Retro Game Friday: Donkey Kong Land

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a game that was one of the first I ever played. It’s Donkey Kong Land!

Plot: The plot is more comedic than most and very much breaks the fourth wall, but that’s pretty much par for the course with the Donkey Kong series.

Gameplay: The gameplay was okay, although there were limitations, like the levels only being named in the manual, due to the hardware of the Gameboy. However it played a lot like the Country counterparts for the SNES.

Art: The art is okay, but old.  However ironically enough, and I didn’t know this until I was looking up the Wikipedia page for the developer and publisher info, the game is one of the few that the Super Game Boy pack for the Super Nintendo actually improved the game’s graphics.

Music: Being a handheld I didn’t get to listen to the music more than a couple of times, although I remember it being very much Donkey Kong music.

Overall: A solid game, but it was hampered by the original hardware in some places.

For those who like: Platformers, Donkey Kong, Handheld Games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Retro Game Friday: Super Smash Bros.

This week I’m covering the original casual fighting game. It’s Super Smash Bros.

Plot Synopsis: Wait you were expecting a fighting game to have a plot?

Plot: See above.

Gameplay: The gameplay was good, although some characters were ridiculously overpowered, like Fox or Samus or Ness. Having only 12 characters was the only downside to this game, but at the time it was a lot of characters.

Music: It took music from the various series represented in the game, as well as some original music. Nothing amazing though.

Art: It shows it’s age now, but back in the day it looked pretty freaking good.

Overall: If you’ve never played it you should give it a whirl, just don’t pay more than a few dollars for it.

For those who like: Nintendo games, Fighters, Casual fighting games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or fighting games with a shallow learning curve.

Retro Game Friday: Donkey Kong Land 2

This week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Gameboy’s release I’m reviewing the first Gameboy Game I ever owned, as well as the first video game I ever owned period, Donkey Kong Land 2!

Plot Synopsis: Donkey Kong Land 2 stars Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in their conquest to rescue Donkey Kong from Kaptain K. Rool and the Kremling Krew.

Plot: There really wasn’t a plot, and me being only 6 years old didn’t really give a rats ass about plot. I just wanted to have fun while I was on a plane going back and forth between my parents.

Gameplay: It was the era of Nintendo hard games, so this game was really freaking hard, at least that’s what it seemed like as a 6 year old kid. Looking back it’s a decent game, but nothing special.

Art: It was on the original Gameboy, so it had 16 bit graphics, but it sure looked nice to me when I was a kid.

Overall: I’d play it for a few minutes just for nostalgia’s sake.

For those who like: Platformers, Donkey Kong games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

 

Retro Game Friday: Donkey Kong 64

This week we are going over one of the most frustrating games Nintendo and Rare ever made, Donkey Kong 64.

Plot Synopsis: King K. Rool wants to destroy DK Isles with a large laser called the Blast-O-Matic (as he thinks if he can’t have DK Isles, nobody can), but it malfunctions after a crash that puts his floating, mechanical island face-to-face with DK Isles. To buy some time, he captures Donkey Kong’s friends and locks them up, and then steals Donkey Kong’s precious hoard of Golden Bananas.

Plot: It wasn’t that great when I was a kid, and now it’s kind of just stupid. The plot never was that great.

Gameplay: I enjoyed playing as Diddy Kong, and that was about it. I especially hated playing as Lanky. This game would’ve been okay if you didn’t need to beat the original Donkey Kong in order to get a key to get to the last boss, but you did and it spoiled the entire game in my opinion.

Music: The only decent thing, and it wasn’t that great to be honest either, was the music in this game. It was upbeat in most of the places, but dramatic enough when it was needed.

Art: It’s an N64 game, the art wasn’t spectacular, but it was okay.

Overall: Something to be avoided, unless you like having to beat incredibly hard minigames in order to face the last boss.

For those who like: Nintendo Games, Donkey Kong, Platformers, Minigames that are frustrating and necessary to face the last boss.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.