Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super Donkey Kong in Japan) is a platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, featuring Donkey Kong's friend, Diddy Kong. It was released for the SNES in 1995 as a sequel to Donkey Kong Country and was followed by Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!.

Story
King K. Rool and his Kremlings have kidnapped Donkey Kong and brought him to their island, Crocodile Isle. Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong set out to save him and to prove themselves as "real video game heroes." Along the journey, Funky and Cranky help them out as they did in Donkey Kong Country, as well as Cranky's wife, Wrinkley Kong.

Description
Donkey Kong Country 2 starts where the first game left off, in an area known as Gangplank Galleon. After this first world, the player reaches K. Rool's island, called Crocodile Isle, where the rest of the game takes place.

In order to progress through the game, players must beat stages by reaching the finish without losing both characters. The stages are divided into worlds, each one normally containing a boss fight at the end which must be beaten in order to move onto the next world.

In comparison with the original Donkey Kong Country, the game contains many new features. These include a plethora of hidden bonus stages with collectible tokens rewarded for completing, more diversity in level design and level settings, an unlockable "Lost World" with extra levels, and the ability to transform into various animals (the first game included some of these animals, but the characters normally rode them, being able to transform into them only in bonus stages). A portion of the game's theme now involves sailing and pirates, as exemplified in many enemies sporting a pirate fashion and the seaside locations in some levels. While Donkey Kong Country 2 introduced new features such as these, it also abandoned a few from the original. For example, the steel barrel was removed, eliminating the ability to roll on barrels, and the ability to find hidden items in the ground was removed. However, some of these removed features were brought back in Donkey Kong Country 3.

Plot
Like many games in the platform genre, the plot is not necessarily an integral part of the game, and therefore, much of it isn't discussed throughout the game itself. However, there is a fairly long and comical prologue in the instruction manual, covering the events leading up to the beginning of the game. A summarized version of this story can be read below.

''Donkey Kong had been relaxing quietly on the beach when he suddenly and mysteriously disappears over the night. Diddy and Dixie Kong find hundreds of Kremling footprints surrounding Donkey's smashed chair, so they begin to investigate. They quickly find a note left by Kaptain K. Rool demanding the banana hoard in exchange for Donkey Kong's safety. While Cranky was willing to give the banana hoard away, Diddy refused to do this after all he and Donkey had previously done to reclaim them (in the events of the original Donkey Kong Country). As Diddy was about to eagerly take off on a quest to defeat K. Rool by himself, Dixie tells him that she was coming along to help and there was no way of persuading her otherwise. Diddy, although displeased, sighed and allowed her to come, knowing that arguing was hopeless. Diddy and Dixie set out the morning after, hoping to prove themselves as "real video game heroes" and save their friend Donkey Kong.''

Characters
Aside from Dixie and Diddy Kong, many other nonplayable characters can be found throughout the game.


 * Kaptain K. Rool
 * K. Rool is the main antagonist of the Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land spin-off series, and he is the leader of the Kremlings. Holding the title of "Kaptain" instead of "King" as in the original Donkey Kong Country, K. Rool now appears suited in pirate clothing with a rather large handheld blunderbuss. K. Rool has captured Donkey Kong and retreated to the top of his island where he awaits the player. He has sent his various minions, the majority being that of the Kremling Krew, to many areas of the island, in hopes of capturing Diddy and Dixie.


 * Donkey Kong
 * Donkey Kong is the main protagonist in the Donkey Kong series (not to be confused with Cranky Kong, the main enemy in the original Donkey Kong game who is believed to be his grandfather). While not playable, Donkey Kong is a main part of Donkey Kong Country 2's plot and appears twice throughout the game. The first time the player sees him is in the level titled Stronghold Showdown, the final level in the sixth world, K. Rool's Keep. A boss fight normally takes place in the last level of a world, however, Donkey Kong appears tied in ropes, hanging from the ceiling. He begins screaming loudly in frustration, attempting to break free, but K. Rool pulls him back up into his plane and flies off to the very top of the island (in the GBA version, though, a boss fight is actually present). Donkey Kong later appears at the end of the K.Rool fight, where he breaks free from the same tied ropes he was previously seen in and proceeds to uppercut K. Rool through the roof of his airship.


 * Animal Buddies
 * Throughout the Donkey Kong Country series, players are able to find and ride animals to help them get through levels, defeat enemies, and find bonus stages. There are a total of seven animal buddies in Donkey Kong Country 2, as opposed to five in the original. Only five of these animals are actually rideable and able to be transformed into by the player, while the other two help in other ways. The animals can now charge their ability, as well as execute it normally. Using this may reveal a secret passage to a bonus stage, or this can possibly be used as a powerful attack. There is a slight bit more concentration on the animals than in the previous Donky Kong Country, as they can be found more often and are usually required for accessing bonus stages. The seven animal buddies are as follows:


 * - Rambi the rhinoceros
 * - Enguarde the swordfish
 * - Squitter the spider
 * - Rattly the rattlesnake
 * - Squawks the parrot
 * - Clapper the seal (not rideable)
 * - Glimmer the anglerfish (not rideable)

Expresso the ostrich and Winky the frog from the original Donkey Kong Country have been removed, although Rattly is often considered to be Winky's replacement due to their similar abilities and slightly similar physical appearance, and Expresso appears in a mini-game in the GBA remake.


 * Cranky Kong
 * Cranky Kong is the aging ancestor of Donkey Kong. Although their relationship is unclear, he is believed to be his father from Shigeru Miyamoto's original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game. Cranky is best known for his wise cracks against DK and friends, his cranky attitude, and his blatant cockiness. As in Donkey Kong Country, he offers help about stages in whichever particular world the player is in when speaking with him, while making a variety of jokes (often talking about the game's advanced nature or criticizing the player's skill level). Cranky can be found in the Monkey Museum, a small hut containing various Nintendo and Rare items and collectibles, in nearly every world.


 * Funky Kong
 * Funky Kong returns from the original Donkey Kong Country with a slightly altered look and a new plane. He allows the player to travel back and forth through the many different worlds in Donkey Kong Country 2, excluding the Lost World. In the SNES version, this is the only way to travel from world to world, without beating the boss of the world. In the GBA version, he has you complete certain tasks where you have to fly from one point to another. In the first Donkey Kong Country, Funky Kong used a Jumbo Jet Barrel (a barrel with wings and a cockpit resembling a Jumbo Jet protruding), but in this game, Funky uses a biplane barrel. In the GBA version, however, he uses a gyrocopter. A gyrocopter is also found in this game's sequel, Donkey Kong Country 3, as an unlockable from Funky when collecting all the DK Coins.


 * Wrinkly Kong
 * Wrinkly Kong is Cranky's wife and a teacher at Kong Kollege. The Kong Kollege appears in each world of Donkey Kong Country 2, aside from the Lost World, and is the only way to save the game in the original SNES version. It also contains various information about the boss of the world, enemies that may be encountered, among other things. This was her first appearance, and she later appeared in Donkey Kong Country 3 and Donkey Kong 64.


 * Swanky Kong
 * Swanky Kong is a flashy game show host gives the player an opportunity to earn extra lives by correctly answering questions pertaining to the game itself. Questions are often about various enemies, levels, and worlds, usually requiring the player to identify their correct names.


 * Klubba
 * Klubba is an extremely large, strong, and greedy Kremling who guards the entrance to the Lost World. He is green in appearance, like most other Kremlings, and carries a large, spiked club. Klubba will only let the Kongs enter the Lost World if they pay him 15 Kremkoins, although the player may choose the option to fight him. However, this fight is not done through gameplay, but rather a quick, comical scene in which Klubba simply whips the Kongs with his club, causing them to fly off the game screen. Klubba's Kiosk is found in every world except the first and last, Gangplank Galleon and The Flying Krock. Although he is a Kremling and as such a minion of K. Rool, at one point he expresses his hope that the Kongs defeat K. Rool, as K. Rool "treats the Kremlings like dirt."



Worlds
Donkey Kong Country 2 is a fairly lengthy game for a platformer, with particularly large levels filled with a plentiful amount of secrets, making it larger overall than its predecessor. It is divided into areas called Worlds, each which typically contain a set of levels revolving around a certain themed setting. There are only seven main worlds, with a special eighth world, titled the Lost World, unlocked by using bonus coins, called Kremkoins, found hidden throughout the stages. The Lost World can be accessed from Klubba's Kiosk, found in each world except for the first and the last, and depending on the world it's accessed from, the player will travel to one of the five specific levels. The game's eight worlds, in order, are as follows:


 * 1. Gangplank Galleon: The remains of K. Rool's ship from the original Donkey Kong Country, it has beached itself on the rocky coast of Crocodile Isle. Level settings in Gangplank Galleon include decks, flooded holds, and riggings of ships. The boss of the world is Krow, an enormous vulture who attacks by dropping eggs and knocking them out of his nest. The player must avoid Krow's eggs and throw them back at him four times to succeed and move on to the next world.
 * 2. Crocodile Cauldron: A heated volcanic region covered in lava, oddly the wreckage of several ships is found here. Crocodile Cauldron features mostly lava filled caverns and mine shafts throughout, as well as an area filled primarily with lava and very little land, forcing the player to ride on a hot air balloon in order to cross. The boss of the world is Kleever, a giant Kremling submerged in the lava that attacks by shaking a massive magical sword violently, stabbing forward through the air, and shooting fireballs. During the fight, cannonballs fall out of the sky at periodic intervals; Kleever can be defeated if the player accurately throws these cannonballs at his sword's bladed section six times.
 * 3. Krem Quay: Supposedly once the port of Crocodile Isle, it is now an overgrown swamp filled with the debris of ships, be they afloat, sinking, or submerged underwater. The setting of a few of Krem Quay's levels is a marsh area with heavily polluted water due to a crashed oil tanker. The boss of the world is Kudgel, a grey pallette swap of Klubba (possibly his brother), who attacks by jumping (when Kudgel lands, the resulting tremors can momentarily stun the player as well) and swinging his large club. The player must defeat Kudgel by hitting him with TNT barrels six times, being able to successfully hurt him only when a TNT barrel appears.
 * 4. Krazy Kremland: A large and rundown amusement park, Krazy Kremland seems to be partially built on a swamp, and many regions within it are filled with Zinger hives and bramble vines. The levels in the amusement park consist mainly of roller coasters, which are not only haunted but also broken. The player actually rides these roller coasters, in a backdrop featuring ferris wheels, fireworks, and other typical carnival scenery. The boss of this world is King Zing, a huge Zinger who attacks by chasing the player, shooting out stingers, and later spawning other Zingers. This boss fight is unique due to the fact that the player must transform into Squawks directly after the level begins and fight the entire battle as him. In order to win, the player must hit King Zing seven times while he is not invulnerable, using Squawks' ability to shoot coconuts.
 * 5. Gloomy Gulch: A creepy forested area filled mainly with ghosts, Gloomy Gulch also features a small Zinger hive, a coaster in a haunted house, and a windy forest. The boss of the world is Kreepy Krow, the ghost of the first world's Krow, who must now be defeated by barrels. The battle this time is much faster and contains segments where the screen scrolls upwatds, forcing the player to keep up by climbing on ropes while simultaneously dodging eggs flying in various directions on the screen. Kreepy Krow only takes three hits, however, the player must defeat a necky (as well as dodge ghost neckies) in order to make each barrel appear.
 * 6. K. Rool's Keep: K. Rool's Keep is K. Rool's castle area built near the very top of Crocodile Isle. This world features sections that happen to be frozen and others that are constantly battered with freezing winds. A magical floor rises inside the tower level "Castle Crush", while the climbing level "Chain Link Chamber" seems to have no floor. There is also a continually scrolling castle area and a tower that features a rising toxic liquid, forcing players to keep moving in both. No boss is fought at the end of the world in the original Donkey Kong Country 2, instead, Donkey Kong is seen tied up and hanging from a rope, before being pulled up into K. Rool's airplane which then travels higher into the sky. However, the Game Boy Advance port featured a boss called Kerozene, a massive orange Kremling whose attacks include slashing with two swords (both resembling Kleever), punching, and sending a wave of fire through the ground. The player must throw a cannonball at his face in order to damage Kerozene, and repeat this seven times to defeat him.
 * 7. The Flying Krock: K. Rool's flying fortress, this area is partly in the sky. The Flying Krock has only one level, aside from the final boss level. Titled "Screech's Sprint", it is a challenging race against K. Rool's bird, Screech, through a bramble setting featuring obstacles and enemies such as Zingers impeding the player's progress. The boss of the world is Kaptain K. Rool, leader of the Kremlings and the game's main antagonist. Upon entering K. Rool's airplane, Donkey Kong is seen once again hanging by and tied to ropes before the battle begins. K. Rool has a large array of moves, mainly, he uses his cannon to fire various projectiles and, towards the end of the battle, suck the player in towards him. To hurt K. Rool, the player must throw cannonballs into his cannon when given the opportunity, which will cause it to malfunction. Doing this nine times will defeat K. Rool and trigger the game's regular ending.
 * The Lost World: A secret area located inside Crocodile Isle, the entrances to the Lost World are scattered about on the island and are being guarded by Klubba. The levels in this world do not necessarily follow a specific theme, as areas include volcanic settings, vast jungles, an icy vertically declining cavern, among others. The levels in the Lost World are generally some of the hardest levels in the game, forcing the players to pass difficult obstacles and face tougher enemies rarely or never found in typical levels. The boss fight in the Lost World is a rematch with Kaptain K. Rool. K. Rool uses many of the same attacks from the previous battle in rapid succession, however, once this is over he takes only one hit to defeat. This must be beaten in order to get the true ending of the game, collect the final DK Coin, and achieve a 102% completion rating.

Music
Donkey Kong Country 2, like its predecessor Donkey Kong Country, features a well received score with each piece matching its designated level.

Reception
Donkey Kong Country 2 was highly praised by both critics and fans alike upon release, especially in the platform gaming community. Acclaimed features such as the impressive and unique level design, well-hidden secrets and easter eggs, highly-detailed rendered graphics, a dark, mysterious atmosphere with a large sense of exploration and discovery, and a memorable orchestral soundtrack are often considered the main reasons for Donkey Kong Country 2's success and critical praise. While Donkey Kong Country 2 plays very similar to the original Donkey Kong Country, most agreed that the sequel's many improvements and added depth made it a better platform gaming experience. It has an average overall ranking of 93% at Game Rankings.

Game Boy Advance port
In 2004, a Game Boy Advance port was released. The game, now titled Donkey Kong Country 2, dropping the original's subtitle, included new features such as additional mini-games, a new boss, and the insertion of characters that didn't appear in the original. The complete list of changes can be read below.


 * The game now has an intro viewable by creating a new file, which is based off of the prologue from the original game's manual.
 * The graphics were brightened considerably.
 * When fighting a boss more than once, Swanky Kong now charges ten Banana Bunch Koins and times the player.
 * The player now has the ability to save for free anywhere on the map, as opposed to saving only at Kong Kolleges scattered throughout the game, sometimes for a fee of two banana coins.
 * The player can travel to a different world for free at any time, as long as they have seen Funky Kong at least once.
 * Stronghold Showdown now has a boss named Kerozene.
 * The death music and end-of-level music no longer depend on the level being played.
 * In the level Rambi Rumble, when King Zing chases the player, the Screech's Sprint music is now played. The song that was originally played, Run! Rambi, Run!, is no longer heard in this level, but can still be heard in the sound test.
 * The player's lives and banana bunch koins are now saved, instead of being lost whenever the game is turned off.
 * A new Mini-Game called Bag A Bug can be found at Klubba's Kiosk.
 * A new mini-game called Expresso Racing can be found at the Monkey Museum. It involves racing as Expresso from a 2D viewpoint, trying to place first against other racers.
 * Each level now has a Gold Feather hidden in it. Each Gold Feather collected helps the player in the aforementioned mini-game.
 * Scrapbooks are now hidden throughout some levels and these are needed in order to get certain Hero Coins. Wrinkly Kong offers subtle hints pertaining to their locations.
 * All the overworld maps are completely redesigned and are now much larger.
 * Kong Kollege, Cranky's Cabin, Funky's Flights II, and Swanky's Showdown all have a different look.
 * Cranky comes along and talks to the player after beating a boss. In the original version, Diddy would play his boom box or Dixie would play her guitar, depending on which character was being controlled at the time the boss was defeated.
 * Some sprites from other Donkey Kong games were borrowed and used in this one. For instance, the frogs that appear in the swamp levels are Winky's sprites from Donkey Kong Country, and the bats in the castle levels are from Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
 * The Warp Barrels hidden in certain worlds now have a new design.
 * The Kackles in Haunted Hall are now all wearing the same cap. They originally had different colors to indicate their difficulty.
 * The inactive Kong is no longer shaded.
 * Some glitches have been removed, but a few others still exist.
 * On the levels, Target Terror and Rickety Race, the background was changed from night to early morning, and the screams heard in the BGM for those levels were removed.
 * Dixie Kong's helicopter-spin can be heard, although it was not heard in the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3.
 * A Button is Jump (formerly used for the B Button), B Button is Attack and throw partner (when Teamed-Up) (both formerly used for the Y Button), R Button is Team-Up and Split-Up Team (both formerly used for the A Button), L Button is Dismount Animal Friend (formerly used for the X Button). However, you can change partners to be in the lead by pressing the L or SELECT Button, although in the SNES original, it was only used for the SELECT Button.
 * The sound effect of hitting the Check and X Barrels were changed from a good/bad sound to sound more like the gate going up or down.

Not all the changes were productive however. The changes to Funky's Flights II made it possible for players to get permanently stuck in the game. If a character fails to complete the "practice" round in Gangplank Galleon, Funky will not give the Kongs the gyrocopter. As the gyrocopter is the only way of leaving a completed world, the player will be stuck if revisiting a world they have completed (defeating the boss a second time will not advance the player to the next world, as it did in the original Donkey Kong Country 2). The sound quality is also inferior to the original, as the GBA's sound hardware isn't as powerful as the SNES. The graphics for the GBA's version are also inferior in quality to the original, probably because of the fact that the GBA screen is so much smaller than a TV screen and thus the resolution for all SNES games redone for the GBA are slightly poorer in quality in general, although there are usually many other enhancements (such as those listed above) to attempt to compensate.

Famicom version
A pirated software company named Hi-Game released Super Donkey Kong 2 (the Japanese name of Donkey Kong Country 2) for the Famicom (NES) in 1999. This translation was incomplete, lacking most of the levels, features, music, and even characters found in the original SNES version. The cartridge is very rare and hard to find.

Despite the fact she appears on the Title, Game Over, and Ending screens, Dixie Kong is not a playable character in this version of the game, limiting the player to playing only as Diddy.





Levels
The Famicom release contained only three levels, including a level which originally did not appear in the first area (Gangplank Galleon) in the SNES version:


 * Pirate Panic
 * Mainbrace Mayhem
 * Rattle Battle

Gameplay/Other Differences

 * Difficulty is increased not only because Diddy is the only playable character, but also because there are no continue barrels, no normal (weapon) barrels and no animal helpers (except Rattly the Snake, who makes an appearance in the final level).


 * Banana Coins are found floating in the air in some of the levels and can also be collected at the End of Level Targets, but they are completely worthless since Cranky Kong, Wrinkly Kong, and Funky Kong are removed in this version. What led to the inclusion of the Banana Coins in this version is unknown, but it may have been for authenticy or perhaps the Kong family members (Cranky, Wrinkly and Funky) were originally going to be included but left out due to a deadline.


 * As one may expect, the sound quality is toned down due to the fact the NES's sound capabilities are far weaker than the SNES. All of the music and sound effects are in Mono sound only, and is of MIDI quality. However, surprisingly, the Famicom version includes full versions of the included music tracks and sounds very true to the originals. Still, a lot of music tracks are missing mainly because there are so many levels missing.

Trivia

 * In the prologue found in the game's instruction manual, the writers frequently break the fourth wall, like Rare often does. For example, Cranky Kong comments that the plot of Donkey Kong Country 2 is "even worse than Donkey Kong Country!"


 * The player can find out whether or not they have collected all the bonuses for a certain level by checking the title for that level at the bottom of the screen. If there is an exclamation mark after the title, the player has collected all the Kremkoins (bonus coins) for that level; if there is a symbol of a Hero Coin next to that, the player has collected the Hero Coin for that level.


 * All of Wrinkly Kong's math problems in the Kong Kollege are wrong.


 * The first time the player defeats K. Rool, Cranky tallies your Hero Coin total and compares that with the performance of other Nintendo characters. Mario, Yoshi and Link make an appearance as the top 3 in that respective order.


 * A few more cameo appearances of non-Nintendo characters' trademark devices are that of Sonic's shoes and Earthworm Jim's gun and tights by a trash can with a sign that says "No Hopers" (these were removed in the GBA version). Also in Cranky's cabin, there is a poster with the character Thunder from another one of Rare's SNES games, Killer Instinct.


 * In all the bramble stages, each stage had a different color of the setting. For example: "Bramble Blast" was a bright green color, "Bramble Scramble" was an olive green color (with a darker sky in the background meaning it was dark), and "Screech's Sprint" was an orange-brown color (with a sunsetting sky). Not just the brambles, other levels that have the same archetypes have different colored atmosphere. Like the swamp levels, some were greenish, yellowish, and purple (meaning it was night time). In the lost world Lava stage "Fiery Furnace", it had a darker and purple feel to it. The ship cargo levels had different color water (like Glimmer's galleon was green, and the one in the lava world was red, because it was hot water.) With the ship deck levels, some were a normal blue sky, an orange sunset, and a green sunrise. A lot of other level types had different colors, also. It is known that the game has been using palette swap.


 * Donkey Kong Country 2 was a Virtual Boy game for a short time in development.


 * In the first level of the first world, the first screen you get is almost exactly the same as Donkey Kong Country's King K.Rool boss battle.