A Look Back At Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 25 Years Later
February 7, 2021
By Ryan Porzl
February 7, 2021
By Ryan Porzl
With the release of Donkey Kong Country in 1994, the world was introduced to one of the greatest games of all time on one of the greatest consoles of all time. With the game's success, a sequel was a no brainer and that's what we would get in Donkey Kong County 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Released in November 1995, the game see Diddy Kong as the star and joined by girlfriend Dixie as they venture to Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey Kong from the first game's antagonist K. Rool. With the 25th Anniversary having come and gone, we'll take a look at another classic.
Characters
Diddy Kong- The nephew of Donkey, Diddy takes center stage in DKC2 as he journeys to Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey after he's captured by K. Rool. Diddy is faster and jump higher than Dixie.
Diddy Kong- The nephew of Donkey, Diddy takes center stage in DKC2 as he journeys to Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey after he's captured by K. Rool. Diddy is faster and jump higher than Dixie.
Dixie Kong- The girlfriend of Diddy, Dixie joins Diddy in his adventure to rescue Donkey from K. Rool. Dixie is capable of hovering by spinning with her hair.
Cranky Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Cranky is the original Donkey Kong from the 1981 game but now spends his time offering advice from Diddy and Dixie when they visit him. In the Game Boy Advance version, he also runs a race where the player controls Espresso the Ostrich from the first game.
Funky Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Funky runs Funky's Flights which allow Diddy and Dixie to return to previous levels that had already been beaten. In the Game Boy Advance version, Funky runs a gyrocopter bonus game.
Wrinkly Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Wrinkly is Cranky's wife. In the original Super Nintendo version, she runs a school for Kremlings called "Kong College" that allow players to save their game. In the Game Boy Advance version, Wrinkly not only saves your game but can give you "homework" which allows you to collect pictures of enemies while in both versions, she also gives advice in exchange for banana coins.
Swanky Kong- A member of the Kong Family, Swanky runs a bonus game show where the player can win extra lives by correctly answering trivia questions.
Donkey Kong- After serving as the protagonist in the first game, Donkey takes a backseat as he's captured by K. Rool and held for ransom in exchange for his banana hoard. His capture leads to the events of the game.
Kaptain K. Rool- The antagonist of the game. K. Rool is the crocodile leader of the Kremlings who in this game captures Donkey Kong and holds him for ransom in exchange for his banana hoard. While he posed as a King in the first game, he now is a pirate captain.
Plot
Taking place some time after the original game, the story begins with Donkey Kong relaxing on the beach before he's ambushed and captured by the kremlings under the order of his old nemesis K. Rool (now Kaptain K. Rool). After having failed to steal Donkey's banana hoard in the first game, K. Rool now plans to hold Donkey as ransom in exchange for the hoard and is holding him in the kremlings lair of Crocodile Isle. Instead of giving into K. Rool's demands, Diddy decides to venture out and rescue Donkey with the help of his girlfriend Dixie. The two fight their way through seven areas before confronting and facing K. Rool on his Flying Croc ship. After K. Rool is defeated, Donkey escapes and gets revenge by uppercutting K. Rool out of the Croc and to the water below. However, K. Rool survives and heads to the mysterious Lost World where Diddy and Dixie engage him in one final battle. After he's defeated, K. Rool falls into the geyser that's powering the island. Diddy, Dixie, and the rest of the Kongs escape and along with Donkey, watch Crocodile Isle sink while K. Rool escapes to fight another day.
Taking place some time after the original game, the story begins with Donkey Kong relaxing on the beach before he's ambushed and captured by the kremlings under the order of his old nemesis K. Rool (now Kaptain K. Rool). After having failed to steal Donkey's banana hoard in the first game, K. Rool now plans to hold Donkey as ransom in exchange for the hoard and is holding him in the kremlings lair of Crocodile Isle. Instead of giving into K. Rool's demands, Diddy decides to venture out and rescue Donkey with the help of his girlfriend Dixie. The two fight their way through seven areas before confronting and facing K. Rool on his Flying Croc ship. After K. Rool is defeated, Donkey escapes and gets revenge by uppercutting K. Rool out of the Croc and to the water below. However, K. Rool survives and heads to the mysterious Lost World where Diddy and Dixie engage him in one final battle. After he's defeated, K. Rool falls into the geyser that's powering the island. Diddy, Dixie, and the rest of the Kongs escape and along with Donkey, watch Crocodile Isle sink while K. Rool escapes to fight another day.
Gameplay
DKC 2 plays exactly the first game which is a side scrolling/platformer. The stages are the same with the player having to move Diddy and Dixie from the beginning of the stage to the end all the while facing enemies and avoids pits and holes. While most of the levels are the usual side scrollers, some stages deviate as there are swimming levels and flying levels, among other varieties. As is the case with games like Mario, the game allows players to acquire extra lives in the form of balloons and if they get 100 of an item, specifically bananas. Another way to gain extra lives is to find letter blocks that have "K", "O", "N", and "G" that are scattered throughout each stage. Each stage also has barrels with stars on it that serve as checkpoints as well as "DK" barrels which allows the player to get either Diddy or Dixie if they have only one or the other.
DKC 2 plays exactly the first game which is a side scrolling/platformer. The stages are the same with the player having to move Diddy and Dixie from the beginning of the stage to the end all the while facing enemies and avoids pits and holes. While most of the levels are the usual side scrollers, some stages deviate as there are swimming levels and flying levels, among other varieties. As is the case with games like Mario, the game allows players to acquire extra lives in the form of balloons and if they get 100 of an item, specifically bananas. Another way to gain extra lives is to find letter blocks that have "K", "O", "N", and "G" that are scattered throughout each stage. Each stage also has barrels with stars on it that serve as checkpoints as well as "DK" barrels which allows the player to get either Diddy or Dixie if they have only one or the other.
The game has seven levels including Gangplank Galleon, Crocodile Couldron, Krem Quay, Krazy Kremland, Gloomy Gulch, K. Rool's Keep, and The Flying Croc with each level besides The Flying Croc having as much as six stages and/or including a boss battle while there's a bonus level called The Lost World. Each stage also has secret locations that lead to bonus barrels. When the player enters the barrel, they have to complete an objective in a certain amount of time and if successful, they will acquire a kremling koin. If the player collects a certain number of kremling koins, they can gain access to The Lost World. The Lost World features several harder levels and the true final battle with K. Rool. Beating him gives the player the true ending. The game also features DK Coins with one scattered throughout each stage. The more coins collected, the higher the player moves up in Cranky's Video Game Heroes which features Mario, Link, and Yoshi. Another new coin is banana coins which can be used at Wrinkly's school or Swanky's bonus games or Funky's flights.
The animal buddies return from the first game which help Diddy and Dixie advance and in some cases can kill enemies easier or help reach areas. To get these buddies, a crate with their logo will be on it. These animal buddies include the returning Rambi the Rhino, Enguarde the Swordfish, and Squawks the Parrot as well as new buddies like Rattly the Snake, Clapper the Seal, Quawks the Parrot (a purple version of Squawks), Glimmer the Anglerfish, and Squitter the Spider. The animal buddies play like Yoshi from Super Mario World where Diddy and Dixie ride them and they can assist the player but if the player is hit, they will lose the animal buddy who will run away unless it either falls into a hole or the player can jump back on them. Unlike the first game, the animal buddies have special features like charge attacks or Squitter can create spider webs for the player to jump on to. A new feature would see Diddy and Dixie go into an animal buddy barrel which allows them to transform into that animal buddy. However, another new feature in this game is that unlike the first game, the player can only go so far with the animal buddies before they run into a sign with the animal buddy crossed out. If the player passes that sign with the animal, the animal changes into an item.
Behind the Scenes
Work began on Diddy's Kong Quest almost immediately after the release of DKC but before the latter game earned it's commercial success. One of the things the sequel attempted to solve was make it more challenging than the first game as veteran gamers thought the first game was too easy. When work began on the game, it had several working titles including "Diddy's Day Out", "Diddy's Wild Frontier", "Diddy's Wild Country", and "DK Rescue!" before eventually settling on "Diddy Kong's Quest" before that was altered to "Diddy's Kong Quest" as it's a play on the word conquest. Designer Gregg Mayles was responsible for the pirate theme of the game due to being interesting in The Golden Age of Piracy.
Work began on Diddy's Kong Quest almost immediately after the release of DKC but before the latter game earned it's commercial success. One of the things the sequel attempted to solve was make it more challenging than the first game as veteran gamers thought the first game was too easy. When work began on the game, it had several working titles including "Diddy's Day Out", "Diddy's Wild Frontier", "Diddy's Wild Country", and "DK Rescue!" before eventually settling on "Diddy Kong's Quest" before that was altered to "Diddy's Kong Quest" as it's a play on the word conquest. Designer Gregg Mayles was responsible for the pirate theme of the game due to being interesting in The Golden Age of Piracy.
The idea of Diddy being the main protagonist was to surprise players as Mayles decided to do without Donkey because he was 23 at the time and his team being young allowed them to disregard risk. The creation of Dixie Kong was for several reasons. First was to use the first game's mechanic of having two playable characters. Second was likely due to the removal of Donkey's girlfriend Candy Kong due to Nintendo being concerned of her sexual provocative nature. Diddy's model was used as the base of Dixie and from there, her ponytail, feminine features, and clothes were added. Up to 50 names were reportedly considered for Dixie including Didene, Dee, Daisy, Dandi, Dolly, Dizzie, Danni, Dippy, and Ducky with Diddiane being planned before going with Dixie. With the creation of Dixie, the designers decided that unlike the first game where Donkey and Diddy largely played the same, the designers wanted Diddy and Dixie to play differently or have different abilities in order to force players to switch between the two which is a reason why Dixie was given her hover and descend slowly ability. Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto returned to help with the creation of the game's characters including motifs for Dixie's beret including a banana, a heart, and a logo inspired by the musical group ABBA. The idea behind Diddy and Dixie changing into the animal buddies in certain levels was made out of concern for sprite size. Like DKC, Diddy's Kong Quest used Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Advanced Computer Modelling (ACM) rendering technology in which pre-rendered are modeled as 3D objects and then transformed into 2D sprites and background layers. Designer Gregg Mayles also decided to have the game be less linear and more encouraging to exploring in order to avoid reproducing the original game. Along with the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom release, plans were also in place to release the game on the short lived Virtual Boy but this never happened likely due to the Virtual Boy failing.
Perhaps to no surprise, many people who worked on the first game returned for Diddy's Kong Quest. Rare founder Tim Stamper would direct the game while David Wise and Eveline Fischer returned from DKC to score. This time, Wise and Fischer were also being joined by Graeme Norgate who previously worked with Wise on Donkey Kong Land and later scored or provided sound effects for games like Blastcorps, Diddy Kong Racing, and Goldeneye 007. Chris Sutherland returned from DKC as programmer while Gregg Mayles returned as a designer while also serving as producer. Steve Mayles and Adrian Smith returned as artist having been among the artist from the first game.
Release
DKC 2 was released on November 21, 1995 in Japan, November 20, 1995 in North America, and December 14, 1995 in Europe on the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. It was met with universal acclaim as GameRankings scored it 90%, AllGame scored it 4.5 out of 5 stars, Game Informer scored it in 9.75/10, IGN scored it 8.8/10, Nintendojo scored it a 9.9/10, and Cubed3 scored it 9/10. Diddy's Kong Quest was awarded IGN's Editor's Choice Award, GamePro's Best SNES Game of 1995, and Video Software Dealers Association Video Game of the Year. The game sold a combined 4.37 million copies in the United States and Japan (2.16 million in the USA and 2.21 million in Japan) and would go on to be the second highest selling game of 1995 behind Yoshi's Island, the sixth highest selling SNES game, and the highest selling SNES game that was never packaged with the system. Most of the praise was pointed at the gameplay, the soundtrack, and the graphics. However, it did have criticisms including some levels being considered too difficult for younger gamers and that it lacked ambition having a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.
DKC 2 was released on November 21, 1995 in Japan, November 20, 1995 in North America, and December 14, 1995 in Europe on the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. It was met with universal acclaim as GameRankings scored it 90%, AllGame scored it 4.5 out of 5 stars, Game Informer scored it in 9.75/10, IGN scored it 8.8/10, Nintendojo scored it a 9.9/10, and Cubed3 scored it 9/10. Diddy's Kong Quest was awarded IGN's Editor's Choice Award, GamePro's Best SNES Game of 1995, and Video Software Dealers Association Video Game of the Year. The game sold a combined 4.37 million copies in the United States and Japan (2.16 million in the USA and 2.21 million in Japan) and would go on to be the second highest selling game of 1995 behind Yoshi's Island, the sixth highest selling SNES game, and the highest selling SNES game that was never packaged with the system. Most of the praise was pointed at the gameplay, the soundtrack, and the graphics. However, it did have criticisms including some levels being considered too difficult for younger gamers and that it lacked ambition having a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.
Aftermath
The success of Diddy's Kong Quest continued the franchise as a Game Boy game Donkey Kong Land 2 which was loosely based off the SNES version came out in 1996 as did the sequel Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! which would also be released on the SNES/Super Famicom. In 1997, Donkey Kong Land 3 would be released on the Game Boy as did Diddy Kong Racing which was a racing game starring Diddy Kong. They were followed with 1999's Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64. By the early 2000s, the franchise would enter the wilderness due to Rare being bought out by Microsoft. During the 2000s, the franchise would have some experimental games until it returned to it's roots via Retro Studios with 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns which has been followed by 2014's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. As all this was happening, Diddy's Kong Quest would be re-released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 with new features while the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom version would be ported to the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.
The success of Diddy's Kong Quest continued the franchise as a Game Boy game Donkey Kong Land 2 which was loosely based off the SNES version came out in 1996 as did the sequel Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! which would also be released on the SNES/Super Famicom. In 1997, Donkey Kong Land 3 would be released on the Game Boy as did Diddy Kong Racing which was a racing game starring Diddy Kong. They were followed with 1999's Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64. By the early 2000s, the franchise would enter the wilderness due to Rare being bought out by Microsoft. During the 2000s, the franchise would have some experimental games until it returned to it's roots via Retro Studios with 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns which has been followed by 2014's Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. As all this was happening, Diddy's Kong Quest would be re-released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 with new features while the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom version would be ported to the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.
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