Donkey Kong Land

This article is about the first game in the Donkey Kong Land series. For the series itself, see Donkey Kong Land (series).

Template:Infobox Donkey Kong Land, known in Japan as Super Donkey Kong GB, is a video game developed by Rareware for the Game Boy. Released in 1995, it is a handheld follow-up of Donkey Kong Country. It is one of the few Game Boy games with a uniquely colored cartridge (yellow), which is also the case for its two sequels, Donkey Kong Land 2 and Donkey Kong Land III. Donkey Kong Land is among the first Game Boy titles specifically designed to have Super Game Boy features, including a rendered jungle border across the television screen.

Donkey Kong Land was later released for the 3DS's Virtual Console in Japan on April 2, 2014, in Europe on October 16, 2014, in Australia on October 17, 2014 and in North America on February 26, 2015.

The game is often mistaken as a Game Boy port of Donkey Kong Country. Although the two games play the same using the same engine, the storyline is different and Donkey Kong Land has different levels, enemies, and bosses from the ones featured in Donkey Kong Country. Unlike its sequels, Donkey Kong Land has unique enemies and bosses from its Super Nintendo counterpart.

Story

The story is told in the game's instruction booklet and features a lot of fourth wall references; it takes place after the events of Donkey Kong Country, where Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong discuss their latest adventure to Cranky Kong. Cranky admits that it was more successful than he thought, but claimed that it was only because of "fancy graphics" and that "Kids'll buy anything nowadays." As Cranky rambles about the games of his time, DK, and Diddy try to convince him that Donkey Kong Country was great because it "was just plain fun."

Cranky remains unconvinced, and he challenges Donkey and Diddy to an adventure on an 8-bit black and white system (Game Boy). After they made the bet, Cranky arranges for King K. Rool to steal the banana hoard overnight. While Diddy originally agreed to the bet, Donkey Kong was furious because he wanted to watch the Banana Bowl. However, he reluctantly decided to go on an adventure with Diddy to retrieve the Bananas from K. Rool.

Gameplay

The title screen for Donkey Kong Land, as seen with the Super Game Boy adapter

Donkey Kong near a Continue Point

Donkey Kong Land is a 2-D platformer, designed for the Game Boy. Because of the Game Boy's limitations, the game offers less than its 16-bit predecessor. Graphics were ripped from Donkey Kong Country and downgraded to 8-bit to fit Game Boy's limitations. On the level select screen, names of the stages are no longer present, and each level has very few Bonus Areas, usually one or two. Only one Kong displays on-screen at a time, either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong.

Additionally, after the Kongs find all the Bonus Areas in an area, an exclamation point appears above the level's circular marker in the overworld.

The game is divided into four worlds, each with seven normal levels, with the exception of the game's first world, Gangplank Galleon Ahoy!, which contains a total of nine. A boss level also appears in each world and must be completed to progress. Though most levels are unlocked after beating its previous level, some levels can be accessed before later levels. This can be done by finding rare, barrel-shaped bombs inside some levels and blasting away large boulders. With these boulders destroyed, a passageway to a certain level can be found. Unlike in Donkey Kong Country, the Kongs will be able to travel freely to any level without any assistance, as they can simply journey world-to-world on foot.

Like in most platformer games, the goal is to reach the end of the level, without being defeated by an enemy or falling into a trap. The Kongs must make their way through each level carefully, or else an enemy may attack. When this happens, one of the Kongs in the group will run away. With one hero remaining, the player must be careful, as being hit by an enemy or obstacle results in losing a life. The missing Kong can be recovered from a Buddy Barrel, which appears in every level. Star Barrels were replaced with a different type of checkpoint, the Continue Points. Up to three can appear in a level. If the Kongs activate a Continue Point, their progress is temporarily saved at the point, and they would return to that point if they lose a life. Every level has a small portal for an end goal, the end of stage. The Kongs must jump into it to exit the level.

Playable characters and abilities

Diddy Kong climbing

As in the SNES game, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are the only playable characters. The stats of these apes both vary, just as in the previous game. Donkey Kong, the leader of the group, does not have as much speed as his partner, Diddy, nor can he move quite as fast. He is, however, much stronger and is the only character able to beat the powerful foes, Krushas, without using a TNT Barrel. Diddy, on the other hand, is much smaller than Donkey Kong, and can get through tight areas more easily.

The basic ability, jumping, can be done by both Kongs to defeat enemies, cross pits, or to simply jump to access higher areas. Both Kongs also have the ability to roll or cartwheel into foes. This can defeat the enemies much more easily than jumping on them, and it also gives the heroes an extra speed boost. Sometimes, the Kongs will find themselves requiring to cross a wide abyss too large to jump over. With their cartwheel and roll moves, they can perform a super-jump, making them roll over the gap and jumping in mid-air for an extra boost. Bouncing on a tire can give them an extra boost in the air as well.

Though not used as much as jumping and rolling, the Kongs can also climb ropes and swim through water. To climb, the heroes must simply jump up and touch a rope. Climbing can be useful when crossing large gaps, though it can only be done on ropes. Jumping rope-to-rope is common in some levels, but luckily, the Kongs have no trouble in grabbing onto other ropes. During underwater levels, the apes will also use their ability to swim. Tapping the while swimming can make the Kongs move higher as they slowly float downwards. When the Kongs swim, they will not have as much control as on land, and as a result they should be careful.

Animal Friends

Donkey Kong riding on Expresso

Unlike Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land has only two Animal Friends, Rambi the Rhino and Expresso the Ostrich, who appear in only two levels apiece. The Animal Friends here are unable to shoot through barrels, and they will suddenly drop to the ground once these obstacles are approached.

Image	Name	Description	First level appearance	Last level appearance
	Rambi the Rhino	The rhino buddy first appears in the level Jungle Jaunt. He is able to charge into enemies to easily defeat them. Also, Rambi is able to break through certain walls to create an opening to a Bonus Area.	Jungle Jaunt	Mountain Mayhem
	Expresso the Ostrich	The ostrich buddy is the other Animal Friend in Donkey Kong Land. First appearing in a Bonus Area located in Deck Trek, Expresso is able to help the Kongs cross wide abysses with his useful flying abilities. Strangely, this helpful capability is never used to find any Bonus Areas, but is instead used inside them. Out of his four appearances, three of them take place in a Bonus Area. Expresso is able to defeat enemies in this game by jumping on them, unlike in Donkey Kong Country.	Deck Trek	Collapsing Clouds

Levels

Note: Some musical compositions of the game are 8-bit arrangements of other compositions from Donkey Kong Country, which were created by David Wise. They are listed with their original title in the "Music theme" sectors of the following table. Graeme Norgate also participated with several new tunes, also listed here. Their names are posted on Norgate's website, and according to him, they pertain to the game's soundtrack filenames.

Levels and Bonus Areas
Gangplank Galleon Ahoy!
#	Level	Bonus Areas	Type of level	Music theme
1	Jungle Jaunt	2	Jungle	DK Island Swing
2	Freezing Fun	1	Snow	Northern Hemispheres
3	Simian Swing	2	Jungle	DK Island Swing
4	Deck Trek	2	Ship	Gang-Plank Galleon
5	Rope Ravine	2	Snow	Northern Hemispheres
6	Tyre Trail	3	Jungle	DK Island Swing
7	Riggin' Rumble	2	Ship	Gang-Plank Galleon
8	Congo Carnage	2	Jungle	DK Island Swing
9	Arctic Barrel Arsenal	2	Snow	Northern Hemispheres
10	BOSS LEVEL: Wild Sting Fling	0	Ship	Boss
Kremlantis
#	Level	Bonus Areas	Type of level	Music theme
11	Tricky Temple	1	Temple	Voices of the Temple
12	Kremlantis Kaos	0	Underwater ruins	unknown
13	Reef Rampage	0	Coral	Aquatic Ambiance
14	Snake Charmer's Challenge	1	Temple	Voices of the Temple
15	Chomp's Coliseum	0	Underwater ruins	unknown
16	Nautilus Chase	0	Coral	Aquatic Ambiance
17	Swirlwind Storm	1	Temple	Voices of the Temple
18	BOSS LEVEL: Seabed Showdown	0	Underwater ruins	Boss
Monkey Mountains & Chimpanzee Clouds
#	Level	Bonus Areas	Type of level	Music theme
19	Pot Hole Panic	2	Cave	Cave Dweller Concert
20	Mountain Mayhem	2	Mountain	Mountain
21	Track Attack	2	Clouds	Sky
22	Spiky Tyre Trail	2	Cave	Cave Dweller Concert
23	Sky High Caper	1	Clouds	Sky
24	Landslide Leap	2	Mountain	Mountain
25	Collapsing Clouds	2	Clouds	Sky
26	BOSS LEVEL: Mad Mole Holes	0	Caves	Boss
Big Ape City
#	Level	Bonus Areas	Type of level	Music theme
27	Construction Site Fight	2	Skyscraper	Building Site
28	Kong Krazy	1	Blimp	Airship
29	Balloon Barrage	2	Construction site	Construction Site
30	Fast Barrel Blast	2	Blimp	Airship
31	Skyscraper Caper	1	Skyscraper	Building Site
32	Button Barrel Blast	2	Construction site	Construction Site
33	Oil Drum Slum	2	Skyscraper	Building Site
34	BOSS LEVEL: K. Rool's Kingdom	0	Blimp	Boss

Items

Many items can be found around Donkey Kong Land, and each help the duo complete levels or defeat enemies. Each item has a different purpose.

Image	Item	Description
	Bananas	Bananas are the most abundant items in the game. Donkey Kong or Diddy can collect 100 of them in exchange for an extra life.
	Banana Bunch	Banana Bunches are a group of Bananas, bunched together for a value of ten Bananas.
	Continue Point	This item replaces the Star Barrel from Donkey Kong Country. When touched, it automatically saves the player's progress at that point into that level. Continue Points appear in every level and can be found more than once in a level.
	Life Balloon	Life Balloons give an extra life to the Kongs. These balloons fly away fast, so the Kongs must make sure they act fast to get them. Unlike Donkey Kong Country, the player cannot distinct between value or color because of the Game Boy's monochrome palette. Therefore, every Life Balloon only grants one life.
	Kong Tokens	Kong Tokens first appear in this game. They are featured in every level, mainly in Bonus Areas. In certain Bonus Areas, the Kongs can exchange a certain number of Kong Tokens for extra lives.
	KONG Letters	KONG Letters are an essential item. Every level has each letter of KONG letter scattered throughout in order. KONG Letters have a different role than in Donkey Kong Country because all four of a level's KONG Letters must be collected to save the game. This mechanism replaces Candy's Save Point. Additionally, in the level, Kong Krazy, KONG Letters can be used as platforms.

Barrels

Four types of Barrels are featured in the game, all of which originate from Donkey Kong Country.

Image	Item	Description
	Barrel	These wooden kegs are very rare items and only appear in three levels. They can be thrown at enemies and bust open walls, both of which destroy the Barrel.
	Buddy Barrel	Buddy Barrels are the most common Barrel. They can a missing Kong, most likely from if it was hit by an enemy. Upon being freed, an icon of the freed Kong displays at the bottom-right corner of the screen, as only one Kong appears on screen at a time. If both Kongs are present, they can use a DK Barrel like a normal one.
	Steel keg	Steel kegs are a stronger projectile than normal barrels. If a steel keg rebounds off a wall, it rebounds instead of breaking. They cannot be destroyed, and can roll into more than one enemy. DK or Diddy can even ride on a rolling steel keg by jumping onto it.
	TNT Barrel	TNT Barrels are often found in levels, and can be defeat enemies if thrown at them, including oil drums. They are explosive and are able to blast away more things than normal Barrels.

Enemies and hazards

Donkey Kong near the enemy, Nemo.

Donkey Kong Land involves twenty different enemies and hazards, although most first appeared in the SNES game Donkey Kong Country. Enemies listed below in bold are those who have appeared in the prior game. The table also lists the first and last level that these enemies and hazards have shown up in. Noticeably, many of these foes have stayed in throughout the whole game, not making a final appearance until the levels of the last world, the Big Ape City. Swirlwinds can also help the Kongs on their quest, other than harming them.

Image	Enemy/hazard	Description	First level appearance	Last level appearance
	Army	Whenever the Kongs approach an Army - which is a small armadillo enemy -, it starts attacking by retracting into its shell and setting off in a small ball-roll towards the monkeys. This action will harm the heroes whether they stay in the armadillo's way, so it is better to jump and stomp on it before it is too late. However, while the armadillo is rolling, only Donkey Kong can grant its doom with only one stomp; Diddy Kong needs to jump on the animal two times, first while it is rolling, then when it is standing on foot, in order to defeat it. This means that the Army is extremely vulnerable when not rolling.	Tyre Trail	Button Barrel Blast
	Chomps	Chomps is an "ape-eating shark" which swims in the waters of Kremlantis, sometimes aimlessly, other times from side to side. It takes the appearance of Chomps Jr. from the previous game. Chompses pose as obstacles for the Kongs; when the monkeys come in contact with a Chomps, they will get hurt. Because Enguarde the Swordfish, the only mean of underwater combat, is not featured in the game as he was in Donkey Kong Country, there is no way to defeat a Chomps.	Chomp's Coliseum	Oil Drum Slum (Bonus Area)
	Clambo	Clambos have changed drastically in this game from their very first appearance, in Donkey Kong Country. They do not not spit dangerous pearls anymore, and have a larger shell. They resemble clams with large shell spans. Given the fact that they open and close their shells repeatedly, and also that Clambos often stand in narrow passages underwater - not to add that they are harmful -, it is obvious that the Kongs may not easily pass them. Clambos cannot be defeated.	Nautilus Chase	Nautilus Chase
File:Fangfish DKL.PNG	Fangfish	A large bass even bigger than Chomps, although it has the same attack pattern. It is invulnerable, as there is nothing that can defeat the big fish. It takes large spaces in water, and the heroes must swim carefully near a Fangfish.	Kremlantis Kaos	Oil Drum Slum (Bonus Area)
	Gloop	Gloop is another underwater enemy, and swims just like Chomps Jr. and Fangfish. This species is the smallest one out of all the fish encountered in Donkey Kong Land, but nevertheless it still cannot be attacked in any way.	Kremlantis Kaos	Oil Drum Slum (Bonus Area)
	Gnawty	Gnawties are beavers who are among the first enemies encountered, mainly in the early levels. Although they can hurt the Kongs just by touching them, Gnawties are the weakest enemies in the game; they can be defeated by any attack from the Kongs. They usually have a set path, but can also be found walking aimlessly, similar to Goombas.	Freezing Fun	Oil Drum Slum
	Hogwash the Flying Pig	Hogwashes are enemies encountered mostly in the sky and snow levels. They are flying pigs that either have a path to follow, or fly in a straight line. They can be defeated with any attack method.	Freezing Fun	Skyscraper Caper
	Klaptrap	Very small crocodiles that crawl fast on the ground. Neither Donkey nor Diddy can roll/cartwheel over a Klaptrap, because its teeth are harmful (oddly enough, not even their back is safe). A single stomp on its back or throwing a barrel at it is necessary in order to defeat it. Expresso the Ostrich can simply avoid Klaptraps - the bird's feet are very long and skinny, making it impossible for the crocodile to reach Expresso's body, and hurt him.	Riggin' Rumble	Skyscraper Caper
	Kritter	A Kritter is a generic Kremling found in most of the levels in the game. Kritters are as vulnerable as Gnawties (meaning that any attack can defeat them), and they also harm the Kongs by simply walking into them. The game also features jumping Kritters; there is no real change between Kritters that went afoot and hopping Kritters, yet the latter ones only stomp on the heroes.	Jungle Jaunt	Oil Drum Slum
	Krusha	Krushas are among the tougher enemies, being resistant to most of the Kongs' attacks, except for Donkey Kong's stomp or a thrown barrel. When Donkey or Diddy Kong roll into a Krusha, it will push them back and start laughing at them. But this strong Kremling's way to attack monkeys is identical to that of a Kritter's.	Tricky Temple	Oil Drum Slum
	Mincer	Indestructible mechanichal obstacles that resemble tires with spikes. They just pivot while floating in the air (or underwater) in a set path (either in circles or straight from one point to another), and make it harder for the heroic apes to pass them. Mincers usually appear in Bonus Areas, guarding several bonuses.	Deck Trek	Button Barrel Blast (Bonus Area)
	Mini-Necky	A miniature vulture that spits coconuts at the Kongs. The Kongs can either roll or jump on them, although they must be careful - the birds spit the harmful coconuts periodically. Not only can the coconuts hurt the heroes, but also touching the Mini-Neckies when not attacking it.	Deck Trek	Fast Barrel Blast
	Necky	In this game, Neckies are not seen very often; they are even rarer than their smaller counterparts, the Mini-Neckies. The only Neckies in the game only stay on the top of small hills and cover themselves with one wing. When they see the Kongs, Neckies start throwing nuts all over the place. These nuts are very easy to dodge, however. The Kongs can defeat the vultures by rolling over them or stomping on them.	Congo Carnage	Pot Hole Panic
File:Nemo DKL.PNG	Nemo	Nemos are enormous nautiluses that act just like the Croctopuses in Donkey Kong Country. Nevertheless, they are more agile enemies, as they are capable of chasing the monkeys even in very narrow paths underwater. Before pursuing the Kongs, Nemos stay inside their shells, inertly. After sensing the apes, Nemos will burst out of their shells and will start to chase them. They cannot be defeated.	Nautilus Chase	Nautilus Chase
	Oil drum	Oil drums are rare obstacles in the game. Not only that they can hover in the air immobile, serving as platforms; some of them host dangerous flames of fire that burst out of them and retract from time to time. Because of this, the Kongs have to leap from one drum to another platform (or just jump over them if the drums are on the ground) fast in order to escape being burned. An oil drum can be destroyed with a TNT Barrel.	Landslide Leap (Bonus Area)	Oil Drum Slum
	Flapper	Flappers are invulnerable enemies that live in the waters of Kremlantis. When a Kong approaches a Flapper, the clam-like enemy will start to swim downwards while snapping, hence its name. The members of its species are usually found blocking small paths, and the Kongs may avoid the Flappers while they go down. However, the monkeys must be quick, because the bivalve mollusks will swim back to their initial point.	Kremlantis Kaos	Chomp's Coliseum
	Slippa	Slippas are coral snake-like reptiles that crawl on the ground. They can be defeated by any attack the Kongs have, only they are harmful if touched on one of their left or right sides. They are mostly encountered in jungles, temples, caves, city slums or on board the Gangplank Galleon.	Jungle Jaunt	Oil Drum Slum
	Basket of snakes	An infinite amount of Slippas can come out of a snake basket, an obstacle which replaces the oil drums from Donkey Kong Country. They resemble pots that always tremble and throw Slippas out. The baskets themselves are only dangerous when they roll down the stairs and towards the Kongs. Otherwise, they can even be used as platforms, and when the monkeys stay on them, Slippas will not come out. Baskets of snakes can be broken with TNT Barrels.	Snake Charmer's Challenge	Snake Charmer's Challenge
	Swirlwind	Very strange enemies called Swirlwind spin in the temple levels. They resemble small tornadoes, and they are harmful to the monkeys when they are touched by the sides, yet also helpful to reach higher areas, as Swirlwinds send the Kongs up high when they bounce on them. When a hero is close to a Swirlwind, the tornado will start to chase him; bouncing on a Swirlwind also makes it move. Swirlwinds cannot be defeated in any way, although they can be lured into pits.	Snake Charmer's Challenge	Swirlwind Storm
	Zinger	The Zingers are wasp enemies found in almost every level of Donkey Kong Land. They fly just like Mincers (from one point to another, in circles, or just flap their wings in the air while remaining still). None of the Kong's regular attacks can defeat a Zinger. They can only be defeated with a thrown barrel or jumping on it while riding Expresso or Rambi.	Freezing Fun	Oil Drum Slum

Bosses

Throughout the Kongs' quest, they not only find the enemies listed above, but also several bosses, who require a little more skill to beat. Each boss appears at the end of all the game's worlds, and must be defeated to allow the heroes to progress.

Image	Boss	Description	Location	Level name
	Wild Sting	Wild Sting The first boss of the game, encountered on Gangplank Galleon. It is a flying stingray, which must be stomped by the Kongs several times in order to defeat it. The attack pattern of Wild Sting is pretty simple and repetitive - it constantly swoops down at the monkeys, and goes faster each time it takes damage.	Gangplank Galleon Ahoy!	Wild Sting Fling
	Giant Clam	The Giant Clam is the second boss in the game. It is fought underwater, and continuously shoots pearls at the Kongs. During the combat, the heroes need to stand every time near the large clam found at one of the corners of the screen, wait for the Clambo to spit a pearl, dodge it and let the helping clam do its job by rebounding the pearl back to the boss. The pearl will then hit the Clambo; it needs to be hit several times in order to fall down. Also, it is important to know that the helping clam will change its position every time Giant Clam is hit.	Kremlantis	Seabed Showdown
	Hard Hat	Hard Hat is a mad mole fought in a cavern at the edge of Monkey Mountains. This cavern is small, and consists of an arena whose ground is dug up in three holes, from which the boss comes out. The battle with Hard Hat is similar to a "whack-a-mole" game; the small creature surprises the player by popping out of one of the three holes, looks cautiously at the Kongs, then takes off the mine helmet he wears on the head and hurls the dangerous helmet at them. While the mole's head is discovered, the Kongs need to carefully dodge the mine helmet and then stomp on the boss's head. After being hit, Hard Hat will enter back in his den and burst out of another hole. The process must be repeated until Hard Hat is defeated.	Monkey Mountains & Chimpanzee Clouds	Mad Mole Holes
	King K. Rool	The king of the Kremlings is the very last boss of Donkey Kong Land. He appears to be much smaller than in Donkey Kong Country, but nonetheless, he attacks the Kongs just like he did before. First of all, it is clear that Hard Hat had a very similar battle style. King K. Rool throws his crown at the heroes, which inflicts damage to them. While the Kremling does not have his crown on the head, Donkey or Diddy need to stomp him, and repeat this every time until K. Rool falls beaten.	Big Ape City	K. Rool's Kingdom

Staff

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Land staff

Main Programming

• Paul Machacek

Support Programming

• Steve Patrick
• Oliver Norton

Scenery

• Dean Smith

Sprite Graphics

• Steve Mayles
• Mark Stevenson
• Keri Gunn
• Carl Tilley
• Kevin Bayliss

Additional Graphics

• Neil Crook

Glitches

Instant Death

If Donkey or Diddy fall with no visible ground below, the game will mistake the player for falling into a pit and will count it as an instant death, even if both Kongs are present. This includes being knocked back by enemies, but also can happen if either Kong falls to a platform below that is off screen.

Missing Nuts

In some levels, particularly jungle levels, there are Neckys that sit on platforms and spit nuts, hoping to hit the Kongs when they're below him. However, if Necky is on the top of the screen, the sound effect of spitting nuts can be heard, but no nuts are actually fired.

Missing Kong

In some cases the player can obtain the second Kong from a DK barrel, but after getting hit it will still result in a death instead of the other Kong appearing in his place.

Reception

On release, Famitsu scored Donkey Kong Land a 24 out of 40.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Nintendo 3DS	Dave Frear, Nintendo Life	8/10	"Going by that instruction book story, the idea that this game would prove Donkey Kong Country was more than just a pretty face is demonstrated rather nicely. Whilst visually it can't come close to the SNES title, by Game Boy standards these are definitely “fancy graphics”, and that doesn't really matter as fans can rejoice in what is basically an extra 34 levels of DKC. Tight controls and a variety of locations and enemies make for an enjoyable platformer. Add in the challenge of finding everything and Donkey Kong Land is a fun game that will keep players occupied for some time."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
GameRankings		74.53%

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Land pre-release and unused content

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Donkey Kong Land.

• 

  Donkey Kong. Diddy Kong, Rambi, and Expresso

• 

  Fangfish

• 

  Hard Hat

• 

  Nemo

• 

  Hogwash the Flying Pig

Media

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	スーパードンキーコングGB[?] Sūpā Donkī Kongu Jībī	Super Donkey Kong GB