In honor of the latest OCRemix project, I am here today to talk about the greatest of the three Donkey Kong Country games:
I’d go into a more detailed analysis of why DKC2 was the height of the series, but honestly looking back on it I don’t remember much about the first or third DKC. It was the second one that was the most memorable to me, and in my experience a lot of people feel that way. So that’s a good enough reason for me.
Off of the top of my head, here are some of the things that stick out in my mind about this game:
- Greatest music of the series, hands down. No wonder OCRemix picked it for its project.
- The snake level. I have no idea why it was so fun. It just was. As an aside, this level had the best music in the game. Seriously, if you only click one link in this blog post, click this one.
- The roller coaster levels. Fun, fast paced, and original. These are levels that I would play over and over again just because.
- Two best characters: Unlike the other two games, both of your characters were small and maneuverable without having one that was too bulky and took up tons of the screen.
- Pirates. YARRR!! I think back to DKC and I think of pirates. Pirates were really only in the second game. ’nuff said.
I have this game on Game Boy Advance because I’m that person who buys new game consoles so she can play old games.
But honestly, if something is still just as fun fifteen years later, that’s a mark of success in my book. Rare in the 90s: The Pixar of Video Games. You can’t deny it!
Animal Antics. That is all.
sadly, besides the music, i felt dkc1 was the better game, could have just been me at the time, but i rarely pick up and play 2, it always seems to be 1. no idea why either, can’t really place it on any one thing.
DKC2 was amazing. It was definitely by favorite DKC game by far!
I just get sad now when I think back to the fact that back then I could probably do most of the levels with my eyes closed (just like The Lion King – now that was an awesome game :P). Nowadays I’m sure I’d die about 80 times in the first level.
DKC2 was amazing. While DKC1 was a solid game and fun, I didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did the second, and I think a lot of that has to do with the smaller characters.
It’s been forever (and now, THANKS A LOT, I’m hankering to connect the old SNES and pop that in) since I played it, and I don’t think I ever actually beat it, but those were some good times.
I play through it at least once a year, on Emu or Wii. I know every single level and all secrets and kremcoins by heart. 😀 So much fun!
(Ayashi – Ooh, the Lion King game! That was great!!)
I don’t know why these old games have their charms, but they do. I agree that they seem better than many games these days
I think there is something to be said for making the most of limitations. When you can only have so many pixels on the screen, or the character can only move in two dimensions, you have to be clever to make the most of it. There’s an innate appeal in the simplicity too 🙂
The only version of Dong Kong I ever played was the SNES one, but hoo boy, I memorized every tiny shortcut and secret (including in that rainforest where barrels shoot you between the wasps) – I know exactly where every secret barrel was, and in every single spot, I knew the place to go for what I dubbed “The Gold Animal Game” (I was 9 years old, and the game didn’t had captions; regardless to say, I have no idea what the names for those kind of things were, so I had to make do with my imagination). My favorite “animal” was the rhino. 🙂
The roller coaster levels were very, very fun too. 😀 Those might be my favorites, too, though I enjoyed the final boss fight on the ship. (Speaking about SNES version. Never knew the official name.)