Uncommon go bananas on Game Boy
There is a new Yooka-Laylee game! Please, hold your applause. Oh. You did. Properly, Yooka-Laylee and the Not possible Lair is a rather exceptional 2D platformer, worth selecting up even if you didn’t like the original game (which I did, but I bloody effectively would, wouldn’t I?). Exactly where Yooka-Laylee was a take on Rare’s classic N64 collectathons, Not possible Lair requires shockingly direct inspiration from Retro Studios’ beloved chimp-‘em-up, Donkey Kong Nation: Tropical Freeze.

But this is Retronauts, not Games-That-Just-Came-Outnauts, and I want to speak about the classic game which Not possible Lair reminded me of, which is – definitely- Donkey Kong Land. Yes, the teeny screeny take on Rare’s flagship SNES game-changer, Donkey Kong Nation. Released in 1995, it is technically a direct sequel to its larger brother. Take that, Diddy’s Kong Quest! Much more like Donkey Kong Nation two.five! But I digress. Certainly, the manual posits the complete existence of Land as a thing of a bet involving Cranky Kong and his erstwhile grandchildren, accusing them of only becoming as prosperous as they are simply because of the SNES game’s silicon workstation pre-rendered graphics. Donkey and Diddy take affordable umbrage, so Cranky arranges for K.Rool to steal all their bananas (once more) in order to prove that an adventure on Game Boy can be as thrilling as a SNES game. Now that is a plot!




In reality, the loose, open really feel of Donkey Kong Nation is inevitably lost in translation, replaced with a extra precise, demanding variety of level design and style. Thanks to the big sprites, you can not see really far in front of you, but this is hardly ever a difficulty as the obstacles account for this lack of screen estate. Donkey Kong feels a lot slower, so you will not barrel (pun intended) into enemies lurching onto the screen. There’s adequate of Nation brought more than to retain that series’ frisson, with hidden bonus locations, throwable kegs and – of course- adequate bananas to give you potassium poisoning. Country’s jungle, underwater and ice level archetypes produced the transition to Game Boy, joined by brand new pirate ship, mountain, clouds and large city stages. Certainly, there’s a thing of a surrealism to the endeavour, what with the flying pigs assaulting Donkey Kong whilst he rides a flying nimbus.




On top of that, let’s face it, DKC wasn’t a excellent match for Nintendo’s monochrome handheld, and the admittedly impressive try to squish down these astonishing SNES graphics has – to place it gracefully – not worked really effectively, with continuous flicker and slowdown. It is definitely an enjoyable game, but it can really feel rather extra like you are wrestling with the unusually loose controls than you are mastering the stages and their secrets. Examine and contrast Donkey Kong (1994), a game clearly created from the ground up for the Game Boy and vastly superior for it. Donkey Kong Land feels compromised by its hardware. It is ambitious, but so was Daedalus.




Land and its two superior sequels stay accessible on Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, But, so is the Donkey Kong Nation trilogy, which is considerably improved. A curio and no error, it is far from a undesirable game, but it does really feel a small unnecessary. Not so considerably Donkey Kong as Shonky Kong, eh? Play it loud, Nauties! (Cease CALLING US ‘NAUTIES’ – The Nauties)