Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES / Super Famicom) Review

 (Originally posted March, 2014)

(Released 1995, SNES/Super Famicom)

Donkey Kong Country 2 was one of the many games from my childhood that I rented but couldn't quite beat. After having a really good time with Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) last year, I was in the mood to catch up on past games and picked up the DKC2 Super Fami cart for cheap on eBay. On a quest to rescue Donkey Kong, Diddy returns with the gliding Dixie to infiltrate the Kremling’s home base.

Something that impresses right from the start is the game beginning where the first one left off, aboard K. Rool’s pirate ship. From there, the majority of the game takes place on the astonishing and memorable Kremling Island. In the first game, Donkey Kong’s island was often rather reserved artistically, usually letting the novelty of the simulated computer rendered graphics command all the attention. A year later, pre-rendered sprites were no longer reason alone to impress, so Rare let loose with their creativity to huge success. Colors are more highly saturated and varied, closely resembling FFVII’s style. Most of the enemies are anthropomorphic Kremlings, who are able to show more personality and even a sense of fashion lacking in the generic jungle creatures of the prequel. Many levels give off that sense of danger and foreboding I felt while watching Disney movies and various cartoons as a child. Stages such as Kannon’s Klaim, Bramble Blast, Target Terror, Ghostly Grove and Web Woods are a joy to play just for the music and atmosphere.

Rare’s sense of daring and creativity further branches out into the level design itself, which is where the game suffers. There are plenty of vertical scrolling levels (absent in the original), maze like designs, more creative bosses and ideas in general. Unfortunately, this isn’t always pulled off particularly well. I still remember receiving Donkey Kong Country on its day of release and beating it that same day. 2 took me a couple weeks, with frequent breaks not from the desire to pace myself, but out of frustration! World 4’s boss in particular is ridiculous, asking the player to take control of the unwieldy Squawks the Parrot, who must spit nuts at the stinger of a fast and precise giant hornet! Many new ideas are introduced, yet the physics, hit detection and controls have changed little from its prequel that very much “played it safe” in design. It must be mentioned that there are lots of collectibles, including special coins to access a secret world, but I wanted no part of it!

If you never play the game, at least listen to the soundtrack. Losing oneself in “Stickerbrush Symphony” and “Forest Interlude” will bring goose bumps, chills to the spine and maybe even tears! While often beautiful and exciting to experience, DKC2 as a whole feels like Donkey Kong himself while tied up in King K Rool’s rope. The game wants to be greatest ape ever, but is trapped within the confines of its own programming. In between some very decent playing, beautiful levels, players will be thrown a barrel-full of frustration and trial and error.