Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is the second Donkey Kong game for the Super Nintendo. It is the sequel of Donkey Kong Country and the predecessor to Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. It also has a Game Boy semi-sequel, Donkey Kong Land 2. It was released in 1995 and stars Diddy Kong. This game was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2004 and on the Virtual Console in 2007.

Storyline
Kaptain K. Rool and his Kremling Krew kidnap Donkey Kong. The Kremling Leader demand the Kong’s Banana Hoard as a ransom for Donkey Kong's captivity. However, Diddy and Dixie Kong chase the Kremling Krew back to Crocodile Isle and free Donkey Kong.

The Kongs' Special Move
Each of the two Kongs can perform several moves during their adventure. The two Kongs have different moves and abilities. For example, Diddy move faster than Dixie and both characters carries item in different ways.

Cartwheel
This move allow Diddy to cartwheel into enemies, defeating them. This move can be used in conjunction with a Jump to make Diddy go farther.

Helicopter Twirl
When falling, Dixie can use this move to float slowly. On the ground, this move can be used to defeat enemies, much like Diddy's Cartwheel.

Team-Up
This move can only be used when both Kongs are controlled. One of the Kongs will pick up the other one, and then it can throw it to defeat enemies or reach normally inaccessible places.

Special Areas
Various spots of Crocodile Isle are hosted by more or less benevolent characters, each of which help the duo in different way. They are:


 * Funky's Flights II is where the player can revisit previous worlds. Funky Kong also hosts flight tests in the Game Boy Advance port.
 * Swanky's Bonus Bonanza is a quiz about various obscure facts of the game. Swanky Kong and (in the GBA port) Candy Kong host it. The prize for successfully completing a quiz is an Extra Life Balloons. When a quiz is successfully completed, it can’t be played again.
 * The Kong Kollege is where Wrinkly Kong teaches a class of Kremlings. Here that the player can learn basic facts about the game's controls, how to defeat the World's Boss, and (in the SNES version only) save the game progress.
 * The Monkey Museum is where Cranky Kong shares cryptic advice on how to find secrets hidden within levels. It is replaced by Cranky's Hut in the GBA port, where Cranky also hosts the Expresso Racing minigame.
 * Klubba serves as toll-keeper to the Lost World in Klubba's Kiosk. He lets the Kongs access the Lost World if they pay fifteen Kremkoins. In the GBA port, Klubba also hosts the minigame Bag a Bug.

Animal Buddies
Most of the animal buddies from Donkey Kong Country return in DKC2, and a few new ones are featured as well. They are:


 * Rambi the Rhinoceros acts as in Donkey Kong Country, with the added feature of a very fast dashing attack.
 * Enguarde the Swordfish acts as in Donkey Kong Country, and can also supercharge his attack.
 * Squawks the Parrot have been completely changed from his DKC self. He can be directly controlled and shoot eggs from his beak. A blue sub-species (conjecturally called Flapper) is found in the level Parrot Chute Panic. Flapper descends slowly and cannot fly upwards or fire eggs.
 * Rattly the Rattlesnake, like Winky, can jump very high. His special ability is an extra-high jump.
 * Squitter the Spider can shoot webs to defeat enemies or become floating platforms. However, he gets hurt by jumping on enemies.
 * Clapper the Seal appear in the levels Lava Lagoon and Clapper's Cavern. If the player jumps on Clapper he will cool the water, lowering it to a safe temperature to swim in (in Lava Lagoon) or freezing it (in Clapper's Cavern).
 * Glimmer the Anglerfish has a role similar to Squawks in the first Donkey Kong Country. He lights up the pitch-black water in Glimmer's Galleon.
 * Expresso II is an animal buddy only found in the GBA port. Expresso II is playable as a part of the Expresso Racing minigame.

Items
Collectibles and mechanisms are found throughout the Kongs' adventure. Here’s a list of them.


 * Bananas and Banana Bunches are found in plenty on Crocodile Isle. Collecting one-hundred bananas give the Kongs an Extra Life.
 * The No Animal Sign means that the Animal Buddies cannot continue further. When passing the sign while riding an Animal Buddy, the said Animal Buddy will turn into an item.
 * The Animal Crate contains whatever Animal Buddy is pictured on it. Jumping on it will free the Animal inside.
 * The Hot Air Balloons are found in Lava-flooded levels. They are used to safely float over Lava.
 * Crates and Treasure Chests can be thrown at enemies. Crates contains nothing while Treasure Chest will gives a variety of items after being broken.
 * Extra Life Balloons now comes in red, green and blue varieties. The balloons respectively gives one, two and three extra lives.
 * DK Coins are huge coins hidden by Cranky Kong in all of the game levels. After beating Kaptain K. Rool, Cranky will tally up the number of DK Coins collected and rank Diddy accordingly as a part of Cranky's “Video Game Hero” contest. Because of the various sidequest and minigames added in the GBA port, the number of DK Coins has increased.
 * Banana Coins are used to pay the various services provided by the other members of the Kong Clan.
 * The Kremkoins are found in the various Bonus Areas, and these coins are used to access the Lost World.
 * Kannons and Kannonballs are found in some of the levels. Putting the Kannonball inside a Kannon will grant acces to a Bonus Area.
 * Finding all KONG Letters in a level will give an Extra Life to the Kongs.
 * The End of Level Target will give a reward if it’s jumped on from far above.
 * The Skull Cart has to be ridden in a few levels.
 * A Golden Feather is hidden in each level. These items are used to upgrade Expresso II's stats in the Expresso Racing minigame.
 * Photographs are used to fill Wrinkly’s Scrapbook. There are multiple ways of obtaining these items.

Barrels
The Barrels are prominent items throughout the Donkey Kong series, and multiple variants exist, a lots of which are featured in Donkey Kong Country 2. They are:


 * Barrels can hit through numerous enemies before breaking. However, there is a kind Barrel covered by seaweeds that will breaks after hitting one enemy.
 * Bonus Barrels will launch the Kongs to a Bonus Area when jumped into.
 * Plus and Minus Barrels are in the level Haunted Hall. Plus Barrels will add time to the timer, while Minus Barrels will decrease it. When the timer runs out, a Kackle will attack one of the Kongs. Similar barrels called Check and X Barrels are found in Target Terror. These two Barrels act as switches that open (Or close) the gates found in the way.
 * Various types of Barrel Kannons exist. However, they all have one thing in common: Those barrels send Diddy and Dixie to normally unreachable locations.
 * Steerable Barrels can be steer in any directon.
 * Rotatable Barrels can rotate in the desired positions.
 * Diddy or Dixie can use Diddy & Dixie Barrels, depending on whose face is pictured (i.e. Diddy can only use a Barrel with his face on it).
 * TNT Barrels create an explosion when thrown against something.
 * DK Barrels are where the Kongs can find their defeated partner. A DK Barrel can also be used like a normal Barrel.
 * Star Barrels mark the midway point of a level. If one of these Barrels are destroyed, the Kong will continue from where the Barrel was when losing a life in a level.
 * Breaking a Exclamation Point Barrel will grant the Kongs temporal invincibility.
 * Entering an Animal Barrel will turn the Kongs into the Animal Buddy pictured on it.
 * The Biplane Barrel is available for rent at Funky's Flight II. It is replaced by the Gyrocopter in the GBA port.
 * The Krochead Barrel makes the Krocheads appear, which can then be used as stepping stones.

Change between the SNES and Game Boy advance port

 * The file selection screen at the beginning now resembles that of Donkey Kong Land 2. Also, the new title screen itself is a modified form of the box art of DKL2.
 * When fighting a Boss after it has been defeated, Swanky Kong will charge fifteen Banana Koins and calculate how much time it took to defeat the Boss.
 * Some of the characters have gained (or lost) sprites,
 * The Kongs have new voices clips, most of which were taken from Donkey Kong 64.
 * The player can now save anywhere on the map.
 * The Worlds' maps have been redesigned.
 * The player can travel to a different world for free at any time, as long as Funky Kong was seen at least once.
 * The death and end-of-level music no longer changes depending on the level.
 * The music “Run! Rambi, Run!” that played when King Zing chases the Kongs in the level Rambi Rumble was removed, and replaced by the music heard when racing against Screech. The music can still be heard in the sound test, though.
 * A cheat that allowed to obtain all Kremkoin's in the first level was removed.
 * The player's lives and Banana Koins are now saved, instead of losing them whenever the game is turned off after saving.
 * The Gangplank Galleon has crashed into the right side of Crocodile Isle, rather than being to the left of it.

Gangplank Galleon

 * Pirate Panic
 * Mainbrace Mayhem
 * Gangplank Galley
 * Lockjaw's Locker
 * Topsail Trouble

Crocodile Cauldron

 * Hot-Head Hop
 * Kannon's Klaim
 * Lava Lagoon
 * Red-Hot Ride
 * Squawks's Shaft

Krem Quay

 * Barrel Bayou
 * Glimmer's Galleon
 * Krockhead Klamber
 * Rattle Battle
 * Slime Climb
 * Bramble Blast

Krazy Kremland

 * Hornet Hole
 * Target Terror
 * Bramble Scramble
 * Rickety Race
 * Mudhole Marsh
 * Rambi Rumble

Gloomy Gulch

 * Ghostly Grove
 * Haunted Hall
 * Gusty Glade
 * Parrot Chute Panic
 * Web Woods

K. Rool's Keep

 * Arctic Abyss
 * Windy Well
 * Castle Crush
 * Clapper's Cavern
 * Chain Link Chamber
 * Toxic Tower

The Flying Krock

 * Screech's Sprint

Lost World

 * Jungle Jinx
 * Black Ice Battle
 * Klobber Karnage
 * Fiery Furnace
 * Animal Antics

Bosses

 * Krow
 * Kleever
 * Kudgel
 * King Zing
 * Kreepy Krow
 * Kerozene (Game Boy Advance Remake only)
 * Kaptain K. Rool

References to Other Games

 * Donkey Kong Country- The reason the Kongs will not swap the banana hoard for Donkey Kong is that they had just tried hard to get them back in this game. Also a stuffed Winky is found in here.
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest- The remake references the original as when you have defeated Kerozene Cranky says "I bet you didn't expect that!" as Kerozene is not there in the original, also K. Rool says "You didn't think it would be so easy did you?" as Kerozene appears.
 * The Legend of Zelda series- Link appears as at the end as a video game hero.
 * Mainstream Mario series- Mario makes and appearance as a video game hero.
 * Yoshi series- Yoshi appears as a video game hero.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog- Sonic's shoes are shown near a bun labbeled "No Hopers".
 * Killer Insticnt- One of the tents in Krazy Krem Land says "KI here" meaning the arcade machine Killer Instict is in there, also a poster of Chief Thunder from this game hangs in the Monkey Museum.
 * Earthworm Jim- His gun can be seen by the "No Hopers" bin.

References in Later Games

 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!- Wrinkly mentions how she has given up working in a school now in this game, as she did here.
 * Donkey Kong Land II- A direct sequal and almost a port of this game, with even levels sharing names and using the same bosses.
 * Donkey Kong 64- Paintings of Kaptain K. Rool hang in sunken ships in this game.
 * Diddy Kong Racing DS- In the caslte in the track Boulder Canyon, music from the castle levels here plays.

Trivia

 * The subtitle of the game in North America was originally "Diddy Kong's Quest", but changed to "Diddy's Kong Quest" before release.
 * A Virtual Boy version of Donkey Kong Country 2 was in development for a short time, but was never completed due to the system's failure. Little else is known about this unmade version.