Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES, 1995)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-8 Challenge-7.5
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-8 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
+
Fast paced and intense
Lots of levels and secrets
New animals to ride (or to help in levels) and mini-games to play
Some innovative level design
New character (Dixie, can hover in the air)
Good flow (you can maintain constant motion throughout most of the game)
Some improved bosses (several phases each)
Dixie's moves are better incorporated into the level design than Donkey's were in DKC1
Throw partner move (leaves your partner vulnerable for a while and can kill it off if used on the wrong enemy)
Hidden bonus levels and items (most bonus levels are pretty lame)
+/-
More focus on generic item collecting (toll booth checkpoints (15 coins each, unlocks 1 level at a time) - at least it's optional and unlocks a bonus world/second ending (the DK coins however are pretty much pointless)
-
Trial & error (somewhat loose scrolling, hard to react to what's behind or above at times, boss patterns, some mechanics)
So-so jump height control
Dixie replaces Donkey Kong (so why is it called Donkey Kong country?)
Still somewhat floaty physics
Diddy is better than Dixie
Some overpowered animals (Spider)
Cheap kiddy atmosphere (backgrounds look photo-shopped and plastic with generic themes and more garish colors (lava, mineral cave etc), characters break into a '90s 'tude mode at the end of levels)
Less uses for barrels and rolling jumps
More vertical scrolling levels
Collected lives still aren't saved (when loading a game you're back at 5 lives)
Sloppy hit detection (mostly very forgiving, sometimes hard to tell where a platform ends, inconsistency around spikes (climb into a spiky ceiling via a rope and it won't hurt))
Barrel maze
Some distracting backgrounds (theme park cart rides)
Jumping downwards off a hook looks your movement until you've reached the ground or another hook (can't steer or grab onto walls)
Failed chase scene in the last honeycomb stage (dramatic music goes on, but you can just let the bee fly ahead of you and make it disappear)
Bee spawn bug in chain link chamber stage (castle/tower stage)
Some tedious parts (windy forest and spider forest stages, autoscrolling castle stage)
Regular ending without full completion is pretty crap (Cranky just mocks you for not collecting everything) and the real one is a Castlevania rip off
All your basic coins reset to nil (aren't saved) after turning off the game?
Level Design-8 Frustration-8 Fun-8 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
+
Fast paced and intense
Lots of levels and secrets
New animals to ride (or to help in levels) and mini-games to play
Some innovative level design
New character (Dixie, can hover in the air)
Good flow (you can maintain constant motion throughout most of the game)
Some improved bosses (several phases each)
Dixie's moves are better incorporated into the level design than Donkey's were in DKC1
Throw partner move (leaves your partner vulnerable for a while and can kill it off if used on the wrong enemy)
Hidden bonus levels and items (most bonus levels are pretty lame)
+/-
More focus on generic item collecting (toll booth checkpoints (15 coins each, unlocks 1 level at a time) - at least it's optional and unlocks a bonus world/second ending (the DK coins however are pretty much pointless)
-
Trial & error (somewhat loose scrolling, hard to react to what's behind or above at times, boss patterns, some mechanics)
So-so jump height control
Dixie replaces Donkey Kong (so why is it called Donkey Kong country?)
Still somewhat floaty physics
Diddy is better than Dixie
Some overpowered animals (Spider)
Cheap kiddy atmosphere (backgrounds look photo-shopped and plastic with generic themes and more garish colors (lava, mineral cave etc), characters break into a '90s 'tude mode at the end of levels)
Less uses for barrels and rolling jumps
More vertical scrolling levels
Collected lives still aren't saved (when loading a game you're back at 5 lives)
Sloppy hit detection (mostly very forgiving, sometimes hard to tell where a platform ends, inconsistency around spikes (climb into a spiky ceiling via a rope and it won't hurt))
Barrel maze
Some distracting backgrounds (theme park cart rides)
Jumping downwards off a hook looks your movement until you've reached the ground or another hook (can't steer or grab onto walls)
Failed chase scene in the last honeycomb stage (dramatic music goes on, but you can just let the bee fly ahead of you and make it disappear)
Bee spawn bug in chain link chamber stage (castle/tower stage)
Some tedious parts (windy forest and spider forest stages, autoscrolling castle stage)
Regular ending without full completion is pretty crap (Cranky just mocks you for not collecting everything) and the real one is a Castlevania rip off
All your basic coins reset to nil (aren't saved) after turning off the game?