Donkey Kong Country is just as engrossing as ever.  I remember what a great time I had reliving the magic with the Game Boy Color version, and wondered if another version of the game would hinder DKC's classic status.  I should have known better than to question the game's quality.  Was Mario any less fun on the GBA, despite having already played through the game a hundred times?  Not at all.

There are a lot of young gamers out there who were too young (or not yet born) when the DKC series began, so let me bring everyone up to date.  Donkey Kong Country is the harder, deeper side of Mario.  The games share many of the same qualities: running, jumping, crawling, and my favorite, etc.  Some enemies can be destroyed by jumping on them, while others must be rolled into.  That's one of the new combat styles DKC introduced: rolling.  It's not a huge advancement, but back then, it really added a lot, and quite frankly, the game wouldn't be the same without it.

Every game must have its own version of Mario's coins, and Donkey Kong Country's is bananas.  Collect 100 and earn an extra life.  Balloons are DKC's answer to Mario's 1Up mushrooms.  You could also earn an extra life by collecting the four letters of the word "KONG."

The reason for all those additional ways of collecting extra lives is because of the game's extremely difficult nature.  Some levels become easier after conquering them a few times, but this game will drive you nuts (in a good way) the first time you play through it.  You'll scream and yell at the screen, and never, ever once let yourself put down the controller (or in this case, the GBA).  It's frustrating at times, but only because you can't understand why you just died thirty times in a row.

The thing that makes all the frustration worthwhile is how Rare blended all of the game's elements together, creating one of the most memorable experiences a gamer could ever have.  Hopping from barrel to barrel, avoiding spike-covered bees as if you were Tony Hawk Pro Jumper, only to fall to your doom just before reaching the exit...  For some reason or other, that never gets old.  It's a quality that is clearly unexplainable, otherwise every other developer would have copied it, and we'd have a million great platformers out there.  Truth be told, there has yet to be a game that has mimicked this gameplay perfectly in the third dimension.  What a great opportunity for Rare to create innovation with Banjo-Threeo (tentative title).

Rare has an amazing eye for architectural talent and it shows.  Every level was designed with the utmost care.  Secret items and secret areas are hidden in the most unique places.  The variety of level types is extremely impressive, even by today's standards.  There are the classic train car levels; levels that take place underwater; pyramids that are littered with Indiana Jones-style booby-traps; intricate jungles; snowy mountain levels; and barrel shooting levels that require lots of patience and precise timing.  Rare did an impeccable job of challenging gamers back in 1995, and challenged Sega by helping Nintendo become #1 again (the game had record-breaking sales).  I still love the game just as much as I did eight years ago, and despite the fact that I've beaten it several times, Donkey Kong Country still finds a way to make me lose all of the extra lives I gained in the first stage.

At the end of the game, it's clear that this has always been a must-own classic.  Call me crazy for having to own a second version of the game, I don't care.  I love having it on the GBA, especially now with the ultra-bright SP.  I can play the game wherever I want, whenever I want, and not have to worry about the lighting situation (as I did with the Game Boy Color version).  Graphically, it may not look as good as the SNES version, but it plays 99% as good, with just a few tiny flaws here and there.  I love it!

Gameplay: 9
Donkey Kong Country is and always will be a true gaming classic.  Everything about it screams classic Nintendo, and really makes me miss the early days of Rare and the Big N's relationship.  Young gamers: this is a must-own title.  If you love Mario, Crash and/or Sonic, then you've got to try one of the hardest, most challenging games of the 16-bit era.

Old gamers: this is one of the classics you grew up with.  Even if you were already an adult, you know you couldn't live without this game in '95 -- the sales figures proved it.  Why live without it now?

Grandparents: would you please tell Cranky Kong to stop playing BINGO and go home?  His kids are worried sick about him.

Graphics: 8
The technical aspects of the game are DKC's only flaws.  Graphically, this version can't compare to the SNES version.  Game Boy Advance has more processing power, but consoles can always do things that the portable game systems can't.  Were better graphics possible?  Probably – but could they have made it look perfect and still kept the frame rate up?  Probably not.

Sound: 8
There are some technical issues with the sound effects (they sound weak), but the music still sounds great.  The underwater theme is stellar – so unique and different.  And there are other good songs in this game as well.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
For most people, this game will be a huge challenge the first time around.  But there are probably a few gamers out there who have played so many platformers that most of DKC's sneaky tricks won't throw them for a loop.  There's only one to know if you are as good as you think you are: beat it yourself.

Concept: 7
The extra mini-games are weak, but that's to be expected since Rare had nothing to do with this port.  But when a game is as good as DKC, I can't live without it.  Yes, I already own a version of it.  And no, I don't "need" another, but then again, I didn't need another version of all the Mario games.  But now that I've got all of these games, I can't stop playing 'em.

Multiplayer: 5

Overall: 8.8
I played through the game in 1995 on the SNES, and again a couple of years ago on the Game Boy Color.  Regardless, that couldn't keep me from getting the best portable version of the game available.  Like an Eggo Waffle, this game is just too good to leggo.