There was a time when Rare worked in conjunction with Nintendo to bring new titles to its home console systems. It was during this time that Rare developed Donkey Kong Country for Nintendo on the SNES. Now the Japanese company has started porting SNES games to the latest Nintendo 3DS handheld hardware. Is there still life in the title after so many years and ports to other Nintendo systems?
One day Donkey Kong wakes up to find his banana supply has been taken by his rival, King K. Rool. This kicks off a series of events where Donkey Kong and his pal Diddy Kong travel across the island they live in to get back every banana taken.
The game is a typical side scrolling platform adventure where it’s necessary to defeat different kinds of baddies and avoid both pitfalls and traps. At the time of release, Donkey Kong Country was hailed for making use of then advanced technology to create impressive visuals. Yet this 3DS port doesn’t seem to fare so well in conveying this. The colours look somewhat washed out compared to other ports and it does make it less interesting to look at the backgrounds. Perhaps it’s a limitation of the hardware that it’s been ported to.
It’s also odd that there is no way to change the original resolution to full screen. Instead, it is only possible to change between the original resolution that makes the visuals sharper or stick with the new slightly enhanced resolution that makes the colours look washed out. It makes it slightly confusing to play the game at first due to the size of the Nintendo 3DS handheld’s top screen and the prominent side black bars.
But on the bright side, it also means that there are no noticeable frame rate issues. This helps a lot in a game such as this where it is necessary to make jumps across obstacles with the right timing. The music is also perfect and it plays just like it would in the original version of the tittle.
Whilst there isn’t much that can be done about it, it is impossible to not mention the controls. For anyone new to the series, it is possible to make the characters run faster by holding down the attack button. However, this becomes quite problematic when doing it for a long time on this port. This is due to how the buttons are placed on the handheld and how easy it is to get a hand cramp when holding down a button for a long time. Obviously, it’s completely optional to make use of the running ability, but it is an important skill to use to make the most of Donkey Kong Country.
In the old days, it was only possible to save any progress made at save points after completing a certain number of levels. This made it very easy to lose a significant amount of progress when running out of lives. Running out of lives is a regular occurrence for anyone new to the series or just not that skilled at playing games. However, the good news is that the Virtual Console’s restore point feature makes it possible to save at any point.
The game itself holds up quite well after so many years and it has some of the best level design in the series. It’s enjoyable to play through as someone that did the same so many years ago and remember being pleasantly surprised by some of the areas explored. The initial jungle area leads out to even more interesting areas like a mine and later on a factory like area.
The formula is also simple and yet it’s what makes it relevant after so many years. Each area has a number of levels to be completed. Within each level there are collectible items and bonus rooms to find. There are even animals to ride in some levels with their own abilities. There is no doubt that Donkey Kong Country made a significant contribution towards making gaming what it is today.
Perhaps that is what makes this port feel rather lacking in the end. More so when compared to how ports for others systems were handled. The fact that the title is only playable on New Nintendo 3DS hardware implies that Nintendo had a difficult time porting the title. In the end, Donkey Kong Country is a decent port marred by some limitations and there are better ports of the title out.
