Music of DKL1 was done by Graeme Norgate, not David Wise. He was working on DKC2 at the time. He’s only credited there because they reuse his music with some original tracks done by Graeme, but it was Graeme who converted them to GB. “The soundtrack was composed by David Wise and Graeme Norgate, who worked to convert Wise's Country soundtrack to the Game Boy's sound chip. Norgate, who described Land as his most upbeat work, wrote original tracks to fit the new locales' atmosphere.”
About the music: David Wise and Graeme Norgate did just not rearranged the musics for the Game Boy but they completely changed the atmosphere they create for certains. Like the water level, is more stressful, almost like warning you that something is lurking in the depths... While the Country version was more relaxing and chill. I discovered Donkey Kong Land before I even knew Country existed and I love getting back to it from time to time... Those games are a proof about how good a game can be if you are creative enough, no matter the limitations.
When I was a kid, our place got broken into and they stole my copy of DKL and my gameboy. I’m 32 now and I bought DKL 1, 2, and 3 just this year. Finally going to play them again for the first time in over 2 decades
Seriously, after playing earlier Gameboy titles such as Tetris or Mario Land, the idea of playing a Donkey Kong Country-esque 2d platformer on the little handheld was mind-blowing back in the day! Today we take for granted that we can play console quality games on handheld devices, but in the 90's it was just a dream. Donkey Kong Land got very close to that dream.
The way they were able to achieve such great graphics on the Gameboy is beyond impressive. I recommend also Donkey Kong '94, a sequel to the arcade game with over 100 levels!
I didn’t grow up with a SNES but I had a Gameboy. The Land trilogy started my love for Donkey Kong and all its game so they will always hold a special place to me.
@TheJustintendo hell yes dude. Looking forward to it. The DKC games on SNES were some of the first games I've ever played and DKC2 is my # favorite game of all time. Loved the video on that as well
Love these games. I barely touched them as a kid but trying them out now as an adult really does display that reimagining in a new light. I can’t wait to replay them again. It’s been a goal to do the DKC and DKL games all the way through in one go over the course of a few weeks.
A thing that gets me is just how much of a send-off DKL III was for a certain era of Game Boy software. The Game Boy really started life as a shrunk-down NES and a lot of the library reflected that, and as it aged, it kinda became the shrunk-down SNES as well, but in 1998, the year after, everything really changed. Pokemon came out, which really launched handhelds into being their own unique ecosystem with different ideas and priorities, and the Game Boy Color would debut, which could basically run NES games with minimal compromise outside screen resolution. It really was the end of an era. Also, wild to think the game came out the same year as Final Fantasy VII, Symphony of the Night and Mario Kart 64
DKL 1 is my favorite of the 3. Flying Pigs, Cloud Worlds, Underwater Cities, the final world being in a city as well just screams something like the video game equivalent to umami or something if I had to describe it.
Got all the Country and Land games. Land 1 was my first Donkey Kong game when I was 5 or 6 years old and it made me a life long fan. The music lived rent free in my head for so many years.
I still love the original Donkey Kong Land, and it is my favorite one in the DKL trilogy, l like how RareWare made unique and creative levels which were never in the original Donkey Kong County, and this is the reason why l prefer it to Land 2 and 3, l just wish RareWare had done that for the other Land games, plus the graphics are still impressive for a GameBoy game to this day !
Always nice to see someone talk about the Land series. I do want to mention though, the first game's soundtrack wasn't just a David Wise affair - special mention goes to Graeme Norgate, who did some of the most unique and memorable songs to grace Donkey Kong, like the tracks in Big Ape City and Chimpanzee Clouds.
The Land series was awesome. They were comparable to their Snes counterparts on a portable system that was made to be a portable NES. I got DKL3 for my birthday.
I like how DKL2 puts all the Lost World levels into a single connected world versus the separated levels in DKC2. In DKL3, I like how you unlock the time trials at the end of the game, which wasn't present in DKC3.
DKL was a technical marvel. To put the most advanced graphics at the time on an 8-bit system was unthinkable. The new enemies and level mechanics like using the Kong letters as platforms were a lot of fun. I wish the other two games had as much originality as the first one, but they were all great. I wish we could've seen Kremlantis, Big Ape City, and especially the cloud levels in full DKC graphics, since they're such a wild atmosphere that it's a little confusing as to what you're looking at for the background objects.
The first DKL game was good and did have some unique ideas, and was set up as a kind of pseudo-sequel. Entirely new levels, new unique enemies, new music, new bosses, new mechanics. DKL2 tried to be a portable DKC2 and it didn't work imo. The levels, while having different designs, had the same names and followed the same themes and structure. Really weird controls too especially when controlling squitter, the way they designed his web platforms to work was really wonky and awkward. Really repetitive music too for some reason, half the levels in the first couple of worlds use the lockjaw's locker theme. It's not like it didn't have other music, the rattle battle theme is actually in there but is used in just one level - the first level. It's not even used in the rattle battle level. It uses the lockjaw's locker theme again. It's like they forgot to hook up the correct music for half the levels. The game is nowhere near as well designed or as fun as DKL. DKL3 went back to being a more unique experience and is a better game for it. While DKC2 is the best of the SNES trilogy, DKL2 is the worst of the GB trilogy imo.
I just beat all 3 for the first time on nso and yes they do deserve attention. My favorite was the 3rd one because by then the controls felt the best. 3 also doesnt feel as much like a port like 2 did.
@TheJustintendo what's your favorite of the country games? I have nostalgic memories of 1 and 3. 1 I played on my friends older brothers snes, and 3 i had on gba. I think I have to go with dkc3 as my favorite.
Just finished all 3 and I agree, 3 is my favourite and the one that sold the least. Levels felt super fun and felt they had things nailed down by this point
This is how I felt about battletoads on gameboy... game never re-released very good game awesome music for the console not watered down clone of nes game by same name...
dkl1 reminds me of being a kid in the car being driven somewhere for a family holiday. pure nostalgia.i will forever hate those cloud levels with the moving platforms though. i was only able to beat that level as an adult.
I’ve made sure to backlog all your videos so I can check them all out very soon 🙌 Good luck with growing your channel! You’ve got a great niche here and I’m here to support it
DKC 2 is one of my favorite platformers of all time. Many years later, I happened to see DKL 2 for sale used for $7 and thought "Why not?" It's basically more of the same. It was exactly what I was hoping for; a whole new set of levels based off one of my favorite games. I'm not sure I'd say the 2 soundtrack was quite that flawless, with a few of the tracks I actually burst out laughing as how crunchy they are, blasting away with that tiny gb speaker. But I did enjoy them (and find them hilarious, I showed them to a few friends) While I never played all the way though DKL 1 I had a cousin who was quite obsessed with it when it first came out. Even having never played it, that file select music is painfully nostalgic. I think these games have some real value in nintendo history and are pretty goot games too. I'd love to see them released in a collection.
I only played the first Land game since it was unique with its own enemies and level themes. I wish 2 and 3 were more unique rather than scaled down versions of their SNES counterparts.
I couldn't get enough of the DK Country gameplay back then, so after completing the SNES trilogy, I got the DK Land games as well. I welcomed them with open arms, as it allowed fans to get even more (and cheaper) DKC style content. I guess they could have named them DKC456, as they're so closely related in every regard. And you only had to buy a Super Game Boy for your SNES, so it was easy to play the games in color on a tv screen. It was the most preferable way to play Game Boy games at the time anyway, and in the case of specially designed Super Game Boy games still is.
I played the first one on nso and its really neat that they even exist. The fact they arent just ports is cool too. The devs did a crazy job putting these on gameboy.
It's funny though because Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country again on the Gameboy Advanced making it a much more faithful version to the original Super Nintendo version
@TheJustintendo I thought it was funny that the GBA version added in elements from Donkey Kong 64 like him holding the barrel over his head in the main menu and his voice
technologically DKL trilogy were advanced games on GB but seeing them on modern alternatives like the Analogue Pocket makes these DK Land games shine and even more incredible how RARE got these to work so well
You're right, I just picked up a copy of DKL3 and am playing it on my Analogue Pocket and it looks/plays SO good! I think it's honestly better than DKC3
My older brother had the third one and I used to play it as a really young kid. Liked it but thought it was too hard (the second level being underwater also sucks), but when I was 13, my now brother-in-law "lent" me DKL2 and I 102% that baby. Absolutely loved it. I'll have to give 1 a fair shot and then try for 3 again as well. They have a colored version of 3 in JP and I'm pretty sure there's a translation patch.
I appreciate the spotlight on this overlooked sub-series of DKC. I always find it sad when so many people just reduce these games to "oh they're JUST ports, the better versions are on SNES and GBA, the GB games are not worth playing". No, that's a misconception; the level design is distinctly different on all of them. They are all worth playing in their own right as individual games in the series; they are not to be simply "replaced". Country on GBC and the DKC ports on GBA are true, proper ports with the exact same level designs and only having concessions made where absolutely necessary. These are closer to "close, younger family members" of the console games. Land 2 borrows so much that it's like a level pack for Country 2 in the form of a handheld title as the identically named levels have different level designs (stemming from the same concept, though) from their console equivalents, but so much else is almost exactly the same. It's basically "Want more DKC2 fun? Here's different takes on many of the same levels", at least for about 95% of them. I would call it a competent fraternal twin game. Land 3 is the king of remixing things from the console equivalent game. The world map and its layout, level names and designs/layouts, are all different, but they reuse the same level backdrops such as the wooden bridges over a lake, mills, coral reefs, factories, treetop areas where you can navigate inside the trees themselves, etc., and use them in their own ways without really seeming to look at the level concepts of DKC3. This one would be closer to a talented little sibling game. It also got a full color version exclusively for the GBC in Japan (not playable on Game Boy or SGB)! It looks so much nicer to differentiate stuff with the added contrast of color. Land 1 isn't really looked at in as much of a similar way since it DOES start differentiating itself decently early and visibly with some really funny and different concepts, but it still seems to happen with it sometimes despite it being the most original of the three. It's almost like a wacky cousin game. If you love DKC, you owe it to yourself to at least try these out and give them a fair shake.
I was hoping to see the announcement yesterday 11/29, but maybe they'll surprise everyone bringing the japanese gbc version, I've played this one at the time cause a cousin of a friend of mine had the original cartridge which her grandmother brought from Japan, it was such an amazing game !! It would be amazing to play it again nowadays
I agree that DKL 3 is the best one but its definately the easiest out of the trilogy. By far the easiest. As for DKL 2, i like that they kind of ported Country 2, (but as you said, not quite a port), but some of the music was repetitive. Also the Lost World was very disappointing. DKL 1 had bad controls and a bad camera, but its by far the most creative out of the trilogy.
For sure these games must be respected, as well as rare who used to come up with really good games at that time, when I checked these games properly on Nintendo switch online my mind blown, how the hell were they able to put pre rendered graphics like you've mentioned so close to the original ones ? I would sure be happy to be able to play these master pieces in their era, they really replicate the good experience of the snes series!
I owned a copy of the first _Donkey Kong Land_ for Game Boy. I could never beat the second cloud level. It's a hard level, but making it that much harder was the fact that on an original Game Boy, any time you moved, the screen became so fuzzy you couldn't see anything clearly until things stopped moving. This was an irritation for other levels, but those cloud stages? It was impossible to see anything, and you needed very precise platforming. Eventually, I got a Super Game Boy for the SNES and was able to beat the game that way.
I had DKC1 on SNES and DKL2 on the Gameboy Pocket. This was my only exposure to a sequel to DKC1. As a kid, I loved it. It still felt like a worthy sequel despite the limited hardware
Really great video. I've always been curious about these Land games. Now that Nintendo is putting them on Switch Online, I will definitely finally be checking them out. Rare will always be one of the greatest to ever do it
DK Land 2 was my favorite DKL game, Just like it's counterpart was my favorite DKC game. Only disappointment? Glimmer's Galleon used light barrels instead of Glimmer! He was actually an under used animal buddie, and that was one of my favorite levels on the game!
The land games are pretty fun definitely enjoyable and impressive considering they were on the original game boy. A lot of the backgrounds for the levels are really cool for the system. Now we just need land 3 and the country gba ports and we’ll have every country game on one system once returns hd releases. I would love to be able to play them all one one system since I usually have a marathon where I play all the country games in order and now I’ll have them on one system. I usually don’t play the land games in my marathon but now I can definitely add those easily if I feel like it.
I played the game boy games a few times as a kid I believe and later I only finished the GBC version of DKC because I was a stupid kid and the GBA version of DKC3 for that extra world to play. The number one problem I always had with the game boy games was the game feel, the way you jump the way you roll the way the screen (does not) freezes shortly when you hit an enemy. Rare just didn't manage to reproduce that with these remakes. :/ Tho I loaded the rom for DK Land 1 now. The unique levels and the soundtrack should carry it for me.
Actually DKL3 has a different story than DKC3. In DKC3, Donkey and Diddy go to the Northerm Kremisphere and don't return, so Dixie goes out to look for them. In DKL3, there's a contest on finding the Lost World, and Dixie wants to prove herself, so she goes on the quest. DKL2, meanwhile, seems to have the same story and setting as DKC2 and feels more like a word-by-word translation where they didn't invent a new experience but just a newly designed level counterpart to each level in DKC2. And I find that a little lacklustre.
These games make me first think of that meme, "Mom, can we have Donkey Kong Country?" "We have Donkey Kong Country at home" and then these games are the punch line. But in reality, they are so much more than that. The Gameboy's later success is much due to Dylan Cuthbert and Gunpei Yokoi in so far as Dylan Cuthbert reverse engineering the Gameboy to make X and a prototype 3D shooter. Gunpei Yokoi's philosophy of reinventing old tech that sort of molded Nintendo's philosophy even to this day. Rareware pulled it off with their games with Poweranimator (later known as Maya) to render graphics as pixels and putting it even further on the small screen Gameboy. I'm gushing and going on a tangent, forgive me, but there was so much beauty in innovation with early 3D software and gaming. These games are so special for that reason.
I mean i can totally see people being CRAZY with the posibility of playing a SNES game like Donkey FUCKING Kong Country on a GAMEBOY! Nowadays i would only play the first DK land due to the new gimmicks and levels
Not only squeezing them down to fit on a Game Boy cartridge, but they had to have room for color data, as well as those beautiful borders, for the SGB. I don't know how much space that all took up, but they could've used that for something else, but... didn't.
I only had the first DKL growing up, and it was tough and I never beat it as a kid even though I was able to complete DKC2 to 99%. I played DKL recently on an everdrive using the coloured romhack and it helps quite a bit, nothing can fix the slightly janky physics or the fact you can't see as much of the screen compared the DKC games on console. I never bothered getting the sequels as a kid because how tough the first was but I also tried out DKL 2 recently and it feels like it improved upon DKL greatly, the controls were much closer to the console games and you didn't need to find the KONG letters just to save the game. At this point I look forward to playing more DKL 2, but also want to struggle through the first because of nostalgia.
I respect the Donkey Kong Land trilogy (mainly because of late 1990s nostalgia), but I like the Donkey Kong Country games for the SNES, Game Boy Advance (the definitive way to play handheld Donkey Kong games, IMO, especially the sequels including the third one for adding a new, exciting and even experimental world like Pacifica, not to be confused with the character in the masterpiece known as Gravity Falls), Returns (Wii/3DS) and Tropical Freeze (Wii U/Switch).
I completely agree with this video! Thanks for bringing justice to this trilogy! In my opinion I like The first one the best, I feel like the 2nd is just to similar and the 3rd, I interpret it as new levels to play with the DKC 3 characters and I don't find the SNES to GB differences to be as interesting the first game.
That's completely fair. The only thing that pushes two and three over the first one to me is how much tighter and more responsive the controls feel to me.
@@TheJustintendo But still I might replay that some time soon. I really loved exploring those games in the end and they're likable. That's all that matters.
I beat all 3! Land 1, while visually quite impressive, leaves A LOT to be desired in the gameplay department, and its difficulty is just plain ridiculous, I'm probably never doing it again... Land 2 is pretty alright, I don't regret playing through it, and I definitely gotta commend them for making the graphics easier to read. Land 3 is nothing short of *Fantastic!* Buttery smooth gameplay, lovely soundtrack, very readable AND impressive graphics, and to make things even better, the Japanese version is a full-colour GBC release! That's the version I played, and the one I recommend to all players! Knowing how good Land 3, and heck, even Land 2 are, it disappoints me to no end how much they screwed up the GBC Port of DKC1... They struck absolute *Gold* with Land 3, why not just reuse that engine for the GBC DKC1 port? Nope, they made a new one and it honestly kinda sucks... Like, it's not completely terrible, it still feels better than Land 1, but it pales in comparison to Land 3 and even 2, the physics just feel stiff and wrong... Really makes you appreciate the GBA port (which btw, is underrated as heck)
I played these all back to back recently as part of a DK binge. I had Land 2 as a kid but this was my first time playing them all together. They’re fair for the time, the first one in particular is pretty rough (particularly those cloud levels, good fucking god) but I was pleasantly surprised at how well 3 had held up, especially the GBC version. Not as good as the OG obviously but a very nice version of the game
Those classic 2D platformer Donkey Kong games from Rare also deserved to have remakes into a compilation for Nintendo Switch or the Switch's successor.
Okay, but why show footage of DKL1 with the colour patch, but not do the same for 2 and 3? Random trivia, I played these with the patches on a PlayStation 2, on the port of RetroArch, and it was just perfect. :)
@@sjb626 What, really? It looks oddly similar to the colour patch I used, which also added QoL features. But yeah do check these patches, they make a world of difference, especially on bigger screens.
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DKC was one of the first games I played. I didn't even know these other games existed until Nintendo just dropped them on the expansion pack
It was my first time playing them all as well. Used to own all 3 on cart for gameboy but never truly played them
Music of DKL1 was done by Graeme Norgate, not David Wise. He was working on DKC2 at the time. He’s only credited there because they reuse his music with some original tracks done by Graeme, but it was Graeme who converted them to GB.
“The soundtrack was composed by David Wise and Graeme Norgate, who worked to convert Wise's Country soundtrack to the Game Boy's sound chip. Norgate, who described Land as his most upbeat work, wrote original tracks to fit the new locales' atmosphere.”
Dk kong land 3 was my first game on gb
About the music: David Wise and Graeme Norgate did just not rearranged the musics for the Game Boy but they completely changed the atmosphere they create for certains. Like the water level, is more stressful, almost like warning you that something is lurking in the depths... While the Country version was more relaxing and chill. I discovered Donkey Kong Land before I even knew Country existed and I love getting back to it from time to time... Those games are a proof about how good a game can be if you are creative enough, no matter the limitations.
When I was a kid, our place got broken into and they stole my copy of DKL and my gameboy. I’m 32 now and I bought DKL 1, 2, and 3 just this year. Finally going to play them again for the first time in over 2 decades
Donkey Kong Land was actually my introduction to Donkey Kong as a whole when i was a kid. Good Stuff! Also great video!
Thanks man! I really appreciate that, underrated games for sure!
Seriously, after playing earlier Gameboy titles such as Tetris or Mario Land, the idea of playing a Donkey Kong Country-esque 2d platformer on the little handheld was mind-blowing back in the day! Today we take for granted that we can play console quality games on handheld devices, but in the 90's it was just a dream. Donkey Kong Land got very close to that dream.
It really did, I am so happy these games are getting their due diligence
These games will always be something special to me. I owned them in the 90's & they have a lotta good memories tied to them. Goodtimes.
🙏🏻🙏🏻
Microsoft’s Rare acquisition is one of the lamest and most heartbreaking things to ever happen in gaming 💔💔
It absolutely is, still to this day.
Also, Nintendo fault for not wanting them
29 years later and I suddenly realize Diddy's Kong Quest is a play on words where "Kong Quest" = Conquest. 😯
HA!
The way they were able to achieve such great graphics on the Gameboy is beyond impressive.
I recommend also Donkey Kong '94, a sequel to the arcade game with over 100 levels!
It was unbelievable how they did it!
I didn’t grow up with a SNES but I had a Gameboy. The Land trilogy started my love for Donkey Kong and all its game so they will always hold a special place to me.
🙌🏻🙌🏻
Bro. Yes. Keep the DKC videos coming. You should absolutely cover the country ports that were made for the GBC
I appreciate you! I absolutely will, those were my first experiences with these games!
@TheJustintendo hell yes dude. Looking forward to it. The DKC games on SNES were some of the first games I've ever played and DKC2 is my # favorite game of all time. Loved the video on that as well
*Thanos voice*
You have my respect, Kong
Forget to mentioned DK land 3 had a game boy color version in japan
Love these games. I barely touched them as a kid but trying them out now as an adult really does display that reimagining in a new light. I can’t wait to replay them again. It’s been a goal to do the DKC and DKL games all the way through in one go over the course of a few weeks.
A thing that gets me is just how much of a send-off DKL III was for a certain era of Game Boy software.
The Game Boy really started life as a shrunk-down NES and a lot of the library reflected that, and as it aged, it kinda became the shrunk-down SNES as well, but in 1998, the year after, everything really changed. Pokemon came out, which really launched handhelds into being their own unique ecosystem with different ideas and priorities, and the Game Boy Color would debut, which could basically run NES games with minimal compromise outside screen resolution. It really was the end of an era.
Also, wild to think the game came out the same year as Final Fantasy VII, Symphony of the Night and Mario Kart 64
DKL 1 is my favorite of the 3. Flying Pigs, Cloud Worlds, Underwater Cities, the final world being in a city as well just screams something like the video game equivalent to umami or something if I had to describe it.
Got all the Country and Land games.
Land 1 was my first Donkey Kong game when I was 5 or 6 years old and it made me a life long fan. The music lived rent free in my head for so many years.
Heck yeah!!
I still love the original Donkey Kong Land, and it is my favorite one in the DKL trilogy, l like how RareWare made unique and creative levels which were never in the original Donkey Kong County, and this is the reason why l prefer it to Land 2 and 3, l just wish RareWare had done that for the other Land games, plus the graphics are still impressive for a GameBoy game to this day !
Always nice to see someone talk about the Land series. I do want to mention though, the first game's soundtrack wasn't just a David Wise affair - special mention goes to Graeme Norgate, who did some of the most unique and memorable songs to grace Donkey Kong, like the tracks in Big Ape City and Chimpanzee Clouds.
Good to know!!
The Land series was awesome.
They were comparable to their Snes counterparts on a portable system that was made to be a portable NES.
I got DKL3 for my birthday.
Absolutely, and what a cool gift! I'm really hoping 3 gets added to NSO soon
I like how DKL2 puts all the Lost World levels into a single connected world versus the separated levels in DKC2.
In DKL3, I like how you unlock the time trials at the end of the game, which wasn't present in DKC3.
Exactly!
Did you ever beat the underwater time trial? I could never come close to beating it!
@@dalemuir1105 I never did either😂😭
@dalemuir1105 Yes, I beat them all many times
@@flickering_wick What's the secret to the underwater one? Is there a secret shortcut or something?
DKL was a technical marvel. To put the most advanced graphics at the time on an 8-bit system was unthinkable. The new enemies and level mechanics like using the Kong letters as platforms were a lot of fun. I wish the other two games had as much originality as the first one, but they were all great. I wish we could've seen Kremlantis, Big Ape City, and especially the cloud levels in full DKC graphics, since they're such a wild atmosphere that it's a little confusing as to what you're looking at for the background objects.
Absolutely. DKL 1's backgrounds could get a little murky and confusing but they simplified it with 2 and 3, and it was perfect
The first DKL game was good and did have some unique ideas, and was set up as a kind of pseudo-sequel. Entirely new levels, new unique enemies, new music, new bosses, new mechanics.
DKL2 tried to be a portable DKC2 and it didn't work imo. The levels, while having different designs, had the same names and followed the same themes and structure. Really weird controls too especially when controlling squitter, the way they designed his web platforms to work was really wonky and awkward. Really repetitive music too for some reason, half the levels in the first couple of worlds use the lockjaw's locker theme. It's not like it didn't have other music, the rattle battle theme is actually in there but is used in just one level - the first level. It's not even used in the rattle battle level. It uses the lockjaw's locker theme again. It's like they forgot to hook up the correct music for half the levels.
The game is nowhere near as well designed or as fun as DKL. DKL3 went back to being a more unique experience and is a better game for it.
While DKC2 is the best of the SNES trilogy, DKL2 is the worst of the GB trilogy imo.
I just beat all 3 for the first time on nso and yes they do deserve attention. My favorite was the 3rd one because by then the controls felt the best. 3 also doesnt feel as much like a port like 2 did.
I agree!!
@TheJustintendo what's your favorite of the country games? I have nostalgic memories of 1 and 3. 1 I played on my friends older brothers snes, and 3 i had on gba. I think I have to go with dkc3 as my favorite.
Just finished all 3 and I agree, 3 is my favourite and the one that sold the least. Levels felt super fun and felt they had things nailed down by this point
@jamy30 yeah the levels flowed well enough that I could kinda speed run them my first time through. Can't quite say the same about the others.
This is how I felt about battletoads on gameboy... game never re-released very good game awesome music for the console not watered down clone of nes game by same name...
dkl1 reminds me of being a kid in the car being driven somewhere for a family holiday. pure nostalgia.i will forever hate those cloud levels with the moving platforms though. i was only able to beat that level as an adult.
I’ve made sure to backlog all your videos so I can check them all out very soon 🙌 Good luck with growing your channel! You’ve got a great niche here and I’m here to support it
Thank you so much! That means a lot
DKC 2 is one of my favorite platformers of all time.
Many years later, I happened to see DKL 2 for sale used for $7 and thought "Why not?"
It's basically more of the same. It was exactly what I was hoping for; a whole new set of levels based off one of my favorite games.
I'm not sure I'd say the 2 soundtrack was quite that flawless, with a few of the tracks I actually burst out laughing as how crunchy they are, blasting away with that tiny gb speaker. But I did enjoy them (and find them hilarious, I showed them to a few friends)
While I never played all the way though DKL 1 I had a cousin who was quite obsessed with it when it first came out. Even having never played it, that file select music is painfully nostalgic.
I think these games have some real value in nintendo history and are pretty goot games too. I'd love to see them released in a collection.
Absolutely!! I agree
I only played the first Land game since it was unique with its own enemies and level themes. I wish 2 and 3 were more unique rather than scaled down versions of their SNES counterparts.
Completely fair!
I couldn't get enough of the DK Country gameplay back then, so after completing the SNES trilogy, I got the DK Land games as well. I welcomed them with open arms, as it allowed fans to get even more (and cheaper) DKC style content. I guess they could have named them DKC456, as they're so closely related in every regard.
And you only had to buy a Super Game Boy for your SNES, so it was easy to play the games in color on a tv screen. It was the most preferable way to play Game Boy games at the time anyway, and in the case of specially designed Super Game Boy games still is.
Amazing video, I never had 1 but I loved, loved DKL2….
I subbed man your style is great.
Thank you so much, that means so much genuinely
I still wish we could play specific GameBoy games on Super GameBoy on the Switch.
Agreed
Loved this series. Subbed!
It's so great, thank you!
David Wise may be known for Donkey Kong Country's soundtrack, but it was Graeme Norgate who was largely responsible for Land's soundtrack.
I have gotten that comment a couple times. Thank you for clarifying for people!
Personal favourite justintendo video?
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Subscribed, nice channel bro !
Thank you! I appreciate that!
I played the first one on nso and its really neat that they even exist. The fact they arent just ports is cool too. The devs did a crazy job putting these on gameboy.
Agreed!!
It's funny though because Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country again on the Gameboy Advanced making it a much more faithful version to the original Super Nintendo version
That was actually my first version that I played!
@TheJustintendo I thought it was funny that the GBA version added in elements from Donkey Kong 64 like him holding the barrel over his head in the main menu and his voice
what's even more funny is that before the gba version, a very... interesting version of DKC was realeased on the gameboy color.
Donkey Kong Land 2 was one of my favorite games from my childhood. Great game!
Yes!!
technologically DKL trilogy were advanced games on GB but seeing them on modern alternatives like the Analogue Pocket makes these DK Land games shine and even more incredible how RARE got these to work so well
You're right, I just picked up a copy of DKL3 and am playing it on my Analogue Pocket and it looks/plays SO good! I think it's honestly better than DKC3
My older brother had the third one and I used to play it as a really young kid. Liked it but thought it was too hard (the second level being underwater also sucks), but when I was 13, my now brother-in-law "lent" me DKL2 and I 102% that baby. Absolutely loved it. I'll have to give 1 a fair shot and then try for 3 again as well. They have a colored version of 3 in JP and I'm pretty sure there's a translation patch.
I appreciate the spotlight on this overlooked sub-series of DKC. I always find it sad when so many people just reduce these games to "oh they're JUST ports, the better versions are on SNES and GBA, the GB games are not worth playing". No, that's a misconception; the level design is distinctly different on all of them. They are all worth playing in their own right as individual games in the series; they are not to be simply "replaced". Country on GBC and the DKC ports on GBA are true, proper ports with the exact same level designs and only having concessions made where absolutely necessary. These are closer to "close, younger family members" of the console games.
Land 2 borrows so much that it's like a level pack for Country 2 in the form of a handheld title as the identically named levels have different level designs (stemming from the same concept, though) from their console equivalents, but so much else is almost exactly the same. It's basically "Want more DKC2 fun? Here's different takes on many of the same levels", at least for about 95% of them. I would call it a competent fraternal twin game.
Land 3 is the king of remixing things from the console equivalent game. The world map and its layout, level names and designs/layouts, are all different, but they reuse the same level backdrops such as the wooden bridges over a lake, mills, coral reefs, factories, treetop areas where you can navigate inside the trees themselves, etc., and use them in their own ways without really seeming to look at the level concepts of DKC3. This one would be closer to a talented little sibling game. It also got a full color version exclusively for the GBC in Japan (not playable on Game Boy or SGB)! It looks so much nicer to differentiate stuff with the added contrast of color.
Land 1 isn't really looked at in as much of a similar way since it DOES start differentiating itself decently early and visibly with some really funny and different concepts, but it still seems to happen with it sometimes despite it being the most original of the three. It's almost like a wacky cousin game.
If you love DKC, you owe it to yourself to at least try these out and give them a fair shake.
You said it so well! They are so underappreciated and deserve all the love.
No way I guessed this! I’ve actually never played these but now that they’re coming to NSO I will definitely be giving them a shot
Please do!
Imagine DK Land 3 also gets released on NSO not long from now
Honestly my money is on today
@@TheJustintendo I guess I'll have more legal DK game options to stream/record.
I was hoping to see the announcement yesterday 11/29, but maybe they'll surprise everyone bringing the japanese gbc version, I've played this one at the time cause a cousin of a friend of mine had the original cartridge which her grandmother brought from Japan, it was such an amazing game !! It would be amazing to play it again nowadays
I agree that DKL 3 is the best one but its definately the easiest out of the trilogy. By far the easiest. As for DKL 2, i like that they kind of ported Country 2, (but as you said, not quite a port), but some of the music was repetitive. Also the Lost World was very disappointing. DKL 1 had bad controls and a bad camera, but its by far the most creative out of the trilogy.
For sure these games must be respected, as well as rare who used to come up with really good games at that time, when I checked these games properly on Nintendo switch online my mind blown, how the hell were they able to put pre rendered graphics like you've mentioned so close to the original ones ? I would sure be happy to be able to play these master pieces in their era, they really replicate the good experience of the snes series!
I owned a copy of the first _Donkey Kong Land_ for Game Boy. I could never beat the second cloud level. It's a hard level, but making it that much harder was the fact that on an original Game Boy, any time you moved, the screen became so fuzzy you couldn't see anything clearly until things stopped moving. This was an irritation for other levels, but those cloud stages? It was impossible to see anything, and you needed very precise platforming. Eventually, I got a Super Game Boy for the SNES and was able to beat the game that way.
I had DKC1 on SNES and DKL2 on the Gameboy Pocket. This was my only exposure to a sequel to DKC1. As a kid, I loved it. It still felt like a worthy sequel despite the limited hardware
0:03 These are pretty cool bananas!
oh these are some cool bananas! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!
Really great video. I've always been curious about these Land games. Now that Nintendo is putting them on Switch Online, I will definitely finally be checking them out. Rare will always be one of the greatest to ever do it
I absolutely agree, thank you for the kind words!
DK Land 2 was my favorite DKL game, Just like it's counterpart was my favorite DKC game. Only disappointment? Glimmer's Galleon used light barrels instead of Glimmer! He was actually an under used animal buddie, and that was one of my favorite levels on the game!
A few levels in DKL 2 were stripped down including Glimmer's Galleon, Haunted Hall, Castle Crush, and Animal Antics.
Instead of a Land 4 to tie into 64, we got a port of DKC1 to GBC with some added content.
The Japanistani version of DKL 3 is in full colour mode for GBC unlike the North American version
As Donkey Kong Land was just as much of a miracle on GB as DKC was on the SNES.
100% this!
The land games are pretty fun definitely enjoyable and impressive considering they were on the original game boy. A lot of the backgrounds for the levels are really cool for the system. Now we just need land 3 and the country gba ports and we’ll have every country game on one system once returns hd releases. I would love to be able to play them all one one system since I usually have a marathon where I play all the country games in order and now I’ll have them on one system. I usually don’t play the land games in my marathon but now I can definitely add those easily if I feel like it.
What are your thoughts on being a small TH-camr?
I love it
i love the land2!
i used to play in my gameboy pocket! fun and good memories!
very good video! 👏👏👏
Yes! Thank you!!
I barely played the first entry back in 97. Now that it is in NSO gave it a proper try and oh boy am I hooked. They are very enjoyable!
Absolutely!! I completely agree. Here's to hoping 3 gets added soon!
2:15 funny how optimized stuff was for gb more than switch today 😂.
5:50 you can throw dixie into the bonus barrel btw.
When I was a kid i thought this was just the same levels that my SNES version would have so I was never interested in it. Will need to revisit it
Couldn't recommend it enough!
I used to have a Gameboy but I've never got DKC on it. Interesting to see how it looked. It still looked good.
Donkey Kong land is Nintendo first meta game.
It really is
Back with another banger 🔥
Appreciate you so much man!
I played the game boy games a few times as a kid I believe and later I only finished the GBC version of DKC because I was a stupid kid and the GBA version of DKC3 for that extra world to play.
The number one problem I always had with the game boy games was the game feel, the way you jump the way you roll the way the screen (does not) freezes shortly when you hit an enemy. Rare just didn't manage to reproduce that with these remakes. :/
Tho I loaded the rom for DK Land 1 now. The unique levels and the soundtrack should carry it for me.
Actually DKL3 has a different story than DKC3. In DKC3, Donkey and Diddy go to the Northerm Kremisphere and don't return, so Dixie goes out to look for them. In DKL3, there's a contest on finding the Lost World, and Dixie wants to prove herself, so she goes on the quest.
DKL2, meanwhile, seems to have the same story and setting as DKC2 and feels more like a word-by-word translation where they didn't invent a new experience but just a newly designed level counterpart to each level in DKC2. And I find that a little lacklustre.
There are colorization hacks for the first two games done by Specialagentape, while the third game was released in color in Japan.
That's so cool!
There's an English colored hack for DKL 3 too.
These games make me first think of that meme, "Mom, can we have Donkey Kong Country?" "We have Donkey Kong Country at home" and then these games are the punch line. But in reality, they are so much more than that. The Gameboy's later success is much due to Dylan Cuthbert and Gunpei Yokoi in so far as Dylan Cuthbert reverse engineering the Gameboy to make X and a prototype 3D shooter. Gunpei Yokoi's philosophy of reinventing old tech that sort of molded Nintendo's philosophy even to this day. Rareware pulled it off with their games with Poweranimator (later known as Maya) to render graphics as pixels and putting it even further on the small screen Gameboy. I'm gushing and going on a tangent, forgive me, but there was so much beauty in innovation with early 3D software and gaming. These games are so special for that reason.
You said it SO well! Thank you!
I mean i can totally see people being CRAZY with the posibility of playing a SNES game like Donkey FUCKING Kong Country on a GAMEBOY! Nowadays i would only play the first DK land due to the new gimmicks and levels
Exactly! It was unprecedented
Not only squeezing them down to fit on a Game Boy cartridge, but they had to have room for color data, as well as those beautiful borders, for the SGB. I don't know how much space that all took up, but they could've used that for something else, but... didn't.
Exactly! It was really a miracle
Donkey Kong GameBoy 1994 need to be added on NSO
Yeah I’m honestly shocked it hasn’t been yet.
I only had the first DKL growing up, and it was tough and I never beat it as a kid even though I was able to complete DKC2 to 99%. I played DKL recently on an everdrive using the coloured romhack and it helps quite a bit, nothing can fix the slightly janky physics or the fact you can't see as much of the screen compared the DKC games on console.
I never bothered getting the sequels as a kid because how tough the first was but I also tried out DKL 2 recently and it feels like it improved upon DKL greatly, the controls were much closer to the console games and you didn't need to find the KONG letters just to save the game. At this point I look forward to playing more DKL 2, but also want to struggle through the first because of nostalgia.
I respect the Donkey Kong Land trilogy (mainly because of late 1990s nostalgia), but I like the Donkey Kong Country games for the SNES, Game Boy Advance (the definitive way to play handheld Donkey Kong games, IMO, especially the sequels including the third one for adding a new, exciting and even experimental world like Pacifica, not to be confused with the character in the masterpiece known as Gravity Falls), Returns (Wii/3DS) and Tropical Freeze (Wii U/Switch).
I completely agree with this video! Thanks for bringing justice to this trilogy!
In my opinion I like The first one the best, I feel like the 2nd is just to similar and the 3rd, I interpret it as new levels to play with the DKC 3 characters and I don't find the SNES to GB differences to be as interesting the first game.
That's completely fair. The only thing that pushes two and three over the first one to me is how much tighter and more responsive the controls feel to me.
@@TheJustintendo But still I might replay that some time soon. I really loved exploring those games in the end and they're likable. That's all that matters.
Dkl3 imo was easier than dkl2
I’m doing a 103% run in Donkey Kong Land 3!
The first Land game does. 2 and 3 are just scaled-down Game Boy ports of the SNES originals
They're my goto DK games for years now!
Great picks!
I love these versions of the DK games. Yes, they have fauls but it's still fun for me at least
100%!
Hopefully the third DKL will be on NSO with the other two shortly. Would feel odd to have the first two but not the third.
They better add it soon
I love DK land 1 and 2. The music is amazing. Three is kind of borked.
Underrated TH-camr
Thank you😭🙌🏻
I think i remember DKL having a world set in New York like the arcade game
It did!
@@TheJustintendo that's what made it so unique compared to the SNES version
I beat all 3!
Land 1, while visually quite impressive, leaves A LOT to be desired in the gameplay department, and its difficulty is just plain ridiculous, I'm probably never doing it again...
Land 2 is pretty alright, I don't regret playing through it, and I definitely gotta commend them for making the graphics easier to read.
Land 3 is nothing short of *Fantastic!* Buttery smooth gameplay, lovely soundtrack, very readable AND impressive graphics, and to make things even better, the Japanese version is a full-colour GBC release! That's the version I played, and the one I recommend to all players!
Knowing how good Land 3, and heck, even Land 2 are, it disappoints me to no end how much they screwed up the GBC Port of DKC1...
They struck absolute *Gold* with Land 3, why not just reuse that engine for the GBC DKC1 port? Nope, they made a new one and it honestly kinda sucks... Like, it's not completely terrible, it still feels better than Land 1, but it pales in comparison to Land 3 and even 2, the physics just feel stiff and wrong...
Really makes you appreciate the GBA port (which btw, is underrated as heck)
You said it perfectly!
I played these all back to back recently as part of a DK binge. I had Land 2 as a kid but this was my first time playing them all together. They’re fair for the time, the first one in particular is pretty rough (particularly those cloud levels, good fucking god) but I was pleasantly surprised at how well 3 had held up, especially the GBC version. Not as good as the OG obviously but a very nice version of the game
Agreed!
Was this video in response to Nintendo putting out a video saying every DK game is available on Switch and they didnt including the Land games?
It actually was not haha
How much time on average does it take you to make a video?
Totally depends, bare minimum a few hours
I played the crap out of the first one. It wasn’t perfect but it was much more interesting to me than the others.
Fair!! It definitely has more of an identity than the 2nd and 3rd.
"זו חוויה קונטומנטלית"!
They're great games, but I don't think legacy is the right word.
The Country games have the legacy.
Im planning to beat all 3 on de Switch Online gameboy
Great plan!
David Wise didn't compose most of the soundtrack in Donkey Kong Land. The first game was almost entirely Grant.
😊😊😊
Just subscribed
Thank you so much!
Those classic 2D platformer Donkey Kong games from Rare also deserved to have remakes into a compilation for Nintendo Switch or the Switch's successor.
Okay, but why show footage of DKL1 with the colour patch, but not do the same for 2 and 3?
Random trivia, I played these with the patches on a PlayStation 2, on the port of RetroArch, and it was just perfect. :)
The DKL footage here is just what the game looks like running on a GBC, not a patch. (Reminds me I need to check out more color patches though)
@@sjb626 What, really? It looks oddly similar to the colour patch I used, which also added QoL features. But yeah do check these patches, they make a world of difference, especially on bigger screens.
Anyone who covers this trilogy gets an instant sub from me! 🖤
Thank you so much! :)
I played 1 and 2. They were serviceable. Dkc (gbc) is better and none of them are as masterful as dk94.
Why Land 3 runs at 5fps?
It's an old game, haha
@TheJustintendo Land 1 and 2 runs so much better