Donkey Kong Country 2

This is my favorite classic SNES game, but probably not for the reason that you think. I know all of you reading this are likely aware of the legendary status of this game. Nintendo was behind in releasing their new console, the Ultra 64, and they needed to release top quality games on the SNES to compete. There long-time rival, SEGA and a newcomer competitor Sony had both brought new more powerful 32-bit consoles to market the Sony PlayStation in particular was turning out to be a real success. Nintendo needed to convince consumers that their older and less powerful console was still a competitor in the market. Indeed 1995 would see the release of some of the best games to grace the hardware in its history. Games like Yoshi’s Island, Chrono Trigger and of course Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest.

The game really stood out from everything else due to the use of silicon graphics to make the sprites. Essentially a fully rendered 3D model is photographed frame by frame creating a sprite that resembled a 3D model. At the time the visuals were impressive although there is some debate as to how well they have held up. Personally, it’s not my favorite graphical style but for this game in particular it just works, and I could not imagine it being any other way. But that is not why it’s my favorite.

The gameplay is excellent and a marked improvement over the original game. Both Characters are lighter feeling and Diddy is every bit as fun as he was in DKC1. Dixie has a very Tales like feature in that she is slightly slower but can hover over gaps. There are other subtle differences, like Dixie carries her object over her head which makes her better suited to attacking airborne enemies from below. Diddy, on the other hand, carries his object in front of him like a shield. Both characters have a momentum boost in the form of Diddy’s roll and Dixie’s spin that serves as an attack. It can also be used to cover large gaps as if you roll of a cliff you can jump at the bottom of the role even without ground underneath you. So, the gameplay is excellent, but it is still not why it is my favorite SNES game.

So why? Why am I so attached to this game? My brother and I got this game in 1996 when I was 13 and he was 11 years old. We stormed through it together, moving through the excellent and imaginative levels making it all the way to the end of the Gloomy Gulch and trying to work our way through K. Rool’s keep. Our progress was interrupted by a planned summer vacation to the Ozark mountains where we would visit several landmarks and attractions in Eureka Springs Arkansas and Branson Missouri. My brother never made it home from the trip as he was tragically killed in an accident.

In the midst of grieving and my family from all over coming to see us for the funeral any time that I could spare I would bang my head against the last few levels of DKC2. It served as a distraction yes, but as much as my brother and I had looked forward to going on that trip, we were also looking forward to coming home and beating that game together. It was going to be the first game we had ever beaten together. I remember watching the credit’s role after throwing myself at K. Rool over and over and just crying. I had beaten it and the realization was that it was the last thing we had ever accomplished together. I still pick up the game for a play-through once a year and it still holds up really well after all this time. But the main reason I still play it is because all these years later those controllers and old cartridge connect me in a tangible way to him. It is our game, mine and his and I cannot help but feel him and think of him when I play it. To me that makes games special in general. They form a muscle memory that is more than just remembering patterns or speed-running games. They connect us physically to another time and place sometimes in a way that other forms of media can not quite achieve.