GN0LAUM

I heard a bunch of good reviews for this game so I decided to pick it up. Yes it is fun and yes it is difficult to a degree, but the charm on this game is so high that it brings you back for more. I actually find this game more charming than the likes of Kirby or Yoshi.

I only bought this because I want to say that I played through and beat it. Its a big piece of gaming history but it is very rough around the edges. DD2 is by far my favourite in the series and I would love to add it to my Wii menu. So I'll play through it, get frustrated with the weird difficulty, and then add it to my trophy room of completed games. Good enough.

I downloaded it a month or so ago. Yes, it IS fun, but it also feels a little drawn out after a while. For some reason the hook that works early on starts to fade out and I lose interest as the game progresses.

I think there's just a ton of better platformers on the vc and its hard to compare them. Still, if you're a platformer fan, definetly pick it up.

@pikmin95

Nobody cares that you can beat this game. This isn't exacly an overall difficult game and it will never be on a 10 ten of the hardest games of all time. Do you think it makes you "hardcore" that you can beat it? I've beaten it, and so have thousands of other people. Come back on here and talk your smack when you've beaten an actual difficult game like Ikaruga, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania or a Ghouls and Ghosts.

My review still stands. My complaint is with the difficulty curve and how inconsistant it feels. It ruins the flow of the game and fails to give the user the same sense of accomplishment that comparable platformers do. If anyone (and I know there are many) disagree with my review, then fine. Enjoy the games you love.

As for me, I just wish there was a way to get my $8 back.

I have played the crap out of each SNES game and this is easily my favourite. This is the only Donkey Kong Country that actually lets you use Donkey Kong. For that reason alone, it is better. Other than that, the overall experience is just so smooth and enjoyable.

Oh, and NintendoBrad, you know as well as I do that this is not "vanilla" platforming. There are secrets ALL OVER the place and lots of change up sequences where you use animals to change/improve the experience. The emphasis on secrets is so great that they actually have a running percentage at the save screen. There is a lot here that is more than just your average platformer with pretty graphics. I'm not a graphics whore at all, yet I can appreciate the gameplay for what it is. Its always perplexed me that people attack this game for its graphics and neglect to talk about its fun gameplay, and yet they'll turn around and jump on the newest next-gen graphics glut game bandwagon.

There are like, no comments on this page for a game of this magnitude.

I was never a Contra kid. Never owned one, played it once at a friend's house. Now in my twenties, with a friend: HOLY CRAP!

This is so awesome and intense. Because of this game I have found a love for run and gun games. So Gunstar Heroes and Turrican are now top picks of mine. Love it! Buy it!

I would agree that this is probably the hardest or one of the hardest in the series. It feels much more difficult than Castlevania. Its actually so difficult that I have less fun playing this than the first one. It almost enters the same category as Super Ghouls and Ghosts in terms of difficulty overshadowing the good aspects. When that happens the game is just such a frustration that you don't even care to look at the thing anymore.

Still, if you haven't played it, its worth the $5 to see for yourself.

@ Cally

Yes, definetly. A map would have been great. Its weird that it wasn't included too because its not like they didn't use them in the series BEFORE AND AFTER this game. Both Castlevania and Castlevania III show you a map after each level. How hard would it have been for #2?

I think one day I'd like to get a copy of the map that was included in Nintendo power in like, poster size on my wall. No one would know what it was about except the hardcore gamer. Everyone else would just think I was obsessed with Romania.

I've made a commitment to myself to beat this game on each Halloween day until I die.

I'm addicted.

At first it was unmercifully difficult and now I can play through it in an hour while using 3 or 4 continues. Its actually a far better experience once I came back to it, knowing what I was in for. This is now only my list of my top 5 favourite Castlevania games:
Dracula X
Symphony of the Night
Lament of Innocence
Castlevania
Simon's Quest

Okay so here I was, a huge detractor of the game; I thought it was "kiddy" and looked stupid. I bought this and played through it, and actually? This is a great game. Not a 5/5 but certainly a 4.5 or a 4. There is a charm to this game that is more twisted or dark humoured than I previously thought. There is some "funny-violence-agianst-babies-and-cute-animals" charm to this experience. I would actually highly recommend this to platformer fans. Oh, and the music is great.

I think that's the key. Multiplayer is really where the game shines. Alone, you'll get bored after the 10th level. The thing about multiplayer is that you have to balance the killing of enemies with managing your ally (without killing him too). There's a sort of energy or inertia that a friend can bring to the game. If you only play single player games, pass on this- if you have a friend around, $5 is less than a meal at Burger King; go for it.

What did you think Mickeymac?

@ Mickeymac

Thanks for the clarification. I know exactly what you mean. I too would love to download a TON more games, but I haven't finish every game I've downloaded yet either, so there has to be a sort of time management thing going on where you only buy what you can play. Its been said before, but this didn't seem to be such a problem when we were kids because our parents managed this for us. I'd be given a game for Christmas and be told that that would be "it" until the next birthday. So we played the crap out of these games. Now it seems like I download Mega Turrican, beat it, love it and quickly download Super Turrican 2 in order to get some more!

Rondo of Blood!

Please!

No one cares about the PSP or the remake. I don't want to play it on a small screen either! I want Rondo so bad it makes my head spin!

I gave this game 4 stars. It has a very fun multiplayer option and the battle system is entertaining, but there is too much reliance on magic attacks and the story is WEAK! Sad about the story. It could have been much better. The characters are also flat. Otherwise, grab a friend and enjoy!

I had to give this 3 stars. I find the difficulty to be uneven and the fact that you have very little room or opportunity to actually get up to speed in most levels is a big turn off. What's the point of making him a "fast" character if every time he gets space to move, you put spikes on the group or a pit? I find Sonic 3 to be a little more enjoyable than this.

I have to say I'm enjoying this game a LOT more than Sonic 2. I wasn't a Sega kid so I'm playing through this series for the first time. Sonic 3 just feels more well rounded and the level designs allow for more speed areas. Sonic 2 would let you think you could speed up every once and a while but then throw something at you to stop you in your tracks before you got very far. That was frustrating. This isn't my favourite platformer, but its decent.

Yeah, after finally beating this thing, and comparing it to the second one, I have to say this isn't the best in the series. The controls are my biggest problem as they are totally stiff and unreliable. The storyline is entirely based on this set of tropical islands, whereas I prefer the time travel storyline of the second game. Lastly there are some cheap traps, such as in the first level whereby entering a room, you die instantly in a trap!

Its rough around the edges, but if you're a fan of the genre then you will enjoy it.

This was actually more fun to play through for me the second time. After the brutal difficulty of Castlevania III, its sometimes nice to sit back with an easier experience and soak it all in. Still wish the music wasn't so happy sounding

For those of you who are frustrated by dying or are stuck in certain areas, please, go ahead and look up some walkthroughs or ask on the forums for advise. There are TONS of tricks and ways that experienced players know of to gain extra lives or to bypass tricky areas. I'd rather you ask for some help rather than giving up or refraining from playing the game. I think part of the reason why new players have trouble coming to some of these challenging platformers is that they have the option of stopping.

Its been said before, but when we were younger and we got a game, we played it to death, so we were able to get through the trouble spots and dominate the whole thing. Its stayed with a lot of us to this day where we can remember secrets and tactics. I think that truely is a factor in game enjoyment.

Want my advise? Try your best to lose yourself in the experience, even with a game over.

Yes! This game is still great by all standards and I don't understand the complaints. You know, I never even knew there were people who complained about this game until I got into reading online forums. I've never even come across another old school gamer who stomped their feet and complained about the shady origins of the game.

Who cares? There's jumping, throwing and funky dream land levels. That's why I learned to love Bio Miracle Bukette Upa!

Minus level? What?

Sorry guys, don't mean to be the stickler here but I just can't seem to enjoy this game enough to give it more than 3 stars. I mean, I've played through to the 9th world, so I've obviously enjoyed it enough to go this far, but the repetitive levels and music is wearing on me. I think I would have preferred Adventure Island.

This game is great. Its not the best on the NES, but it deserves between 3.5 and 4 stars. I liked this a LOT better than Startropics. The story was more varied (though no more serious) and the controls are far far far better. I couldn't stand the unmercifully stiff controls of the first game. I would recommend this game over the first one 100%.

I just bought and played through this. Wow, what an excellent game. I have to say that the music is just phenomenal. I haven't picked up Super Turrican yet because it doesn't look as good. Yes, it sounds better but the levels look pretty crappy and there's no grappling hook! Instead I think I'll pick up Super Turrican 2. I would really recommend this game to people who enjoy both platformers and shooters like Contra.

The only downside is that I feel the alien levels were too ripped off of "Alien". But I guess everyone was ripping that movie off back in the day.

This is a solid game. I wrote a long rant about how disappointed I was with the second one but this one made me happy. Its nice to have two very different characters to choose from (since #2 gave you two light weights) and the design on the overworld map is fresh and unique.

One thing though, why is Donkey Kong only playable in one of the Donkey Kong Country games? He's my favourite character to use, and he's barely in his own franchise. That's like putting Mario in Mario 1 and leaving him out of 2 and 3. What?

Argh! I HATE this game. I bought it a while ago and just had the most unpleasant time playing through it. DKC 1 and 3 are just SO much better its not even funny. Honestly, I don't see why they gave this 5 stars. I think it deserves a 3 just to point out how the quality drops compared to the first and last of the series. I want you to know that this game is not a lost cause, but I am a platformer fan and I have a few thoughts on the subject of this game. So here's my rant/review:

First of all, it seems like the designers got sick of platforming and instead threw in a lot of levels that are about avoiding a level full of thorns or tons of rope climbing (yes, I realize they have platforming elements to them, but where's the good ol' regular GROUND when I want it?) and there are tons of levels where the whole thing is designed around a huge bottomless pit.

Secondly, there is way too much reliance of animal helpers. In fact, for a sizable portion of the game, you don't even ride the animals, you just turn into the freaking things! Yeah, that's right, gone are the days when the Rhino just helped you, instead you have to BE a snake or a spider for an entire level.

Third, the enemies have no variety. I swear there are more bees/wasps in this game than Waspy McWasps Game of Wasping Action (not a real game)!

Fourth, the difficulty spikes waaaaaaay too high, waaaaay too fast. I don't care about difficulty in games, inf act I usually thrive on it. I downloaded Super Ghouls and Ghosts mostly for the challenge and I've played through Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania and other tough games. DKC2 is not as old as some of those hard classics though and it should have paid more attention to flow, like it did in DKC. The idea behind difficulty flow is to create a game where the player feels engrossed and encouraged to play and then becomes more difficult as time progresses. Instead, they brutalize you early on which brings me to points five and six.

Fifth: the saving in this game is terrible. You have to PAY for EVERYTHING including saving, which is a shame because you're going to need to do a terrible lot of it. Lives are hard to come by, and with the brutal difficulty spike you'll find level 3 a %&#* to deal with with no way to save.

Sixth, the levels are TOO LONG! You play through this overly long level, figuring you MUST be close to the finish, only to find a half way ring in front of you. This is a terrible way to artifically extend the length of the game. If you want a longer game, make more levels. Change up the environments and create some more variety.

Seventh, the music is fine, but while there are a few great tracks, the overall feel leaves something to be desired. DCK had such fantastic "metal" or "jungle" themed tracks that this one feels less fresh and engaging.

Lastly, reason eight: the art and graphics are a big let down. Often the designers don't even put backgrounds in, instead there is a high reliance on deep blacks to cover up the lack or detail, OR the frickin' background is ONLY black (maybe this is just the emulator on the Wii version but I have no way of comparing). I'm sorry, but compared to the amount of time on detail and attention that gave DKC1 such a great rep, this is disgraceful. I mean, half the time I don't feel that the game even has a jungle feel. The best thing about the first game was the technology/industry versus nature/jungle mixture. This time around the Kronks are sporatically placed (again, too many wasps) and the overall theme seems to rely on honeycombs and pirates. It feels more like a hodgepodge of level ideas that they didn't include in the first one.

Finally: a female monkey with long blonde hair is just FREAKY and UNNECESSARY!

I'll second the motion that this looks terrible. I'm sure some people will enjoy it but the control scheme has got to be the worst part of this conversion. I'd rather try the arcade.

So I went and bought the thing. 1) Yes it is short 2) IT IS AWESOME!

This is a very fun game great music and clever level design. My wife doesn't usually like SHUMPs but she walked in this morning and said "I really like this level you're playing. In fact, I like the music too. This is a really pretty game. I like it."

She was right. So far Lords of Thunder is still on the top of my VC SHUMP ranking, but this is like #2 or equal to it. Great!

Well, x. SuperMario.x is correct. I may prefer Lords of Thunder, but in truth they are all good games. Its a matter of personal preferrence. From my perspective Soldier Blade feels very limited and doesn't scratch that SHUMP itch like other games. The music is sort of sub-par and the levels feel flat. I just downloaded Axelay yesterday and I am totally LOVING it. Far and away (IMO) a better game. Of course, thr real beauty of the Virtual Console is that for the first time, I get to give all of these games a try. For $6, I certainly don't feel ripped off for buying Soldier Blade.