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Donkey Kong '94: Nintendo's Forgotten Masterpiece
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2021
- This video is a look at Nintendo's oft-forgotten Gameboy remake of Donkey Kong, and how nearly three decades later it remains a masterpiece distinct from the Mario canon.
🎧 Music taken from the Superliminal OST
📖 Script Consultancy by @iamerror
🖼 Thumbnail by @hotcyder
💰 Supported by / hotcyder
This game really needs more recognition. The way you can use moves the game teaches you in later areas right from the get go is wonderful. Like a sort of proto New Game Plus. It's a tragedy that it never spawned a whole sub-genre of acrobatic puzzle (but not TOO puzzley) platformers.
I owned this game back in '94, and I have NO idea why a game as great as this never caught on.
I love that the back flip and triple jump started here before going to Mario 64
I noticed that to as a kid, as I actually had Gameboy DK before getting SM64.
Wow, I never know Mario VS DK for the GBA had a predecessor! It really is the missing link between the arcade and GBA titles that I felt was missing, but existed all along!
You actually see the mushroom kingdom in the ending of the game. There's brick, a pipe and a few question blocks. Mario even uses a mushroom to grow bigger and lift DK into the air
9:16.
A few years later, DK '94's director went on to direct quite possibly the greatest sokoban game ever made: Mole Mania. One of the biggest annoyances about block-pushing games is getting cornered or having nowhere to go, so making your protagonist a rodent who can dig through dirt was a genius move.
Mole Mania was made by Miyamoto too, so it has a bit of a Zelda feel with the quirky yet whimsical style his games have.
Health Tip: Drink Water everytime I say "Donkey Kong" 🥛
Think I'll eat an apple slice too.
Yo what
Thanks. I drowned.
I'm in the hospital now, thanks ✌
id drown
I've owned this and a Super Gameboy that allows you to play on SNES (and is the only game advertised in the manual to unlock an official colour palette) since the mid 90s when I was a small child. Many road trips and even a train I had this to entertain me until it got too dark to see the screen.
I watched my big brother beat this game back in the late 90s and I never forgot the final boss fight, it was so exciting to witness as a 7 year old lol
I also believe this was the first time (SPOILER) in any Mario game where a final boss goes "One-winged angel," AKA transforms into a much more powerful version of itself. (Unless you count Wario in SML2, but that was more like a sequential boss battle instead.)
I'm in love with that wiggle of the arms animation Mario does before he grabs the tails of those animals
all the animations are dope, especially the backflip too
This video should have millions of views. It's so well made and lovingly researched. DK '94 is absolutely one of my favorite games of all time and I think it's a legitimate 10/10 masterpiece. Thank you for making this video.
No problem! Maybe we'll get to a million one day
@@hotcyder 16:27: actually, I'd argue that the "Mario vs. Donkey Kong" sequels are more "contemporary Mario" based than the first "Mario vs. Donkey Kong". Yes, in the first MvsDK, there are more Mario enemies than there are DK'94 based enemies, but at least there are enemies that were present in both games. Walking Trash Cans, Charging Knights, Mini Oil Barrels, Snapjaws, Nitpicker Birds, Bats, Cannons with Insta-kill Balls, Electric Wire Traps, and even those Stone Blocks that behave similarly to Thwomps. There are also two new Enemies that are exclusive to the game: a Sentient Pile of Bricks and a Rhino; both complimenting their respective worlds. Heck, even the remake showed off a gimmick not shown in the original MvsDK, but was in DK'94: Mario using Wall-Breaking Hammers (this gimmick was shown in bonus stages that are vastly different from the original MvsDK).
The Mario vs. Donkey Kong "sequels" don't feel like proper sequels when you look back at it... which is ironic, given that Pauline was not present in the first MvsDK, but was present in those later games. Mario is not even playable in those games, the Mini-Marios completely hijacked the series and progressively became less Donkey Kong based. The final two games that came out don't even care about telling a story, and the last game ditched the "Mario vs. Donkey Kong" moniker altogether; so I'm now referring to those Mario vs. Donkey Kong "sequels" for what it really is: The "Mini-Mario and Friends" series. Depressing, I know.
I would love to see a "TRUE" Mario vs. Donkey Kong sequel, one that actually has the best of both worlds, especially with the remake now in the public eye. Have it a game where Mario rescue Pauline throughout the game, but also confront the Mini-Marios that he'll guide himself to the Toy Boxes. Throw in some Action Stages based on the Arcade Levels and the Action Stages in DK'94, and Boss Levels based on both DK'94 and MvsDK. Bring back Aesthetic Stages like Lakes, Pirate Ships, Deserts and Planes (to go along with a City, Construction Site, Jungle, Volcano, Forest, Haunted Mansion, and the Remake's Inclusion of a Carnival and Frozen Tundra), re-instate a built-in Level Editor based on the DK'94 gameplay, and you got one heck of a 50 Dollar Mario game worthy of the "Mario vs. Donkey Kong" series.
I grew up playing the snes and the super game boy with it. This was the game I played the most. It really charms me with the music and sounds. Reminds me of a 1930’s cartoon
Oh man, the ability to "edit" the levels while playing them reminds me of Super Mario Maker! Awesome video!
Here I thought I knew every Mario game then you blow my mind with this historical nugget.
Really dug this video, chill vibes, easy to watch and engaging from start to finish. Nice work!
Wish this style was brought back for Mario Maker considering the GBA game was supposed to have a level editor.
Yeah I'm only 15 years old and love this game and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. It's a shame how it's not talked about that much. Great video.
I have been playing several Game Boy games on original hardware recently and one of the first things I observed about this game is how Mario's slower move speed and smaller jumps are so suited to the Game Boy screen. The original Game Boy screens have a lot of "motion blur" which makes fast movements difficult to follow. The small jumps make it easier to fit more interesting stage elements on the Game Boy's small screen without having to over-rely on scrolling, which tends to cause the player to get unfairly surprised and run into something that suddenly scrolled into view.
I'm not done with the game yet (just started world 8) but I have been really, really impressed. It certainly seems like the best or one of the best platformers on the system.
Wario Land has much of the same ethos. Wario can't run fast or jump high, which works with the GB's low-resolution blurry screen.
played this front to back in '99 and loved it
also, it has 100 levels!
101 levels technically
When I was like 5 (2006-ish?) someone gave this game to me, but every time I stuck it into my GBA it didn't get past the startup screen, occasionally it would make it to the menu, but I couldn't play it. I kept it anyway, stuck it in my GBA every once in a while hoping it would work, but no dice. But once, when I was ten maybe, it worked for about a month, I don't know how or why, it still amazes me. I made it a little ways past the OG levels and into the late game before it stopped working again, but I remember it being pretty good game. Watching this bought back some weird memories, I completely forgot about it until I saw this video. Also I think it was overshadowed by the other Nintendo titles of that year, like Donkey Kong Country and Super Metroid, which were huge.
I think a big reason why games that diverge from the "core design" of an established series suffer from the downsides of brand/franchise marketing. When you market an individual game, you have ultimate control over what the public sees and expects from your game - whereas with a series, each game in the series will inevitably be held up against the others.
If the majority of fans are there for the "standard formula", then the black sheep of the franchise are going to suffer losses on two fronts - first from fans of the series who miss the elements of the 'regular' games in the series, and people who are NOT fans of the series and are quick to lump it in with the rest, even if they may have enjoyed it on its own merits, given the chance.
Well put!
Not gonna lie after finding out about this game 2 years ago I never knew that there was anyone else in the world who actually knew this existed. Blew my mind to find something like this on UA-cam lmao
Im really glad people are talking and still remembering about one of Nintendos best ever games.
I borrowed this game as a kid from my uncle, when I borrowed his Game Boy to play Pokemon Blue when it came out. I expected it to be a straight up remake of Donkey Kong for the arcade. With nothing but the cartridge to go on, it successfully hid from me that it was anything but a remake until the "end" of the original arcade game... the game going on into its own thing, far far longer than the original game but looking just like weird "bonus content" or something at first is one of the greatest twists I've experienced in gaming and I don't even know if it was intended as one. The back of its box makes clear it's more than a straight remake, but phrasing of "10 stages and 100 puzzles" obfuscates that it's counting the ENTIRE original game as ONE stage with FOUR puzzles.
It's not forgotten... I remember spending HOURS trying to complete it!!
Such fond memories of playing this game as kid back on the old brick game boy. I had nearly forgot about it and was somehow recommended this video and the nostalgia waves from this.... phew. Glad someone else loved this game as much as I did.
People don't give these official Nintendo games on the Game Boy enough credit. Back in the dark ages of the early 90's, when there were no cell phones or internet, this is all you had in terms of portable gaming and most of the third party games were garbage. But almost every official Nintendo game was pure gold, highly repayable and insanely good quality, many still holding up to this day for just pure fun gameplay. They kept me sane on many a childhood holiday. Plus they were much cheaper compared to home console cartridges, so I believe they had a wider audience of players and most people bought their GB carts instead of the fashion of renting your console games from blockbuster.
Yooooooo I ADORED this game. As someone born in 1996, this was actually my very first experience with Donkey Kong. I remember being disappointed when I got the NES cartridge in the first Animal Crossing, and thought that it only had the first 4 stages of the Gameboy game I spent so much time on. It always surprised me that it didn't seem to be that popular of a game among people my age that I knew because it was such a rich and relatively big game. And yet, I never even knew about Mario vs Donkey Kong in 2004!!!
This was also very well-made. Subbed, and good luck with your future YT work!
I had the opposite experience. When I got DK for Gameboy I thought it was just going to be 4 levels like the original NES/Arcade game, so the plot twist was a very unexpected and wonderful thing for me.
Very interesting video essay, I didn't even knew this game existed!!
So weird to see Mario got his backflip and handstand jumps before 64
Incredible and underrated game. Why it's not getting the recognition it deserves today is beyond me. Bad marketing when it was released? Or do people write it off as a remake of the original 4 screens arcade game without being aware of it having way more content on top of having these 4 levels at the beginning of the game? I don't know.
I bought and loved this game on release and I can confirm that it was NOT a thing when it came out. It was highly overlooked upon release, probably because people assumed it was a standard Donkey Kong remake.
I never forgot it. My parents bought me it for Christmas one day and I ended up having a great time. I found this video because I'm playing it again
That's awesome!
This was my very first video game (to go alongside my Game Boy Pocket). Thank you for this passionate, insightful nostalgia trip of a video essay. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks 🙏
I first played this game a couple of years ago, thinking it was just a DK arcade remake. Imagine my surprise when the real game started. Finished it 2 years ago, wished some of the aspects like DK's design and DK junior stayed.
The Donkey Kong that appears from DKC onwards is apparently DK Jr. all grown up according to Rare
You have reviewed some of my all time favorite games, this one included!
I think maybe their lack of recognition may have been due to a disconnect between game purchasers (most kids didn't purchase the game themselves!) and game enjoyers, in addition to less access to information on games. Even independent games can now catch their fair share of the limelight without advertisement.
Your content is extremely refreshing. The aspect is just a detail. But it captures your take perfectly!
Thank you! I’m glad people are digging the square aspect ratio 😊
@@hotcyder I have a lot to get out of my chest in terms of the narrative presented in this game, it's connection with Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the elements presented in this game that would become part of the canon, how it affects what we see Mario, and the inspiration that lead to it's creation.
The storyline to Donkey Kong '94 is about Mario being on a wild goose chase with the big ape, up until he reached Rocky Valley and the Tower, with the ending showing Mario and Pauline residing in a location that looked familiar... implying that this game is meant to be a spiritual prequel to Super Mario Bros. in narration. Given how America likes to paint a narrative saying Mario was born in Brooklyn (and before Illumination brought back that non-canon myth), Miyamoto decided to write off that detail when the Live-Action Mario movie bombed at the box-office, by saying that in Yoshi's Island, Mario was actually born in the Mushroom Kingdom instead of Brooklyn, but that also means that in DK'94, Mario was actually immigrated to the Big City. Also, rather than ending up in the Mushroom Kingdom by a Warp Zone, DK'94 says that Mario ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom by foot.
This narrative of Mario being in a Metropolitan City that's on the same planet as the Mushroom Kingdom would be brought back up in "Super Mario Odyssey", even though the game was insinuating that Pauline and Lady are the same people, despite what Nintendo of Japan said back in the 90s when DK'94 existed; especially when Cranky was claiming he's the same DK from the Arcade Game; but that also implies that Mario is actually the son of Jumpman, which explains why Nintendo had Pauline and Lady as different people. I mean, Jumpman is a carpenter, perhaps Mario was learning from his dad about it before upgrading to Plumber, as it is the most logical transition in real life, and explains how Mario would go from carpenter to plumber. Heck, the Illumination film even gave this implication that Mario's dad use to work in the Wrecking Crew, and why he felt Mario abandoning it for Plumbing was a "crazy dream".
This idea of Mario having a curmudgeon of a father doesn't seem out of place with Cranky being the OG DK, especially when Mario was made as a Popeye expy, and that Popeye also had a curmudgeon of a father. Plus, given Cranky's bias towards modern game development, I wouldn't be surprised if he felt that Donkey Kong '94 is more of a story about his Grandson, rather than himself, especially with how there's so much mechanical, and visual, deviations from the original source, and how Cranky comments on how he thinks oldschool archaic design choices are superior... I do wish Rareware didn't make Nintendo disown DK Jr, though. Can you imagine if DKJr came back in DKC3 rather than Kiddy Kong? Now *that's* an alternate reality I wanna see.
It stands to this day as my favorite game of all time
I still to this day call this game the #1 Platformer on the Game Boy/Game Boy Color
I had this back in the early 00's as a primary schooler. Still one of my all-time favorite games. Never knew it was so obscure. I wonder if people slept on it because they thought it was nothing more than a port of the arcade original
As a kid, if Super Mário Land 2 wasn’t in my GB you could bet that this game was! DK ‘94 is criminally underappreciated & it’s a miracle to ever see fellow fans of it at least for me
Love the music you use; perfect for this history lesson/nostalgia trip. Very easy to watch vid.
Great explanation, layout and style. Love it. Keep up the great work. Cheers mate :)
I lost this game only to find it 10 years later inside my couch. I never forgot it though, since it was such a great game! with an amazing soundtrack, the final boss theme was amazing for gameboy music.
New Band Name: "Sick Deadly Creatures"
Glad to see a video about this game. Before I heard of it, I knew Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which had mechanics from this game, like handstanding. I thought such mechanics were only fitting for a GBA game, but I was wrong.
Even though the original Donkey Kong came out 4 years before I was born, I was around for all of it. Donkey Kong 94 is one of my favorite Game Boy games of all time, and while I was happy that they came out with a sequel, I just don't think it holds up as well
Great video. One of my favorite games and had great color palettes on Super Gameboy. The sequels had annoying voice clips and I didn't enjoy rounding up the Mini Marios.
Your video editing and voice is marvelous! Awesome video!
thank you!
I remember I had a copy of this and would play it on my gameboy advance. It was probably one of the first games I’ve ever beaten all the way through. I’m so glad I found a video about this gem 💎
Had this game as a kid, it and 6 Gold Coins were unreal.
how did i never have seen your channel? amazing video, i love this series and played lot of this games in subway...
Played this game when I got my first game boy over and over, and in elementary school when I finally beat it I felt like a god
The Popeye/Bluto comparison is especially apt since they were the inspiration for Jumpman and Donkey Kong.
This was one my favorite games as a kid, and it has such great replay value, I still go back to it every so often and it's still great at as ever.
This was my present for my 12th birthday.
Probably my favorite Gameboy game. Why has no one done a color DX hack of this yet!?
Good question!
Well, I would say the complexly of it might be one reason. I wouldn't say no one is working on it, but if someone was doing it right now, it would be very hard to work on it solo. And that's just if they only added color to it. With how SML2 added Luigi no doubt whomever is making DK94DX is going to do something to make it truly a DX version. Like if they added a whole new world based around color switches for Mario VS Donkey Kong.
It's a fantastic game that was never forgotten, just because it's not popular in the mainstream doesn't mean it's forgotten.
This concept of an alternate Nintendo where they expanded upon Donkey Kong instead of going with the Super Mario series just reminds me of the Super Mario Brothers movie where the plot revolves around an alternate timeline where reptiles evolved into humans instead of mammals. lol
Underrated channel. Very well told.
One of my most favourite games.
I keep hearing more of Donkey Kong '94, which makes Mario vs Donkey Kong more underrated.
Whoa. What the heck!
Vid deserves more attention. I need to play this.
oh my god i love this video, good freakin job, you deserve way more subs
Thank you so much 😄
this video is dope! this is the reason i'm here to find out if people out there came to the same conclusion about Mario's moves in the game, this is way beyond Mario 64 days, way beyond new super Mario bros too, even the wii, i'm glad people acknowledge this LOL
To be fair this game did get a lot of recongition from reviewers at the time. It got really high score from every major publication. It's partially why I asked for it for Christmas, and I loved the time I've had with it. I've beaten this game many, many times because its that damn good.
Nintendo needs to make a remaster of DK ‘94 like they did with Kid Icarus 3D Classics.
your channel is giving me HEAVY thomasgamedocs vibes. Been with that guy since before his first thousand subs I think
its his accent probably
Lore of Donkey Kong '94 momentum 100
damn, these animations look amazing!! thanks for pointing me to this game
Just now really playing it through on the 3ds, it's a new mario experience, & I've always took it as a cheap gameboy take of the arcade version before, the game is really overlooked.
Nice vid. Cool game I never knew about
Donkey Kong 94 gets overshadowed by Donkey Kong Country.
The 2D Mario Platformer Puzzle games were always fun as a kid and an interesting alternative design from the original games
I would love for a similar Puzzle-Platformer Mario/Warioland game to come out on the Switch, but my guess is Nintendo will keep on the 3D design of Mario games
Oh well, at least we got Captain Toad
I remember this game was a hard game especially the airplane levels.
Your best video so far
I think a lot of people passed on it because they thought it was just a port of DK arcade. I played Mario vs DK first and was surprised when I noticed that it was a sequel to this. I agree with you, this is such an underrated game that deserves more recognition. I wish Nintendo would make another game in the series with the DK94 and Mario vs DK platforming and puzzles.
I vaguely knew about this game but that's only because of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong GBA game. Amazing to see the wide variety in the moveset for a Gameboy game!
I love hearing about this weird one-off game, I keep forgetting it exists
Oh man, I played so much Mario vs DK back in the day, so it’s super cool learning about its predecessor
the greatest handheld puzzle platformer of all time, i'm surprised we haven't gotten a remake
I'm still waiting to a true sequel to Paper Mario 2, and I'm hoping it's Paper Bowser. A game with Bowser trying his hand at heroism and finding that he quite likes it :)
It’s a crime this isn’t on switch yet.
True!
YAY!
I am surprised how little fanfare Mario 95 gets. I had never heard of this particular game before reading this script, but now that I have heard of it I’m surprised it managed to pass me by. This certainly was an interesting look at this bizarre evolutionary offshoot of Mario
Mario 95?
It's not a remake, sequel or expansion, but would it be considered a spin-off? Spin-offs are often hit-or-miss in established game franchises. They could be great, like your example here, but can also be absolute trash like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. I think it's hard to get fans on board with taking things in a different direction.
Iv never played this game and it's a shame, you painted it in such a great light I almost want to pick it up and try it out. Great video
that was a cozy ass video right there
I can see Miyamoto's Bitterness against Rare's Reboot vs His Reboot.
I'm not 100% sure because it's been a while, but this might be the first video game I ever played. We didn't really have a lot of video games when I was a kid because our parents didn't want as to look at screens all day (good call btw), but my dad still had his old gameboy, as well as an atari 2600 and a number of classic pc games.
He's not much of a gamer these days, but occasionally he talks about how he used to go to the mall and play at a small number of arcade machines they had set up there, including the OG Donkey Kong.
Some time around 2007, after what I assume must have been days of me and my brother pestering him about wanting to play video games, he eventually showed us his old gameboy collection. A few scattered sports and licensed games, sure, but most importantly the classics: Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening and Donkey Kong '94.
By now, the monochrome brick really just sits in a display case in my room, with the DK cartridge ready to rock the moment anyone picks it up.
As far as first video games go, I think I got pretty lucky.
I am playing this now on my 3DS vis virtual console. Very indepth game indeed.
This was my favorite game for the original Game Boy.
Commenting is good for the UA-cam Algorithm. Good video
It sure is!
i always liked the pre wiiu era nintendo. when they allowed mario to be weird and let others have their own take on mario. then it became to standardized.
Why had I never heard of this game until now?? I loved my Gameboy...
Considering I actually was a kid and played this on the Gameboy in 1994... I feel old.
Donkey Kong 94 sounds similar to the game’s Mario vs Donkey Kong and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 Mario March of the minis
This is forgotten because it is on the game boy just like most games on the gameboy
I wish Nintendo would do some kind of re-release for Switch
I loved this game as a kid
Huh. I always overlooked this game. Guess that was a mistake. Pretty sure I have a copy here somewhere. I'll pop it in and give it a go.
part of me wishes they just advertised it as a straight port of donkey Kong, and let everyone who bought it discover it was a whole new game.
Perhaps one of the reasons that DK '94 never caught on was the platform it was on. I might be totally speaking out of turn here, but as a kid, the Gameboy was just not something we talked about at school. If we did talk about video games, it was almost always Genesis or Super Nintendo stuff, and that didn't change until Pokemon happened. Granted, I was in kindergarten in '95, so I may not be the best barometer.
One of my favorite GB games, the ONLY one that surpasses it is on the same console is Link's Awakening. I've always wanted more games like it.
I wish they made those Full Colour Deluxe from hack of this game
Nice