77| Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Released: November 20th, 1995

Definitive Version: Super Nintendo; Also on: eShop for New 3DS, Virtual Console for Wii U and Wii, GBA

Everyone during the '90s was familiar with Donkey Kong Country. Whether they owned it, rented it, or played it at a friend's house, they were familiar with it. What made the game stand out so much were its graphics. Never before had pre-rendered graphics been implemented so well on a console. Sure there were games like Mortal Kombat that used pre-rendered sprites and what not, but they looked nowhere near as good as Donkey Kong Country. With the help of the Super FX chip, as well as a peculiar art style, Donkey Kong Country looked as if you were playing Toy Story, before Toy Story even existed. Unfortunately, a side effect of popularity is a group of vocal haters. Many claimed that the game had lukewarm gameplay at best and its graphics were the only thing carrying its success. Even Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto said as much, which added more fuel to the fire. Truth be told these comments are unwarranted. Like all of Rare's platformers, Donkey Kong Country is a game a with very tight mechanics and polished game design, even though they went a little overboard at times with mini-games and collectibles (this would just be a mere taste of things to come). While it is true that much of its success was built on its revolutionary graphics technology, it doesn't mean that the game didn't have quality gameplay to match its success.

Donkey Kong Country is one of the best platformers out there, but the sequel managed to outdo it in every single aspect. Diddy's Kong Quest built upon everything Rare learned from the first entry and expanded it even more. The game now featured more ambitious levels with even more variety, more interesting animals to control, bigger and better bosses, and even better graphics. It was essentially Donkey Kong Country with added hot sauce. The only real significant difference between the two games is the lack of Donkey Kong. This is due to the fact that the plot revolves around Donkey Kong being kidnapped and thus his brother Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie have to save him. Diddy plays exactly like he did in the previous entry. In fact they use he exact same sprite. Dixie however is a bit a different. Her main feature is the abilities to twirl her body so her hair acts like a helicopter, thus she glides in the air. This is a lot like the tanooki suit in Super Mario Bros series but covers a much shorter distance. Dixie is a very welcome change in the series. Donkey Kong in the first game was big, bulky, and slow. Thus using two small, nimble, and quick characters is a welcome change that noticeably speeds up the game.

There is also the matter of the music in the game. The music in the Donkey Country game's are all great, and the second game in the series is no exception. It is so good in fact that it deserves its own paragraph.Throughout the game, you will find many high quality tracks, that are often a cross between being ambient and melodic.It is the absolute perfect match for the game.

The Donkey Kong Country series was a turning point for Rare. It was when the studio stopped being just another developer and began being the well renowned developer we know today...or at least used to know. During the '90s Rare made groundbreaking games that transformed their respected genres and the Donkey Kong Country series was certainly part of that. Rare gave it there all when working on the series to make a name for themselves, and it shows. Being that the second entry is the best by a good margin makes it a must play.

Preferred the original: felt more focused from what I can remember. But this was really good, too.

DK wasn't my favorite Rare series by a pretty long shot. Just off the top of my head Wizards and Warriors, RC Pro-Am and BattleToads all topped DKC... Liked their stand-alone entries too, like Solar Jetman!