Donkey Kong Land 2

Donkey Kong Land 2 is a platformer video game developed by Rareware and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1996. It is a sequel to Donkey Kong Land and a predecessor to Donkey Kong Land III. Like its predecessor, the game features a yellow cartridge and special features for the Super Game Boy. The game has a special banana border when played on a Super Game Boy.

Donkey Kong Land 2 is very similar to its counterpart SNES title, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. While it has the same storyline, areas, and setting, each level received a new layout. The game also stars Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong.

The game was eventually re-released on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in Europe in April 2014, in Japan and Australia in October 2014, and later in February 2015 for North America.

Story
The story is essentially a retelling of the events in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and is the only Donkey Kong Land game with the same story as its Donkey Kong Country counterpart. Kaptain K. Rool and the Kremling Krew kidnap Donkey Kong and in exchange for Donkey Kong's safe return, the Kremlings demand the banana hoard. Diddy and Dixie decline and head on a journey on Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey Kong.

Diddy and Dixie travel through several worlds, including the Gangplank Galleon, Krem Cauldron, Krazy Kremland, Gloomy Gulch, and K. Rool's Keep. The Kongs eventually reach Stronghold Showdown at the peak of Crocodile Isle, where they find Donkey Kong tied up in ropes. Before they can rescue him, he is lifted into The Flying Krock. There, the Kongs encounter Kaptain K. Rool. They engage in battle, and the Kongs eventually defeat the Kremling leader, and Donkey Kong frees himself from his chains. Before Kaptain K. Rool can attack again, the big ape knocks him out of his ship, sending him into the ocean.

Even after freeing Donkey Kong, both Diddy and Dixie must pay 47 Kremkoins to Klubba to enter the Lost World. After completing the world, the mouth of the stone crocodile head opens. Diddy and Dixie go inside and battle Kaptain K. Rool again. The Kongs eventually defeat Kaptain K. Rool another time and then flee from Crocodile Isle. From a distance, Diddy, Dixie, and Donkey Kong watch as Crocodile Isle sinks into the ocean.

Gameplay
Diddy and Dixie are the two playable characters, and the player can only control one Kong on screen at a time. Both Kongs share some basic abilities such running, jumping, and swimming, and they are both able to climb ropes and hang from hooks. Diddy is able to perform a cartwheel and is faster than Dixie, although he has trouble traveling across large abysses. The main difference with Dixie is her Helicopter Spin, which allows her to whip enemies and slowly fall or glide in midair. Diddy holds a barrel in front whereas Dixie holds it above herself with her ponytail. If both Kongs are in play, and the leader is hit by an enemy or hazard, the game automatically switches to the other Kong. If either Kong is missing their partner and gets hit by an enemy or hazard, they lose a life.

The game progression works the same as in other Donkey Kong Country series. Each world has some levels (usually five or six) which the Kongs must complete in order until they reach a world boss at the end. After defeating the world boss, Diddy and Dixie can access the next world. Every world has a Kong Kollege, where Wrinkly Kong can save the player's progress, and a Funky's Flights, where Funky Kong leases his Biplane Barrel for the Kongs to travel into another world.

There are either one or two Bonus Barrels in every level and one of Cranky's Video Game Hero Coins. Each Bonus Barrel leads to a Bonus Level, where the Kongs must complete an objective to obtain a Kremkoin. Some Bonus Levels can be accessed if the Kongs carry a kannonball into a kannon. Once the Kongs have collected every Kremkoin, they can access the Lost World. Video Game Hero Coins help improve Diddy's rank in Video Game Heroes. Kremkoins and Video Game Hero Coins are both necessary for 100% completion of the game.

Some levels have an Animal Barrel, which transform the Kongs into the pictured Animal Friend. Some Animal Barrels are required to enter while others are hidden from the main path and are optional to enter. As an Animal Friend, the Kongs can often defeat enemies more easily or reach hidden areas and items. In some levels, an Animal Friend is required to use its ability to progress, such as Squawks, who can fly up vertical paths. When an Animal Friend crosses a No Animal Sign, it turns back into the Kongs and an item is rewarded.

Levels
Donkey Kong Land 2 features most of the same worlds from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest except Krem Cauldron, which is a fusion of Crocodile Cauldron and Krem Quay. Most of the levels have the same name but their layouts are different. Two levels from Donkey Kong Country 2 were replaced with a loosely related counterpart: Haunted Hall with Krazy Koaster, and Castle Crush with Dungeon Danger. There are 39 levels and 7 boss levels in the game.

Regional differences
The Japanese version of the game has various changes from the English version:
 * The title was changed to Donkey Kong Land: Diddy's Kong Quest. This is not to be confused with the English Donkey Kong Land, which was also renamed in Japanese (to Super Donkey Kong GB).
 * As with Donkey Kong Country 2, various enemies have different names in Japanese:
 * Krow was renamed to Zocky.
 * Click-Clack was renamed to Beetle.
 * King Zing was renamed to King B.
 * While Krazy Koaster and Dungeon Danger were given new names in both languages (compared to DKC2's Haunted Hall and Castle Crush), Krockhead Klamber was also given a new name in the Japanese version, whereas in the English version, it keeps the same name as DKC2.
 * Various levels underwent minor layout changes:
 * In Bramble Blast, the Zinger before the Star Barrel was removed in the Japanese version.
 * In Parrot Chute Panic, in a section shortly after the Star Barrel, two Zingers in close proximity to a DK Barrel were removed in the Japanese version. This ends up fixing a sprite overload issue where the DK Barrel wouldn't appear in the English version if too many Zingers appeared on-screen at once.
 * In Kreepy Krow, the rope climbing section was shortened slightly, making this part a bit easier. A hook was moved upwards to compensate.
 * In the English version, a glitch involving the bonus stage counter (for stars or enemies) would occur if the player would lose a bonus stage with stars or enemies remaining, and then defeat enemies or collect bananas afterwards; this would cause the Kremkoin chime to be heard once the counter reaches zero. The Japanese version fixes this by resetting the counter to zero when the player would lose a bonus stage. Oddly, this bug fix did not carry over to Donkey Kong Land III, causing the bug to occur in all versions of that game (although only when defeating enemies).
 * Cheat codes do not work in the Japanese version of the game.

3DS Virtual Console differences

 * In the levels Lava Lagoon, Glimmer's Galleon, and Clapper's Cavern, any occurrence of the screen flashing (e.g. when the lava would begin to heat up in Lava Lagoon) was slowed down to half its rate on the 3DS, compared to the Game Boy.

Cheat codes
The game has three cheat codes the player can input from the title screen. The cheats do not appear in the Japanese version. While on the title screen, the player must hold either left or right button on the D-Pad and enter a specific combination of buttons. Once they enter a cheat code, an extra life sound effect plays.
 * 50 lives:, , ,
 * 40 Banana Bunch Coins:, , ,
 * 47 Kremkoins:, , , (to get 100% completion, the standard Kremkoins must be collected)

Trivia

 * The box art depicts Glimmer, even though he does not appear in the game. Said box art was later used for the title screen in the European Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2.