Video: Donkey Kong '94 - The 101-Level Sequel To Arcade DK

Absolutely one of my favourite Game Boy games, it’s incredibly imaginative and loaded with content. More people should check it out!

Fun but tedious game. I never beat it. Got fed up very fast -_-

I remember this being the first Super Gameboy compatible game that would play with a more varied pallet of colours and a frame around the screen. What an amazing, epic chase around the globe to rescue Pauline, and what a time to be alive. I was gutted when the game was available on the eShop for the 3DS but it was in its monochrome, gameboy tint. I would have preferred to have played it as it was intended really. Still, one of the best platforming puzzle games of all time and an arcade adaptive legacy done right.

It's one of the best platforming games ever.

I grew up with this game on my Game Boy, and it remains one of my favourites to this day. Glad to see it captured here on Super Game Boy, since it's the best way to get the full experience, something the 3DS VC release doesn't even attempt to do.

How did you not mention the "Minis" sequels on DS ?

I still love this game. I'll never forget that I went into it thinking it was like a redo of the original until the prologue stages ended. I liked MvDK too until those DAMN MINIS ruined everything later in the series. I hoped everyday Nintendo would return to the original style, but I guess that's over and done with. Too bad as I still think the original arcade Donkey Kong formula can still evolve in cool ways like DK94 did.

Wasn’t the GB app for NSO rumored to be in a Nintendo Direct tomorrow? Guess the Direct would have been announced by now.

It belongs in a museum (on the Switch)!

Alex's voice doppelganger does better videos than Alex.

This was so much better than Donkey Kong Country, and I remember replaying it to attempt to beat my times by being ever more creative in my Mario acrobatics.

@MeloMan i enjoyed the WiiU game. Perhaps the puzzles could have been more complex, but they were still somewhat difficult because of the platforming and the level creation stuff paved the way for Mario Maker.

I wouldnt mind another pure platformer like this, though.

Holy *****, this game had a 101 levels? I beat it as a kid, after getting stuck for quite a few years. Never realized there were so many levels!

I think I still own the cartridge along with samurai showdown and the dragon warrior trilogy for the gameboy as well

Ah I’ve heard a lot about Game Boy Donkey King. I’ve never played it

Miyamoto made this and Mole Mania at roughly the same time. Both were overshadowed by the SNES. Which is a pity... these are each absolute level-based puzzle masterpieces.

This and Pokémon Yellow are my favorite GameBoy games of all time. Donkey Kong ‘94 is honestly one of my favorite platformers as well. It’s just such a polished game, with Mario being fun to control and the amount of levels being a lot more than Super Mario Land 1 and 2.

This has to come to the switch! What are they even doing at nintendo? 🤪🤪

This is really an incredible game, I've played it through quite a few times over the years. The transition from the original 4 levels into the new content was a great twist back in the day.

So much great Legacy content like this that Nintendo is just sitting on these days...

I was broke in 1996 and could only afford one new GB game. I loved Donkey Kong from the arcade days and I figured I could stand to improve my skills. Holy crud! This game was like a gift for gamers. I had no idea until I beat the original DK levels that this game was so deep! You can use all the fancy jumps on those early levels, too.

Probably a top 10 GB game in my book.

This game is amazing and anyone who hasn’t played it but has a 3ds should download it.

I still have my copy of this game since i was a kid, it is such a fantastic game that I hope it gets ported to the Switch eventually (with color option)

So much creativity in this game, one of the best platform games ever made, together with Sonic 3 & Knuckles and both came out in '94!

This game deserved (and deserves) a remake, so so so much more than Mario Vs Donkey Kong.

Article written by Jon Cartwright? What?? I thought he left NL, when did he come back?

@Not_Soos The article's four years old. It's been reposted for the game's 30th anniversary.

Awesome game.

@LadyCharlie big disagree, this game is already fantastic so there really isn't anything the remake could do to improve it and it would risk making it worse, Mario VS Donkey Kong in it's original version had a lot of flaws that could be (and were) easily fixed in the remake, imo it's always better to remake a game that has flaws preventing it from being great instead of a game that's already great

This was the first game I played on my Analogue Pocket - partly to mark the anniversary being this year, but mostly because it's an excellent game I hadn't played for almost 30 years!

@nessisonett couldn't agree more, an absolutely brilliant game

@Bret Ah, I see. It's a bit confusing where it says "By Jon Cartwright, 7:30 a.m." at the top. That's what I get for skimming, I suppose.

Best game on Gameboy. Probably the only Nintendo game I’d like a remaster for Switch.

I haven't yet watched this video and have never played nor seen this game.

But based on concept alone, I think I would be all over DK '94 if it were brought to NSO or given a proper remake!

Great game hope it comes to NSO. Not only was it an amazing sequel to arcade donkey kong but also a bridge to the Mario vs. DK series

I also hope this comes to NSO! I have the cart still so I could always just go back to that, but having this on my Switch would be pretty sweet.

The Super Gameboy feature were pretty cool though. I remember thinking the "help" sound effect was better when playing it on SNES but not sure if it was just my imagination.

I don't remember where I saw this, but I thought the original story of Donkey Kong was much darker and seems to have been slightly modified.

So, from my memory the story is this:

Donkey Kong was Jumpman's pet who escaped due to Jumpan's poor treatment of Donkey Kong and kidnapped Jumpman's girlfriend.

I have been trying to find evidence of the "poor treatment" part, but have yet to find it. So, either it's the Mandela Effect or Nintendo has done a really good job erasing the whole "animal cruelty" part of the story.

@Not_Soos I'm sure it confuses many. Probably including folks who are getting replies to comments they left four years ago.

My heart stopped when I thought Jon was either returning permanently or as a guest.

He’s honestly the only thing holding my attention on the Good Vibes Gaming channel

@GamingFan4Lyf That was part of a feature on a website called TheMushroomKingdom, which last I checked, is still running. It's a fan site that has been around since the late 90s.

@EveryOneElse I would absolutely love it if Nintendo put this on NSO, and properly added full Super GameBoy emulation. The SGB was capable of dynamic color palette switching, dynamic borders, you could draw on the borders, on the game screen itself, create custom color palettes in passwords to use later, borders that would animate if the game was untouched for some time, change the controller style, use the SNES Mouse, switch a GameBoy game to 16-bit graphics (Space Invaders), actual sound samples through the SNES, and some beefed up music through the SNES. I would love to see full SGB emulation. DK94 is my favorite GameBoy game.

@CerberusAzdin
I wish I knew about this.
I thought it was just the standard DK game. Had no idea it was expanded.

Just goes to show Ninty still doesn't know how to market games, even ones that are decades old.

@Not_Soos
This is republished from 2020

I hate when NL does this!

One of my favorite original GB games. Good times with this one for sure. I remember when it came out, and I believe this was the first Gameboy game to have special Super Gameboy enhancements.

I bought this second-hand from CEX around 1999, thinking it was just a portable version of the arcade game. Oh, when I finished the first loop…

Absolutely wonderful game.

I wish Nintendo would make a new Donkey Kong just like this one. And not include those damn mini marios, from the later Mario vs Donkey Kong games.

found this in karate class w a bunch of other gameboy games back in the day. never beat it.

@BASEDSAKRI That's the most 90's story I've ever heard!

@BASEDSAKRI

I feel like that deserves a montage.

I was one of the kids that was a generation behind with consoles, so while everyone was enjoying their N64 I played Gameboy and SNES. Growing up with this game was so fun though, it was great taking the nintendo experience on the go and this was one of those games I never got to see the entirety of. I will have to finish it yet.

The best game on the entire system, and one of my favourite games ever. Pure gaming brilliance!

Am waiting to play this until marc max finishes his unofficial colourisation patch

@Steel76 yes! I really liked this game, but all the remakes I see are Mario vs Donkey Kong. It is like Nintendo forgot this game was fun