Game:

Donkey Kong Land (1995)

Duration: 0:00

9 views

0

Originally recorded: September 8, 2024
---
Since I didn't end up letting my usual audience nominate multiple games for this year's line-up, I decided to focus on the leftovers from previous years for my bonus games in 2024. The only issue with that idea is that they weren't really distributed evenly. So, I let the two people with the least amount of games left nominate an extra game. Of the two, only one actually ended up getting picked: the Donkey Kong Land trilogy. So, here it is.

I originally anticipated that I'd be able to knock out this first one in a single stream, much how I cleared the original DKC in one session some years back. In both cases, I was going to avoid getting 100% and while the game was supposed to be harder for a myriad of reasons, it also appears to be shorter. I figured that those would end up cancelling each other out and give me another quick clear.

How does that old saying go again? "No plan survives first contact with the enemy?" That pretty much summarizes this session. I knew that this game was supposed to be even less refined than the original DKC, but I had no idea just how less responsive it was compared to the source material. Worse yet, Donkey Kong Land also introduces several new gimmicks, which just don't mesh well with the slippery controls and the wonkiness of the physics. The level where you have to redirect a constantly moving platform by either jumping on it or bumping into a wall was the stuff nightmares are made of.

Oh well, at least I made it to the final world on this first attempt. If I manage to finish this up early enough, I plan on going straight into the second game. KI has informed me that everything gets significantly more responsive moving forward. But considering that I'll be going for full completion in the second and third DKLs -- as opposed to just beating the first -- this is probably going to end up taking a significant amount of time. Needless to say, I already don't like my odds of having December totally free this year. I just hope I can wrap everything up before Christmas.