Got another SNES game to check out thanks to Switch Online, and it's one I've been looking forward to seeing on the emulator. That's right, it's time for Donkey Kong Country 2. BACKGROUND:
In the last SNES Online update, I was able to play the first Donkey Kong Country for the first time (thoughts on that here), and I ended up really enjoying it. At that point, I hoped that the other two games of the trilogy would come to the emulator in the future, and here we are. From what I understand, it is generally agreed upon that this game is the best out of all three, so my excitement was compounded by such high acclaim. SUMMARY: The game may be called Donkey Kong Country, but you don't actually play as him in this one. Instead, he has been kidnapped by King K. Rool (who, in this game, is now a pirate called Kaptain K. Rool), and it's up to Diddy Kong and the debuting Dixie Kong to rescue the big gorilla. DKC 2 plays pretty much the same as the first one, except that the lead character is now Diddy. He still functions pretty much the same way he did previously. Instead of Donkey Kong, he now has Dixie Kong as his partner, and she is a blast to play. Her signature ability is her hair twirl, allowing her to slow down her fall speed, which lends itself well to tricky platforming. There is also now the ability to throw your partner like you would a barrel, which is honestly situational, but kind of amusing to do. There are a tad more levels here compared to DKC 1, and I feel that they're a massive upgrade in all aspects. The designs feature more varied locales (like wrecked pirate ships, bee hives, spooky libraries, and even an amusement park), there are all sorts of interesting mechanics (honey that allows you to cling to walls, changing water levels, reworked minecart levels, and more), more bonus rooms to find, and a plethora of collectibles to uncover. While DKC 1 had solid level design throughout, the second game feels even more polished, with many levels simply feeling good to play through in terms of maintaining the player's momentum, many featuring a tougher challenge with trickier enemy placement and a greater need for precision, and the secrets being quite out of the way and satisfying to find. Bosses, while still fundamentally simple to figure out, feel improved as well, with many bosses going through multiple phases and having a wider variety of attack patterns. The final fight with Kaptain K. Rool is exemplary of this; that fight ended up being longer and more challenging than I expected, and I enjoyed it immensely. The animal buddies from the first game are back, too. Most of the animals from the first game are back (except the frog and the ostrich; sorry), and they added two new ones: Rattly the springy snake and Squitter the spider. They are integrated throughout the game a lot more, with full platforming sections (or even entire levels) that have you play as them. I like that they're an even bigger part of this game, because they're just as enjoyable to play as the main characters. Collectibles have been changed as well. You still have your bananas and K-O-N-G letters, but now you have three special coins to keep track of. First are the banana coins, which you can give to the other Kong family members for hints and other helpful things. Second are the K. Rool tokens, which are the rewards for completing the challenges in the hidden bonus rooms. These are worth getting from a completion standpoint, as you can trade them in with Klubba the Kremling to unlock the "Lost World", which is an entire bonus area with its own set of levels. Lastly, you have the DK coins, which are incredibly hard to find, but as the game itself admits, finding them is purely for the feeling of accomplishment and nothing more. Aside from Dixie, there are two other new Kongs introduced in this game. You have Wrinkly Kong, who is some sort of teacher and gives you various hints in exchange for banana coins (and also replaces Candy Kong as the save point), and Swanky Kong, who hosts various game shows you can participate it to get stuff like extra lives. They're pretty neat additions to the crew, though I never found myself really using their services, if you will. Funky and Cranky are also back from DKC 1, and have the same gameplay functions here. In terms of personality, I think Cranky is still the best, with his grumpy meta humor shining through in a lot of the dialogue. The game's presentation is largely unchanged from the first one, but it's still pretty great. The graphics feel a little more polished and have brighter color to them, and the music is as fantastic as ever. I already touched on the significance of the graphics in my blog entry on DKC 1, so I won't repeat those points here. VERDICT: People online seem to really love this game, and I get it now. It's a complete step up from the original Donkey Kong Country, and does what any good sequel should: take what worked the first time, polish that formula, and add fun, new things to mix it up. As much as I enjoyed the first game, I found DKC 2 to be more fun in terms of its level design and mechanics. Dixie is also just really fun to play as. While I think you should probably play Donkey Kong Country 1 first, you can absolutely jump into this with no prior knowledge. Regardless of which game you choose as your starting point, Donkey Kong Country is a series worth checking out if you like platformers, or if you're interested in Nintendo's pantheon of games. - end -
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
June 2024
Derryck
|