Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Playthrough
61995, SNES. Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Naturally, Nintendo wanted to follow up on their smash-hit with more of what gamers love and expect. What gamers might not have expected, though, is Donkey Kong, the title character, would be sidelined and made into the damsel. He’s been captured by Kaptain K. Rool and the only ones who can save him are his buddy Diddy Kong and Diddy’s girlfriend, Dixie Kong. It’s an interesting little bait-and-switch, but bringing in Dixie and her ability to hover in the air for a short period of time using her hair offers new potential Rare maximizes and utilizes.
They also give the animals a larger role this time around. Rambi, Enguarde and Squawks return from the original. Joining them on the playable side is Rattly the Rattlesnake and Squitter the Spider, who bring some interesting dynamics to the fore. You even get to play as them in lieu of the Kongs in certain stretches. Squawks has the biggest leap forward as a playable character compared to the original while Enguarde suffers the most. Rattly and Squitter get decent playtime, as well. At times, they have such a strong performance one wonders if developer Rare is testing out the idea of giving them their own game. It’s an interesting and bold concept.
The game design overall takes advantage of these new features and functions for the most part. However, the difficulty is too all over the place and there are large chunks and sections in the second half that put too much emphasis on trial-and-error rather than execution and can make the game quite frustrating. I’m all for making the game harder, but they pushed too hard on the difficulty aspect with some of the stages. Particularly the bramble stages, which are frustrating to no end. The conundrum of the boss fights hasn’t quite been solved, either. They’re certainly better than the original, but only the second crow fight in the fifth world is the only fight that brings anything new or interesting to the table.
Visuals are first-rate and the gameplay is solid, though some lag happens in some of the more crowded sections. The music is a nice mix of pirate shanties for the background and some original tunes that rank with the best in the series.
Diddy’s Kong Quest certainly has a lot going for it and some of the improvements are appreciated, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the original.
0:00 Intro
0:20 Gangplank Galleon
13:52 Crocodile Cauldron
31:45 Krem Quay
53:20 Krazy Kremland
1:13:08 Gloomy Gulch
1:31:14 K. Rool's Keep
1:51:04 The Flying Krock
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