Donkey Kong 2 GBA Review
Donkey Kong 2 features Diddy doing all the dirty work, trying rescue his comrade DK. The original SNES version featured similar graphics and sound, so Nintendo decided they wanted to make it as close as the last one. Although imports aren’t always perfect Nintendo did a pretty good job on changing it for the GBA.
Donkey Kong Country 2 is a lot about collecting items, more than the last one. Diddy Kong must collect Banana Coins, Kremkoins, Extra Life Balloons, Kong Letters, and Bananas, which there is much more we will only go into the main course. Donkey Kong Country 2’s unique graphics look was what put them on the market. Never has a gamer seen such rich graphics on a 16 bit system. Level design was a big plus for them as Rare spent extra hours on the levels itself. In DKC2 every little thing that could be changed from the last was changed, new enemies, new animal buddies, and much more. DKC2 is a platform game so normally you would think going back and forth would be an easy task… Well you’re wrong! There are so many puzzling twists in DKC2 that you would nearly have to go back more than once every time before you could complete the tedious levels, and boy is there a lot of them.
Many people probably remember a lot about DKC2 on the SNES, but any average person isn’t going to remember every nook and cranny about the game, so without a strategy guide, you will still probably have trouble finishing levels, and finding all of the secrets there are per level. While in DKC, the level difficulty was much easier and timing wasn’t needed as much, in DKC2 timing is need a hundred percent more. Rare added some extra items in the GBA version of DKC2, like hidden photos and golden feathers. Though these are much harder to find than the Coins, they are still fun to look for.
Donkey Kong overall has always had a nice sound base. The soundtrack of past and future games continue to blow gamers away. The special feel you get when listening to DK music is great, as the music really goes along with the levels nicely. In the GBA version of DKC2 though the music isn’t as rich as the SNES version. That might be because the speakers on the GBA are very small, and the conversion of a SNES game to a portable system isn’t always perfect, as I said before. With limited hardware in the GBA, Rare did a fine job of making the sound as nice as possible for DK fans.
In DKC2 Rare added numerous mini games to spice up the game a bit. Races with animal buddies, Item Deliveries, Kong Rescuers, and Reconstructing a Statue are all little mini games that will have you playing for a long time. Although this extra mini game feature isn’t the best thing in DKC2, it will still be a fun part of the series. The controls aren’t bad either when playing the mini games, so as tedious as some of them are, you shouldn’t have too much trouble playing the games.
Donkey Kong Country 2 overall is a great port from the SNES version. Don’t think because porting is tough, that this game will be disappointing, because it is not at all. Anyone who missed out on the SNES days, would definitely benefit from the GBA version of this game.
