4.5/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.

This game is WAY better than the original. Which is saying something, considering the original was pretty dang good! Donkey Kong is captured by Kaptain K. Rool, and it is up to Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong to save him. There are about the same amount of levels here as in the first game, but much more collectibles. Last time, all the collectibles just ended up being a way to get extra lives. Here, it’s a bit different. The K O N G letters still give extra lives, but there are coins that can be used for minigames in the overworld, as well as tips and tricks for how to play the game better. There are separate coins that unlock bridges as well. As for the big DK coins, those seem to be more for bragging rights. As of now, I only have 15, and Link, Yoshi, and Mario are kicking my butt. So, maybe I need to go back to some other levels and look for some tokens… some day. Diddy Kong controls almost exactly how he did in the previous game, but Dixie Kong has a glide-like ability when holding the attack button in the air. This made so many levels SO easy to fly through early on. However, like the last game, the later levels are krazy. The last two levels before the final boss being the definition of insanity. I was about to pull my hair out at one part where I didn’t know the snake had a charged jump to get to the next platform. Maybe that’s something the instruction manual would’ve had… The music and graphics are incredible, with many songs getting stuck in my head as I went through this game. Finishing this game made me realize why 90’s era Rare was on top of the video game world. They really pour so much heart and soul into this game. Details like when you stick to honey in the bee hive levels, your character traces their finger on the honey and licks it shoe that not one aspect of this game went without care. This game rocks, and it’s addicting to play, even in 2025. 9/10, probably one of the best 2D platformers I’ve ever played.