Donkey Kong Country: The Advanced Games

    Welcome back everyone to another installment of my thoughts on the Donkey Kong Country series. In my last blog about these games I looked at what was the end of the Super Nintendo and Game Boy/ Game Boy Color era. When we last left off the company who made the original Super Nintendo games, Rareware, had been purchased by Microsoft which left the series in serious question. However, Microsoft was not a part of the handheld video game competition so they allowed Rareware to continue making games for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS for a time. In that time three games were added to the Donkey Kong Country universe and are three of the most questionable in the series. So lets take a look at the beginning of a awkward time period where a Microsoft owned company made some handheld games for Nintendo.

    In 2003 Rarware made a big move. After being purchased by Microsoft the company was able to still make games for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS for a few years as Microsoft did not participate in the hand held console scene. The Game Boy Advance seemed like a hub for SNES remakes and wouldn't you know it, Donkey Kong Country basically rose from the dead. I was pretty excited to finally get my hands on this remake a few years back. I admit I did not get it right when it came out as I still have my Super Nintendo and figured "why have the same game twice?". Yes stupid thoughts in hindsight. My impressions on this remake were a mixed bag in the end. I was really happy to see the classic levels still looking pretty good on the Game Boy Advance

    On top of that I was really happy to see the issues that plagued the Donkey Kong Land games really fixed up. For example, little things like having both Kongs on screen made things feel so much better. Not having your lives constantly displayed opened the screen more, and the camera and screen crunch issues are gone for the most part. The soundtrack even returned and for the Game Boy Advance, sounds pretty darn good. I'm not going to say that it is better than the Super Nintendo's soundtrack, but there is a group of people who actually think that way and that is totally fine and respectable. Personally, I'm just not one of those people. Another nice surprise is that Rare went a step further and added some new content like mini-games and collectibles that were not present in the first game to this remake. My favorite is that there is a photo album that you can fill with photos of all the enemies. How you get them is by defeating a specific enemy on a specific level. It's great for those players that love collecting things and destroying every baddie in their path. Did I mention that some of the boss fights have been modified to be less redundant?! With all that being said though, the game does have a couple things that I take issue with.

    The biggest of these issues is what I can only describe as the feeling of being on ice. For some reason the game seems very slippery. Areas that I could normally traverse and platform through with ease became a bit frustrating at times as I'd seemingly slip off the edge of the platform. I like to play these games fast so often times my jumps are not exactly on the money which is what I feel this game whats you to be. Making a jump a second too soon or late means not making it or sliding off the edge. Of course there are times where I know I messed up on jumps, but I feel like I had to make a second very quick jump back to the same platform more than I should have had to. More of nit pick issue I have with this remake is that though the graphics look pretty good and a lot of the personality of the original game is visually present, certain objects such as the plants in the jungle levels seemed to be a bit washed out or blurry. I call that a nit pick because I understand the handheld system it was put on and what Rare was trying to do in trying to recreate the original on the handheld.

    Personally I think these cons do not outweigh the pros. This remake is the best remake of the original Donkey Kong Country. It surpasses the Game Boy Color game at every turn and that absolutely should have been the case. In fact, this game leaves no reason for the Game Boy Color game to even really be played unless veteran fans of the series want a bit more of a challenge. Personally I think this game gets a lot of crap that it really doesn't deserve. Is it the best looking? No, but it does look far better than the Donkey Kong Land or Game Boy Color games ever did. It also manages to recreate enough visually to capture most of what the original game (which was ahead of it's time in my opinion) was able to captivate audiences with. The gameplay is solid outside of some slipping and sliding. On the opposite side of the coin... All of the original songs are there, the sound effects have been updated, new features have been added, and THE BOSS BATTLES HAVE BEEN UPDATED A BIT! Probably easy to see what my biggest issue with the first game was in that last sentence huh? In the end this is a respectable remake that kicked off a trilogy of remakes. I'm totally comfortable recommending this game to anyone who has a Game Boy Advance or anyone who may not have access to the original. That being said I cannot say that this game is the better version by any means. That being said I can recommend this game to fans of collect-a-thons as there is more to collect in this version as opposed to the original. 

   Next in line for the Game Boy Advance is Donkey Kong Country 2. When I got my hands on this game. I fully expected to once again be immersed in a game that I have loved for a long time. I fired up the game and....

I do not know if it was the result of the Game Boy Advance SP being in existence for this game and not the first, but the washout color issues in the first game are not present here. So I was happy to see that that issue was resolved. I was happy to hear the full soundtrack return once again and the gameplay issues of feeling like I was playing on ice were resolved. All around I felt like this game was a step in the right direction, and I still do feel that way when compared to the first Donkey Kong Country on the handheld. Much like in the first game I liked that Rare added some new minigames and collectibles. I had a bit of a chuckle when one of the collectibles wound up being gold feathers kind of like a certain game featuring a bear and bird. Another nice addition is a boss battle that takes place upon reaching the top of K.Rool's keep. This part of the game I feel is the biggest weak point in the SNES version.In that version K.Rool retreats to his chopper and literally nothing else happens. At least the GBA game makes it seem like there is one more big guard or someone to defend him other than a random bird race. So there is a good amount that I like about this game. At the end of the day the levels, music, and gameplay are all reminiscent of the original. So for me why is this game not as mind blowing as the original?

    While the game is a step in the right direction, there are still some issues that I have that simply did not exist on the Super Nintendo. The biggest issue, and an issue that I think really hurts the game is that the speed still rivals that of Donkey Kong Country 3 on the Super Nintendo. I was so used to basically flying through the game on the Super Nintendo that when I started playing this I felt like my run button simply wasn't working at all. While the first game was around the same speed, the original Donkey Kong Country was not as fast as the SNES version of the second game so the loss of speed is far more noticeable here. While the graphics issues are generally improved, there are still times where I felt that I should have made a jump rather than just barely missing the platform. I feel this way because I've done the same jumps on the SNES for about twenty years or so and have landed more than my fair share of them, even when I felt I shouldn't. The added minigames are still a nice addtion, but tend to lose there charm after a few goes at them. 

    While Donkey Kong Country 2 on the Game Boy Advance is a sizable upgrade from the first game, it still does not live up to the standard set by the Super Nintendo trilogy. It does a lot more right than the first, but still has some issues which I feel I can at least partially blame on the Game Boy Advance hardware. Overall I can say that I like this game. I really do. I like that it is what I would call a respectable remake that does it's job but nothing more. It has new features, but those features don't make up for the drop-off of sound, graphics, and gameplay that ensued as the game moved from one system to another. It does a great job though at recreating the levels, giving more reason to explore, and fixes what I feel is a random hole at the top of K.Rool's Keep (Note: that hole I'm referring to is literally my only nit-pick of the SNES game). For the time, new players had a way to experience Donkey Kong Country 2 on a handheld and in a much better fashion than what Donkey Kong Land 2 tried to do. Much like the first, I feel comfortable recommending this game to anyone, rookie or veteran, young or old, and anyone else who may be interested as long as they understand that they are playing on a Game Boy Advance and not a Super Nintendo.

    Donkey Kong Country 3 on Game Boy Advance is actually the first experience I had with the Game Boy Advance remakes. In fact I had played this game a couple years prior to 1 and 2 since I managed to scoop up the last one at my local Gamestop. I popped it into my Game Boy Advance SP and the first things that popped in my head were this. "Wow this game does not look as good as it's SNES counterpart" and "Wow they changed the soundtrack, that's random.". 

    

    Looking back on that I can safely say that I fell right into the trap of ignoring what system I was playing on and being critical of the game for not being the same as the Super Nintendo original. That was my mistake with this game. It almost feels like Rare took a look at the Super Nintendo game and said "ok let's learn from our mistakes and do what we can on the Game Boy Advance". Learn is what they did and it shows. Right from the new title screen theme I knew that this journey through the Northern Kremisphere was going to be at least a little bit different. Originally I had thought changing the soundtrack would actually hurt the game. Then I gave it a chance and the music is much more reminiscent of the first two games now than it ever was on the SNES, which is a good thing. I'm sure that had almost nothing to do with David Wise returning to the series are basically redoing the soundtrack.... I'm sure that had nothing to do with it right? Right??? 

    Visually the game looks, again, pretty good for the Game Boy Advance. Personally I think this game looks the best out of the three. The backgrounds all look great and the last bits of wash out and what not from the first game are all but gone here. The gameplay almost mirrors that of the Super Nintendo which is a big change from the first two games. Right from the get go on the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country 3 was a slower moving game. This means that the slow down present in the first two games on the handheld, is basically non existent here. The lack of slowdown really helped to keep the feel of the original in tact. As is with the first two games, this game does feature some minigames and other features, but also introduces an entire new world into the game. This new world I wouldn't say is anything amazing, but it does add some more unique levels to the game and it was really awesome of Rare to add it into the game. I guess you could say that Rare took yet another step forward with this game from the second, but does it have the problems the previous two have?

    Long story short, the answer is not really. The gameplay overall feels much more like the original than the other two and the soundtrack some would say is an improvement over the original. Personally I like both soundtracks, but the newer one is certainly more attuned to the first two SNES games. The color issues as I mentioned before are gone as well. All in all this is the best of the three and despite the new world and other features, the one game I can say is very, very close to it's SNES original. In fact there is a division of fans that feel that this remake is actually better than the SNES game as a whole. I can't say that I fall into that group, but I can say that this is the best of the three remakes. Again, it is on the Game Boy Advance and there was only so much that could be done as a result of that, but I feel that Rare finally hit the nail on the head with this game. Of course I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to try out Donkey Kong Country 3. I feel that it is close enough to the original that players can get the experience of playing the original on the handheld. While I think the SNES game has a slight edge thanks to the hardware it is on, the Game Boy Advance remake of this game comes pretty darn close to it.

    With the conclusion of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on Game Boy Advance, Rare went on to make some more games for Nintendo's handhelds such as Banjo Pilot for the Game Boy Advance and Diddy Kong Racing DS. Eventually Rare's partnership with Nintendo would come to a complete end and then there was silence. The days bled into weeks which eventually turned into years. For five years, Donkey Kong Country would seem all but abandoned by Nintendo. Donkey Kong went on to participate in sporting events, taking up the role of his grandfather Cranky by throwing barrels at Mario, and even take up playing the bongos and racing with bongos and... pegboard games... Yeah... Stories for another time for sure. Anyway... One thing was clear with all of these games. Nintendo wanted to distance themselves from Rare's work as much as they could. So much to the point that Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the Nintendo Gamecube contained animal buddies that were all new, but were ability-wise, clones of Rare's animal buddies. Many people believed that the reason for this was that characters like Rambi the Rhino belonged to Rare so they could not be used. That belief ended up being false as Rare had left the entirety of the Donkey Kong Universe (not including characters in Diddy Kong Racing) to Nintendo. 

    The dark ages had certainly arrived. It had seemed like my favorite series of games had met a sad bitter end as Nintendo envisioned a future without Rare on board. Then suddenly a dim light shown as Retro Studios announced that the king of swing was coming back. Donkey Kong Country would return for the Nintendo Wii. It would be on like Donkey Kong once again, but would it be a recreation of the empire that Rare had built all those years ago, or would the ambitious Retro Studios fall flat? Find out in the final entry to this blog series about my thoughts one the Donkey Kong Country series! As always.... Thanks for reading!