Topic: The GBA Donkey Kong Country titles and the best way to play them?

I've always been a pretty huge fan of the DKC series, and I own all three titles for the SNES, just wondering, but how do the DKC Advance games compare to the originals? Also, what's the best platform to play them on (DS lite) or Gameboy Advance SP?

The Advance games are much worse, the quality is very bad and I'd recommend not getting them at all.

Why is that? Any details....

The sound and visual quality is poor compared to the SNES original, take the first world of the first game for example.

The only improvements are that Funky now has a fishing pond and there's a DK attack mode which is basically the typical time trial setup.

I played through the first two games on SNES, but I'm playing through the third on the GBA version for the David Wise soundtrack, which I'd say is, for the most part, better than the original. (Not that the original is bad) I have notices it doesn't look quite as nice, (I guess GBA can't handle as many colors as the SNES?) but it does have more dialogue and content. (More minigames, Cranky talks to you after defeating bosses) Not sure if there are any extra stages, but all the normal stages are exactly the same as the original, and as far as I can tell it plays exactly the same too. The only issue (Other than fewer colors) is fewer buttons, which makes some things harder. (Like hating A over and over again while holding B) I've been playing on DS Lite, but GBA SP would probably be fine too, although I think DS Lite has better buttons than the SP. Anyways, I've really enjoyed the GBA version.

Edit: Basically, I think the only reasons to play the GBA versions are if you have no way to play the SNES versions, or if you want the David Wise soundtrack in 3.

@sub12

I have to agree with @Grumblevolcano . I only ever played DKC2 on the GBA and in no way could it even compare to the SNES original. The sound effects and music being sub-par were one thing, but graphically it simply looked awful. Those SNES originals still look great today (I have them all on my Wii through the Virtual Console). I also found that the SNES controller (or classic controller) is the best way to play those games. Y and B to run and jump just work much better than the B and A layout of the GBA. If you have access to the SNES originals I wouldn't suggest even trying the GBA versions.

I'll admit that the GBA ports are inferior to the originals. But since this is made for the GBA and the fact that the music is compressed than the originals, I'd say go for the originals if you want quality music. I played DKC3 for GBA and Its actually not as bad as people think besides the music.....

What if you throw on headphones? Or is that the music has been severely compressed in general....

@sub12 eh................ Its still not as good as the originals in terms of music I'm afraid. But nothing horrible by any means!

The GBA versions are fuctionally the same, but with a few additions, such as the ability to save after every level. I can't believe how many people are complaining about minor graphical and sound issues like it somehow breaks the game. You know what really breaks a game? Input lag when playing the VC versions on an HD TV. Which you won't experience on the GBA versions.

GBA games look best on the SP AGS -101. But I find the DS the most comfortable to hold and the sound is louder. So I play my GBA collection on both the SP and the DS lite and sometimes the original GBA outside under the sun just for the fun of it.

I've not touched the sequels but the original DKC for the GBA, that one was an abomination compared to the original. Not only are the audio and visuals inferior, I didn't think it controlled as well. Also, the tools didn't bother to correct for the aspect ratio change of 4:3 tv to wider screen GBA panel, so you lose view area. It's nothing as awful as the massive loss of area that DK Land 1-3 had or SMB Deluxe on GBC, but it's enough to make enough suicidal leaps of faith that would have been viewable landing points on the original releases.

That was the biggest hatred of ported games to me on the GBA and GBC too. It wasn't just Nintendo, even the fools at Capcom with Megaman and Bass. MM&B was the worst because at least Nintendo scaled down the size of the sprites (bosses, enemies, characters), but Capcom didn't so like the boss takes up like nearly a 1/4 of the 'area' of the screen so it's an unnecessarily laid out smack down that's super hard to avoid, and the game was hard enough already on Super Famicom which I had knocked off years earlier in the later 90s.

A good rule of thumb I've found outside of Mario and Zelda, don't trust any straight ports of SNES games, you'll regret it. Some that are entirely remixed and converter like Phalanx, and Pocky & Rocky w/Becky are fine, but you really need to look into it a lot with videos and reviews.

Play the first two on the SNES and play the third on the GBA, it has better music, more levels and the graphics look really good!