Today, I will do something positive. I was ready to do something else, but I’ve decided to hold off on that. I do have to commit to doing research every once and a while, eh?
So I’m admittedly biased but Donkey Kong Country 2 is one of the first SNES games I ever owned, and despite the fact that back then I never got beyond the second world (because I never understood save points or game progression back then) it left an impression that stuck with me for a long time. I liked the two main characters, the atmosphere it presented, the level design, and the music is for certain the first time I ever noticed game music thanks to Lockjaw’s Saga and Mining Melancholy. Everything about this game was the pinnacle of game design at the time and I’d have no problem saying it’s still the best game Rare ever made, which is still a high cliff to be on the peak of. But part of the reason it got this way is entirely because this game is a sequel. If you put a 2 at the end of your game’s title you should have probably made a game with the same title at some point before now, just putting that out there. It’s not that Donkey Kong Country is bad, far from it, but its sequel built so high from its predecessor that it easily placed Rare in one of those situations where no matter what the next game would feel like a step down, which many argue that DKC 3 be kind of like that. I could talk for quite a while about why DKC 2 does well… so I will, explaining how it springboarded off of DKC 1 to make a much better game. I don’t know if someone has tread this ground before or not because I DON’T CARE! IMMA DO IT ANYWAY!
So first thing you have to consider with a sequel is escalation. It’s not impossible to do, but you usually don’t want to pretend the first game never happened. You want the first game to play into the second. Obvious stuff, I know, and DKC 2 certainly delivers on that. The first game ends with you taking it to K. Rool on his pirate ship so he knows not to take bananas from people when he himself has no reason to eat them. The second game both ups this ante while showing how small the first game really was by essentially making Gangplank Galleon the first world of the second game. What was originally the final stage is how Diddy and Dixie get to Crocodile Isle ready to save Donkey Kong. That’s right, the hero of the first game, and arguably the icon of several games already, was kidnapped and it’s left to Donkey’s friend and Diddy’s girlfriend Dixie to get him out of there. The world also fits with what is far higher stakes, going from reclaiming stolen property to a kidnapping situation. The stages are darker, and everything feels a bit more threatening even with the most lighthearted music it provides. You’ve no longer got a giant gorilla to beat up larger foes. Both your characters are teeny tiny which helps with making the scenario feel a bit more dire even if on the whole you’ve got more tools than ever. The game even asserts this early on with the Krushas, who were previously an enemy for Donkey Kong to smack, and are now meat walls that get agitated if you slide up to them without an item in your hands to break the tension and their skull. There are far more enemies that are non-negotiable with how and when you can defeat them and with that added feeling of being on the weaker side of the enemy totem pole, one can be more willing to only engage with combat so as to continue onward rather than stick around for a soiree you weren’t invited to.
In Donkey Kong Country 1, there’s a lot of little things that nowadays aren’t anything special, but were pretty neat at the time, like bonus rooms with little games you needed to grab for 100%, or the slight differences between Donkey and Diddy with Diddy being quick and Donkey being strong. You would never have to know about either of these to get all the content that really matters in the game and aside from some extra resources, lives, shortcuts, and Cranky Kong almost being impressed with you, there isn’t much reason to care. DKC 2 adds on both parts, tightening the whole of the game’s flow. Before, DKC 1 only had two or three minigames in bonus rooms and Rareware rarely did too much to shake things up. DKC 2 in comparison just decides the bonus rooms should be short challenges that use the gimmick of the level to hide premier stage unlocking currency, or the Hero Coins that gauged how much Cranky respects you as a person. If you mess up, the game just drops you back into the main stage, no lives lost and technically no harm done. If you want another chance you have to set up your path to the bonus stage again which isn’t easy but it is a bonus stage, you don’t need it to beat the main game at all. The Lost World you need that premier currency to access is technically just for bragging rights which you can tackle whenever you wish without much consequence beyond needing to use normal banana coins to travel across the world map. The improvements also extend to our playable characters if only because Dixie is an entirely different character to Donkey Kong. Originally, Diddy’s movement options where he could roll off of ledges to get some extra length off a jump was a decent way to get collectables if you remember it. Dixie on her own, however, changes the whole game and makes swapping between the two have its advantages and disadvantages… to a point. It’s not like you’ll die if you pick wrong and the differences are subtle. For the most part everything Diddy can do Dixie can do equally. Yes she can, yes she can. She can also glide through the air, making what may be a tough platforming challenge far easier to handle. In addition, both characters hold items differently with Diddy holding them in front while Dixie holds things with her hair so they’re over her. It’s another minor thing but it does make a difference in the ease of hitting foes on the ground or in the air. Another addition is the ability to have your partner sit on your shoulders. Doing this allows you to use them as a projectile on enemies that are safe to bean with another body, or to throw them to a higher area that will then drag you along like a magnetic force allowing not only for more options for platforming, but getting an extra partner gives you a significant upgrade in your abilities beyond an extra hit. Options during gameplay are a neat key to working depth in your video game after all.
Of course there are other upgrades outside of player characters. The bosses are all unique unlike the first game where you faced two beavers and two vulture heads. Each subsection of the island uses a unique setting to make levels around and it never runs out of ideas even when one of the last stages reuses the bramble designs, compared to DKC 1 and even 3 where you’re sort of tied to a small series of tiles for stages. Not only are animal buddies more prominent in DKC 2, but there are stages where you become the animal, basically making their abilities required to progress rather than optional and furthering what can be done with stages. It especially makes replaying stages for bonus searching almost a non-issue as you’ll rarely have a situation where you’ll really hate a stage and not what to engage with it again. Even the extra Lost World doesn’t hang on previous gimmicks and ideas, instead providing its own unique stages that are still more difficult but add to the whole of the game if you decide to tackle them. Kaptain K. Roll is way better as a final boss too, if only because the length the fight has is justified with multiple patterns rather than the three attacks K. Rool had in the first game (even if they were variable attacks). There’s only one real drawback on DKC 2 compared to the original and that is the banana coins resetting each time you shut the game off, and while that can mean very little, you can be stuck in an uncomfortable position having to grind lives and coins to get out of it. It is made to make saving or asking for help be a choice you have to buy into but I’m never going to support wiping currencies between sessions, that’s just mean.
On the whole, DKC 2 is just out and out better than DKC 1 and for a game that had a lot of positives in its own right that’s not only impressive but speaks to the whole of how well Rareware was hitting it off at the time. A company that pushed a 3d look for its title, Rareware probably could have just tuned up graphics and rested on its laurels by all means, but they dug deep down and made one of the best titles for its generation where multiple people have clearly used it for inspiration in fan games and official titles all over the industry. For a game about monkeys bouncing off pirate crocodiles, you have to admit it’s an impressive feat to achieve. I’m impressed. A+.
Tazy's Corner 
No need for that good for nothing Donkey anyway.
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