Donkey Kong Land is a Jump & Run classic, developed by Rareware and released by Nintendo for the Game Boy in June 1995. Cranky Kong, jealous of all the success Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have had from Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, challenges the Kongs to beat another adventure on an 8-bit system (Game Boy). As King K. Rool agrees with Cranky and steals the bananas again, Donkey & Diddy Kong set out to go through another adventure!

Donkey and Diddy Kong tell Cranky Kong all about their recent Donkey Kong Country adventure. Cranky admits that he underestimated the success of it, but blamed it on the "fancy graphics", "modern music", and the fact that "kids'll buy anything nowadays". Cranky Kong proceeds to ramble about his older games but Donkey and Diddy ignore him, telling Cranky that the gameplay was also a factor. Despite agreeing with it, Cranky asks if both heroes believe that the game would still be a success even on a 8-bit system, such as the Game Boy. Donkey and Diddy answer they will even let the Kremlings steal the banana hoard again and get it back on the Game Boy. After tricking both Kongs in accepting the bet, Cranky then declares that he will call for King K. Rool to steal his grandson's bananas, hide them in new places around Donkey Kong Island, and use new tricks and enemies in order to make a harder adventure that will stop the heroes. Feeling angry for falling for Cranky's plan and preferring to lie down resting, Donkey Kong agrees with the bet and decides to go to his treehouse to get some sleep before the adventure.