Here's a tip for you: When you boot up an GB original game on a GBA or Gameboy Player (And maybe GBC), rotate your D-pad. It changes the colour! Now that only leaves you with 4 options. But if you hold one of the main 2 buttons you have 12 color options. The B button is the key to the White, Grey and Black color scheme. If you already knew this than this is for the comment dwellers.
I've had a Gameboy Advance and SP since they came out. I've been playing a ton of games on them for over a decade including plenty of original Gameboy ones. Not once have I ever heard of something like this and now it just really blows my mind.
ATTENTION COMMENTERS: If you're curious about the GBC remake of DKC1, then your question is answered at 23:08. Please watch the whole video before commenting on this subject.
Teraunce Foaloke tbh it would be a reebreak easily. it's the worest version of dkc and something was lost in translation as it was dkc running on the land engine.
DKL3 was pretty fun, although the very final boss is one of the worst designed boss battles I've played. But other than that, I agree that DKL3 is the best in the Land trilogy
The Side Quest Gamer I agree that DKL3 is the best of the trilogy, especially after playing DKL 1 + 2, not so much 2. It's simply a joy to play and , like Exo said, the Japanese GBC version is the definitive version.
I didn't mention the final boss because I didn't do a spoiler section, but yeah. I agree 100%. I actually rage quitted. It's worse than the Death Egg Robot, Andross Brain, and Super Mario 64 Final Bowser combined.
ExoParadigmGamer Hmm... I might have to see this boss. I never did, even after I did my DKL video. I was just done with the game. EDIT: Just saw the boss fight. OH FUCK NO!
The GBC version of DKL3 was actually the only version of it Japan ever got. The original Game Boy version was never released in Japan, so why they waited 3 years and denied the rest of the world the GBC version is beyond me, but yeah, the GBC one is just the Japanese version
I also didn't know about that for ages, I completed DKC2 100% and never knew about it lol. There were some parts where there were pickups inside pits and I always thought you get them with the team-throw move or by just taking the hit...
I can't say I had any issues myself with inputs being ignored for the first game. But I can't agree more in saying DON'T PLAY THIS ON A ORIGINAL GAME BOY! IT'S TERRIBLE!
Honestly, the graphics is the main reason it succeeded. And having it on a Gameboy is amazing, they fit so much on those tiny carts, and they had incredible music, and graphics for Gameboy standards, shame about how the controls got gimped.
I've noticed :D But that specific Donkey Kong voice clip was hilarious due to the fact I've heard it more than 100+ times in- game and I would always joke about it xD
I managed to snag this trilogy complete (with box/manual) on Ebay. And played it on my backlit GBA-SP. They look really good by Gameboy standards. It's like...how did they make the original Gameboy do this?
DKL 2 was a godsend for me. My favorite game on the go?!?! YES PLEASE! Nowadays we are so spoiled with portable games that no one would even give a shit.
+Hijynx87 I kind of see that, but at the same time, DKL2's controls and level design really just aren't as good as DKC2's, technical limitations of the GB withstanding. If I want DKC2 on the go, I'll stick to the GBA version.
Your videos are very good, man. I found you by accident and I'm glad I did. I love your look at remakes and you had a lot of the same thoughts I did after playing Land 1 for the first time. I can't wait to see what you come out with next!
I feel that a lot of new game-centered channels are, more or less, rehashes. But on the DKC topic, you brought something worthwhile to the table; if for nohing else than solidly backed up viewpoints on the entire rare-made series. I am new to your channel, but I thank you for that.
EPG you made me remember just how hard DK Land 1 was. I played the hell out of this in first grade and managed to beat it. My memories were initially fond, but the review made me realize how much I had to play to painstakingly memorize each level.
Him: don’t play it on the 3ds virtual console. Play it on the gameboy color, advance, player and super game boy. Me being 11 and not rich like that: :/ not everyone has money
@@edgary2388 I used to have dk country 1 on my 3ds but the many 3ds stopped reading sd cards and I lost everything on it the only thing I can play on it now are the ds games I have, luckily I got a switch not long after the 3ds messed up
It's all in the manuals. The mid-90's were just before in-game storytelling became common, but DKC and DKL were a little behind the times in that regard.
I think the DKL games while not as good as their DKC counterparts are good games for what they are and they were portable at the time too. I think the screen size and camera though was kind of a pointless complaint considering the system for what the games were for. Also in even the SNES games it's actually encouraged to take your time. You have only 2 hits after all. As such slow and steady is the key to beating the GB games as well. If you rush you may end up ambushed by enemies like jumping Kritters or mistime a jump. For me DKL1 was good. I never played DKL2 yet though but from what I seen it's a good re-imagining of DKC2 so I might download a ROM to try it. DKL3 was the best one.
That level you talked about in Donkey Kong Land 1 and Stampede Sprint in Donkey Kong Country 3 had a baby, and its called Trip's Story in Sonic Superstars.
My opinion; I enjoyed DKL1...It was a very difficult title (the cloudy levels are so painful!) But I felt very satisfied when I managed to reach the 100% percentage :) I liked DKL2 too because DkC2 is my favourite game in the series and playing a gb port of it was such a pleasure (I love game boy games)! I just completed DKL3 (gbc) some days ago and yes, I think it's the best of the land series...to be honest I even prefer this game rather than its Snes/GBA counterpart. Great video by the way!
ExoParadigmGamer EPG, in your video you said that you dared anyone new to the DKL series to play that game. Well my friend, I accept your challenge. After completing my very first playthrough of DKC1 on the GBA, I am thinking of buying DKL1 on Amazon. Let's see how frustrating this game is going to be for a noob like me.
ExoParadigmGamer After playing this game, I can pretty much say that I prefer DKC then DKL. I don't know about you but DKC had tighter controls than DKL. Don't get me wrong, DKL has it's charms here and there, but I just simply like DKC better. My final verdict is a Grand Theft Auto Vice City out of 10. When I first played Vice City, I expected a new atmosphere, seeing that this game had 1980s vibe going to it. However, the gameplay of the game remains the same, and the game fail to set a new feeling. With DKL, I expected a new atmosphere of the game, but it fail to do so, and it had the same gameplay. I will say one more thing. I'm not sure if I have quick reflexes or not, but I did not experience the difficulty you went through while playing DKL. Anyway, DKL, a solid title, but I think could have done better. Anyway, keep up the awesome reviews, and remember that I'll continue to be a fan!
Totally disagree about DKL 1. I know, the camera is bad, but the controls aren't, in my opinion. I beat the entire game on an original GBC in about two months.
Another great review. I didn't even know about these games til now so might check them out cuz I love donkey kong country. Think you will ever review any Castlevania games?
I appreciate your reviews. Nevertheless I have to say that I was able to beat Donkey Kong Land 1 many times and while I have to admit it has some problems due to hardware and button limitations of the system I never found the game really hard or frustrating or unfair. I agree on problems like the confusing visuals on the original GB as well as respawning over bottomless pits but I rarely witnessed any input lag or general problems regarding the gameplay. Hence I think your criticism with the first entry is a bit too hard, it was way ahead of its time in terms of visuals and music and the gameplay was at least decent in my opinion.
I definitely think the donkey kong country games are second only to the old mario games as far as platformers go. Sonic is super overrated imo. It really suffers from the zoomed in not enough room to see problem i think especially combined with the games speed. I don't get how people always point that out in other games and seem to give sonic a pass for it.
how is it unfair? It has almost perfect controls and its not overly difficult. There are very few cheap deaths that you need to memorize levels for either. Once you get good enough you can run through levels you've never played before pretty fast because the controls are so good.
Coincidentally, I was looking for a good video talking about the DKL trilogy earlier today. I found two before this, and they were okay, but this one is definately the best, as it provides the most details about each individual game, as well as pointing out their varying amounts of originality (something which I noticed, myself).
I wish I saw your review before I bought the VC versions of the game. I have just picked up a back lit modded GBA and I bought all the GB Donkey Kong Land games and love them so much better on the GBA. Why Nintendo did not include the color on the VC versions I will never know. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for letting us know about the third game in color being available in English online. Good to know. I liked these games, but only played them each once
I don't care what people say no matter how terrible the game may be Donkey Kong Land 1 was and still is one of my favorite games on the gameboy. But yeah I gotta agree with your review on the basis that I would not recommend the game anyone who did not play it when it first came out and I do acknowledge the fact that the game is pretty bad but gosh darn is it alot of fun at least to me
It's pretty much the best it can possibly be on that hardware. They pushed the Gameboy to the absolute limit. The issues are due to hardware limitations.
controls, controls, controls....I wish reviews stopped talking about controls if they can't elaborate on them. there have been so many times where I would play a game a critic said had terrible controls and not have any issue with them, the reverse is also true.
The glitch you've mentioned, where going under the camera equals death, is present on every DK Country (except remakes) and Land game, although it's very common in the Land games due to the small camera and its delay to follow the character.
Toails77 Honestly, I have zero issues with the camera in the SNES games (besides the select moments I mentioned in the previous reviews). In fact, I dare say playing the DKL games makes me want to apologize for calling those few moments out.
@@mrpiccionedivino5598 No, I meant the first line spoken. That "greetings and welcome back gentle and ladies-men" with the alien like hand wave. Like someone's puppeting him. That was as far as I could get.
Small nitpick -- but they HAVE mixed up some of DKL2's stage order, EPG. Both Bramble Blast and Bramble Scramble are now featured in the same world, KRAZY KREMLAND, and some levels have been altered for the Game Boy game due to hardware limitations (like Haunted Hall being replaced by Krazy Koaster, or Castle Crush being replaced by Dungeon Danger), but they still accomplished their goal in making enough stages to match DKC2 on SNES. Another difference from DKC2 is that, in DK Land 2, you get to play all the LOST WORLD stages in one go, whereas in DKC2, you unlocked one of the five stages at a time depending on the world you managed to pay Klubba for entrance. That is a really brilliant compromise in my opinion, and it makes DK Land 2 feel all the more special compared to the already amazing DKC2.
I got DKL1 accidently. The thing is back in 1998 (3rd grade) my found a lost gb with DKL1 near my school. We never found the owner of the gameboy and said game, however up to this day I still have it and play it. As for DKL2 I bought it from a fellow student buddy of mine back in 2000/2001(5th grade). As for DKL3 I got it via an emulator for my cellphone.
Great review! I am currently working through the DK games on Gameboy / Color. I feel you frustrations as I thought I was going crazy with the poor controls on DK land I.
I've noticed in all three DKL games that the player sprites have random lines coming out of them, usually before an enemy comes on the screen...is there some decompressing or loading going on that makes this happen? The "K" at 15:20 has the opposite, lines missing from it the whole time it's on-screen! The boss at 15:41 does it as well! It seems to only go away when they load new graphics or move.
I used to own Donkey Kong Land 1 when I was little and I have to say that while I remember the game being very fun I also remember the graphics looking really ugly making it hard to play it
I agree. I have the game myself and play it on an original Game Boy. They fixed it for the second and third but the damage has been done XD it's easier to play it on a Game Boy Color because the sprites have an automatic color palette that distinguishes them from the background.
That's probably why then... I owned a Gameboy pocket which didn't have color but instead had a little click wheel which allowed you to change the lighting on it...
TheIcefreeze I also have a Gameboy Pocket. Gave it to my little bro. Now I play my big original 80's Gameboy and he plays the little Gameboy :) I even bought us both USB adapter cords powered by portable batteries. Ain't no Gameboy batteries needed in this house XD
TheIcefreeze I was thinking of getting a Gameboy Light till I saw the prices. Apparently they only exist in Japan, so to have one mailed overseas is a LOT. But I wanted to start a collection of the old systems as long as they didn't cost too much XD
I thought it was just a matter of getting used to the controls on the first one. I was really addicted to that game and regret till this day that I lent it to someone who just disappeared and never returned it to me. But the fact that I never got into the original SNES version since I didn't own one may be the cause of it.
Donkey Kong Land is the only game I have played out of the DKC and DKL trilogies. Bought it new when it came out and played it on the original gameboy, gameboy pocket, and the super gameboy attachment. I do remember it was easier to control with the SNES controller while looking at a far bigger screen than the gameboys.
I feel like if they gradually got better then the 3 games aren't bad, back then they were only working with their ideas of what the gameboys limitations were and that's not a bad thing, considering when the nes came out mario 1 was the best it could be until they experimented with the hardware/software to bring the most out of the console, that's why mario bros 3 looks alot better than mario 1, same thing with super mario land on the Gameboy, people still like it to this day but if we have to be honest the quality is kinda poo and where the first one fails due to that mindset the 2nd enhanced the style because they knew what they were working with by that time and could do better stuff with it.
Imagine if Nintendo got the 3 SNES games remastered from the ground up with the same great gameplay, but included entire overhauls of the 3 DK land Games as well. That would be sick!
Ooh, so you have the GB versions reviewed as well. Let's see what you say :3 EDIT: I like this review much better, except for perhaps the end, I don't really know or care about CBR Overtone, but in general I find this review to be an improvement over the ROR: Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES Vs. GBA) in much the same way that DKL2 or DKL3 was an improvement over DKL1, lol. No mention of having to use the Select button to shoot Platform Spider Webs in DKL2 though? (Or is it like that on DKC2 for the GBA as well?) Oh, and I'd rate DKL2 to be a step above just 'Ok', more I cannot give without putting on my nostalgia googles X3
I will say, (with restore points, & a video guide), I 100% DK Land. I'm working on DK Land II. I only remember seeing the 3 checkpoints thing (in DK Land) one time, but that's me anyways. Also, I think that the buttons not responding likely was a Gameboy Player thing. (key word being likely).
Actually beat DKL1 without savestates. In fact, I actually did it as a kid. The game is damn generous with lives if you opt to play through it in a single sitting. DKL1 is actually decent, though it still suffers significant design issues like you point out, with particular levels crossing into excessive bullshit for people who actually do use the KONG Letters saving actively enough. I do have to point out that dying because of an abyss feature results in additionally losing the extra Kong if he was even available before. That is an annoying negative. Thankfully, though, the bonus levels are generally not a nightmare to find aside from 3-7's, screw those. But it bugs me that plenty of times, KONG Letters were placed in them. Also, 3-1's K has retarded placement without even being in a bonus room, simply by forcing the player to jump to the left immediately upon starting the level or else they will miss the out-of-view barrel cannon that flies up and never returns. K. Rool also involves memorization bullshit, no thanks especially to that damned belly flop. Still, moments like those are more stand out than anything.
well, yeah playing it on a gbc, gba, or super game boy may be a better experience, but in case you haven't noticed, getting your hands on a physical copy of the game and one of the previously mentioned pieces of hardware isn't really easy
There is no pallet selection persay, it just allows it to be played in color automatically, and it is not the same as the Super Gameboy. How often did you play gameboy games (such as the old pokemon games,etc) on the future systems?
***** I played the Pokemon game boy games on the gbc and gba, from what I remember only yellow allowed you to automatically play on a color palette the others allowed you to choose some mostly solid color pallets from a combination of a direction and a or b. But I don't remember a similar pallet to the super game boy being available in those
I recently replayed a little bit of it and agreed that it doesn't hold up I still think it's fun but I will agree that the other games that came after it are way better I like to think that the Donkey Kong Land Trilogy is underrated
If you haven't done it/are capable of doing it video-capture wise, you should consider doing a Ristar (Genesis) vs Ristar (Game Gear) Remake or Rebreak. But then again I understand if you don't have a Game Gear capture card
The way the sprites glitch so easily has always seemed weird to me. Nothing else would glitch, but if you didn't put the cart in perfectly, the sprites would mess up. As was clear in your recording.
Mark D I know the GB's screen size is small. You could see in the live action segment that I own one. Difference between this game and something like Super Mario Land 2 is that that game was optimized for that small screen size and Donkey Kong Land definitely wasn't.
