Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

This is jumping back into my SNES roots. Dust off the cartridge, give a short blow, and shove it into the slot while firmly pressing the Restart button. Ah the Super Nintendo was the first system I ever saw in action at age three. Of course I didn't play back then but I observed and fell in love with that grey and purple hunk of plastic.

The Donkey Kong Country series is fantastic. This does not include Donkey Kong 64 (notice the lack of 'country'), rather it covers the SNES DK games as well as the Wii Donkey Kong Country Returns. All four games are awesome in my eyes, the third one is the most lacking though still a fun play. Today we discuss my absolute favorite of the series Diddy's Kong Quest.

Some krunchable bits about the game:

• Donkey Kong is not a playable character rather this is his sidekick Diddy's turn to become the hero. 
• It introduces Dixie Kong, Diddy's girlfriend, who is by far the easiest/most fun to play as due to her ponytail twirl move.
• The game is a side-scroller adventure game which takes place on Crocodile Isle.
• The point of the game is to rescue DK rather than give his banana hoard (the point of the first game) back to King K. Rool.
• DK County 2's soundtrack is beautiful and adds to game's darker touch on the barrel bursting series.

What to say about this game? Hmm, characters seems like a decent place to begin. It's a starting point anyhow.

Now there are four major types of characters in this game; the Kongs, the animal buddies, the Kremlings, and the baddies. The Kongs include the two heroes mentioned earlier, Diddy and Dixie, as well as all their helpful NPC companions Funky, Wrinkly, Swanky, Cranky and of course the damsel in distress DK.

My favorite Kong character is Dixie because she is a badass.

Not only can she perform acrobatics that match Diddy's own (In the first game DK was much slower than Diddy) but she can use her hair to hover to the ground and extend jumps. That's one amazing pony tail. Dixie also has one rocking ending to each level where she wails on a guitar and head bangs. Again, badass Kong.

Real quick, a close second to Dixie would be Cranky Kong. He is the original Donkey Kong from the Mario days and complains about how easy young Kong heroes have it nowadays while giving level advice. He's mean with a cane but clever with nostalgic puns about the old NES days. Best Cranky quote, "I didn't! Whisking off maidens and chucking barrels, seven days a week I was! There was none of this lazin' around on a beach!"

So onto the other beings involved in the game. The Kremlings are the main bad guys who resemble anthropomorphic crocodiles and are found all over the place on Crocodile Isle, surprise there. They let out a funny "Krunk!" sound when you kill them which is always amusing. They are constantly trying to kill you and in a variety of ways ranging from cannons to over sized swords to skeleton ghosts and even ironically to

barrel throwing. Only one type of kremling cannot be killed without touching an invulnerable ! barrel, this guy. Behold the horror that is Kruncha! Just avoid touching them in general because after you tap him he turns red and that ain't good for your extra life count.

In any case there are more things out to kill you besides Kremlings; these things are known as the other "baddies". Some of them are really cute, some of them are really useless, and some of them are really mother fucking annoying as all hell. Such a combination of the two manifests itself in Klampon the snapping little alligator/crocodile thing.

Klampon doesn't really count as a Kremling seeing as how he is an actual reptile without thumbs. He's adorable (in my eyes) and even makes a cute "Snap! Snap!" sound as he scurries across the ground. Plus he is so exotically colored with big bulging eyes. What is not to love? A lot. He's a little bastard of an enemy. Unlike most other baddies this little guy is quick as shit. He also snaps his jaws in rhythm to his "Snaps!" which also happen frequently. The only way to kill him is to jump while his jaw is down otherwise it's bye-bye Kong. Little fucktard. 

Moving on to better and cuter things. The animal buddies I won't spend too much time on cause they aren't really worth it. They do what they sound like they'd do; they help you instead of trying to kill you. There are some crossovers from the previous game with this one which include Rambi, Squawks, and Enguarde. The two main "new" additions are Rattly (the only snake I will ever love) and Squitter (a sneaker wearing spider). Squitter is easily the most rad out of all the animals since he spits two types of web; one kills enemies and the other creates "sky" landings that enable you to cross over areas and reach hidden bonus barrels. Squitter is somewhat of a badass, just not as much as Dixie. 

So the main gameplay of DK Country 2 is side-scroller based with an over world map of each level. Like all DK Country games levels can be replayed as many times as you desire (this is useful for racking up extra lives), have a collectible DK Coin floating around, and include various hidden bonus barrels that reward the Kongs with Kremkoins. The levels are awesome and become horribly difficult, especially if you fully complete the game to 102%. I have done so because I am a lunatic who enjoys completing games to their fullest extent. Just wait til the Zelda posts. 

Anyways the hardest level agreed upon by most people including myself is the last "extra" level called Animal Antics. Throughout this level you don't play as Diddy or Dixie but rather are forcibly changed into your animal companions. Sounds like fun right? Well it fucking isn't! I went through countless lives beating the damn Squawks area.

Try being a bird that constantly has to flap his wings because otherwise he will die surrounded by thorns that kill you and bees with spinning saws for stingers while maneuvering through ever changing wind. Not fucking fun. You feel like a god when you beat it but still not enjoyable. 

What is enjoyable about the game is basically every other level and world because they are creative, have interesting themes (such as volcano, pirate ship, and theme park), and are played to beautiful scores that I still listen/workout to today. My favorite world is in fact the first world (pirate ship!) which gives it even more nostalgic charm. Replaying Gangplank Galleon is similar to discovering in Donkey Kong Country Returns that the first level is named Jungle Hijinx. Nostalgia is my favorite drug which I take in possibly dangerous doses.

Diddy's Kong Quest is a classic game filled with interesting characters, enemies, gameplay, and humor. Just be prepared to swear at Animal Antics. Happy gaming audience!