I've made like 4 arcades now, and built so many RetroPie's for myself and mates (which I need to make another thread about). It's become a real hobby putting together machines designed to play older games and it's made me explore many old game consoles and arcade systems.
I'm continually tweaking the games included on the RetroPie systems I make which means I end up testing loads of games as they are added and tweaked. Since I've been playing and enjoying so many, I wanted to make a 'quick review thread' on some of my favorites played.
First up: Donkey Kong '94
Game: Donkey Kong '94
Release: 1994
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Platform: Game Boy
The game is called Donkey Kong, but seems to be referred as Donkey Kong '94 to avoid confusion with the 1981 release. Not that Nintendo and their naming conventions make much sense usually.
Anyway I discovered this game when mucking around with Game Boy games that had support for the Super Game Boy, which is a peripheral for playing Game Boy games on your TV using a Super Nintendo. The game has extensive SGB support including almost full colour support and a cool border making it look like the original Donkey Kong arcade. I've been able to emulate SGB on my RetroPie so I've been playing it like this.
At a surface glance, it looks like a straight port of arcade Donkey Kong for Game Boy. The first few levels which are just straight Donkey Kong: climb the ladders and platforms, jump barrels, get to the top, save the lady. Once you do this 3 times, the game changes:
![[Image: nZq8JOB.png]](https://i.imgur.com/nZq8JOB.png)
You kick Donkey Kong's shit, then BAM its time for the Big City baby!
![[Image: ZBE9FLi.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ZBE9FLi.png)
All the sudden the game is different. It goes way past being a straight Donkey Kong port and reveals itself to be it's own game. It becomes more like a puzzle platformer, and Mario himself becomes more of an acrobat. He is able to handstand and do super jumps, it's great. Every few levels or so you have a boss encounter with Kong and then one at the end of the world you are in. Each subsequent world starts to introduce new puzzle elements like spring jumps and horizontal or vertical platforms you can place, all while keeping the same goal: get to the top.
Right now im in Egypt world I guess:
![[Image: mN1gvU0.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mN1gvU0.png)
And I'm having a blast. Each world is unique enough in design, with it's own enemies and so forth. It's great for pickup and play sessions and each level only takes a minute or two really. I loved it so much I had to own a copy, hence my recent purchase of a Jap copy in my pickups thread.
10/10 do play.
Bonus: here's some gameplay:
I'm continually tweaking the games included on the RetroPie systems I make which means I end up testing loads of games as they are added and tweaked. Since I've been playing and enjoying so many, I wanted to make a 'quick review thread' on some of my favorites played.
First up: Donkey Kong '94
Game: Donkey Kong '94
Release: 1994
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Platform: Game Boy
The game is called Donkey Kong, but seems to be referred as Donkey Kong '94 to avoid confusion with the 1981 release. Not that Nintendo and their naming conventions make much sense usually.
Anyway I discovered this game when mucking around with Game Boy games that had support for the Super Game Boy, which is a peripheral for playing Game Boy games on your TV using a Super Nintendo. The game has extensive SGB support including almost full colour support and a cool border making it look like the original Donkey Kong arcade. I've been able to emulate SGB on my RetroPie so I've been playing it like this.
At a surface glance, it looks like a straight port of arcade Donkey Kong for Game Boy. The first few levels which are just straight Donkey Kong: climb the ladders and platforms, jump barrels, get to the top, save the lady. Once you do this 3 times, the game changes:
![[Image: nZq8JOB.png]](https://i.imgur.com/nZq8JOB.png)
You kick Donkey Kong's shit, then BAM its time for the Big City baby!
![[Image: ZBE9FLi.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ZBE9FLi.png)
All the sudden the game is different. It goes way past being a straight Donkey Kong port and reveals itself to be it's own game. It becomes more like a puzzle platformer, and Mario himself becomes more of an acrobat. He is able to handstand and do super jumps, it's great. Every few levels or so you have a boss encounter with Kong and then one at the end of the world you are in. Each subsequent world starts to introduce new puzzle elements like spring jumps and horizontal or vertical platforms you can place, all while keeping the same goal: get to the top.
Right now im in Egypt world I guess:
![[Image: mN1gvU0.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mN1gvU0.png)
And I'm having a blast. Each world is unique enough in design, with it's own enemies and so forth. It's great for pickup and play sessions and each level only takes a minute or two really. I loved it so much I had to own a copy, hence my recent purchase of a Jap copy in my pickups thread.
10/10 do play.
Bonus: here's some gameplay:
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