As I looked at Donkey Kong Country 2 for the Game Boy Advance, it was hard for me to imagine that the original was released almost a decade ago. Booting up the game brought back a flood of memories from the past. The game made a smooth transition from the 16-bit classic, even though it does suffer from a resolution drop, which is the same problem that the original Donkey Kong Country had. However the game still looks great, and the level of detail is amazing.

The Kremlins are Back!
The story opens to find Donkey Kong getting a dose of very needed rest and relaxation on the beach. He takes note of Funky Kong catching some serious waves, and wonders how life could get any better. While unbeknownst to him the Kremlings in their mighty air ship were planning to exact their revenge on him. I guess they still hold a grudge from their last encounter with our hairy hero. Miles away Diddy, and his new friend --who just so happened to be a girl-- Dixie were waiting for the big ape himself to return. Nightfall was fast approaching and still no sign of Donkey Kong, so they decided to go look for him. Soon they learned the awful truth: Donkey Kong was kidnaped, and they had to save him. So it began... Diddy and Dixie's quest to save their friend Donkey Kong from the cruel clutches of the Kremlings.


Bananas!

When I first got a chance to play Donkey Kong Country 2, I was initially disappointed that Donkey Kong wasn’t a playable character. He was after all my favorite, and well... the game bore his name, right? But all it took was giving the game a real chance, and yes, I found number 2 to be better than the original.

What Donkey Kong Country 2 does is tighten up the somewhat loose gameplay of its predecessor. Don’t get me wrong, the original Donkey Kong Country was a solid effort, but it needed a bit of balance in this area. The idea of having dual characters that could be switched on the go was a great one, but the original never really took full advantage of this. And yes, there is a difference between the Kongs, but not so drastic that the player would need to switch from one or the other. Donkey Kong Country 2 changed this completely because both Diddy, and Dixie have subtle differences that really flush out the game experience. For example, Diddy does his patented cart wheel attack, which has great range. Dixie --on the other hand-- uses her pony tail move as an attack, which doesn’t have the range but she can use it to slow, and control her descent. If you have both Dixie and Diddy you can use them in a sort of tag team approach, as well. Pressing the R button will have one climb on the on the other's back. This stance allows the player to toss one of the monkeys at an adversary, or increases the ability to reach paths that are not accessible otherwise.