Donkey Kong Country 2: Приключение Дидди Конга

1995 video game

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is a 1995 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released on 21 November 1995 in Japan, 4 December in North America, and 14 December in Europe. It is the second installment of the Donkey Kong Country series and the sequel to Donkey Kong Country (1994). Players control Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie Kong, who must rescue Donkey Kong after he is kidnapped by King K. Rool. The game is set on Crocodile Isle, with eight worlds of varying environments, totaling 52 levels. The game uses the same Silicon Graphics (SGI) technology from the original, which features the use of pre rendered 3D imagery. Diddy's Kong Quest received acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made. Praise was directed at its graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack. It was the second bestselling game of 1995, and the sixth bestselling game on the SNES. It was re released for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2004. The game was made available for download on the Virtual Console for the Wii and Wii U in 2007 and 2015, respectively. It was followed by Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in 1996.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is a 2D side scrolling platformer in which the player controls either Diddy Kong or his childhood friend Dixie Kong through 52 varying levels over eight different worlds. The main objective of the game is to rescue Donkey Kong from King K. Rool. The game features a wide number of enemies, which include land based reptilian Kremlings, rats, porcupines, bees, and vultures. Enemies in underwater sections include pufferfish, stingrays and piranhas. Each world culminates with a boss fight, which is required to be defeated in order to progress to the next world. Similar to its predecessor, the player characters may neutralise most hostiles by jumping on their heads, cartwheeling through them, or throwing a barrel at them. When hit by an enemy, the active character leaves the screen, thus control will switch to the other character. The player can reclaim their partner from marked DK barrels throughout the game. If both characters die, the player will lose a life and will restart from either the beginning of the level or from the last checkpoint, which comes in the form of a star painted barrel. If the player loses all of their lives, the game will end. Diddy and Dixie have unique attributes; Diddy is more agile and will run faster, whereas Dixie has a higher jump and can spin her hair in order to glide. and Rattly's ability to jump extreme heights. The game is Dixie Kong's first appearance in the Donkey Kong franchise. Other characters include Cranky Kong, situated in "Monkey Museum", who is back due to "popular demand" to divulge secrets of the game world and provide comic relief, as well as offer advice. Wrinkly Kong, the wife of Cranky Kong and grandmother of Donkey Kong, makes her first appearance in this game. She runs an educational facility called "Kong Kollege", where she gives guidance to the player. Swanky Kong runs a game show quiz where the player may complete quizzes and earn extra lives. Funky Kong offers an aeroplane that allows the players to switch between already completed worlds. Additionally, the player can meet a large Kremling called "Klubba",

Some time after Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong is relaxing on the beach, until he is ambushed by the Kremlings. He gets kidnapped and brought to Kaptain K. Rool, King K. Rool's moniker in this game, who then demands the Banana Hoard he unsuccessfully tried to steal in the previous game for a ransom from the Kongs. Instead of complying, Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie resolve to go to the Kremling's home island, Crocodile Isle, to rescue Donkey Kong. Together, they travel through Crocodile Isle and are helped on their way by an assortment of animals to defeat Kaptain K. Rool.

Development of Diddy's Kong Quest began shortly after the release of Donkey Kong Country, Rare founder Tim Stamper served as director of the game, whereas his colleague Brendan Gunn, who had worked on the original, returned to design the game. In response to complaints from veteran gamers, the game was designed to be more challenging than its predecessor. Several working titles were considered, including DK Rescue!, Diddy's Day Out, Diddy's Wild Country, and Diddy's Wild Frontier. Diddy Kong's Quest was decided on, but was slightly altered into Diddy's Kong Quest to create a play on the word "conquest". The game was announced at E3 1995. A Virtual Boy port was in development at one time but never released. Like its predecessor, Diddy's Kong Quest uses Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Advanced Computer Modelling (ACM) rendering technology, in which pre rendered images are modelled as 3D objects and then transformed into 2D sprites and background layers. Mayles said that he dared to do without the iconic character of the series because his team's youth (Mayles himself was 23 during development) allowed them to disregard risks. The design choice to have Diddy and Dixie transform into the friendly animals that were initially mounted in the previous game was made out of concerns over sprite size; additionally, Gregg noted that having the two player characters clinging onto a parrot would significantly reduce its maneuverability. The game was re released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

The soundtrack of Diddy's Kong Quest was composed by David Wise and was released in the United States as The Original Donkey Kong Country 2 Soundtrack. The soundtrack maintains similarity to its predecessor with its prominent percussion and eclectic genres ranging between big band, disco and hip hop. The melodies and rhythms are largely comical in tone, but occasionally melancholic. Certain themes are reminiscent of compositions by Vangelis and Phil Collins. As with its predecessor, the music was produced for the SNES's SPC700 chip for the game to sound similar to the Korg Wavestation synthesizer. The game's soundtrack was the focus of an OverClocked ReMix collaboration, Serious Monkey Business. The final track, "Donkey Kong Rescued", was remixed by David Wise himself, featuring Grant Kirkhope on electric guitar and Robin Beanland on trumpet.

Upon release, retailers struggled to meet the demand for the game. Diddy's Kong Quest sold a combined 4.37 million copies in the United States and Japan on the SNES; the total number of copies sold in Japan at 2.21 million, and 2.16 million in the United States. It was the second best selling game of 1995, after Yoshi's Island, and the sixth best selling game on the SNES. Aaron Kosydar of AllGame thought that Diddy's Kong Quests graphics were superior to that of its predecessor. A reviewer of Cubed3 heralded the visuals as "unbelievable" for a 16 bit game. The music also received widespread praise, and is considered one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time. The track "Stickerbush Symphony" has received particular critical acclaim. Writing for Kotaku, Ethan Gach called it "melancholic and reflective" while still "up tempo enough to be a bop" and that when combined with its accompanying level, it was "one of the most transcendent platforming moments in the genre". In 2018, Complex ranked the game 17th on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time".

A direct sequel, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, was released for the SNES in 1996 to positive reviews. In the game, Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong must find both Donkey and Diddy Kong, who have disappeared while exploring the Northern Kremisphere, which has been invaded by the Kremlings. It was further followed by a succession of more related Donkey Kong video games, such as Donkey Kong 64 in 1999 and Donkey Kong Country Returns in 2010. Diddy's Kong Quest was later released for the Game Boy Advance in November 2004 and the Wii's Virtual Console in May 2007. It was made available for the Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2015 and 2016, respectively. It was later released on the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online service on September 23, 2020. In the United States, the game's Game Boy Advance version sold 630,000 copies and earned $19 million (~$ in ) by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 41st highest selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country.