Monkey Stole My Girlfriend!

Last night I completed Super Mario 64 with all 120 Stars. I was so happy because it was the first time I'd ever gotten all 120. I even went and saw Yoshi on the castle roof and got 100 lives for all my hard work. Not only that, but my triple jump had been enhanced! Now that I've gotten that achievement out of the way, I can move on to other Mario titles.

There are numerous versions of Donkey Kong, but by far, my favorite one is the Game Boy version known as Donkey Kong GB or Donkey Kong '94 to eliminate confusion. Just because this game is on a handheld system doesn't mean it's some stripped down inferior port of the arcade and console versions. Quiet the opposite. DK '94 is a beast of a game. It has the four levels from the arcade game (most home versions lacked all four stages for some reason) and 97 brand new platform/puzzle designed stages.

Mario is no longer the weakling he was in the original DK. He can fall from a considerable height and not die. On top of that, Mario has sweet acrobatic moves allowing him to jump higher and deflect certain objects that would otherwise spell doom for him were he standing up right.

The battle field isn't just a conrstruction site anymore. Mario chases Donkey Kong through a cities, forests, jungles, ships, factories, etc. Pauline must be some woman for Mario to be chasing Donkey Kong all over the world.


I think the thing that amazes most people about DK '94 is how well-made it is. Most titles for the Game Boy aren't nearly as long or has as much depth. The stages pack excellent design, the puzzles are clever and the music is pretty catchy. DK '94 is easily one of the greatest Mario games out there. Believe me when I say that this game deserves to rub shoulders with Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario 64. It really is that good.

I'm currently on World 3, playing the game on the Game Boy Player, via the GameCube. Regretabbly I can't take this game on the go because I traded in my GBA SP to get a DS years ago and I found out the hard way that the system was not backwards compatible with original Game Boy titles. The last time I played this title was in 2002 on the original GBA model. Maybe I'm rusty but I died way more times than I should have in the first world. Either that, or GameCube's control pad is just too tiny to play on. Guess it's time to finally put my Super Game Boy back into action. The color on it for DK '94 looks better than it does on the Game Boy Player anyway.