Donkey Kong Country Advance

[Max M]

What are your thoughts on this game?

I got it a couple of days ago and it still plays as well as it did back in '94 (Kind of shocking that it was nearly 10 years ago!), but the graphics have taken a serious hit, this is especially evident when you play it in the Gameboy Player. Everything seems to look a bit washed out and bright as well, making me wonder if it was designed with the original GBA in mind. Could Rare have made this before they left? It says "Game by Rare" on the title screen and no other teams are credited, which is a little odd.

The music's also changed (Same tunes, different sounds) and while they don't sound as good as the Snes version (What did they do to Oil Drum Alley?!) in some ways, I actually like this more, as the remixed tunes make it seem somewhat fresh instead of a complete port. Speaking of music, there's a very fun Dance Dance Revolution style bonus game and it surely has some of the best GBA tunes ever! The quality of some of them kind of amazed me. It's extremely addictive though. The less said about the fishing game the better.

So yeah, once you can see past the not-so-good graphics, it's worth picking up if you're a fan of the original, cause it's still an enjoyable platforming romp, even if it does lack the atmosphere of the Snes version. However I don't think anyone should be paying full price for it.

[Shimmyhill]

Are the draphics actually worse than the Snes original ?

The Snes game still looks amazing imo

[Max M]

Are the draphics actually worse than the Snes original ?

Yep, the sprites are smaller, the backgrounds are faded and there's various effects missing, like the sunset going down in the first level. I can't help but wonder if they based it off the GBC version instead.

[NINTY]

I Brought this on Release.
this game is exelent very under rated, i dont care if there is now 3 versions of the game i still lover.
way better than mario imo
so far ive had 8 hours of play out of it (i completed it at 5 i think) but eing a complitinist i have to do it all so i should get a few more hours out of it too
this is a must have for all GBA owners

[Burai]

I've reviewed this for the site but due to an upgrade to the site my review is stuck in limbo.

As well as the sound and visual problems you guys mentioned, my main gripe is that it's far easier now. This is because the monkeys jump further than before negating the need to do the roll jump and turning more frustrating sections like Mine Cart Madness into a piece of piss.

It's still a good game at heart, but with the changes they've made it's a pointless, soulless exercise - especially considering the near-perfect ports of Mario World and Yoshi's Island.

[Max M]

As well as the sound and visual problems you guys mentioned, my main gripe is that it's far easier now. This is because the monkeys jump further than before negating the need to do the roll jump and turning more frustrating sections like Mine Cart Madness into a piece of piss.

The handling does seem a bit screwed up, I noticed the sword fish didn't feel like it was floating anymore and they don't slip around as much on the ice now.

I don't know why Nintendo always dumbs down their GBA ports. Sure, they may be aimed at kids who don't remember the original, but surely we were all children when we played the originals and we had no trouble getting through them.

[InsideOutBoy]

Could Rare have made this before they left? It says "Game by Rare" on the title screen and no other teams are credited, which is a little odd.

According to the Rare Website, they made. Nintendo seemingly just published it.

The Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country, painstakingly developed by Rare's own fair hand, is released in Europe today.

[marcus]

I've reviewed this for the site but due to an upgrade to the site my review is stuck in limbo.

Ill work on this today, and all being well will put the review online later on. Apologies for the delay.

[dataDave]

Any news on a DKC2 port? - IMO the better of the two but just by a bit.

Yeah, the brighter backgrounds and watered down music really piss me off.

Also, the biggest oversight...

WHERE THE HELL HAS THE INTRO GONE???

[marcus]

Our review is now online - http://www.ntsc-uk.com/MainContent/G...ountry/DKC.htm

Regards

[SharkAttack]

Misleading Review? As someone pointed out on Rare's OWN website it says they developed it - But on the NTSC-UK review it slaps Nintendo across the wrist for bad development!

[Burai]

Well that's because every single review/feature I've read in print/web magazines (including Official Nintendo Magazine, who you'd think would know these things) has said that Nintendo themseves farmed the conversion work to an internal team.

Rare are the only source that have claimed they did it themselves and that came up a week after my review was submitted.

If it's misleading it's because I was misled myself.

[NINTY]

Well no offence but to stop anymore people being 'misleaded' shouldent the review be edited?

[Burai]

I've requested the review be pulled for possible editing.

Obviously the easy thing to do would be to edit it so it says Rare made it, but we still have no actual closure that they did. Their news article could be taken in one of 2 ways - It's a painstaking port or it's a port of their original painstaking work - and as such I'm still not too sure.

[SharkAttack]

I've requested the review be pulled for possible editing.

Obviously the easy thing to do would be to edit it so it says Rare made it, but we still have no actual closure that they did. Their news article could be taken in one of 2 ways - It's a painstaking port or it's a port of their original painstaking work - and as such I'm still not too sure.

Yeh its a tough one. Maybe we can mail Rare for their say.