Donkey Kong is a very unique Game Boy game because of it being the Super Game Boy flagship. Graphic artists really did a good job with the usage of the limited colorization capabilities, specially in static screens (title screen, bonus, etc).
Indeed, that makes Donkey Kong DX a unique colorization hack as well, since those screens are already colorized. But that doesn't mean there is no room for improvement!
There has been a lot of progress lately.
Final boss screen is already colorized. I've used the hi-color technique to be able to surpass the on-screen color limit and deliver the final climax the hack deserves. Although, I don't feel like spoiling it here, can't wait for you to see it with your own eyes during a full run.
Ending and credits are colorized as well but, again, no screenshots will be posted for obvious reasons.
I've colorized all the cutscenes myself and while I do think a bunch of them ended up looking really good, I prefer to wait for the graphic artists to make their touches here and there to improve the results.
I have also colorized World 9 (Tower). I think it ended up looking well too, but I feel like doing a few edits before showing off. Kensu is working on World 7 (Iceberg) and an unannounced collaboration is working on World 6.
So, today's post focus will be the static screens. I'm going to show off the most important ones, adding some notes about their development.
Super Game Boy could put four palettes of four colors on screen, and was unable to separate sprites from backgrounds. On the other hand, Game Boy Color has eight palettes for backgrounds and eight palettes for sprites. And while most of the static screens were made with SGB limitations on mind in a very clever way, those GBC palettes can make the screens look even more beautiful.
Acrobatics demo
This is the demo reel after the title screen, where Mario does some acrobatic demonstration. Other than Mario sprite being able to have its own colors, I was able to colorize the curtain which looks great and give the background focus a dither effect. Oh, and the brown pole too.
Save slot screen
Based on Mario vs Donkey Kong for the GBA (which is considered the sequel for Donkey Kong GB), I made it so each save slot has its own color. I don't like the bricks though, I think they look dull now, I'll be working on improving this one soon.
Game over screen
There wasn't much room for improvements here. You've probably noticed the sky gradient has more colors now. But there are other subtle changes like DK fingers or ear, which use some shade now.
Pause screen
This one is quite interesting. Have you ever noticed one of Mario's gloves is yellow? That's because there wasn't another way to do it with four palettes (that glove tile shares one of the overall buttons which must be yellow). Fortunately, I've got twice the palettes, so I can fix the gloves and even make the billboard have its own background color not shared with the main background.
Bonus screen: Roulette
This one was also very clever as they shared Mario's palette for everything but the roulette numbers. But thanks to the eight GBC palettes, I was able to add a proper brown for his sideburns. Oh, and add some shade to the face shape and, of course, making the Bonus word stand with another color.
Bonus screen: Slots
This one is the perfect example of how to make the most of the SGB. They cleverly used the same palette for every icon, including the prize legend list and honestly, it looked amazing. But, again, we can do magic now! Changes might be unnoticeable at first glance but... Now flame, hat, DK and hammer have their own palette. In addition, the numbers in the prize list are using the final eight palette for better readability.
Title screen
Ta-da! This is how the title screen will look!
There is no need for dithering in the bricks anymore, as they can have their own palette. I've added some shade to his chest and ears.
Another cool effect is the 3D on DK's tie, by changing the red color in the palette that shares with his body, an effect that would have never been possible with the four SGB palettes.
But the most noticeable detail is probably the logo. I've tried to recreate the gradient effect of the game's official logo with the remaining palettes. The DX is a pixelart piece of mine, it was intended to be a placeholder but Jorge and Kensu agreed that it was good enough for the final version.
And there is even more. The logo has an animated flash effect that cannot be seen in the screenshot, I'll record a short video for you to see it in action in the next post.
As you can see, development is progressing by leaps and bounds. Still, it is too soon to give an estimate release date. But at this pace I'm pretty sure we will be seeing it out during this year.
Hacking is over, and all it remains is the art part, which sadly it is not as easy as copying and pasting graphics over the ROM. It is a tedious process that can take hours for each screen. Fortunately, thanks to the big refactor done this year, times can be cut drastically.
See you on next post.
As always, thank you everyone for yor support, you are really helping me to feel motivated. Thank you.