When you're desperate to save, it is possible to go back to earlier levels with easy to find Kong Letters. I remember replaying level 1-1 a lot in this game..
This game was way more ambitious graphically than it's sequels. With far more busy backgrounds and actually being able to ride the animal buddies as opposed to only being able to transform into them. I love this game, I love the inventiveness, but it was very smart that the tweaked the formula for DKL2 and 3 by pulling the camera back and simplifying the backgrounds. The sequels aren't as "flashy" but they have aged much better and feel so much more solid to play.
If you're gonna play DK Land nowadays, I'd highly recommend the DX rom hack. It adds full color to the game and completely fixes the problem of all the sprites blending together. (There's also a full color version of DK Land 2, and an english translation of the Japanese-exlusive Game Boy Color version of DK Land 3)
Sprites blending together was especially shitty when playing on an original gray brick GB. I’d get hit by enemies I didn’t see coming regularly because of them blending in! I never experienced anything like that on any GB game like I did with Land. Not even in Land 2 and 3!
Yeah this was the main reason I could never fully fall in love with the game, some parts were so damn dark and muddled I couldn't tell what was going on.
Well, the Gameboy wasn't as primitive as people think. I'd argue even without color, some of graphics look better then some NES games. The Gameboy Camera especially had impressive hand drawn menus and stuff.
1:49 - More than the critics: Shigeru Miyamoto himself. He was salty because this game outsold Yoshi's Island, claiming that "gamers would put up with mediocre gameplay as long as it looks good." - That's why Diddy and Dixie (both Rare's original creations) are the protags on the sequel and Donkey is demoted to damsel in distress (down to the point of even being tortured and beaten in front of you when you reach the final battle).
DK Land is one of the more fascinating Game Boy games from afar to me since like you said, it ended up sorta forgotten about and brushed off as a lesser Game Boy version rather than a whole new game. But in Land's case that's doubled since Rare went ahead and more directly remade for GBC _anyway_ a few years down the road!
Yeah, DKC remake on Color is pretty insane, then we also got the proper portable version on GBA. The GBC one is the only one I don't own but I should probably grab myself a copy for the history.
Thank for mentioning the city - that’s what I remember most from that game, and I’m annoyed by anyone saying “it’s just like dkc “ when it has brand new level themes!!!
I know right? This is basically an entire different game, and that's why even if it's weaker than the sequels I think it still deserves more credit than them just for trying something different
So fun fact, even though I had DKC1 on SNES as a child, I did not even know there was a DKC 2 or 3 until 2005-6 (kinda lived under a rock) but I did have a Super Game Boy and a friend gave me his copy of DK Land, which I imagined was a straight up sequel. Never got to the end when I was young, but I loved the soundtrack - apparently it’s a combined effort between Wise and Norgate, but I’m not 100% certain who did what tracks. Still, a weird little game that I feel could only be done on a portable machine, and a real showcase of what the Game Boy can really do.
I played this on the 3ds virtual console. Getting 100% was fun but as you said, not worth it. I suppose it ain’t a bad attempt for a gameboy dkc platformer game, but the other 2 games control and play way better. I especially reccomend dkc land 3. Also this game has that annoying quirk where if ya go too high, the bottom of the screen just kills ya instead of scrolling back down.
DKL 3 is when it actually got pretty good, it had it's moments of trying too hard to have backgrounds and stuff and it was hard to see, but over all it controlled as good as a the Country games and the levels were fairly well designed.
@@pyroflare7774 what I mean is that I enjoyed getting 100% since I’m usually a completionist, but it’s not worth it since you get absolutely nothing for it like he mentioned in the video. Not everyone will enjoy the idea of getting nothing for the hard work.
I got Donkey Kong Land 1, 2, and 3 on release and I love them. They were great to play for on the go or just be in the backyard instead of being in my room. I still own them today.
Yup, this game felt like a miracle when I was a kid. I wasn't allowed a SNES so I felt like I was cheating when I got this. Obviously it doesn't compare to the console DKC games but I still admire what Rare pulled off.
Cool to see you do a video on this; Donkey Kong Land was one of those games that felt ubiquitous when I was a kid, but I've hardly ever seen anyone talk about it since. Feels like a lot of the GB/C library in that way - unless it's Pokemon Gen 1/2, Link's Awakening, Tetris, Super Mario Land 1 or the Game Boy Camera, Game Boy rarely seems to get much retrospective treatment.
Yeah the gameboy gets overlooked HARD. And it's such a shame because nearly all of us played gameboy at some point. it's one of the top selling systems of all time.
You unlocked a core memory for me of reading about Donkey Kong Land in an old issue of Nintendo Power. I loved playing the SNES trilogy + DK64 but never got around to these. Thanks for the fun nostalgia trip!!!
I really love and appreciate the attention you gave to the soundtrack. I haven't played this game before, so it helps provide a bigger picture and something additional to get excited about! I find so often soundtracks are left out or not given solo time for the viewer to immerse themselves in, even though they are so important to gameplay and a game's identity!
The Donkey kong land trilogy is something i've always wanted to try out! I've heard they're great and not just downgraded game boy ports for a quick cash grab. It's great to see they have their own identity. I'm pretty sure we'll see them soon as they were on 3DS eshop and i've no doubt they'll be part of a Game Boy NSO for Switch! I enjoy the possible tie ins to New Donk as well! The only confusion I have is to why the sequels are 2 and III instead of 2 and 3, but that's me nitpicking lol. Also those themes you highlighted were bangers! Great job Derrick! :D
THIS WAS ONE OF MY FIRST GAMES AS A KID! It's so bizarre seeing gameplay footage of it again- after seeing so much footage of the SNES, I had almost convinced myself this game was in color!!
It seemed to be the ambition to have all Game Boy takes on DK games to throw you and give you more than you expected. Given that the Land games were not copies of DKC, and even the Donkey Kong take on the original arcade game completely throws you and takes you after the initial levels into an entirely different game.
@2:57 “but in motion it works wonderfully” as a kid who played this on an original gray Game Boy I couldn’t disagree more. Sure playing it on an emulator or a Super GB helps a TON but on that original green blurry screen you’d be walking right and get hit by an enemy you couldn’t see because of the “mess of pixels” that would blend in with the background. Rare would learn from this and make huge improvements with the sequels but Land 1 was as close as unplayable on an original GB as you could get.
I've never played Donkey Kong Land but my brother had Donkey Kong Land II back then. I remember that distinctive yellow cartridge. I like when games have colored carts.
I don’t know if they ever made an official statement about it, but I always imagined the conception of Hogwash on Donkey Kong Land was after someone expressed “Donkey Kong Country on GameBoy? Yeah, when pigs fly”
god, this was not only my first donkey kong game, but my first rareware game in general, since i didn't have a snes growing up, either, and i also didn't have an n64 never beat it, but i do still have some nostalgia toward it, and the soundtrack is just as divine as you'd expect from what's essentially a dkc game (and yes, i freaking love that boss theme)
I’m in my 30’s and grew up playing DKC on my cousins SNES, later in 1999 I got it for the Game Boy Colour and was blown away by the graphics. It wasn’t until I could find real good emulation that I was finally able to play the DKL trilogy for the OG Game Boy and I’m still seriously impressed. It’s underrated! 🍌
I downloaded all three recently while cleaning up my eShop wishlist. But I have distinct memories of playing the first one on my cousin's Game Boy. For a long time, the only time I got to play video games were when we visited them.
Finally someone gives this game the recognition it deserves. I'm glad you brought up the point that it stands on its own two feet as an entirely unique Donkey Kong platformer, and that it's not just a portable variant of the original Donkey Kong country.
I wasn't allowed to own any TV consoles so this was basically my only DK exposure for my entire childhood. It was the first game I ever beat on my own, and will always be one of my all time favorites
I just hope when they inevitably get added to NSO people see them for the gems they are, all anyone talks about is how blurry they can occasionally be.
The gameplay is pretty good but the MUSIC is amazing. Taking the ambient soundscapes of the first game and turning them into catchy chip tunes works so well. And the originals are equally good
For a second there my brain was going "I remember owning something like this?". I remember playing a DK game on my GBC but chances are it was Country. That said it's awesome to see what they were able to do on the Gameboy
I think this was the first Donkey Kong game I ever owned though I got Country a few months later. I played the older games but for some reason never owned any until after I got this. It sucks this has been mostly forgotten because IMO it is a very good game in its own right.
Wow! This game and its soundtrack still rocks in my head. I played this so hard, and I beat it which was rare for me. Got me through some tough times (rubs knuckle on eye corner)
Our introduction to Donkey Kong Land is pretty similar! I didn't get to own a Nintendo console, let alone a SNES I bought off eBay till the Wii era, BUT I grew up fondly with the Game Boy. Donkey Kong Land 2 was my initial dip into the series & really sunk my interest for the series, getting 3 then 1 at later dates, but getting to learn much later that Land 1 holds a more independent worth compared to 2 & 3 was such a neat bonus when I did get round to owning Country 1 in the 2010's. Your video brought back alot of nostalgia and fond memories and it's just nice to see this entry getting abit of attention and awareness that it's not a port but it's own entry to the franchise. Great vid, Derrick!
Me at the start of this video: "Wait, did I have this game as a kid? I don't remember..." Me upon seeing footage of the cloud section: "OH GOSH, YES I DID, THERE'S THE PTSD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Love the inclusion of the composer info. The zeppelin and cloud level tracks were amazing and the mention of Blast Corps makes perfect sense because the DKL boss theme was sort of remixed (in a major key) for one of the common racing level tracks in that game.
I love Donkey Kong Land’s creativity and ambition. I played all three games back-to-back earlier this year, and this one ended up being my favorite. DKC2 is my favorite in the SNES trilogy, but Land 2 was surprisingly the one I enjoyed the least (it wasn’t a port, but it felt the most like one).
It's kind of funny. People sometimes think of DKC3 as the "odd duck" in the series, but Land fits in perfectly between the first two games and you could think of them as forming a cohesive trilogy in itself.
Finally somebody who actually shares my opinion about Donkey Kong Land. I remember distinctly the day when I made it to the area with the KONG letters in Level 3-5 and cleared it without using the hidden exit. It’s impressive how many level gimmicks they were able to fit in the game when, among the three DKL games, the first game was the least like its SNES cousin.
The soundtrack for this game was otherworldly. And just like you, I loved the city levels. The game feels extremely smooth too with the fluid camera and fast movements.
i remember the first time i saw screenshots of dkc i was convinced that it was one of the upcoming games for the soon to be released N64. it literally blew my mind when i learned that it was in fact a SNES game. i am eternally grateful that i came up with video games and got to see first hand how they have evolved over the years. literally playing the 2600 when i was a toddler and watching and growing up right along side the industry.
I played the original DKC religiously on the SNES as a kid, so when I read about "Donkey Kong Land" in one of my brother's copies of Nintendo Power, I was delighted that there was going to be a game like DKC, but portable. When I finally got myself a copy of it, I was blown away by how good it was, even with the insane difficulty spikes in the 3rd and 4th worlds. Not to mention trying to get all of the K-O-N-G Letters in order to properly save my progress. But I remember being so proud of myself for beating it, since I wasn't able to beat the original DKC until I was much older. Anyway, great video! Looking forward to more! Keep up the awesome work! P.S. I totally agree about the boss music going so hard. I remember really rocking out to it as a kid.
I just recently completed Donkey Kong Land on the 3DS Virtual Console as I wanted more DK experiences after completing the Country games (at least the first game and Diddy’s Kong Quest) several times and this was a pretty alright time. Took a bit of time getting used to the Game Boy’s controls as it just felt slightly different and had a couple deaths from just barely missing ledges in the second level and the camera here and there but once I got used to it it was fun. Also kinda surprised there were no minecart levels in the game considering those were big moments in DKC, but I imagine the next two games will bring it with the rollercoaster and toboggan as they’re way closer to their SNES counterparts. Overall I enjoyed Donkey Kong Land and can’t wait to play the others since I nabbed all three games plus DK ‘94 before the eShop removed the ability to add funds with gift cards.
The main problem with this first entry on the gameboy is the movement physics, running and jumping is way slower than in Country so if you have the Snes muscle memory you'll fall into small pits and when you bounce off enemies the opposite happens where you suddenly move faster than usual. It's like those 2 things got switched by accident in DKL
On modern emulators you can usually set a custom palette for sprites and background - and the game looks *amazing* with a golden brown palette for sprites and green for backgrounds.
One thing that added to the difficulty was the screen blur of the original Game Boy, makes every jump a leap of faith lol. Upgraded screens like the Game Boy Pocket or Color were huge improvements, and playing on Super Game Boy was the only way I could complete it back in the day.
I’m glad someone took the time to look into this. My brother saved up every single dollar for a full month as a young kid and bought this game with his own money. My parents were not amused (my parents both emigrated from Haiti, so the parent/child relationship is entirely different than typical American parents’s relationships. Most 1st generation born children have a similar experience.) but absolutely worth it. In my opinion, DKL is the better version of DKC. Yeah, it has its problems, but I thought the level variations, the music and the bosses were more fleshed out and unique. It’s the most underrated DK title that no one has ever played.
I’ve heard about it plenty, but this is my first time really seeing a deep dive into the game, so it’s interesting to hear about. Thanks for such a fun video, Derrick!
It's really cool to see Donkey Kong Land getting some well deserved love, finally. The console counterpart tends to get most of the attention but just as DKC did incredible things for the Super NES, so did DKL for the Gameboy. The graphics were phenomenal for the platform at the time, the soundtrack just as fantastic as the console Donkey Kong, and, just some overall uniquely great ideas going on. Donkey Kong Country was my first encounter with Rare's Donkey Kong games, but I still really enjoyed playing through Donkey Kong Land later on just as much.
Fun Trivia: After you beat Dkc cranky tells you he could've gotten all the bonuses and beaten the game in under an hour. If you accomplish this ultimate task your reward is he doesn't say that anymore.
Donkey Kong Land killed my dog. Okay, not really, but I was tricked into trading Link's Awakening for it. An acquaintance asked to "temporarily swap" these two games until we have finished them. He lied and never gave it back. My dog was later run over by a car, and I've associated the events ever since.
Donkey Kong Land is an under appreciated classic. I only had DKC2, but had all 3 on GB and as much as I travelled as a kid I ended up playing them more than DKC2. To this day I can’t decide which approach was better: DKL 2+3 were impressively accurate ports of technically impressive SNES game but DKL had more of it’s own identity.
I also had this game as a kid in the 90’s. I believe it was bundled with the Game Boy Pocket at one time. I really loved it and don’t recall having any major issues with it. All of your pains with the later levels were similar to mine. I distinctly remember being so annoyed when I couldn’t find all the KONG letters because I would have to repeat levels over when I ran out of lives. Still was a cool game though!
Donkey Kong Land 2 was the first game I ever owned, I had the whole "Land" trilogy as a kid, and they were my precious treasures. I ADORED those games! This was before I ever really knew what a Super Nintendo was--these games existed in a vacuum for me, so they were just these three really awesome games that I only later learned were spinoffs of a bigger series. Looking back as an adult, though, I do think the original Donkey Kong Land is my favorite. It controls clunky compared to the later games, but it's so much more of its own thing compared to DKL2 and DKL3, which feel much more "port-like." And yeah, the music is amazing. I would plug my headphones into my Game Boy, go to certain levels, and just hit pause so I could listen to the music.
As far as the screen space and "blind jumps", I beat this on 3DS Virtual Console, and I would say the game has a very reliable language to indicate where regular level progress is headed and where secrets are hiding. It's almost too obvious as the secrets go.
I got this game and the Super Game Boy one year for Christmas. A lot of my games ended up getting sold at a garage sale as a young teen. Fast forward to 2009, I went into a used game store and decided to buy a copy of DKL… the back of the cartridge I grabbed? It had my name written on it in red market. It was my old cartridge! One of the craziest things I’ve ever had happen to me.
Hey Good Vibes, it's Good Vibe here ;) I agree that the Land games don't get talked about enough. I'm not sure if that's because people don't like them or because they never got as much exposure compared to their SNES counterparts. Collecting the KONG letters to save sounds like a neat idea on paper but when playing the game on Gameboy with little to no battery life left, it became stressful trying to find them. Now that modern handhelds have a suspend/sleep mode and can easily be recharged, kids today will never know that feeling. The new music is indeed awesome. The boss music is so good that it reappears in Blast Corps, also composed by Graeme Norgate. There's an unused track in the game meant for the skyscraper stages. Have you heard it? When I was younger, the second cloud stage gave me the most trouble and even today it's still one of the harder stages in the series. I look forward to seeing your videos about Land 2 and 3.
This game brings back so many great memories. Ma got me a black GameBoy Boy and this game in '94. Makes me think of her. She passed in 2014. Miss her so much.
Also played this on the original Gameboy, though I did have the SNES version of DKC. This was a great option for mobile game-players at the time! You also did a great job of showing the inventiveness of the level design.
I remember trying this game on a demo unit in the electronics section of a Sears (those were the days) and being impressed with just how well it worked compared to all the cut-rate Game Boy ports of SNES games from that era - especially considering that the graphics in the original should have made a port unthinkable. It helps that Donkey Kong Country's gameplay was simple enough to scale down to two buttons well as that's where a lot of those ports suffered.
I got this game via a mail-in promotion with Dole - send in three UPCs from packages of fruit cups, get the game for half-price. A very strange promotion; I can't recall anything else of the kind. I remember Nintendo Power, on their high-score challenge page, posted a completion time from a game counselor who said, "No one will beat this time!" And indeed, no one did - I think they had to walk that back a few issues later. My best time was about 34 minutes, I think? I didn't particular enjoy getting it that low; needless to say, it involved many restarts. The Cutting Room Floor notes that the game has two unused pieces of music. I read once that it was supposed to be possible to trigger the alternative boss music somehow, but I think that was just unsupported speculation.
I remember my bro getting these due to me not affording the snes ones, particularly DK2, which I wanted badly after playing it with my friend's big brother. None of the the Gameboy versions lacked the quality at all, it scratched the DKC itch very well. So much passion was put in.
Despite us owning an SNES, we never owned Donkey Kong Country because our parents were stingy prudes. But we did also own multiple Game Boys and Donkey Kong Land. Back then I wasn't too skilled and got stuck around the Gangplank Galleon stage.
I had no idea DK Land was so different. I've own the game for years and just never did more than a level or 2. Will certainly be giving it another try once I finally get an Analogue Pocket.
I had this game as a kid. Still have it somewhere now with a dead battery that I need to replace. This game was amazing on the Super Game Boy, the controls worked great and the sound was awesome coming from TV speakers instead of the tiny one on the GameBoy. Think I bought the game at a K.B. Toys since they were usually the cheapest for GameBoy stuff.
I only had the Gameboy when I was little and Donkey Kong Land was one of the first games I had. I replayed often the first two worlds, but I was terrified of the nautilus monster following you around in one of the water levels. So I never made it past that at the time. I think it's time for a revisit.
I remember having this when I was a kid. Honestly I didn't think very much of it. I got stuck on one of the cloud levels and never got to world 4. It was generally hard to see what was going on and I don't think I ever understood that the KONG letters saved the game. I had DKC2 on SNES, so as you can imagine I spent most of my time playing that one.
DK Land was my first game in the series. Our house was broken into and they stole my gameboy and games. It wasn’t until last year when I finally got my hands on another copy, a good 26 years later
Oh my god I haven’t seen this game since I was 10 back in the late 90s. The music brought back so many memories. Crazy how these old games can be time capsules
Rare: "Hey, Graeme, it's just a little manta ray that flies slowly back and forth across the screen, so you don't have to do anything special for the music track."
I remember I could barely beat the first few levels, and my mom asked if she could try and quickly blew through a bunch of them. I didn't know at the time that she grew up pumping quarters into Donkey Kong machines.
I loved this game as a kid. BAck then when saw the ads for wanted Donkey Kong Country, I really wanted it but I didn't have a snes, I had a Gameboy though so I got Donkey Kong Land instead. I remember the banana yellow cartridge and the hours I spent playing it, I thought it was awesome. At the time I thought it was a port of the snes original and that was good enough for me. I still play it now (but on an emulator). I remember one time I lent the game to a friend and had a LOT of trouble getting it back.
I grew up with this game in place of Donkey Kong Country. It certainly wasn't my most beloved, but I've considered going back for retrospective look for comparison. Thanks for doing the leg work!
When you're desperate to save, it is possible to go back to earlier levels with easy to find Kong Letters. I remember replaying level 1-1 a lot in this game..
Oh man, I completely about that lol
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That was my strategy too
The fact that Cranky taunts about Dk’s amazing graphics is so charming and hilarious.
The limited 2d graphics is so charming
This game was way more ambitious graphically than it's sequels. With far more busy backgrounds and actually being able to ride the animal buddies as opposed to only being able to transform into them. I love this game, I love the inventiveness, but it was very smart that the tweaked the formula for DKL2 and 3 by pulling the camera back and simplifying the backgrounds. The sequels aren't as "flashy" but they have aged much better and feel so much more solid to play.
If you're gonna play DK Land nowadays, I'd highly recommend the DX rom hack. It adds full color to the game and completely fixes the problem of all the sprites blending together. (There's also a full color version of DK Land 2, and an english translation of the Japanese-exlusive Game Boy Color version of DK Land 3)
Sprites blending together was especially shitty when playing on an original gray brick GB. I’d get hit by enemies I didn’t see coming regularly because of them blending in! I never experienced anything like that on any GB game like I did with Land. Not even in Land 2 and 3!
Yeah this was the main reason I could never fully fall in love with the game, some parts were so damn dark and muddled I couldn't tell what was going on.
GBA SP was my best friend with this game
plus it adds the unused songs back into the game
I love the DX rom hack. It's the only way I play this game nowadays
Nintendo cramming DK and mario adventures onto the GB cartridge with these and the mario land series was pretty impressive
Well, the Gameboy wasn't as primitive as people think. I'd argue even without color, some of graphics look better then some NES games. The Gameboy Camera especially had impressive hand drawn menus and stuff.
and metroid and kid icarus
@beauwalker9820 makes sence since it was one of the last 1st party game made for the original game boy
1:49 - More than the critics: Shigeru Miyamoto himself. He was salty because this game outsold Yoshi's Island, claiming that "gamers would put up with mediocre gameplay as long as it looks good." - That's why Diddy and Dixie (both Rare's original creations) are the protags on the sequel and Donkey is demoted to damsel in distress (down to the point of even being tortured and beaten in front of you when you reach the final battle).
DK Land is one of the more fascinating Game Boy games from afar to me since like you said, it ended up sorta forgotten about and brushed off as a lesser Game Boy version rather than a whole new game. But in Land's case that's doubled since Rare went ahead and more directly remade for GBC _anyway_ a few years down the road!
Loved your Tak vid mate, I swear you sound so similar to the guy in the vid I almost swore I was watching a golden bolt video.
Yeah, DKC remake on Color is pretty insane, then we also got the proper portable version on GBA. The GBC one is the only one I don't own but I should probably grab myself a copy for the history.
Because it is a lesser gameboy version. What kind of idiot would waste their time with Donkey Kong Land in 2022?
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Me
@@BBWahoo Nice try, shitpost.
Thank for mentioning the city - that’s what I remember most from that game, and I’m annoyed by anyone saying “it’s just like dkc “ when it has brand new level themes!!!
I used to live in that city and I vividly remember Mayor Pauline’s anti-Donkey Kong propaganda
I know right? This is basically an entire different game, and that's why even if it's weaker than the sequels I think it still deserves more credit than them just for trying something different
So fun fact, even though I had DKC1 on SNES as a child, I did not even know there was a DKC 2 or 3 until 2005-6 (kinda lived under a rock) but I did have a Super Game Boy and a friend gave me his copy of DK Land, which I imagined was a straight up sequel. Never got to the end when I was young, but I loved the soundtrack - apparently it’s a combined effort between Wise and Norgate, but I’m not 100% certain who did what tracks. Still, a weird little game that I feel could only be done on a portable machine, and a real showcase of what the Game Boy can really do.
I played this on the 3ds virtual console. Getting 100% was fun but as you said, not worth it. I suppose it ain’t a bad attempt for a gameboy dkc platformer game, but the other 2 games control and play way better. I especially reccomend dkc land 3. Also this game has that annoying quirk where if ya go too high, the bottom of the screen just kills ya instead of scrolling back down.
DKL 3 is when it actually got pretty good, it had it's moments of trying too hard to have backgrounds and stuff and it was hard to see, but over all it controlled as good as a the Country games and the levels were fairly well designed.
Oof, I hate it when older games kill you for that
@@ParmMannREBORN DKL 2 did it as well, but you had to fall from a much higher distance to where it was seldom ever in issue.
"Fun" , "not worth it" ARE YOU ON SOME DRUGS?????
@@pyroflare7774 what I mean is that I enjoyed getting 100% since I’m usually a completionist, but it’s not worth it since you get absolutely nothing for it like he mentioned in the video. Not everyone will enjoy the idea of getting nothing for the hard work.
Thanks for this video! This was the very first game I owned and played as a young kid. What a nostalgic trip!
I got Donkey Kong Land 1, 2, and 3 on release and I love them. They were great to play for on the go or just be in the backyard instead of being in my room. I still own them today.
I love DK land, only have the first though
Yup, this game felt like a miracle when I was a kid. I wasn't allowed a SNES so I felt like I was cheating when I got this. Obviously it doesn't compare to the console DKC games but I still admire what Rare pulled off.
"Cheating" are you ok?????
@@pyroflare7774 Pretty sure OP meant "cheating" in a figurative or expressive way, not a literal sense. So... are *you* ok?
@@mchevre do I need to call Terry on you both?????
@@mchevre this is why you MUST be careful who you breed with
I had the exact same experience! I was astonished the Gameboy was capable of imitating the SNES game in such a way
Cool to see you do a video on this; Donkey Kong Land was one of those games that felt ubiquitous when I was a kid, but I've hardly ever seen anyone talk about it since. Feels like a lot of the GB/C library in that way - unless it's Pokemon Gen 1/2, Link's Awakening, Tetris, Super Mario Land 1 or the Game Boy Camera, Game Boy rarely seems to get much retrospective treatment.
Mario land 2, DK land and pokemon TCG were my childhood
Yeah the gameboy gets overlooked HARD. And it's such a shame because nearly all of us played gameboy at some point. it's one of the top selling systems of all time.
You unlocked a core memory for me of reading about Donkey Kong Land in an old issue of Nintendo Power. I loved playing the SNES trilogy + DK64 but never got around to these. Thanks for the fun nostalgia trip!!!
I really love and appreciate the attention you gave to the soundtrack. I haven't played this game before, so it helps provide a bigger picture and something additional to get excited about! I find so often soundtracks are left out or not given solo time for the viewer to immerse themselves in, even though they are so important to gameplay and a game's identity!
I've never played DKL before and now I want to! Great history lesson!
The Donkey kong land trilogy is something i've always wanted to try out! I've heard they're great and not just downgraded game boy ports for a quick cash grab. It's great to see they have their own identity. I'm pretty sure we'll see them soon as they were on 3DS eshop and i've no doubt they'll be part of a Game Boy NSO for Switch! I enjoy the possible tie ins to New Donk as well! The only confusion I have is to why the sequels are 2 and III instead of 2 and 3, but that's me nitpicking lol. Also those themes you highlighted were bangers! Great job Derrick! :D
THIS WAS ONE OF MY FIRST GAMES AS A KID! It's so bizarre seeing gameplay footage of it again- after seeing so much footage of the SNES, I had almost convinced myself this game was in color!!
It seemed to be the ambition to have all Game Boy takes on DK games to throw you and give you more than you expected. Given that the Land games were not copies of DKC, and even the Donkey Kong take on the original arcade game completely throws you and takes you after the initial levels into an entirely different game.
I had one of these on 3DS. Never played much of it but if Game Boy ever comes to NSO I’d give them another look
@2:57 “but in motion it works wonderfully” as a kid who played this on an original gray Game Boy I couldn’t disagree more. Sure playing it on an emulator or a Super GB helps a TON but on that original green blurry screen you’d be walking right and get hit by an enemy you couldn’t see because of the “mess of pixels” that would blend in with the background.
Rare would learn from this and make huge improvements with the sequels but Land 1 was as close as unplayable on an original GB as you could get.
Yes! This is part of why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I only had the OG Gameboy at the time I was playing it.
I've never played Donkey Kong Land but my brother had Donkey Kong Land II back then. I remember that distinctive yellow cartridge. I like when games have colored carts.
I don’t know if they ever made an official statement about it, but I always imagined the conception of Hogwash on Donkey Kong Land was after someone expressed “Donkey Kong Country on GameBoy? Yeah, when pigs fly”
god, this was not only my first donkey kong game, but my first rareware game in general, since i didn't have a snes growing up, either, and i also didn't have an n64
never beat it, but i do still have some nostalgia toward it, and the soundtrack is just as divine as you'd expect from what's essentially a dkc game (and yes, i freaking love that boss theme)
I’m in my 30’s and grew up playing DKC on my cousins SNES, later in 1999 I got it for the Game Boy Colour and was blown away by the graphics. It wasn’t until I could find real good emulation that I was finally able to play the DKL trilogy for the OG Game Boy and I’m still seriously impressed. It’s underrated! 🍌
I downloaded all three recently while cleaning up my eShop wishlist. But I have distinct memories of playing the first one on my cousin's Game Boy. For a long time, the only time I got to play video games were when we visited them.
I remember buying this game from a flea market and thinking “what knockoff game did they sell me” lol
The fact that I play this game so much as a kid just brings back so much nostalgia,especially the music I will always remember this gem of a game.
Finally someone gives this game the recognition it deserves. I'm glad you brought up the point that it stands on its own two feet as an entirely unique Donkey Kong platformer, and that it's not just a portable variant of the original Donkey Kong country.
I wasn't allowed to own any TV consoles so this was basically my only DK exposure for my entire childhood. It was the first game I ever beat on my own, and will always be one of my all time favorites
I just hope when they inevitably get added to NSO people see them for the gems they are, all anyone talks about is how blurry they can occasionally be.
STOP WISHING BAD THINGS ON PEOPLE!!!
The gameplay is pretty good but the MUSIC is amazing. Taking the ambient soundscapes of the first game and turning them into catchy chip tunes works so well. And the originals are equally good
Great music like NES Battletoads!!
I really expected Jon here. This seems like the sorta thing he would also talk about.
It's a great game. Love this game. Especially New Donk City. Some levels were a little hard.
* Big ape city
I have all three cartridges. It's pretty in yellow but I would have preferred them to be gray like the others.
Loved this game as a kid. Big Ape City was such a fun and unique level. I remember fighting K Rool on a blimp 😂
I had this one for my Game Boy too. I remember i thought it Was really fun.
For a second there my brain was going "I remember owning something like this?". I remember playing a DK game on my GBC but chances are it was Country. That said it's awesome to see what they were able to do on the Gameboy
Had this game on one of those dodgy 100 games in 1 cartridge that my parents bought for me while on holiday in Spain.
I think this was the first Donkey Kong game I ever owned though I got Country a few months later. I played the older games but for some reason never owned any until after I got this. It sucks this has been mostly forgotten because IMO it is a very good game in its own right.
Wow! This game and its soundtrack still rocks in my head. I played this so hard, and I beat it which was rare for me. Got me through some tough times (rubs knuckle on eye corner)
Our introduction to Donkey Kong Land is pretty similar! I didn't get to own a Nintendo console, let alone a SNES I bought off eBay till the Wii era, BUT I grew up fondly with the Game Boy.
Donkey Kong Land 2 was my initial dip into the series & really sunk my interest for the series, getting 3 then 1 at later dates, but getting to learn much later that Land 1 holds a more independent worth compared to 2 & 3 was such a neat bonus when I did get round to owning Country 1 in the 2010's.
Your video brought back alot of nostalgia and fond memories and it's just nice to see this entry getting abit of attention and awareness that it's not a port but it's own entry to the franchise. Great vid, Derrick!
Me at the start of this video: "Wait, did I have this game as a kid? I don't remember..."
Me upon seeing footage of the cloud section: "OH GOSH, YES I DID, THERE'S THE PTSD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
As someone who played DK Land 1 and 2 as a kid, it's great to see this game get the attention it deserves!
This game looked way better on the Super Game Boy. Rare did a great job and I love their Battletoads-style 8-bit music tracks!
Love the inclusion of the composer info. The zeppelin and cloud level tracks were amazing and the mention of Blast Corps makes perfect sense because the DKL boss theme was sort of remixed (in a major key) for one of the common racing level tracks in that game.
Fun fact: the boss theme is also used in the 64 version of Blast Corps. The music has been remplaced in Rare Replay however.
I love Donkey Kong Land’s creativity and ambition. I played all three games back-to-back earlier this year, and this one ended up being my favorite. DKC2 is my favorite in the SNES trilogy, but Land 2 was surprisingly the one I enjoyed the least (it wasn’t a port, but it felt the most like one).
It's kind of funny. People sometimes think of DKC3 as the "odd duck" in the series, but Land fits in perfectly between the first two games and you could think of them as forming a cohesive trilogy in itself.
Finally somebody who actually shares my opinion about Donkey Kong Land. I remember distinctly the day when I made it to the area with the KONG letters in Level 3-5 and cleared it without using the hidden exit. It’s impressive how many level gimmicks they were able to fit in the game when, among the three DKL games, the first game was the least like its SNES cousin.
The soundtrack for this game was otherworldly. And just like you, I loved the city levels. The game feels extremely smooth too with the fluid camera and fast movements.
i remember the first time i saw screenshots of dkc i was convinced that it was one of the upcoming games for the soon to be released N64. it literally blew my mind when i learned that it was in fact a SNES game. i am eternally grateful that i came up with video games and got to see first hand how they have evolved over the years. literally playing the 2600 when i was a toddler and watching and growing up right along side the industry.
I played the original DKC religiously on the SNES as a kid, so when I read about "Donkey Kong Land" in one of my brother's copies of Nintendo Power, I was delighted that there was going to be a game like DKC, but portable. When I finally got myself a copy of it, I was blown away by how good it was, even with the insane difficulty spikes in the 3rd and 4th worlds. Not to mention trying to get all of the K-O-N-G Letters in order to properly save my progress. But I remember being so proud of myself for beating it, since I wasn't able to beat the original DKC until I was much older. Anyway, great video! Looking forward to more! Keep up the awesome work!
P.S. I totally agree about the boss music going so hard. I remember really rocking out to it as a kid.
I just recently completed Donkey Kong Land on the 3DS Virtual Console as I wanted more DK experiences after completing the Country games (at least the first game and Diddy’s Kong Quest) several times and this was a pretty alright time.
Took a bit of time getting used to the Game Boy’s controls as it just felt slightly different and had a couple deaths from just barely missing ledges in the second level and the camera here and there but once I got used to it it was fun. Also kinda surprised there were no minecart levels in the game considering those were big moments in DKC, but I imagine the next two games will bring it with the rollercoaster and toboggan as they’re way closer to their SNES counterparts.
Overall I enjoyed Donkey Kong Land and can’t wait to play the others since I nabbed all three games plus DK ‘94 before the eShop removed the ability to add funds with gift cards.
I loved this as a kid, the kremlantis and aquatic ambience songs are soo nostalgic for me, thanks for this nostalgia trip!
Awesome! Love that you included instruction manual knowledge. Reminds me of when I would give snippets of the DK64 manual during your streams!
The main problem with this first entry on the gameboy is the movement physics, running and jumping is way slower than in Country so if you have the Snes muscle memory you'll fall into small pits and when you bounce off enemies the opposite happens where you suddenly move faster than usual.
It's like those 2 things got switched by accident in DKL
I remember this one don’t think I beat it as a kid but looks like a impressive feat on the game boy after watching this good work Derek.
On modern emulators you can usually set a custom palette for sprites and background - and the game looks *amazing* with a golden brown palette for sprites and green for backgrounds.
One thing that added to the difficulty was the screen blur of the original Game Boy, makes every jump a leap of faith lol. Upgraded screens like the Game Boy Pocket or Color were huge improvements, and playing on Super Game Boy was the only way I could complete it back in the day.
I’m glad someone took the time to look into this. My brother saved up every single dollar for a full month as a young kid and bought this game with his own money. My parents were not amused (my parents both emigrated from Haiti, so the parent/child relationship is entirely different than typical American parents’s relationships. Most 1st generation born children have a similar experience.) but absolutely worth it.
In my opinion, DKL is the better version of DKC. Yeah, it has its problems, but I thought the level variations, the music and the bosses were more fleshed out and unique. It’s the most underrated DK title that no one has ever played.
I’ve heard about it plenty, but this is my first time really seeing a deep dive into the game, so it’s interesting to hear about. Thanks for such a fun video, Derrick!
It's really cool to see Donkey Kong Land getting some well deserved love, finally. The console counterpart tends to get most of the attention but just as DKC did incredible things for the Super NES, so did DKL for the Gameboy. The graphics were phenomenal for the platform at the time, the soundtrack just as fantastic as the console Donkey Kong, and, just some overall uniquely great ideas going on.
Donkey Kong Country was my first encounter with Rare's Donkey Kong games, but I still really enjoyed playing through Donkey Kong Land later on just as much.
Fun fact about the boss theme, it was later used in Blast Corps called Skerries
Fun Trivia: After you beat Dkc cranky tells you he could've gotten all the bonuses and beaten the game in under an hour. If you accomplish this ultimate task your reward is he doesn't say that anymore.
Donkey Kong Land killed my dog. Okay, not really, but I was tricked into trading Link's Awakening for it. An acquaintance asked to "temporarily swap" these two games until we have finished them. He lied and never gave it back. My dog was later run over by a car, and I've associated the events ever since.
Donkey Kong Land is an under appreciated classic. I only had DKC2, but had all 3 on GB and as much as I travelled as a kid I ended up playing them more than DKC2.
To this day I can’t decide which approach was better: DKL 2+3 were impressively accurate ports of technically impressive SNES game but DKL had more of it’s own identity.
I also had this game as a kid in the 90’s. I believe it was bundled with the Game Boy Pocket at one time. I really loved it and don’t recall having any major issues with it. All of your pains with the later levels were similar to mine. I distinctly remember being so annoyed when I couldn’t find all the KONG letters because I would have to repeat levels over when I ran out of lives. Still was a cool game though!
Donkey Kong Land 2 was the first game I ever owned, I had the whole "Land" trilogy as a kid, and they were my precious treasures. I ADORED those games! This was before I ever really knew what a Super Nintendo was--these games existed in a vacuum for me, so they were just these three really awesome games that I only later learned were spinoffs of a bigger series. Looking back as an adult, though, I do think the original Donkey Kong Land is my favorite. It controls clunky compared to the later games, but it's so much more of its own thing compared to DKL2 and DKL3, which feel much more "port-like." And yeah, the music is amazing. I would plug my headphones into my Game Boy, go to certain levels, and just hit pause so I could listen to the music.
As far as the screen space and "blind jumps", I beat this on 3DS Virtual Console, and I would say the game has a very reliable language to indicate where regular level progress is headed and where secrets are hiding. It's almost too obvious as the secrets go.
I still go back and play these to this day. Definitely one of my favourites for the gameboy
I got this game and the Super Game Boy one year for Christmas. A lot of my games ended up getting sold at a garage sale as a young teen. Fast forward to 2009, I went into a used game store and decided to buy a copy of DKL… the back of the cartridge I grabbed? It had my name written on it in red market. It was my old cartridge! One of the craziest things I’ve ever had happen to me.
*marker damn autocorrect 😏
Hey Good Vibes, it's Good Vibe here ;)
I agree that the Land games don't get talked about enough. I'm not sure if that's because people don't like them or because they never got as much exposure compared to their SNES counterparts.
Collecting the KONG letters to save sounds like a neat idea on paper but when playing the game on Gameboy with little to no battery life left, it became stressful trying to find them. Now that modern handhelds have a suspend/sleep mode and can easily be recharged, kids today will never know that feeling.
The new music is indeed awesome. The boss music is so good that it reappears in Blast Corps, also composed by Graeme Norgate. There's an unused track in the game meant for the skyscraper stages. Have you heard it?
When I was younger, the second cloud stage gave me the most trouble and even today it's still one of the harder stages in the series.
I look forward to seeing your videos about Land 2 and 3.
This game brings back so many great memories. Ma got me a black GameBoy Boy and this game in '94. Makes me think of her. She passed in 2014. Miss her so much.
Also played this on the original Gameboy, though I did have the SNES version of DKC. This was a great option for mobile game-players at the time! You also did a great job of showing the inventiveness of the level design.
I remember trying this game on a demo unit in the electronics section of a Sears (those were the days) and being impressed with just how well it worked compared to all the cut-rate Game Boy ports of SNES games from that era - especially considering that the graphics in the original should have made a port unthinkable. It helps that Donkey Kong Country's gameplay was simple enough to scale down to two buttons well as that's where a lot of those ports suffered.
I got this game via a mail-in promotion with Dole - send in three UPCs from packages of fruit cups, get the game for half-price. A very strange promotion; I can't recall anything else of the kind.
I remember Nintendo Power, on their high-score challenge page, posted a completion time from a game counselor who said, "No one will beat this time!" And indeed, no one did - I think they had to walk that back a few issues later. My best time was about 34 minutes, I think? I didn't particular enjoy getting it that low; needless to say, it involved many restarts.
The Cutting Room Floor notes that the game has two unused pieces of music. I read once that it was supposed to be possible to trigger the alternative boss music somehow, but I think that was just unsupported speculation.
I absolutely adored this game as a kid, thanks for the stroll down memory lane
The Cloud Theme is the best new Song Banger. It will sometime pop in my head as I drive along on certain sunny days
It nice to hear this series not only talked about but talked about in positive manner
I remember my bro getting these due to me not affording the snes ones, particularly DK2, which I wanted badly after playing it with my friend's big brother. None of the the Gameboy versions lacked the quality at all, it scratched the DKC itch very well. So much passion was put in.
I never played DK Land until recently. I grew up with DK Land 2 and thought that, as you mentioned, it followed the SNES game a bit more closely.
There was always something really charming about the game/port. I think it’s the music.
the world map for the Donkey Kong Land games are so beautiful and melancholic
DK Land is well know and well loved round these parts. All my friends had it when I was a kid.
I had this game as a kid, I still have all my old games and still play it from time to time.
Despite us owning an SNES, we never owned Donkey Kong Country because our parents were stingy prudes. But we did also own multiple Game Boys and Donkey Kong Land. Back then I wasn't too skilled and got stuck around the Gangplank Galleon stage.
I had no idea DK Land was so different. I've own the game for years and just never did more than a level or 2. Will certainly be giving it another try once I finally get an Analogue Pocket.
I had this game as a kid. Still have it somewhere now with a dead battery that I need to replace. This game was amazing on the Super Game Boy, the controls worked great and the sound was awesome coming from TV speakers instead of the tiny one on the GameBoy. Think I bought the game at a K.B. Toys since they were usually the cheapest for GameBoy stuff.
I only had the Gameboy when I was little and Donkey Kong Land was one of the first games I had. I replayed often the first two worlds, but I was terrified of the nautilus monster following you around in one of the water levels. So I never made it past that at the time. I think it's time for a revisit.
I remember having this when I was a kid. Honestly I didn't think very much of it. I got stuck on one of the cloud levels and never got to world 4. It was generally hard to see what was going on and I don't think I ever understood that the KONG letters saved the game. I had DKC2 on SNES, so as you can imagine I spent most of my time playing that one.
DK Land was my first game in the series. Our house was broken into and they stole my gameboy and games. It wasn’t until last year when I finally got my hands on another copy, a good 26 years later
Oh my god I haven’t seen this game since I was 10 back in the late 90s. The music brought back so many memories. Crazy how these old games can be time capsules
Rare: "Hey, Graeme, it's just a little manta ray that flies slowly back and forth across the screen, so you don't have to do anything special for the music track."
This game is the reason I fell in love with chiptune music. It was composed so well.
I remember I could barely beat the first few levels, and my mom asked if she could try and quickly blew through a bunch of them. I didn't know at the time that she grew up pumping quarters into Donkey Kong machines.
I loved this game as a kid. BAck then when saw the ads for wanted Donkey Kong Country, I really wanted it but I didn't have a snes, I had a Gameboy though so I got Donkey Kong Land instead. I remember the banana yellow cartridge and the hours I spent playing it, I thought it was awesome. At the time I thought it was a port of the snes original and that was good enough for me. I still play it now (but on an emulator). I remember one time I lent the game to a friend and had a LOT of trouble getting it back.
When I was a kid my mom surprised me with a gameboy and DK Land. I loved this game as a kid it was my introduction into gaming.
I grew up with this game in place of Donkey Kong Country. It certainly wasn't my most beloved, but I've considered going back for retrospective look for comparison. Thanks for doing the leg work!