Board 8 > Finished replaying Donkey Kong Country 2 (Quick levels rankings)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Great Levels

Target Terror
Haunted Hall
Kannon's Klaim
Ghostly Grove
K. Rool Duel
Lockjaw's Locker
Hot-Head Hop
Mainbrace Mayhem
Krockhead Klamber
Rickety Race
Windy Well
Klobber Karnage

Good Levels

Web Woods
Barrel Bayou
Rattle Battle
Castle Crush
Squawks's Shaft
Pirate Panic
Hornet Hole
Topsail Trouble
Bramble Blast
Gusty Glade
Screech's Sprint
Jungle Jinx
Animal Antics
Kleever's Kiln

Average Levels

Lava Lagoon
Gangplank Galley
Krockodile Kore
Slime Climb
Kudgel's Kontest
Bramble Scramble
Toxic Tower
Fiery Furnace
Mudhole Marsh
Clapper's Cavern
Kreepy Krow
Krow's Nest
Parrot Chute Panic
Chain Link Chamber
Red Hot Ride

Bad Levels

Black Ice Battle
Arctic Abyss
Rambi Rumble
Glimmer's Galleon
King Zing Sting
Stronghold Showdown

Still probably my favorite 2-D platformer ever. The level design is superb. There's very little bad in this game, and even then, I wouldn't say anything here is abysmally bad. It's just bad relative to how great the rest of the game is.

toxic tower should be great tier

Toxic Tower was revelatory

You ever done insta-platforms with Squitter? If you press L and R slightly desynced, it generates a platform right under Squitter's feet. Love speeding through Web Woods with that.

VERY good list, agree with pretty much all of it aside from thinking Arctic Abyss is fine, or at least not worse than Black Ice Battle. A couple I like speeding through so I'm biased toward 'em (Parrot Chute Panic especially is a ton of fun to freefall), but very little objectionable!

Yeah, I didn't care for either of the ice levels, but that's just me.

It's been a while since I've played and can remember which levels I like and dislike. I think the only levels I really dislike are the bosses (the weak spot of the game imo) and like... nah I think they're mostly fine? I don't like Glimmer's Galleon but that's about it

Yeah, I love K. Rool Duel, but other than that, most boss fights are pretty by the numbers and easy.

Also it's crazy how good the roller coaster levels are in this game. All three are top tier, and if anyone argued for any of them as the best level in the game, I'd understand.

K. Rool's Keep + The Flying Crock because it means the game is almost over

MZero posted...

K. Rool's Keep + The Flying Crock because it means the game is almost over

Get out

I might replay DKC1 and 3 and rank those levels too

People talk about how much anxiety Minecart Mayhem caused them as a kid in DKC1, but I always loved that level.

The one that always has me on the edge of my seat from DKC1 even to this day is Stop & Go Station.

One thing that stands out playing DKC1 right after 2 is how much shorter 1's levels are so far. I blew through the first two worlds in 30 minutes total.

Leonhart4 posted...

People talk about how much anxiety Minecart Mayhem caused them as a kid in DKC1, but I always loved that level.

the levels that give me anxiety are my favorite levels!

I get that aspect of it too

I'm just saying I think it's a fun level, not an anxiety inducing one, but I love the thrill of making precision jumps

Leonhart4 posted...

People talk about how much anxiety Minecart Mayhem caused them as a kid in DKC1, but I always loved that level.

The one that always has me on the edge of my seat from DKC1 even to this day is Stop & Go Station.

Agreed on both

Solid list. Some of my changes would be:

Great levels - Castle Crush, Toxic Tower, Rattle Battle, Animal Antics
Good levels - Rambi Rumble, King Zing Sting
Average level - Mainbrace Mayhem
Worst level - Red Hot Ride

One thing I love about DKC1 that I wish 2 had more of is long sequences of navigating the level through precise shots out of barrels. It's so fun to get into a rhythm where you're just rapid firing through it without missing a beat.

As a guy who loves 100%ing games, the one glaring weakness DKC1 has is that so many of its bonus rooms required for 100% completion have absolutely no visual tell, and often require leaps of faith/trail and error to find.

DKC2 is the absolute masterclass of hiding all of its secrets while keeping everything fair game. DKC3 is, for the most part, really good about it too, but there are a few poorly constructed levels where this is a bit of a problem.

I would also go as far as to say, Pirate Panic belongs in great tier simply for how insanely efficient the level is when it comes to farming extra lives while staying at top speed the entire time.

Yeah, I'm not a 100% completion guy in general, but DKC2 has the right amount of secrets and does a good job of giving hints at where to find them. I think DKC1 has secrets for the sake of secrets (in other words, there's no real incentive to find them because they don't offer anything you can't get elsewhere), and DKC3 goes a little overboard with them.

I'm kinda surprised Crocodile Cauldron is winning. It'd probably be fifth for me.

Krazy Kremland > K. Rool's Keep + Flying Crock > Gloomy Gulch > Krem Quay > Crocodile Cauldron > Gangplank Galleon > Lost World

I realized I didn't vote yet and now it's a tie.

Finished DKC1. I'd say it's similar to 2 in that there are very few bad levels, but it doesn't have as many great levels. Most levels would fall in the good or average range.

Also one of the biggest improvements in 2 is the implementation of animal buddies. Expresso in particular is rough because his hit boxes are so different from everyone else's.

Finished the first world of DKC3. Don't know how to explain it, but this game is just less aesthetically pleasing than the other two. Levels are still pretty good so far though.

I think I kinda like what they did with the Hero Coins in this game, but I'm not totally sure. This is one of those rare things where I've never really been able to figure out if I like it or not.

I think DKC2 is truly a masterclass in hiding secrets in a 2D platformer; there doesn't seem like there should be a lot of room to hide things, yet they find a way, but somehow it never feels totally unfair. I think DKC3 mostly does a good job but is hindered by the way they decided to do DK Coins in that game. Finding DK Coins in DKC2 always felt really special because they always put them in a spot that feels earned, whereas DKC3's all have to be siloed off to their own secret areas entirely or just put out in the open. Sometimes the puzzle of collecting them is interesting but I just prefer the way DKC2 does it.

I think the Hero Coin experiment in DKC3 was mostly cool, but it's a shame they couldn't figure out a decent way to integrate it into water levels.

Finished world 2 of DKC3. It feels like they tried a little harder with the bosses in this game, although there's one boss coming up that I remember hating when I was younger. We'll see if it still sucks or it was just me not being as good at video games!

I talked before about how rough DKC1's implementation of animal buddies was. After four worlds of DKC3, I am forced to conclude that the only animal buddy this game cares about is Ellie. She gets plenty of use. The others pop up sporadically here and there.

I feel like Enguarde isn't TOO far behind Ellie, but you can definitely tell which of the buddies was the new one that inspired level ideas.

I mean Enguarde shows up in water levels just because there's no one else who can do it.

It also feels like when the buddies other than Ellie show up, you don't really get to control them that long. It seems like they mostly exist to help you reach bonus barrels.

My gripe with Ellie is that she feels more like a debuff than a proper animal buddy in any level where you transform into her, since most of her gameplay is "do thing that the Kongs could have done on their own but slower".

Also, random fun fact about 3. The first level of the game has a "tutorial" on throwing Kiddy to break open weak floors, which also happens to be the only time that mechanic is even used in the game AFAIK.

It's the only time it's been relevant so far, at the very least, now that you mention it. I feel like I remember one other time it's been used, but it didn't actually lead to anything important.

It's like the "recreate the crime scene" mechanic from Apollo Justice then.

The really wonky Kiddy mechanic that only shows up in a couple levels and I wish never made it to the real game is the water bounce. It's so awkward to get down, and I'd rather just damage boost to make any of the jumps instead.

The only time I've needed it is on the water level where you're being timed because Kiddy's water skip is the only way to reach the Hero Coin.

Leonhart4 posted...

The only time I've needed it is on the water level where you're being timed because Kiddy's water skip is the only way to reach the Hero Coin.

You can use the bees to chain a Kiddy damage boost into Dixie helicopter spin to reach the Coin. It's how I did it as a kid because I couldn't time the bounces worth a damn.

Yeah I definitely got it without knowing how to do the bounces before.

The bounces are not that hard though

Yeah, Barbos is still an annoying boss

Maybe not quite as annoying as I remember because it doesn't take too many hits to beat him

which water boss is that

_SecretSquirrel posted...

You can use the bees to chain a Kiddy damage boost into Dixie helicopter spin to reach the Coin. It's how I did it as a kid because I couldn't time the bounces worth a damn.

Lmao same. My mind was blown when I found out about the Kiddy bounce ability much later

pjbasis posted...

which water boss is that

The urchin boss toward the end of the game

I haven't finished the Kratatoa bonus world yet, but I did beat the last boss in DKC3. My verdict: It's a fine game, but it relies so much on level gimmicks and enemy placement more than on actual platforming most of the time.

Oddly I think this actually serves the game well in boss fights most of the time because they end up feeling unique. It's the one area where I'd say 3 outdoes the other two games. Unfortunately, the last boss is the one spot where it falls flat compared to 1 and 2. Baron K. Roolenstein is pretty lame because he never really tries to attack you directly. He just flies around the stage.

Also oof the attempts at in-game dialogue are bad

It's funny to think about how, across all the Donkey Kong Country games, the character who's playable for the most games is actually Diddy, being playable in 1, 2, Returns, and TF.

Donkey and Dixie are both tied at being playable in 3 of the games.

Leonhart4 posted...

Get out

that's from dk64

Everything done in DKC3. Not sure I've ever managed it before, so it was nice to finally do that.

But did you beat it on hard mode for 105 percent instead of 103 percent

what does hard mode do, not sure I did that for any of the games yet, if it's even all of them

Is there a hard mode in the original SNES release or was that something they added to the GBA version?

Leonhart4 posted...

Is there a hard mode in the original SNES release or was that something they added to the GBA version?

It's in the original. You have to put in the code TUFST (name your game file this IIRC) and it eliminates halfway barrels. I think it also adds a tiny bit more to the final ending.

Ah, I see. I wasn't aware of that. Well, it's fine either way.

Maybe I should move on to the 2-D Mario games next.