Donkey Kong Land | Nintendo GameBoy

Important: Game may not include original DLC, bonus-content, online-pass, season-pass, or other digital redemption codes. Any included codes may have already been redeemed or expired.

Preorder and launch bonuses, promotional or bonus inserts, and bundled bonus-game downloads are not guaranteed. Content supplied on the game disc or cartridge is unaffected.

About the Game

Donkey Kong Land begins with Cranky questioning whether Donkey Kong's reputation depends on the spectacle of his earlier adventure. King K. Rool takes the bananas again, giving Donkey and Diddy a new journey to prove themselves on Game Boy. The stages have their own layouts and challenges, with more than thirty levels taking the pair through a pirate ship, snowy peaks, submerged ruins and high-altitude routes. Their destination changes the hazards as well as the scenery.

You control one Kong at a time and can switch between Donkey and Diddy when both are available. Donkey's roll and Diddy's cartwheel give them alternatives to jumping on an enemy, while barrels can be carried and thrown at obstacles or foes. The pair climb vines and ship rigging, swim through underwater areas and bounce higher from tires. Losing the active Kong brings in the available partner, and a DK-marked Buddy Barrel restores a missing companion, so keeping both characters matters during a difficult stretch.

The different locations give familiar actions new contexts. On the ship, climbing and jumping take place among rigging; in Kremlantis, movement becomes a matter of swimming through ruins and avoiding aquatic enemies. Later stages include construction and city settings. Along the route, enemy behavior can affect how you move: the swirling Swirlwind can be used as a moving platform if approached from above, but touching its side causes damage. Reading how an obstacle behaves is as important as choosing a roll or a jump.

Bananas and balloons provide extra-life opportunities, while hidden bonus areas give another reason to investigate a platform, barrel or suspicious gap. Rambi the rhinoceros and Expresso the ostrich can assist after you release them from crates. The map tracks the journey and marks a fully explored stage with an exclamation point, tying completion to finding its secrets. Some map routes are blocked by boulders until you find a nearby stage's bomb, and shortcuts let you move between sections of the map.

Saving is linked to what you collect inside a stage. Gather all four letters spelling KONG and finish that level to open the save screen, where progress can be stored in one of three files. The screen also reports your reached stage and completion percentage. A cleared stage can be revisited to collect its letters and obtain another save opportunity. That makes the letters useful even when your main aim is to preserve progress, while bonus-room searches contribute to the separate completion goal.

The original Game Boy presentation uses detailed monochrome characters and scrolling environments, with banana and letter indicators appearing as items are collected rather than permanently filling the action screen. Its music accompanies the different stages and environments. The cartridge also supports Super Game Boy display enhancements, including added color and a jungle border, when used through a Super Game Boy adapter on a Super Nintendo. That optional display setup requires the separate adapter and console; the adventure itself is single-player on Game Boy.