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Donkey Kong Land (JP) is a game released in 1995 that is the semi-sequel to Donkey Kong Country. Unlike its SNES predecessor, Donkey Kong Land comprised of completely new levels and level design. It truly was a masterpiece of its own. It also has compatibility with the Super Game Boy with a jungle border and has a banana yellow cartridge like its sequels. It has Donkey Kong Land 2 and Donkey Kong Land III as its sequels.

Like the Game Boy Color version of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land only allows one character on screen per time. Many speculated that this was because the Game Boy hardware could not handle to many sprites on the screen at the same time, however it was later stated by Rare that they could have made it work, but wanted to give the Donkey Kong games for the Game Boy a distinctly different feel, and felt if they were too similar, customers would only bother buying one of the two versions.

At any rate, the game was a hit on Game Boy, and consequently many Rare fans are begging Rare to update this game and its sequel and put it on Game Boy Advance, as they did with the Donkey Kong Country series. Rare so far have expressed no interest in doing this sadly.

Plot[]

The following is taken from the manual of Donkey Kong Land itself;

Cranky Kong, aging video game pioneer and primate patriarch, swayed back and forth in his rocking chair as he harassed his grandape, Donkey Kong, and his little buddy, Diddy Kong.

"Well, I've got to admit, your last adventure was more successful than I ever thought it would be..." he jibed. "Course, put a few fancy graphics and some modern music in a game, and kids'll buy anything nowadays..."

Donkey and Diddy tried to discretely cover their ears as they stared out into the jungle surrounding Cranky's cabin. The old ape continued his taunting.

"Back in our days, understand, we had an extremely limited color palette to work with, and we still made great games... No way you could duplicate that feat today, Donkey my boy! No siree!"

Cranky had been going on and on like this for what seemed like hours, Donkey Kong had finally had had enough.

"People liked Donkey Kong Country for more than just the 'fancy graphics', you old coot!" he snapped. "The number of colors, the resolution, it doesn't make a difference. It was just plain fun!"

"Yeah, and we worked hard fighting K. Rool and his goons!" Diddy chimed in. Both he and Donkey Kong still had the bumps and bruises to prove it."

Cranky nodded his head knowingly. The two youngsters had predictably risen to the bait and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

"So you're saying that an adventure like your last one would be a success even on an 8-bit system, like...Game Boy, for example..." Cranky said slyly."

"That's right!" DK exclaimed without hesitation. Diddy joined him in accepting the challenge."

"We'll even let the Kremlings steal the banana hoard again, and this time we'll get it back on Game Boy!" Diddy boasted. Hey, a golden opportunity to get out of DK's ridiculous guard duty training, he thought to himself."

"I'll believe it when I see it!"" Cranky scowled. "I'll call old K. Rool and arrange everything. You'll wake up tomorrow without your bananas." Donkey and Diddy looked up at each other, realizing they had been set up."

"This time, the Kremlings will hide your bananas in all new places around the island, "Cranky continued gleefully. "I'll tell the King to spare no expense and bring out some new tricks and foes for you, too. No more cushy adventuring for you two, no siree."

Donkey could barely contain his anger. He was hoping he could just loaf around the tree house tomorrow, after all, Banana Bowl was on, and... But he wasn't about to let the old ape get the best of him.

"Bring it on, old ape, bring it on..." was all he said as he walked off to the tree house. He was going to get some sleep for the adventure ahead."

Gameplay[]

Characters[]

Kongs[]

Animal Buddies[]

Enemies[]

Bosses[]

Worlds and Levels[]

World 1 - Gangplank Galleon Ahoy! Jungle Jaunt Freezing Fun Simian Swing Deck Trek Rope Ravine Tire Trail Riggin' Rumble Congo Carnage Arctic Barrel Arsenal Wild Sting Fling
World 2 - Kremlantis Tricky Temple Kremlantis Reef Rampage Snake Charmer's Challenge Chomp's Coliseum Nautilus Chase Swirlwind Storm Seabed Showdown
World 3 - Monkey Mountains and Chimpanzee Clouds Pot Hole Panic Mountain Mayhem Track Attack Spiky Tire Trail Sky High Caper Landslide Leap Collapsing Clouds Mole Hole Madness
World 4 - Big Ape City Balloon Barrage Kong Krazy Construction Site Fight Fast Barrel Blast Skyscraper Caper Button Barrel Blast Oil Drum Slum K. Rool's Kingdom

Development[]

Reception[]

On release, Famitsu scored Donkey Kong Land a 24 out of 40.

Credits[]

Gallery[]

  Main article: Donkey Kong Land/gallery

Videos[]

External links[]

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