Warlock
06-15-2004, 11:31 PM
I saw Gerudo's post about Zelda:FSA and figured I would write this up for the heck of it if anyone was interested.
First off, if you've played Donkey Kong 1994 (released for Gameboy back in.. 1994 ;) Official title was simply "Donkey Kong" but of course Nintendo already HAS a game called Donkey Kong which is not the same thing ;)) you know what to expect here. The gameplay is pretty much identical in terms of what Mario can do (although I think he had a triple jump in DK94 where if you jumped and then pressed jump JUST as he landed you could get a little boost.. that isn't in here). The actual levels and puzzles are pretty different though.
I won't go into story since you can read about it anywhere. Basically though, DK steals Mario toys, Mario goes after him to get them back. I was originally pretty disappointed at the story when I first learned about it (esp. compared to the original "Donkey Kong Plus" idea which looked more like an update of DK94 than this) but I will admit when you actually play the game it works, albeit not the best story. There are a lot of still-picture cutscenes to go with this. These are ok, not great. They would have been better if they were REAL cutscenes and tend to feature pre-packaged sound bytes that you hear a million times throughout the game. A little disappointing. They aren't bad though. Better than nothing.
As far as graphics go, I will admit along with the story, when I first saw the new graphics (in previews) I was very disappointed. It's basically what they did with DK Country - 3d models reduced to 2d sprites. I personally think this tends to look very tacky and cheesy in 2d games (unless said games are actually on a 3d system - as in, not reduced to sprites). While I would still take a more classic style (like the original game, or in general more SNESy looking) I will say once you actually play the game they aren't bad. I am still not happy with Mario's sprite (he looks like DK sat on his head and squished him into a midget) but the rest look pretty decent. And I'd say in general it's not quite as pronounced as games like DK Country. The environments aren't quite as 3d-ish as the sprites which is good. Speaking of which, they do look very good. Most have the same backdrops in terms of the areas (i.e. World 1 is Mario's Toy Factory which sort of resembles a construction site with the factory in the background) but compared to DK94 they are much more detailed. As far as character/enemy sprites, like I said, Mario could have used work but the rest were decent. DK of course looks like he ALWAYS does these days thanks to Rare.. The enemies are decent too. They are basically the same guys you found in DK94 but with a much more Mario style to them. Those rat things in DK94 were replaced with Shyguys. The wierd plants were replaced with Pirahna Plants that spit fire at you. There are Bobombs, Boos, Podobos, and a couple other Mario enemies. Of course the flame guys and Oil Cans are back and there are a few updates of other DK94 enemies like the Monkeys (the ones you could grab the tails of), the big-ear guys that run at you (now Shyguys with spears pointed up) and a few others.
I'll also touch on sounds a little bit before I go any further. The game uses a LOT of compressed speech. Thankfully not much of this occurs during actual gameplay (like Super Mario Advance's tendency to place speech files whenever you freaking jumped). Actual gameplay sounds are similar to the original DK94's. Mario grunts and soforth when he jumps but nothing too annoying. There are the normal picking up sounds and soforth, basically stuff you would expect. There is a LOT of between-level chatter though. I think every level starts with Mario saying "Here we go!" (or something like that) and every level ends with some other phrase. Each world begins with a scene of Mario chasing DK to that world (sorta like in DK94) with some speech from Mario thrown in ("Get back here you stupid monkey!",italian giberish, etc). And there at little "World Complete" screens with a scene relating to Mario beating DK in that world and he says something (one amusing one: "It's all you baby!".. haha) And of course, there are intro and ending cutscenes (quite a few actually) with a little bit of speech. Like I said above, most of this is rehash from other sound bytes but it's ok I guess.. I would have liked to see something more substantial here.
Ok, now on to the meat of the game. The levels. I counted and there are a total 120 levels! That's pretty nice. I'd say about 1/3 of these (rough estimate) are unlockable through various means (when you complete the game once you get a new "Plus" mode which presents brand new levels and even a new style of play in the same worlds.. if you collect stars by scoring enough points in a level you can also unlock VERY challenging Expert levels after you beat the game once). So yes, there is a LOT of content here. Basically the game has 6 worlds, with six (well, technically ten which I'll get into in a minute) levels each. There are 4 normal levels, one Mini Mario level and one DK showdown level. The four normal levels are actually 8 levels however. Each level has two stages. The first has you collecting a key and reaching a door (ala DK94). The second just has you going after a Mini-Mario (you just pick it up and you win the level). You need to beat BOTH of these before progressing and if you game over in the second part, you have to replay the first part. Since the layout of both levels are completely different I counted them both in the 120 total but if you insist on counting them both as one level, it would be slightly lower than that (102 I believe). The Mini-Mario stage is pretty cool too. Basically you have six little mini-mario toys and they follow you around. If you jump, they jump. The basic idea is to guide them to the toy box without killing them, which starts off easy but gets pretty hard. It was a cool idea though which unfortunately there are only a few levels of. The DK stages are generally pretty basic. You get stuff to throw at DK. You climb platforms and stuff and throw them at him. Usually there are colored switches which control stuff like platforms and items (i.e. one stage has colored trashcans which only appear when a certain switch is pressed, so you have to climb colored platforms before DK switches the color on you and you have to start over). Generally pretty basic. The World 6 DK level was cool though. Without giving much away I'll say it involves lasers, bobombs and conveyer belts :D That one actually takes some thought and hard work to get through. The Plus levels are pretty cool too. Unlike the original levels, they are just single levels but you have one mini-mario with a key that you have to guide to the keyhole. I thought that was pretty cool that they changed things up a bit. As for the expert levels, they were a serious pain (which is good!). It's nice to have expert levels that live up to their name. In order to unlock them you need so many stars. By beating the high score for one of the normal or plus levels (generally by beating the levels as fast as possible and with no deaths in some instances) you get a star (there are a total of 90, one for each level - and the double levels in normal only count as one, making them a bit harder to get stars in if you do well in one stage and poor in the other). There is one expert level per world plus a few extras for a total of 12. They are very tough and usually push your timer to the limit (even if you know what you're doing) so they are pretty cool. There doesn't seem to be any real reward for beating them except to say you beat them :)
As far as level design goes, it's excellent. I'd say quite a bit beyond DK94. One of the best changes I think was the inclusion of colored switches, three to be exact (red, yellow and blue). These things effect a ton of stuff. There are colored platforms and blocks that appear and disappear depending on which switch is active (i.e. activating a red switch might make a platform you need, but might also put red blocks in the way of the key). There are Shyguy ghosts that turn into blocks when you press the corresponding colored switch. There are colored ladders, etc etc. They do some very cool stuff with these which I really liked. There are also colored lasers that while not generally affected by the switches, sometimes blocks will be placed over them to block them when certain switches are pressed. Either way, they alternate (red goes first, then yellow, then blue - or something like that) so you have to do a lot of timing when passing through them. Of course there are the other things like enemies, spikes, moving platforms, ladders, ropes, wires (which you can swing on), etc. that were in DK94 as well. In general the puzzles are really good though. Some are particularly nasty and difficult which is good. The DK levels could have used more thought. I think DK94 had some better ones in some cases, plus there just weren't that many of them. One thing that was missing from DK94 were the timed platform/ladder blocks where you'd basically get to place a platform or ladder wherever you wanted in the level. I thought those were cool and unfortunately they weren't in this one :(
I think that about covers it. Overall the game is excellent. I definately recommend it. I do miss the graphic style of the original DK94 but this one still works. One thing that was disappointing was that the original DK+ was supposed to have a level editor if you connected it to the gamecube or something where you could design your own levels. THAT would have rocked. It's a shame they couldn't include that. But still, 120 levels is nothing to sneeze at and they are all pretty excellent in design. All in all, the game is a blast and if you liked DK94 especially you'll like this.
First off, if you've played Donkey Kong 1994 (released for Gameboy back in.. 1994 ;) Official title was simply "Donkey Kong" but of course Nintendo already HAS a game called Donkey Kong which is not the same thing ;)) you know what to expect here. The gameplay is pretty much identical in terms of what Mario can do (although I think he had a triple jump in DK94 where if you jumped and then pressed jump JUST as he landed you could get a little boost.. that isn't in here). The actual levels and puzzles are pretty different though.
I won't go into story since you can read about it anywhere. Basically though, DK steals Mario toys, Mario goes after him to get them back. I was originally pretty disappointed at the story when I first learned about it (esp. compared to the original "Donkey Kong Plus" idea which looked more like an update of DK94 than this) but I will admit when you actually play the game it works, albeit not the best story. There are a lot of still-picture cutscenes to go with this. These are ok, not great. They would have been better if they were REAL cutscenes and tend to feature pre-packaged sound bytes that you hear a million times throughout the game. A little disappointing. They aren't bad though. Better than nothing.
As far as graphics go, I will admit along with the story, when I first saw the new graphics (in previews) I was very disappointed. It's basically what they did with DK Country - 3d models reduced to 2d sprites. I personally think this tends to look very tacky and cheesy in 2d games (unless said games are actually on a 3d system - as in, not reduced to sprites). While I would still take a more classic style (like the original game, or in general more SNESy looking) I will say once you actually play the game they aren't bad. I am still not happy with Mario's sprite (he looks like DK sat on his head and squished him into a midget) but the rest look pretty decent. And I'd say in general it's not quite as pronounced as games like DK Country. The environments aren't quite as 3d-ish as the sprites which is good. Speaking of which, they do look very good. Most have the same backdrops in terms of the areas (i.e. World 1 is Mario's Toy Factory which sort of resembles a construction site with the factory in the background) but compared to DK94 they are much more detailed. As far as character/enemy sprites, like I said, Mario could have used work but the rest were decent. DK of course looks like he ALWAYS does these days thanks to Rare.. The enemies are decent too. They are basically the same guys you found in DK94 but with a much more Mario style to them. Those rat things in DK94 were replaced with Shyguys. The wierd plants were replaced with Pirahna Plants that spit fire at you. There are Bobombs, Boos, Podobos, and a couple other Mario enemies. Of course the flame guys and Oil Cans are back and there are a few updates of other DK94 enemies like the Monkeys (the ones you could grab the tails of), the big-ear guys that run at you (now Shyguys with spears pointed up) and a few others.
I'll also touch on sounds a little bit before I go any further. The game uses a LOT of compressed speech. Thankfully not much of this occurs during actual gameplay (like Super Mario Advance's tendency to place speech files whenever you freaking jumped). Actual gameplay sounds are similar to the original DK94's. Mario grunts and soforth when he jumps but nothing too annoying. There are the normal picking up sounds and soforth, basically stuff you would expect. There is a LOT of between-level chatter though. I think every level starts with Mario saying "Here we go!" (or something like that) and every level ends with some other phrase. Each world begins with a scene of Mario chasing DK to that world (sorta like in DK94) with some speech from Mario thrown in ("Get back here you stupid monkey!",italian giberish, etc). And there at little "World Complete" screens with a scene relating to Mario beating DK in that world and he says something (one amusing one: "It's all you baby!".. haha) And of course, there are intro and ending cutscenes (quite a few actually) with a little bit of speech. Like I said above, most of this is rehash from other sound bytes but it's ok I guess.. I would have liked to see something more substantial here.
Ok, now on to the meat of the game. The levels. I counted and there are a total 120 levels! That's pretty nice. I'd say about 1/3 of these (rough estimate) are unlockable through various means (when you complete the game once you get a new "Plus" mode which presents brand new levels and even a new style of play in the same worlds.. if you collect stars by scoring enough points in a level you can also unlock VERY challenging Expert levels after you beat the game once). So yes, there is a LOT of content here. Basically the game has 6 worlds, with six (well, technically ten which I'll get into in a minute) levels each. There are 4 normal levels, one Mini Mario level and one DK showdown level. The four normal levels are actually 8 levels however. Each level has two stages. The first has you collecting a key and reaching a door (ala DK94). The second just has you going after a Mini-Mario (you just pick it up and you win the level). You need to beat BOTH of these before progressing and if you game over in the second part, you have to replay the first part. Since the layout of both levels are completely different I counted them both in the 120 total but if you insist on counting them both as one level, it would be slightly lower than that (102 I believe). The Mini-Mario stage is pretty cool too. Basically you have six little mini-mario toys and they follow you around. If you jump, they jump. The basic idea is to guide them to the toy box without killing them, which starts off easy but gets pretty hard. It was a cool idea though which unfortunately there are only a few levels of. The DK stages are generally pretty basic. You get stuff to throw at DK. You climb platforms and stuff and throw them at him. Usually there are colored switches which control stuff like platforms and items (i.e. one stage has colored trashcans which only appear when a certain switch is pressed, so you have to climb colored platforms before DK switches the color on you and you have to start over). Generally pretty basic. The World 6 DK level was cool though. Without giving much away I'll say it involves lasers, bobombs and conveyer belts :D That one actually takes some thought and hard work to get through. The Plus levels are pretty cool too. Unlike the original levels, they are just single levels but you have one mini-mario with a key that you have to guide to the keyhole. I thought that was pretty cool that they changed things up a bit. As for the expert levels, they were a serious pain (which is good!). It's nice to have expert levels that live up to their name. In order to unlock them you need so many stars. By beating the high score for one of the normal or plus levels (generally by beating the levels as fast as possible and with no deaths in some instances) you get a star (there are a total of 90, one for each level - and the double levels in normal only count as one, making them a bit harder to get stars in if you do well in one stage and poor in the other). There is one expert level per world plus a few extras for a total of 12. They are very tough and usually push your timer to the limit (even if you know what you're doing) so they are pretty cool. There doesn't seem to be any real reward for beating them except to say you beat them :)
As far as level design goes, it's excellent. I'd say quite a bit beyond DK94. One of the best changes I think was the inclusion of colored switches, three to be exact (red, yellow and blue). These things effect a ton of stuff. There are colored platforms and blocks that appear and disappear depending on which switch is active (i.e. activating a red switch might make a platform you need, but might also put red blocks in the way of the key). There are Shyguy ghosts that turn into blocks when you press the corresponding colored switch. There are colored ladders, etc etc. They do some very cool stuff with these which I really liked. There are also colored lasers that while not generally affected by the switches, sometimes blocks will be placed over them to block them when certain switches are pressed. Either way, they alternate (red goes first, then yellow, then blue - or something like that) so you have to do a lot of timing when passing through them. Of course there are the other things like enemies, spikes, moving platforms, ladders, ropes, wires (which you can swing on), etc. that were in DK94 as well. In general the puzzles are really good though. Some are particularly nasty and difficult which is good. The DK levels could have used more thought. I think DK94 had some better ones in some cases, plus there just weren't that many of them. One thing that was missing from DK94 were the timed platform/ladder blocks where you'd basically get to place a platform or ladder wherever you wanted in the level. I thought those were cool and unfortunately they weren't in this one :(
I think that about covers it. Overall the game is excellent. I definately recommend it. I do miss the graphic style of the original DK94 but this one still works. One thing that was disappointing was that the original DK+ was supposed to have a level editor if you connected it to the gamecube or something where you could design your own levels. THAT would have rocked. It's a shame they couldn't include that. But still, 120 levels is nothing to sneeze at and they are all pretty excellent in design. All in all, the game is a blast and if you liked DK94 especially you'll like this.