Donkey Kong Land for Original Game Boy

[burningdoom]

Played some of this last night. It's been a while.

The thing about this game, is that it's an impressive game and a bad game at the same time.

It's amazing that the original Game Boy could produce such graphics and sound on such limited hardware. Astounding, really. It does look and sound like a DKC game.

But at the same time, they pushed things a little too far. When there's a lot of movement or characters on screen, the sprites just start looking all fuzzy and static-y looking. There's also some issues with speed. The shooting barrels in particular. The game slows down when those come on screen. And then there's also the issue of the limited screen. I got more than my share of cheap-shots handed to me because I couldn't quite see what was ahead of me.

What do you guys think of this one?

[fauxshot]

Played some of this last night. It's been a while.

The thing about this game, is that it's an impressive game and a bad game at the same time.

It's amazing that the original Game Boy could produce such graphics and sound on such limited hardware. Astounding, really. It does look and sound like a DKC game.

But at the same time, they pushed things a little too far. When there's a lot of movement or characters on screen, the sprites just start looking all fuzzy and static-y looking. There's also some issues with speed. The shooting barrels in particular. The game slows down when those come on screen. And then there's also the issue of the limited screen. I got more than my share of cheap-shots handed to me because I couldn't quite see what was ahead of me.

What do you guys think of this one?

It's been quite a while, but I did play an emulated version of one of those.

I'd agree. The visuals can get kind of... "visually confusing" on screen?

Good music, though! 

[indenton]

One of the first Game Boy games I ever played, as well as my first experience with the DKC franchise.  I always remember the sprites would be flashing in and out quite often, you adapt to it after a while but it doesn't really look very good.  But then I think about what exactly they have produced, and I can respect that something would have to give.  I also noticed that it doesn't feel very good to play anymore, might just be the GBA SP being too small for my hands. 

It's funny how hitting select with 'transform' you into the other kong instead of the other kong taking the lead while they follow, just imagine what the game would be like if both Donkey and Diddy were on screen though. 

This reminds my of that cancelled Resident Evil GBC game that came up a while ago. 

[burningdoom]

You mean Resident Evil Gaiden for GBC? It was released, it's been on my wishlist forever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_Gaiden

[indenton]

You mean Resident Evil Gaiden for GBC? It was released, it's been on my wishlist forever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_Gaiden

No no, their was literally a port for resident evil for the game boy colour, it was cancelled but their are roms available online

[indenton]

well not a port per say, but Capcom really did try to replicate the PS1 game for the handheld. 

[burningdoom]

Wow, I can't imagine how bad that looked.

[scott]

I remember when this game came out and was excited for it, even played it on a demo unit in the store and thought it was amazing.

Then when I got it last year, I found it damn near unplayable on a regular Game Boy. It's ok on the Game Boy Player, thanks to the coloring. But when everything is all greytones it's muddy as hell. I still want to play through all 3 of them, but at the same time, I don't know if I can do it.

[indenton]

I remember when this game came out and was excited for it, even played it on a demo unit in the store and thought it was amazing.

Then when I got it last year, I found it damn near unplayable on a regular Game Boy. It's ok on the Game Boy Player, thanks to the coloring. But when everything is all greytones it's muddy as hell. I still want to play through all 3 of them, but at the same time, I don't know if I can do it.

I went back to playing this earlier while reading this thread... for about 10 minutes, I was having a hard time getting into it too.  Even playing them on the super game boy would be suspect, you might as well be playing the original games at that point. 

[mastafafik]

This is one of my favourite games on Game Boy. Graphics and music are stunning as for Game Boy!

[gartcat]

The best things about it were the cloud & city levels that weren't in the SNES game, it wasn't just a straight port of that game.  The game was a lot more playable on the Super Gameboy. Considering they only had 4 grey shades to work with, the whole trilogy turned out remarkably well, and they did improve a lot of the problems in the 2nd and 3rd game.   I've always felt that the games that stand the test of time are the ones that worked within the limitations of the system they were made for, like Contra for the NES for example, they didn't try to make it look like the arcade and ended up making something that was actually better by reprogramming it.

[gartcat]

You mean Resident Evil Gaiden for GBC? It was released, it's been on my wishlist forever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_Gaiden

No no, their was literally a port for resident evil for the game boy colour, it was cancelled but their are roms available online

There's a video of it on Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRCd2VVmLXw

[indenton]

I will say that the music in Donkey Kong Land is great, simply recreating a bunch of the DKC music wouldn't of worked since a lot of the tracks are more ambient, and that doesn't match the Game Boy at all, so they created some more punchy upbeat music alongside a few select exceptions. 

I also love how it seems like the game is rebooting or something every time your move to another screen.  flashes to white screen with a faint little blip sound like you just hit the reset button.