Blind Date Gaming: Donkey Kong Land 2
So, following last week's date, let's revisit the concept of dating a well-known person. This time, though, let's put a spin on it by saying you're dating a famous person's...what, brother or sister? Or would this just be some similarly-named person? I have no idea; there's kind of no need to make some coy introduction to this week's date. It's Donkey Kong Land 2!
The Donkey Kong Country (DKC) games are popular SNES titles. So popular, in fact, they spurred the Donkey Kong Land titles, handheld versions of the same sidescrolling, platforming fun. I had Donkey Kong Land as a kid myself, though I've never played the others. Where the original had new level concepts and enemies, this sequel seems to be more of a port. The levels are thankfully redesigned a bit to take the Game Boy's limited screen real estate into mind, though; the level concepts are the same with different layouts of obstacles and such. As such, it felt kind of like a ROMhack of DKC2.
After playing some of these levels, all I can say is: man, King K.Rool has some really looooong ships
Luckily this game is MUCH more visually clear than its Game Boy predecessor. The prequel tried to wow players with their fancy 3-D graphics so bad that it was impossible to tell the background from the foreground. Having a palette of 4 colors will do that. Here, they usually reserve black for important actors or objects, so everything is easily discernible. The backgrounds are usually only light colors, which is a godsend.
Well, usually
So how was the game, then? Well, it was amazingly fun! I had a leg up since I've played through DKC2 a few times, so the levels' gimmicks were already known to me. However, I very infrequently found things unfair. Hit detection was forgiving, the enemy placement was fine, the platforming was good, and the controls were tight. There were some programming deviations from the original, though, that took some getting used to. I feel like Dixie's ponytail was nerfed a bit, as I swear you used to be able to use it any time you were in the air. Here, you can only use it if you start a jump (not if you fall off a platform). The jumps all seem to have a given height, too, so there's less control over short hops and such.
Do...do you see that face in the background? It stares into my soul....
The bosses were a bit different, which was fine. They seemed just the right level of toughness and killed me a few times getting used to their patterns. They're a bit stiffly-animated, though, probably due to the limited space on the Game Boy carts. Like, you can bust a half-dozen eggs against the one pirate bird and she doesn't flinch. I swear I saw shell shrapnels sticking out of her bulging eyes and the lass just kept truckin'. Or, uhh...pirate shippin’? Guess that's how she became captain.
Can't make an omelette without...sacrificing your own young?
An interesting addition I feel I must mention is the merging of the swamp and lava worlds. I get it -- you had no space for the one boss fight against Capt. Clubface. But why does the seeping lava just kind of turn into a muddy swampland? I don't think that's how Earth Science works? Like according to several crafting games, there should be some obsidian layer or something there.
Yeah, no, the water's all the same color anyway. Stop asking questions.
I got about halfway through, to the spooooky forest world. I had to nip my completionist tendencies in the bud halfway through the second world when I found myself going back into levels to find all the DK coins and secrets. I kept forgetting that I only had one night to play this! But, like, finding the secret objects was fun, so it was a struggle!
Thanks to the Super Game Boy palette, the swamps retain the original barfy green color!
Anyway, that should be a clear indication that I would definitely go on another date with this one. I wasn't sure this would be the case going in with my prior Donkey Kong Land experience, but I was pleasantly surprised by how coherent this title was. I'd be interested what it's like to someone who hadn't played DKC2. Good luck finding someone fitting that bill with how popular DKC2 was, though!
I'm interested in the laws of Kremland here. Are Kremlings forced to attend a schooling system? Do they have vocational school that allow them to become pirates? Must they pay their college loans back with banana coins?
Thus concludes my limited time with one of the classic titles. Thanks for going on this odd new trip down memory lane with me, despite that not making sense! For sticking through, I'll grant you this Sprite of Passage. Use it to get a free college credit at Kong Kollege. Get a second Bachelors of Science degree or somethin'. Then you, too, can exit into the work force with a bunch of BS!
awww, he just wants a hug
