Donkey Kong Land 2 Explained

Donkey Kong Land 2 is a platform video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. It is the sequel to the 1995 Game Boy game Donkey Kong Land and is part of the Donkey Kong video game series. It was released worldwide in late 1996. It was enhanced for the Super Game Boy with different shades of color, as well as a 16-bit banana border on the edges of the television screen. Like the original Donkey Kong Land, it came packaged in a banana-yellow cartridge. The game was followed by Donkey Kong Land III, which was released in 1997.

The game has since been re-released via the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console^{[1] [2]} and Nintendo Switch Online.^[3]

Gameplay

Nintendo Power described the game as a conversion of .

Plot

Donkey Kong Land 2 stars Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in their quest to rescue Donkey Kong from Kaptain K. Rool and the Kremling Krew. While its stage names and world themes are borrowed from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (except for Castle Crush, which became Dungeon Danger, and Haunted Hall, which became Krazy Koaster), the level designs are different.^[4]

Donkey Kong Land 2 had the same storyline from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. The manual contains a simplified version of the story from its SNES counterpart - K. Rool has kidnapped Donkey Kong and is at Crocodile Isle, and it's up to Diddy and Dixie to save him.^[5]

Reception

Donkey Kong Land 2 is rated at 79.00% at GameRankings based on five reviews.^[6] Nintendo Power praised the gameplay and graphics but criticized the similarities between the levels and those of Donkey Kong Country 2. GamePro was positive to the game's side-scrolling action, hidden areas, music, and graphics.^[7]

Nintendojo gave the game 8.5 out of 10, but was critical to its save system.^[8] Nintendo Life gave the Virtual Console re-release a 7 out of 10, praising the amount of content Rare managed to cram into the game but criticizing it for being similar to Diddy's SNES version.^[9]

By 1997, 1.5 million units had been sold worldwide.^[10]

See also

• List of Donkey Kong video games

Notes and References

1. Web site: Life . Nintendo . 2015-02-26 . Nintendo Download: 26th February (North America) . 2024-11-26 . Nintendo Life . en-GB.
2. Web site: Life . Nintendo . 2014-10-20 . Nintendo Download: 23rd October (Europe) . 2024-11-26 . Nintendo Life . en-GB.
3. Web site: Romano . Sal . Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online adds Donkey Kong Land 2 . Gematsu . November 26, 2024 . November 26, 2024.
4. September 1996 . Donkey Kong Land 2 . . 88 . 80–87.
5. Book: Donkey Kong Land 2 Instruction Booklet . . 1996 . 2 . 2021-05-20 . 2021-05-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210520201204/https://www.thegameisafootarcade.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Donkey-Kong-Land-2-Game-Manual.pdf . live .
6. Web site: Donkey Kong Land 2 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193543/http://www.gamerankings.com/gameboy/197138-donkey-kong-land-2/index.html . March 3, 2016 . November 22, 2015 . GameRankings.
7. January 1997 . Donkey Kong Land 2: Diddy Kong's Quest . . . 100 . 44.
8. Web site: Ross . Patrick . Donkey Kong Land 2 . November 22, 2015 . Nintendojo . November 23, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151123033936/http://www.nintendojo.com/archives/reviews/GB/view_item.php?1145161813 . live .
9. Web site: Frear . Dave . October 24, 2014 . Donkey Kong Land 2 . November 22, 2015 . . August 31, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150831142414/http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds-eshop/donkey_kong_land_2_gameboy . live .
10. News: Rothstein. Edward. December 8, 1997. Nintendo's Game Boy lives as nostalgia for simpler computer games catches on. The New York Times. subscription. 25 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20150527052924/www.nytimes.com/1997/12/08/business/technology-connections-nintendo-s-game-boy-lives-nostalgia-for-simpler-computer.html. 2015-05-27.