Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Rare really made people turn their heads with Donkey Kong Country back in 1994. It's fantastic visual style and fast, fun platforming made it stand out from Nintendo's own Super Mario World. A year later, they released a sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Focusing on Diddy Kong instead of Donkey himself, Rare set out to improve upon the original's gameplay and level design. Going with a Pirate theme they had plenty to work with. Could a year of development time really lend itself to being a better game than it's original? Or is Rare making their own creation walk the plank?

Ape Overboard

While the plot of the original game was simply Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong fighting the Kremlings to get Donkey's Bananas back, Country 2 is about Diddy and his new girlfriend Dixie Kong fighting the Kremlings to get Donkey himself back. King K. Rool is back as Kaptain K. Rool and he has another entire crew of Kremlings ready to stop Diddy and Dixie in their tracks. Just like in the original, the story is pretty nothing and just an excuse to actually play the game and for Donkey to not be playable. The game also happens to take place on a Kremling Island rather than DK Isle making the intruders the Kongs this time, which is a nice switch up, I suppose. Other than that, Diddy and Dixie are being helped by some of the Kong family again, which is nice to see them helping out again but the story remains as transparent as could be.

Old Ship, New Coat of Paint

The gameplay in Donkey Kong Country 2 largely remains the same as the previous game, which isn't a bad thing. You still move from left to right and avoid obstacles in order to make it to the goal, the only thing that changed is how you get to the end. Donkey Kong Country 2 is more advanced, obviously, and more refined than the previous game and that allows it's new ideas to shine through. The first thing you'll notice is Dixie's ability to float with her hair, similar to Earthworm Jim and his head. This is a very valuable tool and can make the game easier, but it also allows for the game to be trickier. The levels are more varied than in the first game and the stage gimmicks are more plentiful than before. Your basic abilities are pretty much the same with the addition of the Team Up. In the previous game, your only interaction with your partner was to swap out with them. Here, you can pair up with your partner and throw them. This allows you to reach higher areas or kill enemies from a distance. It's not used as cleverly as it possibly could have been, but it's still a neat new addition.

Another returning feature from the first game is the ability to ride an animal buddy. Three buddies return from the first adventure; Rambi the Rhino, Engaurde the Swordfish and Squawks the Parrot. Squawks has actually been upgraded from holding a light in a single stage to being able to carry the pair around. These levels are pretty fun and used in very specific areas keeping them from being overused. Other new Animal Buddies are Rattly the Rattlesnake and Squitter the sneaker wearing Spider. Rattly replaces Winky the Frog and basically performs the same while Squitter sort of replaces Expresso. Squitter is one of the more unique ones and levels focused on Squitter are pretty tough. That's also a change I neglected to mention; there are stages focused on the Animal Buddies. So focused that they actually transform you into the Animal Buddies. The level designs in these particular stages are built just for the Animal Buddy making them some of the trickiest stages in the game.

As previously mentioned, members of the Kong Family are present again. Funky Kong is back to let you travel to worlds you've already conquered and Cranky is back to tell you about secrets hidden in each level. Candy doesn't make a return, instead replaced by Wrinkly Kong who runs the Kong Academy and now handles saving. Wrinkly's secondary function also changes what Cranky focuses on, in Kong Academy you can pay coins, a new collectible, in order for Wrinkly to tell you hints on certain topics. In Cranky's case, pay him coins and he'll tell you where the DK Coin is in each level, more on collectibles later. The last Kong member is Swanky Kong and he runs a Game Show where you can answer trivia questions to earn lives. Swanky appears in each world, like every other Kong, and each world holds 3 sets of questions. You can only win once per play session and each one costs coins, the more coins they cost the more lives you get for winning. Basically, if you are just going to play the game to get to the end, Swanky and Wrinkly will be the only ones you visit. They are all useful to have around anyway.

Now, about collectibles. Bananas from the first game return, obviously, as do the Kong Letters. New collectibles are Banana Coins, DK Coins and Kremling Coins. Banana Coins are purely currency used to buy clues, use Funky's Barrel Plane, save the game (that's right) and to play Swanky's quizzes. These are by far the most common coin and you better collect them all as turning the game off resets your total to zero. DK Coins are probably the most useless and just for collection sake and to get Cranky Kong off your back. The Krem Coins are the ones you want to collect as they are used as currency to enter a bonus world known as The Lost World. These levels are as hard as they come and completing them all requires you to get most, if not all, of the Krem Coins. To get Krem Coins you need to complete bonus rooms. Unlike the Bonus Rooms in the first game, they are separated into three different categories this time; Grab the Coin, Destroy'em All and Collect the Stars. These mini-games are less throwaway than the Bonus Rooms in the original and are fun to find. Some of these are found in Barrels with a very large B on them so they are hard to miss when they are on your screen.

The last little gameplay change I'll mention are the bosses. In the original game, the bosses were very lame and pretty easy, aside from King K. Rool himself. Here, they cranked up the challenge a little and made the bosses more interesting. Some are still easy, but some are downright challenging unless you know exactly what to do. The best part; they all have unique backgrounds and patterns. The bosses were the biggest problems with the original and it's good to see them fixed. In the end, Donkey Kong Country 2 is not much different from the original, but what is different is WAY better, and it's not like the original was bad.

The Beautiful Sea, The Ugly Krem Pirate

Donkey Kong Country 2 even manages to one up the original in the presentation department. The visuals are practically the same, but what's better is that there is more of everything. More enemy types, more stage backgrounds, more Kongs, more variety visually in general. The visuals are still top-notch for the Super Nintendo and the music is just as fantastic, even more so in a lot of ways. This is still the peak of video game music and the visuals have also aged well. The bosses are also no longer just giant enemies, they are all unique. I don't know how amazing could get better in this regard but it has.

Sail to Treasure and Adventure

Donkey Kong Country 2 had a lot to live up to and Rare knocked the Kremling out of the park. It has everything that made the original so great and more. More Kongs, more stages, more gimmicks and more variety. The addition of Dixie and her hair spin gives more casual players a chance and it also allows the level design to be that much trickier. Most sequels end up being worse than their originals but Rare has managed to avoid such a fate. If you liked the original, play the sequel. It's a no brainer. Even an Ape could see that the sequel defeated the original. In the case of Donkey Kong Country, more is always better.