Donkey Kong Country was a game I played on the Super Nintendo some when I was a kid. I got it for Christmas in 1994. It was one of the last video games from my childhood. After about 1995 to 96, I quit playing games, and looking back, I wonder why. Whatever the reason was, I took up an interest in them again back around the start of 2013. A year later, sometime in the spring of 2014, I started playing the original Donkey Kong Country on SNES again, and this was a series I wasn't very familiar with at the time. Here is where I discovered the Gameboy Color version of the first DKC game I grew up with.

Although, this is not that same game. The GBC port is a poorly done game due to it being brought to an 8-bit system from a 16-bit system that Nintendo released near the end of 2000 when I was in my final year of high school. You had the same problem with the Donkey Kong Land games, but for this one, it's even worse! I don't like remakes, ports, or ROM hacks of games that I enjoyed when I was a kid for the most part. It seems like every time a company or developer does this there are so many issues with the difficulty being too much or the game not playing properly. Donkey Kong Country for Gameboy Color has a lot of problems that make for a bad gameplay experience!

Graphics 2/10: I think the graphics for this port are terrible! There is nothing about the game that is original! It is basically a dumbed down version of the DKC that I played throughout the later part of my childhood. I hate the way the GBC version looks! There are certain parts of the game that look broken, and then other parts are just poorly done abortions of the original SNES game! It looks to me like Nintendo tried but failed in making a game that was halfway decent looking. Maybe, I can be sort of generous but only to a certain extent. It still doesn't change the fact that this game looks like crap!!

Music 3/10: The GBC port has a soundtrack that isn't any different from Donkey Kong Land or the original Donkey Kong Country. There is one track out of the whole selection that is new, and that is the one for the forest levels in Vine Valley. All the other songs were just copied and pasted over from Donkey Kong Land or brought over from DKC on SNES and remixed/redone badly! Those from DKC do not sound nearly as good on this handheld 8-bit system either! Just like with a lot of ports, there is no originality with the music/sound effects or graphics. Both of these elements do not do well in this version because of how different the SNES and GBC are. Nintendo tried and failed here as well, but not quite as bad with the addition of the new track for the forest stages.   

Gameplay 0/10: Donkey Kong Country for GBC plays a lot like the Donkey Kong Land games play. You play as either Donkey Kong or Diddy, and only one Kong can appear on the screen at a time. The player can still switch back and forth between Kongs at any time. The animal buddies return for this version, but when you touch the crate, you now transform into that animal like in Donkey Kong Land 2 and 3. Like before, you can only take one hit in this game unless you have transformed into one of the animals. The Gameboy Color version also has a better save system that automatically saves your game after you finish a level, so you don't have to remember to save your game, it does it for you.

This is just the same game as the original DKC. There is no originality to the overworld maps, levels, or anything else. The only exception is the addition of the new level called "Necky's Nutmare", and that level has no bonus stages in it (I couldn't find any!). It is impossible to reach all the bonus rooms because of the shotty gameplay. The controls are God-awful, and your jumps have too much momentum or not enough. You're going to constantly take damage and fall into bottomless pits when you shouldn't. Seriously, this version is unplayable!! Try playing it for yourself, and you'll see what I mean! The screen crunch is also bad, and so is the hit detection!

I've never played a game with such a big hitbox. You don't even have to touch an enemy to take a hit, you just have to be near them. Before you know it, you're dead due to the poor invincibility frames as well! It feels like you aren't even allowed to take damage in this game because of how you don't stay invincible for very long after getting hit. The buttons don't respond to input, and then other times they're too responsive!! This version is so inconsistent it isn't even funny!! There is no way to describe how bad this port is unless you play it for yourself!

The frame rate feels pretty choppy as well with a good deal of slowdown on certain areas. The screen crunch is also horrible. What really pisses me off is how bad the controls are and how sensitive they can be to input. The hit detection is horrible, especially on the final boss making it next to impossible to beat this game. That is the worst part of the game, and where most players will just melt down and quit! There are so many parts like: Mine Cart Carnage, Mine Cart Madness, Elevator Antics, and Gangplank Galleon that just plain suck! Please don't play this version of Donkey Kong Country because next to Sonic Genesis, it has the worst gameplay and design of any port I have ever played!!

Story 8/10: The story for this game is the same familiar storyline from the 1994 game. King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard. DK and Diddy must make their way through Donkey Kong Island and fight the Kremlings along the way. I can rate this part of the review about the same as I did in the original game because it hasn't changed at all. The game keeps the same characters and feels like the SNES version in this area.

Content 9/10: As mentioned before, this version of DKC only contains the same levels from the original game. So, you get the basic worlds from the SNES game: Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremcroc Industries Inc., Chimp Caverns, and Gangplank Galleon (the final level). The only optional content is Candy's Challenge, and the impossible task of reaching all the bonus rooms. Players still get a decent amount of gameplay without it being much more than 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours if you use save states and cheat your way through this mess of a game!

Difficulty 10/10: There is no doubt this game is hard! As mentioned above, the controls are terrible because they are so sensitive. Everything has to be done exactly perfect, or you'll take damage or roll off a cliff! It is almost insane how sensitive the controls are! You have to make sure you press the right buttons at the right time. You also have to be sure you jump on the enemies correctly, or you'll take damage. Not only that, but the visibility is also horrible. You can't see enemies and obstacles until it's too late which makes levels like Mine Cart Carnage harder than what they should be.

I mentioned before it takes about 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours to finish this game, but normally it takes longer than that because you find yourself dying all the time and having to replay the stages. This game tries to be generous with the way it auto-saves after you complete a level, so there are no Game Overs. None of that means anything with all the technical issues this version has! Most players will have to cheat their way through this remake with save states, otherwise you'll be stuck on this game forever! I don't feel like the GBC port is a fun version of DKC at all because of how hard it is!!

Overall 4.4/10: I really think this has to be one of the worst remakes of a beloved late childhood game I have ever played! The graphics look terrible, the soundtrack is boring/forgettable, the game is unplayable because of all the control issues and bad hit-detection. Luckily, there would be another version of DKC released almost 3 years later for the Gameboy Advance. That one, in my opinion is way better!! My advice is to not play the version of Donkey Kong Country on the Gameboy Color because it is nothing like the version most of us grew up with! If you play it for yourself, you'll see what I mean.