Rareware really learned a lot after the first Donkey Kong Country and Country 2 feels the peak for the series so far.

platforming and overall gameplay is butterly solid, the controls are just great and the new animal friends to use are good.

presentation is even better, the visuals are crisp for the SNES with detailed backgrounds and lots of different animations. the soundtrack is really fucking amazing, David Wise is one of the best game composers out there and it's not even close.

boss battles are a lot better than in the first game, they are no longer re-skinned enemies made bigger but instead actual different enemies with multiple phases and interesting mechanics.

the level-design while great and definitely better than the first game still has some cheap layouts and odd enemy placements here and there specifically the Hive levels and Bramble/ocassional animal mount levels that were a bit frustating to go through with their maze-like layouts.

the King Zinger boss fight felt a bit cheap and far too long, definitely not on par with the rest of the game imo.

overall fantastic game, it's really that good like most people say and is definitely an must-play for any platformer fan.