Donkey Kong Land 2

"As good as the Snes version, which means perfect."

Donkey Kong Land was as Game Boy game as good as Donkey Kong Country for the Snes, and the same happens with this sequel, it is as good as the Snes version.

This time Donkey Kong has been captured by Kaptain K. Rool and is demanding the entire Donkey Kong’s Banana Hoard as ransom, so it is up to Diddy and Dixie to rescue him.

About the graphics I don’t know exactly if they are better, because what happens this time is that the backgrounds are not as rich as they were in the previous game, so everything looks a bit more detailed and it is easier to see what’s going on, I liked the first game’s backgrounds better even if sometimes it was a little hard to see what was going on, but this game, like the first one, excels in graphics, and it is one of the Game Boy games with better graphics ever created. And the same happens with the music, most of the tunes are from the Snes version, and they are terrific. 100 out of 10 in terms of graphics and music.

Like in the Snes version we have friendly animals to help us, and there are a lot more in this sequel: Rambi the rhino and Enguarde the swordfish are back directly from the first game, and the new ones are Squaks the parrot, Rattly the rattle snake, and Squitter, the spider. They have the same abilities from the Snes version.

Again like the Snes version, the number of secrets and bonus stages is so big that it is almost ridiculous. There are new items like those famous DK coins, or the Kremcoins, etc. The KONG letters work in a different way now, they don’t let you save the game anymore (yet they will give you an extra life like before), now to save you will have to visit Wrinkly Kong school. From the Kong family we will also meet Funky, who will hire you a plane to revisit places, and Cranky, who is as angry as always, he will give us tips and hints.

Donkey Kong Land 2 is much more similar to the Snes version than the first Donkey Kong Land was to the original, all the world maps are the same and while I can’t remember exactly, I am almost sure that there aren’t any new stages like in the first of the series for the Game Boy or if there are they are very few in comparison to the first Donkey Kong Land, anyway, needless to say that even if the world maps are the same (they are the same but their structure is different) all the levels are completely different from the Snes version, and there are some new enemies designed specifically for this Game Boy version.

This Donkey Kong Land 2 as well as any other Donkey Kong Land is a perfect game, extremely long, full of secrets, with amazing graphics and music, excellent characters, and everything a game needs to be taken as a classic. I liked the first one better, but only a little, because this game is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

”My lack of vocabulary and grammatical errors (if there’s any) are because I’m not from an English speaking country, sorry about that.”

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/03