Editing Donkey Kong Land

{{Game
|name=Donkey Kong Land
|image=[[Image:DonkeyKongLand.jpg]]
|bgcolor=silver
|fgcolor=black
|developer=[[Rare]]
|publisher=[[Nintendo]]
|system=[[Game Boy]], [[3DS Virtual Console]] 
|release='''Game Boy'''<br />US June 1995<br />JP July 27, 1995<br />EU August 24, 1996<br />'''3DS Virtual Console'''<br />JP April 2, 2014<br />EU October 16, 2014<br />US February 26, 2015
|gallery=
|rating= ESRB: K-A
|}}

'''Donkey Kong Land''' is a [[Game Boy]] game that was developed by [[Rare]] alongside ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]''. It acts as a companion game of sorts, but with its own unique environments and enemies.

=Story=

Following the events of ''Donkey Kong Country'', [[Cranky Kong]] is reluctant to acknowledge Donkey Kong's success, saying that ''Donkey Kong Country'' was only popular due its fancy graphics. So Cranky dares [[Donkey Kong]] and [[Diddy Kong]] to repeat their feat on the technically-inferior [[Game Boy]]. They reluctantly accept the challenge, and Cranky calls in [[K. Rool]] to steal back Donkey Kong's bananas again, but this time hiding the bananas in new areas.

=Gameplay=

The gameplay follows that of ''Donkey Kong Country''. Notably, ''Donkey Kong Land'' is not a mere re-hash of ''Donkey Kong Country'', as it contains a variety of new enemies and environments. Once again Donkey and Diddy are aided by animal buddies, but in this game they can only use [[Rambi]] and [[Animal Buddies in Donkey Kong Series#Expresso|Expresso]]. Instead of granting an extra life, collecting all four K-O-N-G letters in this game is the only way to save your progress.

The game was divided into four worlds, with one world acting as an homage to the original [[Donkey Kong (game)|''Donkey Kong'' arcade game]].

=Continuity Notes=

*The instruction manual story directly references the events of ''Donkey Kong Country'' in a partially metafictional sense and acts as a direct follow-up to it, with Cranky daring DK and Diddy to repeat their defeat of King K. Rool on the technologically inferior Gameboy.
*As mentioned above, Great Ape City contains an homage to the original ''Donkey Kong'' arcade, although it is uncertain if this is supposed to be the actual construction site from the game (which would mean it took place on Donkey Kong Island) or if it is a recreation (which would also be likely considering Cranky's love of the glory days).
*This is one of the conflicting sources about Cranky's relationship with Donkey Kong. In the instruction manual, Donkey Kong is referred to as Cranky's "grandape", and in the comments section, Cranky refers to himself as "old grandpa Cranky", both of which imply that Cranky is Donkey Kong's grandfather

=Legacy=

''Donkey Kong'' Land inspired a new trilogy of games on the Game Boy that acted as handheld companions to the ''Donkey Kong Country'' games as they were released. Of the three, the original ''Donkey Kong Land'' featured the most original content, as the two following two ''Land'' games borrowed more elements from their Super NES counterparts.

This was also the only ''Land'' game to influence the ''Country'' series, as the pirate ship levels and Flotsam enemy introduced in this game later appeared in ''[[Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]''.

==Remakes==

*In Japan, ''Donkey Kong Land'' was later made available through the [[Nintendo Power system]].
*In 2014 (2015 in America), ''Donkey Kong Land'' was released as a downloadable purchase through the [[3DS]] eshop as part of the [[3DS Virtual Console]].

==Sequels==

Donkey Kong Land was followed by ''[[Donkey Kong Land 2]]'', which acted mostly as a low-tech remake of ''Donkey Kong Country 2''.

{{Donkey Kong Series}}

[[Category: Video Games]] [[Category: Game Boy Games]] [[Category: Donkey Kong Games]] [[Category: Player's Choice]]