Here's a bit of Donkey Kong trivia for you, and no mistake.
The Donkey Kong Jungle Action Special was an officially licensed British comic based on Donkey Kong Country for the SNES and published in 1995 by Fleetway Editions. Richard Burton (no, not that one) is listed as the Managing Editor – comic fans might recognise his name from the British sci-fi comic 2000AD, as well as the successful UK publication Sonic the Comic, which was also published by Fleetway.
For whatever reason, we have never seen it listed in comic databases online, for sale on eBay, or indeed any mention of it at all. It's almost as if it's been forgotten. Let's fix that, shall we?
Since we have a copy, we've decided to archive it for posterity and share it with the Nintendo Life readership.
Image: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / FleetwayImage: John Szczepaniak / Nintendo / Fleetway
John has been documenting video games since 2005. Former staffer at Imagine Publishing and Retro Gamer magazine. Author of The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers series of books. Its amalgamated hardcover, Japansoft, was translated and published in France, Russia, and mainland China. Has interviewed over 150 people. Keynote speaker at academic symposiums. Hobbyist programmer. Licensed RYA dayskipper. Not a fan of social media.
I had this! I was constantly looking in Smiths afterwards to buy the second issue (which never appeared!). I never did find out what those golden statues in the mine were all about (which was also teased to be solved in a future issue that never materialised!).
Wow - what a blast from the past. I picked this up on holiday with my family once... I haven't thought about this in years and had completely forgotten about it, along with that old promotional VHS that advertised the game.
I miss all the weird and wonderful Nintendo comics from the 90s, and it's interesting to see how the U.S. and Europe got different comics! In the time before the Nintendo 64 set a lot of characterizations in stone, seeing these takes on these characters felt like a wild west era for video game depictions.
@DarkCojiro Same! I was so upset as a kid when I found out there wouldn’t be another issue - I think I even rang the publisher to ask. It still has pride of place with some of the memorabilia I’ve hung onto over the years.
@RupeeClock Sorry about the photos instead of scans. I have a nice A4 flatbed scanner, but I did three pages at 300dpi, and it took AGES. Like over a minute per page to scan, crop, and save, and there's 50 or so pages. Also the size of the comic is not A4 size, it's actually oversized, width ways, meaning I had to position it just right every time to only lose the white borders. Even then it was tight.
After three pages I was like: you know what? 10 minutes with my camera on maximum settings will suffice. Photos are better than nothing I reckoned.
The only proper scan in the above collection was the front cover.
Also, those are tins of tuna on the corners!
Sorry - but hopefully once this gets listed in the comics database someone else, with more motivation, will do the proper scan job it deserves.
@Sketcz Since other people here have mentioned they have their own copies, I hope someone here will pick up the task of doing proper scans. It's just not a proper archival job otherwise! But I understand not wanting to spend all day scanning in and prepping 50 pages like that.
"The nearest you'll find to this original Donkey Kong games now is the recent Game Boy/Super Game Boy release. At first glance it is much the same, although DK Konnoisseurs will tell you that the gameplay is a shallow reworking of the classic."
I 😣 HAVE 😠 NEVER 😤 BEEN 😡 SO 🤬 ANGRY 🤮
Cool comic though. I used to love Fleetway Sonic the Comic. And I was fully hype before the DKC release and bought any magazine that had the game on the cover. Weird that I never saw this at the time...
@samuelvictor came here to post the same but you beat me to it. "Professor" Steve May obviously never played Donkey Kong for Game Boy before he wrote this. OUTRAGEOUS!
@JJtheTexan I'm actually unironically fuming at a throwaway comment from a 1995 kids comic 😂 DK'94 is one of the greatest games of all time IMO. To be honest, revolutionary as it undoubtedly was, I now find it hard to go back to the stiffer and more limited controls of Mario/Jumpman in Arcade/NES Donkey Kong versions, Mario is just so much more nuanced in the Super Game Boy game. Not to mention the 100 or so extra levels and bonus rounds 😅 SHALLOW indeed Steve May.
Now this is absolutely amazing, never knew this existed! Reminds me a lot of the Donald Duck comic strips. Don’t know what is but reading through these makes me think that the world was a lot more innocent back then.
Comments 32
Who knew Judge Dredd was a member of the DK Crew?
Ringo Kong might just be the most obscure of them all though.
Do you guys not have a scanner available though? That would've been much better than taking photos with what looks like food bottles on the corners.
I had this! I was constantly looking in Smiths afterwards to buy the second issue (which never appeared!). I never did find out what those golden statues in the mine were all about (which was also teased to be solved in a future issue that never materialised!).
@RupeeClock Judgy Kong
Wow - what a blast from the past. I picked this up on holiday with my family once... I haven't thought about this in years and had completely forgotten about it, along with that old promotional VHS that advertised the game.
These are some fantastic scans. Rambi looks weirdly sexual lol
Its epic!!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful magazine!
I miss all the weird and wonderful Nintendo comics from the 90s, and it's interesting to see how the U.S. and Europe got different comics!
In the time before the Nintendo 64 set a lot of characterizations in stone, seeing these takes on these characters felt like a wild west era for video game depictions.
Amazing what a blast from the past. Made my day. Thanks for sharing.
@DarkCojiro Same! I was so upset as a kid when I found out there wouldn’t be another issue - I think I even rang the publisher to ask. It still has pride of place with some of the memorabilia I’ve hung onto over the years.
Donkey, Diddy, Cranky, Funky, Candy, and my favourite Kong, Judge Dredd
90s comics are great. There's just some certain charm to these that I love.
Well, learling that DK's banana cave is magical is my knowledge fact of the day. That explains alot!
Wow, Pauline's design is pretty much unchanged
Remember to read all on DK's lines in Seth Rogen's voice to prep yourself for the movie
That DK comic has a lot of old dandy charm
@RupeeClock Sorry about the photos instead of scans. I have a nice A4 flatbed scanner, but I did three pages at 300dpi, and it took AGES. Like over a minute per page to scan, crop, and save, and there's 50 or so pages. Also the size of the comic is not A4 size, it's actually oversized, width ways, meaning I had to position it just right every time to only lose the white borders. Even then it was tight.
After three pages I was like: you know what? 10 minutes with my camera on maximum settings will suffice. Photos are better than nothing I reckoned.
The only proper scan in the above collection was the front cover.
Also, those are tins of tuna on the corners!
Sorry - but hopefully once this gets listed in the comics database someone else, with more motivation, will do the proper scan job it deserves.
Oh candy Kong is so wrong!
@Sketcz
Since other people here have mentioned they have their own copies, I hope someone here will pick up the task of doing proper scans.
It's just not a proper archival job otherwise! But I understand not wanting to spend all day scanning in and prepping 50 pages like that.
What is happening to Pauline’s arm in page 30? What a horribly awkward composition..
I forgot about this! I think I still have my copy somewhere.
Fantastic stuff. Thanks for sharing
Here’s a 1UP
"The nearest you'll find to this original Donkey Kong games now is the recent Game Boy/Super Game Boy release. At first glance it is much the same, although DK Konnoisseurs will tell you that the gameplay is a shallow reworking of the classic."
I 😣 HAVE 😠 NEVER 😤 BEEN 😡 SO 🤬 ANGRY 🤮
Cool comic though. I used to love Fleetway Sonic the Comic. And I was fully hype before the DKC release and bought any magazine that had the game on the cover. Weird that I never saw this at the time...
@Crockin Rambi's face in that one panel made me VERY uncomfortable lol
@samuelvictor came here to post the same but you beat me to it. "Professor" Steve May obviously never played Donkey Kong for Game Boy before he wrote this. OUTRAGEOUS!
@JJtheTexan I'm actually unironically fuming at a throwaway comment from a 1995 kids comic 😂 DK'94 is one of the greatest games of all time IMO. To be honest, revolutionary as it undoubtedly was, I now find it hard to go back to the stiffer and more limited controls of Mario/Jumpman in Arcade/NES Donkey Kong versions, Mario is just so much more nuanced in the Super Game Boy game. Not to mention the 100 or so extra levels and bonus rounds 😅 SHALLOW indeed Steve May.
John-san, thank you for this wonderful birthday gift!
"Richard Burton (no, not that one)"
?
@Mario500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton
Huh. I had no idea Judge Dredd was a part of the Kong family.
Now this is absolutely amazing, never knew this existed! Reminds me a lot of the Donald Duck comic strips.
Don’t know what is but reading through these makes me think that the world was a lot more innocent back then.
Judge Dredd is my favourite Kong family member.
Candy Kong is quite disturbing
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