Donkey Kong Land

Donkey Kong Land
Also known as: Super Donkey Kong GB (JP) Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo Platforms: Game Boy, Super Game Boy Released in JP: July 27, 1995 Released in US: June 26, 1995 Released in EU: August 24, 1995 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences. This game has a development article This game has a prerelease article This game has a Data Crystal page

Donkey Kong Land is basically what you would get if you photocopied Donkey Kong Country onto a Post-It Note.

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics

Chomps Jr.

An unused sprite of Chomps Jr. being defeated exists in this game. In Donkey Kong Country, it was possible to defeat this enemy using Enguarde, but Enguarde is not present in Donkey Kong Land, making Chomps Jr. impossible to defeat here.

(Source: Shiny)

Unused Music

Two tracks are unused in the game. Thanks to composer Graeme Norgate's website, we know exactly what they were intended for. Thanks!

The tracks can be heard in-game with the GameShark code 01xx9FC1, or Game Genie codes ??8-3EF-E62 + 9F8-40F-E6A + C18-41F-6EA and the proper hex values mentioned below.

Last Boss

The King K. Rool battle was supposed to have its own unique theme, but the final game uses the generic boss music.

This has a hexadecimal identifier of 12.

Skyscraper

Intended for the Skyscraper levels. Those levels use another theme instead.

This has a hexadecimal identifier of 0F.

Misplaced Objects and Tiles

Tyre Trail

There is a triple-tiered tree top near the upper mid area. While it is possible to reach it, the camera will not scroll high enough to see anything without hacking. The top two tiers are non-solid.

Chomp's Coliseum

There is a Gloop swimming around just under the map near the right side. It can only be seen by hacking the camera.

Nautilus Chase

There is a Fangfish swimming around inside a reef at the upper mid area. While it is possible to see it, there is no way to access the area that it is in without hacking.

Unused Text

PFLOYD String

The string PFLOYD (an obvious reference to the British prog rock band Pink Floyd, who would disband just a year after the game's release) exists in both the English and Japanese ROMs at offset 6F7A. This is used for save data integrity, and this same string needs to be present at AA00, AA40, and AA80 in SRAM for the three save files to be functional (along with two checksums — one addition-based, and one XOR-based). If this string is not present in one of these files (even if the two checksums succeed), the corresponding file will be erased. When the bad file is erased, it happens quietly — there is no error screen indicating that the file is corrupt, even if the PFLOYD string is present while at least one checksum fails.

Naturally, the PFLOYD string is never visible in the game.

Hidden Developer Credits

Donkey Kong Land's main programmer, Paul Machacek, is credited thoroughly throughout the ROM.

Found at 28001, 40001, 44001, 4C001, 50001, 54001, 58001, 5C001, 60001, 64001, 68001, 6C001, 70001, 74001, 78001, and 7C001:

* By Paul Machacek / RARE LTD *

Found at 3F8ED:

*By  Paul Machacek*

Found at 49BB1:

PAULMACHACEK

Internal Name

Perhaps taking a cue from Donkey Kong, this game's internal name is DONKEY KONG LAND 95.

Regional Differences

• Donkey Kong Land is titled Super Donkey Kong GB in Japan. The title screen and the intro screen with the Rareware logo were changed accordingly.

International	Japanese

Besides the name change, the unregistered trademark symbol was changed into a registered trademark symbol.

International	Japanese

• In the international versions, when beating a level, the KONG letters only flash on the screen if all four of them have been collected. If the Kongs are missing at least one, the letters will not flash; instead, whatever sprites that were on the screen stay there until the fanfare music is finished. In the Japanese version, the collected KONG letters flash on the screen even if one or more is missing—as long as least one is collected.