Donkey Kong Country II

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest^[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.

Diddy’s Kong Quest received acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made. Praise was directed at its graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack. It was the second-bestselling game of 1995, and the sixth-bestselling game on the SNES.

It was re-released for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2004. The game was made available for download on the Virtual Console for the Wii and Wii U in 2007 and 2015, respectively. It was followed by Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! in 1996.

Gameplay

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]

Diddy and Dixie have unique attributes; Diddy is more agile and will run faster, whereas Dixie has a higher jump and can spin her hair in order to glide.^[12] The player can pick up the other character and throw them in any direction, similar to barrels. The game also features “animal friends”, which returns from its predecessor. Playable animals include Squitter the spider, Rambi the rhino, Rattly the snake, Enguarde the swordfish and Squawks the parrot.^[13]^[14] These animals have unique abilities, such as Rambi’s ability to charge at enemies, Squawks’ ability of flight,^[14] and Rattly’s ability to jump extreme heights.^[12]

The game features environmental effects throughout some levels, which include fog, rain, and thunderstorms. Some levels feature different mechanics and settings, such as underwater sections, riding a mine cart, grappling onto vines, and beehive levels which feature sticky honey-covered surfaces.^[11]^[12] As with its predecessor, the game features barrels that will propel the player in any direction they are facing.^[15] Aside from checkpoint barrels, some give the player temporary invincibility or an “animal friend”. Bonus barrels hidden throughout the game transport the player to a bonus game, which features a challenge such as eliminating all enemies in order to earn a “Kremcoin”.^[14] In addition, there are some barrels that can only be activated by a specific character.^[12]^[14] Players may earn extra lives by collecting balloons, earning 100 bananas or collecting four letters which spell “KONG”.^[11]^[15]

The player can achieve a maximum completion score of 102% for their save file by completing all levels and bosses, completing all bonus challenges, collecting all DK coins within the Lost World and visiting each of the four Kong family members at least once.^[16]

The game is Dixie Kong’s first appearance in the Donkey Kong franchise.^[17] Other characters include Cranky Kong, situated in “Monkey Museum”, who is back due to “popular demand” to divulge secrets of the game world and provide comic relief, as well as offer advice.^[18] Wrinkly Kong, the wife of Cranky Kong and grandmother of Donkey Kong, makes her first appearance in this game. She runs an educational facility called “Kong Kollege”, where she gives guidance to the player.^[19] Swanky Kong runs a game show quiz where the player may complete quizzes and earn extra lives.^[20] Funky Kong offers an aeroplane that allows the players to switch between already completed worlds. Additionally, the player can meet a large Kremling called “Klubba”,^[14] at “Klubba’s Kiosk”, who demands fifteen Kremkoins from the characters if they want to travel to the “Lost World” and complete a secret level.^[21]