enemies Diddy cant and he also has a ground slap ability that can defeat enemies and uncover hidden goodies. There's plenty of really well hidden bonus areas to find in this version of the game so you'll want to explore high and low to find them all... You may also find yourself dropping off the level in vain hoping for a bonus barrel to appear. 

Also to find in each level are the letters K O N and G. Find all of these and you get a 1-up. The game really eases you into itself as well. The first world is really simple and introduces you to a variety of level layouts including barrel canyons, caves, underwater, and the jungle. All places you'll see again. By the time you finish world 2 you'll be starting to see the difficulty rise. Personally I think world 4, Gorilla Glacier is the hardest in the game. It's here that you'll deal with intense blizzards, slipping on ice, and a crazy barrel canyon where you'll need pin point timing to carry on. From there the difficulty stays at a real good level, but I still feel that Gorilla Glacier is the biggest nightmare the game has to offer.

It's in this world that you'll also run into Squawks the parrot. This is the only of the three games that he's actually not playable. Instead he'll cart around a light for you in a dark cave. Speaking of animals... The Kongs can ride a few different animal buddies. Winky the frog, Rambi the rhino, Enguarde the swordfish, and Expresso the ostrich can all be ridden and all have their own unique styles of play. Rambi is well a rhino that mows everything down, Expresso has a lot of speed and his height allows smaller enemies to pass between his legs, Winky can jump really high, and Enguarde makes water levels a breeze. Also hidden throughout the levels are animal tokens. Collecting three of the same animal will send you to that animal's respective bonus room where you can earn a bunch of extra lives. Only downside to doing this is upon returning to the main level, you'll be starting at the nearest checkpoint and not where you collected the token.

 

Another major high point of this game is it's soundtrack. Donkey Kong Country, while I think having the second best soundtrack out of the three games, does have a very good soundtrack. I won't put it in the top three of the Super NES, but it is still very good. My personal favorite of this soundtrack is Aquatic Ambiance. The soundtrack has a few tracks that are just ok I'd say including Tree Top Town and Mine Cart Madness. That's not to say that they are bad tracks, I just don't find them adding to the experience as some of the other tracks. 

One of the more common complaints people have about this game is the boss battles. I'll go out and say not a single one of the bosses are particularly difficult and a couple of them will actually in a sense, repeat. Even the final boss of the game, King K. Rool, is not really difficult to defeat at all once you figure out his basic attack pattern. Really I find the bosses probably the least challenging aspect of the game.

Lastly I want to address what I find to be a very silly complaint that a lot of people have with this game. For some reason a lot of people do not like the save function in this game. In order to save the game, the player must reach Candy's Save Point. The save point varies from world to world in it's location. Sometimes it's early, other times it's late. 

In the above photo you can see it on the top right. Right at the halfway point of Gorilla Glacier. I feel like a lot of gamers today have kind of an odd mentality when it comes to side scrolling games. Not to go off in another direction here, but with being able to save constantly I felt like there was no fear of a game over in Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. Same goes for the New Super Mario Bros series. I feel like there is no threat at all. Playing through Donkey Kong Country, and I'll even through Super Mario World in there, myself and countless others feared that game over because that meant it was back to the last time you saved. In this case that could be potentially half a world or more if you live on the edge. I almost feel like there's a lot of hand holding when after every level you just pause and save the game so if you die you lose zero progress. Yeah in theory you could do that in Donkey Kong Country as well, but in some scenarios like just entering a world, you could get to the last level before a save, get a game over, rage, and work back to it cause you had to go back to the last save point. So personally I really, really like that you don't have the option to save at will with this game. 

So what do I see as the pros and cons of Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo? For starters the game is beautiful and plays amazingly. It's got a top notch soundtrack and the difficulty scales quite nicely. The cons are that the boss battles are really lackluster, difficult to locate bonus barrels where you have to take a leap of faith, and honestly the punishment of having to go back to a check point for collecting three animal tokens. 

Now to look at the game that's got a bit more controversy. Donkey Kong Country on the Game Boy Advance. 

Much like the remakes of the classic Super Mario games, the Donkey Kong Country remake on the Game Boy Advance gets a lot of flack and also gets ignored a great deal. Personally though I actually like the remake for what it is. Is it Donkey Kong Country? Yes. Is it different? Yes. Does it look the same? of course not. How could it when you look at what the SNES was capable of versus what the GBA could do... Does it play as well? Well..... Let's start talking about some of this stuff...

Donkey Kong Country on the GBA graphically is..... well.... great! Many people say the game looks like trash. Well if you play it on a regular GBA, yeah. The system with no back-light is a royal pain to work with in general let alone try to bring the bright world of DKC to life. Play it on the GBA SP which has a back-light and suddenly everything looks a lot clearer. Also, keep in mind the size of the GBA's screen compared to a TV... All of the other small effects such as weather are all still in the game and look very repectable for what the GBA could muster. 

 

Does it look as good as it's SNES cousin? No, but who really expected it to? The controls do have a bit of a learning curve. If you grew up playing the game on SNES and are trying the GBA game out you might find that the controls feel almost slippery. I had several instances where I thought I had plenty for a jump but fell short, or thought I had more running room than I actually did. These things I got used to though, but it was a bit annoying when I jumped from the same location I jumped from on the SNES and made 100 times, only to miss it on the GBA. At the same time though Rare corrected the little rolling problem I mentioned earlier so you can actually keep moving after a roll that didn't hit anything. That was a real nice change to see.

Musically the soundtrack I think is again right up there among the best of the system. Here's a sample, the main theme. So this is the same song that starts off the SNES game, but on the GBA.

Does it sound as good? Some people say yes, while I think it does sound great for the GBA, I prefer the original. That being said though the soundtrack I think actually improves on some of the tracks in the game. While I feel that Aquatic Ambiance is better on the SNES, I think that other tracks such as Mine Cart Madness are actually improved a great deal. So as is kind of becoming the theme here, I feel like the soundtrack on the GBA is pretty spot on for what the GBA is capable of doing.

So comparatively on the things the games have in common the SNES version I think is the better game, but there is some things that have changed about the game on the GBA from the SNES game that have actually improved the game. The biggest of those is that some of the boss battles have been improved... Big time... For example, in the SNES game the battle against Queen B. involves hitting the queen Zinger with a barrel, then dodging her when she turns red and flies around the screen. Rinse wash repeat until she's defeated. On the GBA though, after taking enough hits, a new phase is introduced where the Kongs have to defeat a bunch of small Zingers protecting their queen before being able to damage her. This phase is similar to the battle against King Zing in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Other boss battles including the battle against Master Necky Sr. which sees Master Necky joining the the fray. The bottom line here is that the boss battles are much improved.

For the perfectionist, there is something new collect. Now included in the game are little photographs of enemies that you'll add to an album. Some of these pictures are pretty well hidden so much like the DK Coins in later SNES games, you'll need to search high and low. In addition you'll have to play a few new minigames that are hosted by both Funky and Candy Kong. You may recall that I said that Candy Kong ran the save point. Well... Rare changed this up here and made the game a bit easier by allowing the player to simply save at any time on the world map. This save also preserves the lives a player has unlike the SNES version. Candy's minigame is basically a DDR game with the buttons on the GBA. I found it quite annoying and really a waste outside of trying to collect stuff. Funky's function has been changed in the GBA version as well. In the SNES he ran Funky's Flights which similar to Candy's Save Point could be found in one location in each world. The flight allowed the Kongs to travel to any level they had already beaten. Now that flight can be called in at any time on the world map similar to saving the game. So traveling between worlds is simply made a bit easier. Funky now runs a fishing minigame that I actually like. One Kong rides Enguarde and the other is in a boat. The Kong on Enguarde fishes and brings the catch to the Kong on the boat. Depending on the required catch, bonus time can be gained or time can be lost for wrong catches. Again this minigame is a must play if you want to collect everything in the game. Oh yeah. Both mini games are found on each world so...... Be prepared for them again and again and again.

Another improvement in the GBA version is that Rare made the bonus barrels far more visible. There is also a time attack mode that was added into the game so the speed demons can go for personal bests whenever they want. Outside of the listed changes, the game is pretty much the same that it was on the SNES.

So what are my final thoughts on all of this? I think that the Gameboy Advance game is a very respectable remake of the original. While it doesn't have the graphics the SNES game has, it does add a bit to the game while keeping the main game intact. Sure the controls are a bit slippery, but the effects and music of the game can and at times do rival those of the SNES. What's more is that the inner collector of a player is tempted with the new photo album. The increased variety of the boss battles is also a very welcome addition to the game. Despite these improvements though I give the edge to the SNES game. It really is one of the best platformers I've played and it really has stood the test of time.

If you have never played Donkey Kong Country. Do yourself a favor. Look for it on the Wii, Wii U, or 3ds virtual console. If you have an SNES or a GBA hanging around, pick the game up and give it a shot!