Donkey Kong Country II[b] is a 1995 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released on 21 November 1995 in Japan, 4 December in North America, and 14 December in Europe. It is the second installment of the Donkey Kong Country series and the sequel to Donkey Kong Country (1994).
Players control Diddy Kong and his friend Dixie Kong, who must rescue Donkey Kong after he is kidnapped by King K. Rool. The game is set on Crocodile Isle, with eight worlds of varying environments, totaling 52 levels. The game uses the same Silicon Graphics (SGI) technology from the original, which features the use of pre-rendered 3D imagery.
Gameplay – Donkey Kong Country II
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest is a 2D side-scrolling platformer in which the player controls either Diddy Kong or his childhood friend Dixie Kong through 52 varying levels over eight different worlds. The main objective of the game is to rescue Donkey Kong from King K. Rool. The game features a wide number of enemies, which include land-based reptilian Kremlings, rats, porcupines, bees, and vultures. Enemies in underwater sections include pufferfish, stingrays and piranhas. Each world culminates with a boss fight, which is required to be defeated in order to progress to the next world. Similar to its predecessor, the player-characters may neutralise most hostiles by jumping on their heads, cartwheeling through them, or throwing a barrel at them. When hit by an enemy, the active character leaves the screen, thus control will switch to the other character. The player can reclaim their partner from marked DK barrels throughout the game. If both characters die, the player will lose a life and will restart from either the beginning of the level or from the last checkpoint, which comes in the form of a star-painted barrel. If the player loses all of their lives, the game will end.[11][12]
Reception
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   [46] |
| Computer and Video Games | 94%[47] |
| Eurogamer | 8/10 (Wii)[48] |
| Game Informer | 9.75/10[49] |
| GameSpot | 8/10 (Wii)[11] 8.3/10 (GBA)[12] |
| IGN | 8.8/10[50] |
| Nintendojo | 9.9/10[15] |
| Cubed3 | 8/10[51] |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| IGN | Editors’ Choice Award[50] |
| GamePro | Best SNES Game of 1995[52] |
| Video Software Dealers Association | Video Game of the Year[53] |
Upon release, retailers struggled to meet the demand for the game.[54] Diddy’s Kong Quest sold a combined 4.37 million copies in the United States and Japan on the SNES; the total number of copies sold in Japan at 2.21 million, and 2.16 million in the United States.[55][56] It was the second best-selling game of 1995,[57] after Yoshi’s Island,[58] and the sixth best-selling game on the SNES.[57]
