Pirate Game of the Week 052: Donkey Kong Country IV (FC)

Another wicked pirate is here. This time is based on a very popular franchise. When Donkey Kong Country was released on the SNES, the world was stunned by how beautiful the game was. The 16-bit console showed us it was just getting started! With graphics to rival those of future consoles like the Sega Saturn and Playstation, Nintendo was going one step further in their ingenious control over the gaming market. With such amazing popularity, pirates found a way to port the game to the Famicom and pirate it all over the world! The result is a very tacky game. Lets check it out in a little more detail. 

The music is unimpressive. They can't do much for the game in the limited 8-bit console but that's no reason to make the music annoying. You won't find much to like but will hear familiar sounds from other pirates in this one. They all seem to originate from the same company! 

The graphics are actually not that bad but will start to flicker once there are too many things going on in the same screen. It's all due to hardware limited processing power. Still, if you are making a game that's not supposed to be on a certain console then don't do it. Furthermore, it was a very decent attempt on making the game look animated but of course it's nowhere near the beauty of the 16-bit gem. 

The gameplay suffers a lot which is a problem of the majority of pirates. The game is quite frustrating especially when it comes to jumping. Unfortunately, platformer pirates have always had this issue. At times it feels like a force is trying to push you away from where you want to go. It's quite annoying.

The game is only worth a couple of playthroughs although if you are a huge Donkey Kong fan then you'll probably come back and suffer all over again. The game can be frustrating but quite fun at the same time. It all depends on the way you confront it.

In the end, the game is a decent and interesting mixture of the Donkey Kong franchise. Of course, Nintendo had nothing to do with it so don't blame them if your game crashes. It's the pirates way once again. I suggest you pick it up as it's quite rare to find in physical form. For the rest of you, emulation is your answer!