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When evil Kremling Boss, King K Rool steals every last banana in the Kong family's personal store so he can eat them all himself, well, he's asking for it really, isn't he? If you're going to cheese off an ape like Donkey Kong, you'd better watch out! As DK and little Diddy Kong, it is your task to retrieve each and every one of these bananas, fighting a plethora of really rather nasty yellow crocodiles, spiky bees and other evil creatures, until you finally face the King himself.

This game is a side-scrolling platformer full of extra lives, continues and bonuses. You bounce on enemies' heads, ride on elevators, swing on ropes and even take a mine cart ride. "Well, whoopee!" we hear you cry sarcastically. "As if we haven't seen all that before anywhere!"

And you're quite right to point this out, thank you very much, but *this* is one of the originals. Donkey Kong is quite simply a classic - the game that invented the cliches. If you marvelled at the sight of DKC on the SNES, this is your chance to own the game (with some crucial differences) on the Game Boy!

This means that the graphics, replete with superb renders and amazing textures and depth, are all just as eye-catching on the portable version. There is very little that has been taken out for this new version, and even loads of great stuff added! There's a whole new level exclusive to the Game Boy, and the opportunity to use the fantastic GB printer to print special pictures that you manage to earn during the adventure.

In fact, there's so much new stuff, you can't help but be impressed. As you explore the world, you will ind that there are countless secrets hidden in each and every level, and if you're good enough, you can get a new surprise entitling you to entirely separate bonus games accessible from the main menu.

These include an unfortunately simplistic fishing game starring Donkey Kong, and a quick-fire shoot-'em-up game. You also get the chance to fill a sticker album with secret pictures and play against pals via the link cable. Between levels you can also have hilarious chats with the secondary characters, chauffeured by Funky Kong, treated by Candy Kong and lectured to by old-hand Crank Kong, a veteran of the good old days of videogames.

Yet, despite all this Rare brilliance, you're going to end up tearing your hair out and wishing this game had never been created. There are two drawbacks to DKC: firstly, the designers know the graphics are good, and so there's a lot of irritating showing off (with slow moving rendered Start menus, when all you want to do is play) and most importantly, this game is ridiculously hard! It's true that most games these days don't seem to offer much of a challenge, but only a little way into the game, you will come upon problems so tricky and awkwardly set-up that it takes an eon to complete! So you won't have completed this by New Year - you'll only just be scratching the surface. And screaming an awful lot.

This game set the world on fire when it was first released on the Super Nintendo many moons ago, in the heyday of my youth, and now this Game Boy Color version looks like it's going to do it all over again - it's just as good as the original, and has lots of extra stuff thrown in. Cool!

Aahh, a lovely trip down memory lane - if a little tough on the old brain cells!

Graphics 100%
Getting better all the time.

Sound 80%
Hear the vultures scream.

Playability 100%
One hell of an evil challenge.

Lastability 100%
A huge adventure.

Overall 90%
Kong and Co. never disappoint.