Okay, after Donkey Kong Land on the Game Boy… there was Donkey Kong Land 2! Stupid naming convention aside, this one was also welcomed onto the handheld.
Why? As it was a conversion of the truly magnificent Donkey Kong Country 2 (1995) on the SNES (one of the console’s very best games). Launching in late 1996, it wasn’t as successful (commercially) as its predecessor. But it was a much better time of it gameplay wise, as we explore this one here today.
Bananas Galore in Donkey Kong Land 2
DKL 2 is quite a bit bigger than the original with about two hours of gameplay. Graphically it’s much the same, alongside the game’s legendary score being in place (David Wise condensed it for the handheld’s sound chip).
As with DKL, this the game cartridge for this was yellow (as in, the colour of a banana)!
And as with the SNES version, players take control of Diddy and Dixie Kong. Yes, this is when the series WENT WOKE as you could control the female character. Dixie has blonde ponytails and you can use them to helicopter around stages. That made her our character of choice for much of the title (you can swap between her and Diddy in-game).
This is how it all looks. Rare seemed to realise the busy backgrounds from DKL were brain melting, so cleared up stages with sparse levels. This makes everything quite a bit easier to play.
As with DKL, the game met with strong reviews at the time. A chance to take DKC 2 anywhere with you on the Game Boy? Not a bad substitute over the SNES option.
And Rare, once again, put maximum effort in here to try and overcome the technical limitations.
Composer David Wise did his best, too, taking his legendary DKC 2 soundtrack (one of the best in gaming history) and getting Stickerbush Symphony sounding pretty decent.
As primitive as it looks these days, for 1996 this was an incredible technical achievement from Rare. There are 40 levels, the full (if condensed) score, and the Kremkoins sub-game requirements to complete.
It’s easier to play than DKL, but very similar to DKC 2 (whereas DKL was more of an overhaul of the Donkey Kong Country original). Other than for nostalgia, or curiosity to see what this game was like, there’s little reason to play it over the best entry from Rare’s trilogy.
As video game historians, of sorts, this kind of that always intrigues us. Nowhere near as an essential purchase as it may have seemed nearly 30 years ago, but now an important part of DKC lore.
