Unlike other DKC hacks I’ve played, this one truly stands out as a polished and fantastically crafted experience. Without going too far outside the bounds of the types of level design and mechanics used in the original, this game delivers well-themed and unique levels throughout the entirety of the experience. Especially in the final area (Chimp Caverns), there are some really interesting levels that were a blast to play. The bosses are also “remixed” to a certain degree, but honestly the changes are relatively minor and all of them are still very easy. That’s alright though, the crux of DKC is in the levels, and this hack kills it with those.

In speaking to the polish, one of the highest compliments I could give, is that I was actually driven to get 101% completion, and had confidence that the creator designed all the secrets into the game. It’s also much less of a chore to search for the secrets thanks to 2 wonderful quality of life changes in this hack that really help the player experience. These are having infinite lives and “quick resetting” in a level on death (i.e. back to the start of the level or the checkpoint barrel). This makes it so much quicker to just get back into the action, and keeps the focus on the levels.

This is truly a spectacular hack and one that all DKC fans owe themselves to play.