Hey everyone. It's been a while since my last post and to say that it's because my life became completely crazy is an understatement. I changed positions at work, more recently got engaged, and have had just a ton of other things going on. With all that being said I have been able to get some gaming in and a lot of it has been quite enjoyable. The most recent game that I have completed for like the 50th time is the game I'll be reviewing tonight, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. I'm going to be changing up the way I do reviews too. I feel like the way I was doing it was too vanilla I guess if that makes sense? I'll also be working on an actual layout for the blog as I've just had an image of Majora's Mask there for forever...So that's the little update here. I'll be doing more blogs in the near future, but for now let's take a look at Donkey Kong Country 2!
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is the sequel to Rare's Donkey Kong Country and was released in 1995 on the Super Nintendo. In 2004 a port of the game came out on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. The plot of the game was quite simple. Donkey Kong (the hero of the 1st game) is kidnapped by Kaptain K. Rool (King K. Rool). It is up to Diddy Kong (the sidekick of the 1st game) to try and save Donkey Kong. Joining Diddy in his quest is his girlfriend Dixie Kong (no relation?). The two set off on an epic journey with help from other members of the Kong Crew. Funky Kong returns from the first game in the same capacity, an airline service that allows players to travel between stages. Cranky Kong (the original Donkey Kong from the 1981 arcade game) makes a return in the same fashion as he did in Donkey Kong Country. That being an old advice giving ape. Wrinkly Kong, Cranky's wife, assists the young Kongs by both giving hints and saving the game. Swanky Kong debuts as a sideshow bonus trivia level where players can potentially gain coins, extra lives, and bananas.
On your quest you'll encounter these characters as well as animal friends! These friends include Rambi the Rhino (returns from Donkey Kong Country), Enguarde the Swordfish (returning friend), Squawks the Parrot (returns, but can now shoot nuts!), Rattly the Rattlesnake, and Squitter the Spider. All of these animal buddies have different abilities that will help the Kongs reach new heights, bust open bonus rooms, or pick off normally difficult enemies. In some cases the Kongs will actually transform into the animal friend, in others, they will ride the animals. Note: There are 2 other animal friend, Glimmer the Angler Fish is one. He appears in only one level and provides light for the Kongs. Unlike other animals the Kongs do not ride or become him. Clapper the Sea Lion is the other. He appears in two levels and will either cool or freeze water depending on the level when the Kongs jump on him. He is a stationary buddy so he never leaves his spot.
The number of collectibles has increased since the first game. There is now a currency system in place. These banana coins can be used at Cranky's, Wrinkly's, Swanky's, and Funky's.
Also new are the DK coins that appear in each of the levels. There are 40 of these coins to collect (68 on the Game Boy Advance.
Lastly, there are 75 Kremkoins (bonus coins) that can be found throughout the levels. The only exception to this is in the Lost World where bonus levels will award DK Coins instead of Kremkoins.
So there is a good amount of new stuff to collect in this game that was not present in the first game. Returning collectibles include extra life balloons, the K O N G letters, and bananas, There is a couple new barrels that appear in this game. One is a barrel with a ! on it.
This barrel with cause the Kongs to become invincible for a short period of time. There are new animal buddy barrels, and barrels with either Dixie or Diddy's face on them. Those barrels can only be entered by the Kong that matches the face.
One of the largest changes between this game and first is the addition of Dixie Kong. Diddy Kong remains basically the same as he was in the first game. Dixie uses her hair like a whip and can twirl it like a helicopter to decrease her falling speed and cover long distances. You can get through a lot of tough spots in the game with this technique. Also new is a team attack where the Kong's will actually hop on the each others shoulders and use each other as a throwable weapon!
Finally with all of that out of the way lets look at the world and the game itself now that most of the new features are out of the way!
The world in Donkey Kong Country 2 is, in my opinion, incredible! I wont go into too much detail, but you'll be exploring pirate ships, lava lakes, swamps, bee hives, a carnival, haunted woods,mines, a castle, and more. Each world has their own maps of levels as well. The end of each world has a boss. None of them are really that difficult at all, but that was something that I felt in the first game as well.
Graphically speaking the game is beautiful.Given the year this game came out, the graphics really push what was the norm of the day to new heights.
The picture on the left is from Donkey Kong Country 2, the right from Donkey Kong Country. Notice the background of the DKC2. It looks like there are actually layers. You can see the blue sky and clouds which pass you by, then the bramble in front of it, and then the bramble you are trying to avoid. Yes, the original graphics are also good, but the improvements made for the second game are easy to see!
The crisp gameplay from the first game returns. After playing this game again and again and again, I can say that I've never had an issue related to the gameplay, the responsiveness of the character, or anything else for that matter. The only thing that feels kind of awkward is Rattly's super jump. It feels slow to charge and sometimes I think it's charged up but it's actually not. Other than that though I have literally zero complaints.
One of the best things about this game is the music. Every single bit of music in the game is I feel, amazing. You'll hear each of the songs a few times, but the levels are all so different that say a mining level with the same music will feel completely different, making the music fresh in the process. I'll leave a few videos of the music to give you guys a little taste of what I'm talking about here.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is the sequel to Rare's Donkey Kong Country and was released in 1995 on the Super Nintendo. In 2004 a port of the game came out on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. The plot of the game was quite simple. Donkey Kong (the hero of the 1st game) is kidnapped by Kaptain K. Rool (King K. Rool). It is up to Diddy Kong (the sidekick of the 1st game) to try and save Donkey Kong. Joining Diddy in his quest is his girlfriend Dixie Kong (no relation?). The two set off on an epic journey with help from other members of the Kong Crew. Funky Kong returns from the first game in the same capacity, an airline service that allows players to travel between stages. Cranky Kong (the original Donkey Kong from the 1981 arcade game) makes a return in the same fashion as he did in Donkey Kong Country. That being an old advice giving ape. Wrinkly Kong, Cranky's wife, assists the young Kongs by both giving hints and saving the game. Swanky Kong debuts as a sideshow bonus trivia level where players can potentially gain coins, extra lives, and bananas.
On your quest you'll encounter these characters as well as animal friends! These friends include Rambi the Rhino (returns from Donkey Kong Country), Enguarde the Swordfish (returning friend), Squawks the Parrot (returns, but can now shoot nuts!), Rattly the Rattlesnake, and Squitter the Spider. All of these animal buddies have different abilities that will help the Kongs reach new heights, bust open bonus rooms, or pick off normally difficult enemies. In some cases the Kongs will actually transform into the animal friend, in others, they will ride the animals. Note: There are 2 other animal friend, Glimmer the Angler Fish is one. He appears in only one level and provides light for the Kongs. Unlike other animals the Kongs do not ride or become him. Clapper the Sea Lion is the other. He appears in two levels and will either cool or freeze water depending on the level when the Kongs jump on him. He is a stationary buddy so he never leaves his spot.
The number of collectibles has increased since the first game. There is now a currency system in place. These banana coins can be used at Cranky's, Wrinkly's, Swanky's, and Funky's.
Also new are the DK coins that appear in each of the levels. There are 40 of these coins to collect (68 on the Game Boy Advance.
Lastly, there are 75 Kremkoins (bonus coins) that can be found throughout the levels. The only exception to this is in the Lost World where bonus levels will award DK Coins instead of Kremkoins.
So there is a good amount of new stuff to collect in this game that was not present in the first game. Returning collectibles include extra life balloons, the K O N G letters, and bananas, There is a couple new barrels that appear in this game. One is a barrel with a ! on it.
This barrel with cause the Kongs to become invincible for a short period of time. There are new animal buddy barrels, and barrels with either Dixie or Diddy's face on them. Those barrels can only be entered by the Kong that matches the face.
One of the largest changes between this game and first is the addition of Dixie Kong. Diddy Kong remains basically the same as he was in the first game. Dixie uses her hair like a whip and can twirl it like a helicopter to decrease her falling speed and cover long distances. You can get through a lot of tough spots in the game with this technique. Also new is a team attack where the Kong's will actually hop on the each others shoulders and use each other as a throwable weapon!
Finally with all of that out of the way lets look at the world and the game itself now that most of the new features are out of the way!
The world in Donkey Kong Country 2 is, in my opinion, incredible! I wont go into too much detail, but you'll be exploring pirate ships, lava lakes, swamps, bee hives, a carnival, haunted woods,mines, a castle, and more. Each world has their own maps of levels as well. The end of each world has a boss. None of them are really that difficult at all, but that was something that I felt in the first game as well.
Graphically speaking the game is beautiful.Given the year this game came out, the graphics really push what was the norm of the day to new heights.
The picture on the left is from Donkey Kong Country 2, the right from Donkey Kong Country. Notice the background of the DKC2. It looks like there are actually layers. You can see the blue sky and clouds which pass you by, then the bramble in front of it, and then the bramble you are trying to avoid. Yes, the original graphics are also good, but the improvements made for the second game are easy to see!
The crisp gameplay from the first game returns. After playing this game again and again and again, I can say that I've never had an issue related to the gameplay, the responsiveness of the character, or anything else for that matter. The only thing that feels kind of awkward is Rattly's super jump. It feels slow to charge and sometimes I think it's charged up but it's actually not. Other than that though I have literally zero complaints.
One of the best things about this game is the music. Every single bit of music in the game is I feel, amazing. You'll hear each of the songs a few times, but the levels are all so different that say a mining level with the same music will feel completely different, making the music fresh in the process. I'll leave a few videos of the music to give you guys a little taste of what I'm talking about here.
This is the Stickerbush Symphony that plays during the bramble levels. One of my favorite tracks in the game.
This is the Mine Theme (actually name is escaping me at the moment), another one of the great tracks in the game.
Overall I love this game. I really do. It has so much good going for it and in my opinion this is one of the top games that Rare ever made and one of the best games on the Super Nintendo. If you are looking for a challenging side scrolling experience with a good number of collectibles and hidden things to find, pick this game up. It is only for the Super Nintendo, but can currently also be purchased on the Wii U's virtual console. If I had to rate this game on a scale of 10 I'd have to give it a 10. I can't think of really anything wrong with this game. Some people say there isn't enough story, but I don't think there needs to be. The objective is clear and that's what matters. The two player co-op mode is another thing that some people will criticize the game for. No two players do not play at the same time, but back in 1995, how many games like this did 2 people play at the same time? Not Super Mario World, not any of the other Donkey Kong Country games. Nope I can't think of any that did it or at least did it well. The bottom line is this game is virtually flawless and will and should be remembered as one of the SNES and Rare's greatest achievements!
Final Verdict 10 out of 10!
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