Many of the gameplay mechanics are retained from "Donkey Kong Country", such as KONG letters, animal buddies, bonus rooms, and collecting bananas to gain extra lives. There are four worlds in "Donkey Kong Land", each containing seven levels, excluding the first world, which has a total of nine levels. Differing from their SNES counterparts, levels in "Donkey Kong Land" have only one or two bonus levels within stages. The worlds, and the levels within them, are all unique to "Donkey Kong Land", but follow similar level archetypes presented in the original "Donkey Kong Country". The names of the levels can only be found in the instruction booklet.