Donkey Kong Land 2 1996 By: Nintendo

Overview:

Donkey Kong Land 2 for the Game Boy was my introduction to the iconic band of swingin' apes, and even after all these years, the game is still a rock-solid platformer.

The basic gameplay is simple enough; you move from point A to point B while collecting coins, bananas, and butt-bopping as many enemies in the levels as you can, in order to save Donkey Kong from the forces of Captain K. Rool.

The game's digitized character models are sharp and often make the backgrounds look rather drab in comparison. The sound is also a high point; I often find myself humming the melodies from this game while walking down the street to the video store. The game is still quite challenging to this day. I had to restart a few levels multiple times due to misjudging jumps and enemy placement, but like I said, this is still a rock-solid platformer.

Directions:

Press the "Select" button to switch between characters, which have some pretty major differences in the way that you have to play them. Diddy had a long range "cartwheel" attack, while Dixie has a shorter range "spin" attack. I recommend you try to play as Dixie Kong as much as humanly possible throughout the game, as she has a "hover" ability that allows you to get to areas that Diddy can't normally reach. Not that Diddy is a bad character, he has a greater attack range than Dixie, but I generally found the game more enjoyable if I played as her.

There are various power-ups throughout the levels, although these are rare and somewhat of a moot point since you have to go so far out of your way to find them all. They do give you somewhat of an advantage over your adversaries, such as becoming invincible for a short while and temporarily transforming in to an animal such as a dolphin or a rhino. As I said before, these are somewhat moot as they don't last nearly long enough for you to use them against any of the bosses.

The bosses in the game are the typical video game affair, as in they can't be taken down by brute force and instead you must "finesse" your way through them. Wait for a point in the fight where they make a mistake and then proceed to attack them, because attacking them straight on will actually damage you and do nothing to harm the boss. Just be patient and you will persevere.

The only differences between the GB and SNES version are aesthetic, such as the graphics not looking quite as sharp.