If 1996 with Super Mario 64 marked a new era for video games, 1995 with Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was a grand finale for the previous era.
In a generation dominated by side-scrolling platform adventure games, DKC2 is the ultimate apex of the genre. From throwing giant eggs at a pirate crow to riding an Air Jordan-wearing tarantula to battling a giant wasp as a nut-barfing parrot, the pure VIBES of this game are unmatched.
Donkey Kong Country was already very 90s. Think of the opening: old Cranky Kong playing a phonograph of the Donkey Kong arcade soundtrack until a new, younger hip Donkey Kong blasts onto screen and starts grooving in sunglasses. How can you get more 90s than that?
Enter Donkey Kong Country 2: give the monkey sidekick of Donkey Kong a hip, pink beret-wearing gf that flies via her ponytail and send them off on a reptile pirate-themed adventure to the transcendent psychedelic soundscapes of David Wise. Also whenever Diddy completes a level, he does a funky monkey rap while Dixie plays a Guns N Roses-esque guitar riff. If DKC is the 90s, then DKC2 is the 90s squared.
Did I mention our monkey heroes do battle with a giant floating sword over a pit of lava? Damn anyone to the fiery depths of Hell who dare rate this game anything less than a masterpiece.
In a generation dominated by side-scrolling platform adventure games, DKC2 is the ultimate apex of the genre. From throwing giant eggs at a pirate crow to riding an Air Jordan-wearing tarantula to battling a giant wasp as a nut-barfing parrot, the pure VIBES of this game are unmatched.
Donkey Kong Country was already very 90s. Think of the opening: old Cranky Kong playing a phonograph of the Donkey Kong arcade soundtrack until a new, younger hip Donkey Kong blasts onto screen and starts grooving in sunglasses. How can you get more 90s than that?
Enter Donkey Kong Country 2: give the monkey sidekick of Donkey Kong a hip, pink beret-wearing gf that flies via her ponytail and send them off on a reptile pirate-themed adventure to the transcendent psychedelic soundscapes of David Wise. Also whenever Diddy completes a level, he does a funky monkey rap while Dixie plays a Guns N Roses-esque guitar riff. If DKC is the 90s, then DKC2 is the 90s squared.
Did I mention our monkey heroes do battle with a giant floating sword over a pit of lava? Damn anyone to the fiery depths of Hell who dare rate this game anything less than a masterpiece.