Damn Dirty...Little Apes!

In 1994, Donkey Kong Country came out in conjunction with Rare and with it's impressive rendered 3D style graphics, sweet sounds and platforming, it was a huge hit.  It took a forgotten Nintendo character who was a villian, made him the hero of a platformer and gave him a sidekick to do battle against the Evil Commander K Rool, the Bowser to Donkey Kong's Mario.  K Rool had his army of Kremlings and have made off with Donkey Kong's Banannas.  It was a decent game with a decent challenge but many including some at Nintendo that said the game was way too simple and was all style with little substance.  Indeed it's simple "hop n' bop" style was perfected by Mario years ago and didn't leave much else.

The next year with some spiffed up graphics and improved sounds, Donkey Kong Country 2 was born.  Not only is it one of the best sequels ever, it proved to be one of the SNES's best games ever.

Captain K Rool is back for revenge and has kidnapped the big ape himself Donkey Kong and took him away to the Kremling's own hideout, Crocodile Isle.  With his pigtailed pal Dixie Kong, Diddy is off to rescue his big bad Uncle.  Many of your animal pals are back along with the other members of the Kong family but your in K Rool's neighborhood and he doesn't take kindly to you tresspassing and made sure that this trip is NOT a cake walk.

Your trip through Crocodile Isle's sunken ships, bayous, fun parks and hinterlands is not going to be easy.  While controlling Diddy or Dixie isn't hard it's making tricky jumps, dodging angry Kremlings and making moves from the barrel cannons, one to another.  Diddy throws objects less awkwardly then Dixie but Dixie and her blonde braids can hover for more controlled jumps.  Gameplay is still mostly hop n' bop but with more secrets to find, including a hidden boss and a hidden series of levels along with all the bonus games and hidden DK Coins there is a lot more going on with the game.  Cranky Kong is still around to now SELL you hints and Swanky Kong can award some free lives by playing trivia games.  You now need those banana coins to pay for your services and that helps add to the challenge.

Some levels especially early on are a walk in the park, but others like Slime Climb, Bramble Scramble and your first trips through the Bee Hives are a nightmare.  One level Castle Crush had a bug that could BREAK the original game literally if you triggered the bug.  Be careful on your quest.

The graphics are perhaps the best on the SNES.  Sunsets, rain falling, wood and rope grains and more along with almost being able to see the fuzz on your little ape buddies. 

The music is great and one of my most favorite music tracks, the map screen are spooky as you go into unfriendly territory.
 
Other tracks are platforming standard but are great.  No digitzed voices other then oomphs and ohs! but the game doesn't need them.

Donkey Kong Country 2 is a TOUGH game.  It's a good game, a fun one and involving one but TOUGH.  The surprising thing is that even with those cute little monkeys running around, you wouldn't think it would be that hard.  It's tougher then this monkey's Uncle's earlier game thats for sure