Those are great points you had, unfortunately, skill issue

Honestly after watching this video, i think placing a save state after beating every level really warped my perception of the game.

I’m so ready for DKC3 is Underrated

Walking on thin ice pal

The irony of having to pay for saving... with a currency that isn't being saved... It's astonishing.

I can appreciate this vid. I feel like a lot of the reasons why you have a lower opinion of this game, are actually the same reasons I personally really like it. I found that levels like Web Woods too be among some of my favorites within the game, precisely because of how much more intense the level becomes the further you progress. Matter of fact, I feel like all the levels that do feature one of the animal buddies does a great job in terms of ratcheting up the intensity and really pushing the limits on how there abilities can be used. I also thought that these levels actually had a lot of variety, at least in terms of where they take place. It always seems like your always seeing something new in this game, and I find that there's a lot of imagination when it comes to the scenarios the Kongs are placed in. However, even with that being said you did bring up a couple flaws that I didn't even really think about before. Looking back (especially in those Honeycomb areas) the camera just flat out isn't good, and especially towards the end, the game does sometimes mistakes challenge for cheap-ness. I've played the game so many times that it's kinda easy for me to forget that, this game does have some design choices that are questionable at best and obnoxious at worst. I still adore this game with my life, but this vid did a very effective job in terms of showing me why someone wouldn't like this game as much, and the examples you brought up make a lot of sense.

It's always good to hear different takes, especially on topics which seem almost unanimous, as it allows us to see areas we may have missed, or reanalyses aspects long thought covered. Though I believe DKC2 a masterpiece, I also believe that DKC3 is my favorite, and is incredibly underrated (especially the GBA port). Either way a great video, keep up the good work, and have a nice day.

Aight so, you opinion is fine and all but there's some points of the video I'd like to bring up which do irk me, some of which is just flat out incorrect. What I don't mention I either agree with, am neutral on it or forgot to bring it up, so do take it with a grain of salt. And a disclaimer, I'm not here to shit on anyone's opinion or skill level even if it looks like I am, just issues which I don't think are addressed well: -The point of aesthetical stage variety. Excluding colour palette swaps and small segments like boss fights, DK1 has 11 stage themes (there is no difference between the minecart and mine stages other than the minecart tracks which I'd consider a level object more than a stage theme). DK2 has 14. If we include palette swaps and stuff like weather effects, DK2 would still have more variety. The point of going on how you consider a factory, jungle, snow stage, water stage, forest, etc. more unique is moot because it's your own feel, but those are way waaay more common stage themes even at the time whereas DK2 had far more unique ones. Show me the video game levels at the time that took place in a theme park or honey hive or windy brambles in the sky. They're unfamiliar territory for the most part and even nowadays they're some of the less common level themes in platformers so you're far less likely to remember them. A paradox to see variety as a lack thereof. -The kremlings are pirates because why not, it's fun. They were all army men in the first game and K.Rool was originally going to be the kommander, he's even credited himself as such, having a medieval king rule over marine corp army dudes makes no sense aesthetically, at least when they're all pirates it's all tied together and it makes sense that some stages are pirate themed too. There is no castle or barracks stage in kong 1, no aesthetic cohesion between its kremling enemies and the type of stages. It makes sense considering they're the invaders (but then again these factories exist) but still. If the faction is pirate themed, then it makes sense that the bosses are pirate themed. It's like complaining you're only seeing Bowser's kids as bosses, but not in the many games they were but in just a singular one. -Games are supposed to have an incrementing difficult curve. Despite what many logically think, a difficulty curve is well, anything but a straight line, it has some ups and downs but it generally goes upwards. W4 is a bit of a spike but the difficulty between it and the worlds afterwards don't feel much different except for the secret world, and it makes sense that those are also supposed to be difficult. -It feels like parts of the video you're bringing up stage ideas as being conceptually flawed to the core when they aren't. I don't like web woods, not because it's difficult but because it's boring. DKC3 made the stage a lot better by including variety in the platforming and the directions you're going in, forcing you way less to use the webs and has a very unique crosshair sniper mechanic. Your problem, or well at least how you present it, is that there's zingers you can't kill forcing you to have some semblance of difficulty in the stage (and therefore excitement) and you'd remove that? Ideas aren't inherently good or bad in games, it's usually up to execution and some ideas mesh better than others. -While there are bad stages in this game, and bad setups and bits of level design in other stages (even great ones) I have a feeling you have chosen a lot of bad clips for it. You're here talking about how unfair the levels are yet you jump into a ghost rope WHILST holding a barrel and for some reason you're in a rush when the ropes don't permanently disappear and you can just take your time until the ghost rope reappears and make the challenge easily. You're then faced with a debate, should you be punished for trying to rush to there and not killing enemies like you did or should you be punished for not doing that. Some people would say the latter, some the former. But that's just goes to show there's maybe better spots to demonstrate the unfair level design (like you did with the rambi beehive stage and I agree with that) where a lot more people can generally agree that it's that.

I’ve been playing through this game for the first time, I’m at the world after Krazy Kremland and beating that world I swear took me fucking weeks to do, and what you noted was what happened to me, especially in the Bramble stage in that world, where I would keep running into enemies because I couldn’t see them in front of me, because of the aspect ratio. That bee boss took me like 2 hours lol, at least, I hope it was only 2 hours. During all of this though, I never even considered that there was anything wrong with the game, because I knew coming in it would be an game above my skill level. Regardless of all that, amazingly made video, with fair and accurate points.

A few things. I do want to preface this by giving props to your video presentation. You speak with confidence, have more than barebones editing, actually bother with video sections, and have some decent jokes. Way too often games critique online doesn't go this far, and its a level I hope to get to soon in terms of production values. I would critique the amount of empty space but you went ahead and changed that later on. I think a better approach to this video instead of shotgunning several points, it would've been better to emphasize the subpar tutorializing this game has, as some of the hints later on in the game should've just been put in world 1 instead. Probably the biggest issue I think needed more screen time is saving deleting your bonus coins and lives for whatever reason. Playing this with a friend left me grinding king zing's invisible bonus coins a couple of times, am I'm sure not binging this game for a world at a time would start to get irksome for a good amount of people. I don't want to go deeper given my lack of memory freshness on these titles besides dkc1, and simply lack of interest of typing up so much for a mere comment, but you're not completely wrong in some of your assertions. Definitely don't get the criticism of the aesthetics of dkc1 being better though. They generally did a good job there but some things had a more plastic in 1 look like the palm trees, the jungle theme being used way too rarely in favor of like half the game's stages being in boring caves, or only using the crystal caves a single time. And a further note or two on your title too. 1. I disagree, only because this title isn't as praised to high heaven as like Mario World (I think critiquing it heavily would make a good video for you ngl) And 2. I still definitely get why you worded it this way instead of "Critiquing dkc2 harshly" or something, but hey, double edged sword and all. Definitely saw what can happen, with my Mario Wonder video being a good example, the like ratio is like 56% lmao. Glad to see you're still making content, I'll try to watch more of your stuff. Cheers!

no but you're actually spitting though

Less variety than the original? I think that might factually incorrect. I am cool with the other criticisms, but that one may be incorrect.

DKC3 do be my fav since nostalgia goggles, tropical freeze is right behind it

I've only just started my run to beat the game yesterday and i've beaten 3 worlds. So far my only issues have been forgetting to save the first time and almost having a seizure from that fish with the flashlight. I'm still not sure how the rest of the game will go but i gotta say so far the atmosphere has been amazing and level quality it great.

I was honestly never a big fan of platformers so I have no pitchforks to begin with. Platforming itself as a main obstacle and objective always seemed like an exercise in futility haha. But one of my favorite games ever is Actraiser 2 so I don't know what it makes me (you might wanna check it out??)

I played DKC2, I think with save states, I dont remember how often, but even with that I never fonished the game. I made it to the tower world, and I may never have made it past that autoscroller. It's a good game, I can agree, and the green and brown repetition never really bothered me, but it definitely isn't my jam to the same degree as Tropical Freeze.

I started typing an extremely long comment about the different things that could be done to make DKC2 a perfect game, yapping paragraphs as I tend to do a little too much in KZfaq comment sections. But, I decided to clear all of my comment and boil it down to the number one issue in the game. What I’ve decided is the economics. You should be keeping your banana coins and balloons just as you keep all else every time you load up a save file. They just need better ways to earn money and better ways to spend it! Change Funky’s Flights to be varying prices! The first ticket in each area is 3 Banana Coins but then the second ticket is 2 Banana Coins from that same landing strip, the third ticket is 1 Banana Coin, and after three tickets you can fly out of there for free. I think that would be better, long-term rewarding over 2 banana coins the first time and then forever free, maybe add a secondary ticket that is always 10 banana coins which allows you to fly back and forth between DK Isle and Crocodile Isle(although this would only work if they chose to have both games be on the same application and save files which I think could be cool if they made a reboot game called Donkey Kong Country+Diddy’s Kong Quest or something)and the overseas flights wouldn’t be available until after you beat DKC2(while I alr mentioned merging the two games into one I think that could be cool as you play DK Isle with DK and Diddy and then Crocodile Isle with Diddy and Dixie but after you beat the second storyline you can now play with DK on Crocodile Isle and Dixie on DK Isle which would be a great reward!) The Monkey Museum and Kong Kollege would remain pretty much the same. You could still purchase hints only now they would prioritize as cheap as possible, every single one that costs money would only be one banana coin. Saving becomes free at Kong Kollege and you now need to actually be inside of the Monkey Museum to view the podium and this would do good to make the player have incentive to come to the Museum and it would serve as just the Museum having more weight to it and it’s not limiting accessibility since you shouldn’t really need to check this podium out very often. Swanky’s Sideshow would completely blow up out of proportions! When you get there it’s more of a full on club or casino rather than a tiny game show. You can actually walk around instead of just being forced into talking. Maybe it’s a certain bouncer or something but it would probably just be Swanky but outside of the Sideshow he charges 1 Banana Coin to enter the place! Inside, there are a couple more options. You can head over to the game show which would now be focused on high risk, high rewards! Then there could maybe be like a little slot machine or fun little card games and stuff too! Before it was a means of exchanging banana coins for lives well now you can get lives but if you do good enough you can also get your banana coins back out of it! Maybe the highest level game show in each world nets a DK Coin opposed to a life and so all kong levels have DK Coins hidden within them too! With making the Sideshow a bigger deal it would be better to have some variety. Maybe W1 he isn’t prevalent at all. In W2 it’s a Sideshow which is just a smaller version. In W3 it’s the genuine casino. In Krazy Kremland it’s a switchup and is the carnival of DKC3 but with more to do and a bunch of fun games, maybe you can catch the other Kongs and npcs playing here and challenge all of them(giving more life to the game once again!)! World 5 and World 6 could be the Casino again. But that variety would make it so much more exciting! Maybe in the first world on DK Isle Funky’s is also his Surf Shack! Here, you could go fishing and maybe earn some rewards from it including coins! Pull from Returns and Tropical Freeze again. Maybe when you are at one of the pre-existing areas there is an animal buddy who will help you and they make noise whenever you are near secrets so you can put your banana coins towards better being able to find secrets with the hotter/colder system! Now Squawks does have use in the game already but what if they just made it Squawks and if you played a level with Squawks then Quawks would take the place on the branch! I could see Squawks being in any one of the kong friends’ places I couldn’t pick one specific one but I think since you can pay for hints individually for one banana coin that Squawks should be more on the expensive side, like six banana coins! I think this would be one of the better items that you can equip for levels to come out of the newer games as the other items just make the game outright easier and it demotivates people from putting in real effort when they can spend a couple of coins for great buffs! Maybe at Swanky’s or Candy’s or a completely new area is cosmetics! You can buy a yellow tie for DK or yellow fit for Diddy! You can get sunglasses for Diddy, you can buy the stars on Diddy’s clothes. Maybe even buy additional items which makes them have new hidden idol animations! This would be a small feature but could be really cool to have different outfits like Mario Odyssey! Maybe take it a step further like what if you could upgrade your Animal Buddies. For 80 Banana Coins you can get Squitter’s Special Shoes with each shoe costing 10 banana coins! Bit by bit you can watch his kicks change. But at half of them bought he no longer takes damage and just bounces off enemies! And then once you have them all he functions like he does in DKC3 where he has the buff of being able to actually bounce on enemies. Because the level design isn’t built around this it’s not a massive buff especially for such an expensive fee but it’s completely optional and only done if you don’t have anything else you want! Maybe some more intense purchases like some armor for Rambi! Each time he’s spawned in he has a plate of armor which lets him take one hit and then it’s lost but he stays on you! If you do take another hit and he runs off but you catch him his armor won’t be restored and you need a new crate for that! Maybe the charge abilities for each character must be boughten! Idk but there’s so much potential and DKC3 kind of dips into how they could have fun with it!

Pitchforks! Get your pitchforks here! xP

I can understand some of your points, but I felt like a few others fell flat. I can agree the game is a bit more rough around the edges in the "lategame" because I find a lot of games tend to get like that. DKC2 is no exception. I can even sympathize with a handful of these specific complaints, like the weather stages being rough or the honey levels not being the most fun with a bad camera that makes them way harder than they have the right to be... the King Zing fight also totally sucks. It's easily one of the worst bosses in the series imo. But a decent number of the clips actually felt hard to watch. Why wouldn't your first instinct be in a tight corridor in a presumably final world to "defeat the enemy" in Castle Crush, for example? Jumping over the porcupines and then eventually running out of room felt like a deserved loss to me when you had chances to adapt and defeat the baddies, but did not. Also, these stages DO have checkpoints... so that was a disappointing lie made to frame the game in a harsher light. Either that, or poor research/remembering wrong. What was going on when you jumped into a rope without the timer being reset and knowing you had a TNT barrel in your hand and couldn't grab on? I personally can't process how someone could come to the conclusion that the game was unfair based on poor playing like that. I don't mean to say "skill issue" though because I feel that is unfair to your critique. But these clips rubbed me the wrong way. The pirate theme stuff to me also just feels like a matter of personal taste to borderline nitpicking. Pirate castles? Coasters? Do you see those in media every day? Personally, I don't. I felt like these were fun twists on stuff that was pretty out of the ordinary. I don't think it takes away from the experience, especially when DKC1 had an industrial/military theming present. Military commanders that wear helmets, enemies that wear those military shoulder pads (I forget what they're called, sorry) or camouflage gear. A factory, oil drums, and slicers. These are all a similar theme too, no? If you critique DKC2 for it to boaster 1, it doesn't feel right. I really didn't like your point about the bonus stages. The bonus stuff in DKC1 is cryptic and lame most of the time. Stuff like the bonus room in a bonus room where you have to specifically go for the worst reward so you can obtain it is just stupid. Other levels like Orang-utan Gang have like 5 bonus stages, something DKC2 at it's most never does. Most stages in DKC1 have about 3 as well. The bonuses are almost all the same and I don't feel excited to find them. If you get 3 of the golden tokens of the Animal Buddies too, you also lose progress in a stage. I found myself avoiding them more often than not because it was such a bummer to get them. The DKC2 bonus rooms are all personalized with aiming the player to try a different thing. And of course the stages for collecting bonus content are difficult? Difficulty in games is a curve. Things are expected to get harder as you go further ingame to test the player. If you've managed to collect everything in the base game, I think a hard experience for the bonus world is y'know, expected...? I agree that losing your lives/coins and forcing you to pay up cash for saving is just... bad. You're 100% right. Overall, I did appreciate the video, but I felt like some of these were in fact off-base as you said. I did appreciate watching this video because I can see you still like this game. It wasn't baseless and senseless bashing. There was some genuine critique and mentioned some of what I found frustrating or subpar about the game as well. I know I'm a year late though...

ok, heard this out, this was a very good video nice to hear a different pov sometimes

Look I can scrub off a lot of these complaints as opinions and I’m glad you’re voicing them but Donkey Kong Island being more diverse than Crocodile Isle? It always felt so homogeneous with like. 15 cave levels. Monkey Mines has tons, Kremkroc Industries has tons, and ESPECIALLY the awful final world Chimp Caverns is all caves. I get that its subjective but I just never liked them all and it took away from that big scale the game was going for, for me at least

Yes it is fogged by nostalgia, but still a master execution for its time

I agree that this game isn't as good as people procaim it to be; and I don't even think that DKC2 is better than DKC1!

I believe in DKC 1 supremacy

I've said this before, overrated does not mean bad. Most ganes that are well know as good tend to be overrated in some fashion

your videos just keep getting better. dkc2 is still my favorite dkc game but the more i replay it the more flaws i notice in it

I think both are great, but even just the visual design of DKC1's areas in combination with the graphics gave it this odd sense of realism which for some reason works well with DK and the Kremlings' cartoon designs. DKC2's areas feel a lot less like real-life locations and more like "video game levels" if that makes sense. This isn't necessarily a flaw with DKC2, but I have just always preferred the more realistic environments that DKC1 portrayed. It feels like DK and many of the enemies are just animals in this natural environment. In combination with the amazing atmospheric music, it really brought me into the world of DKC1. The snowstorm slowly building up over time in DKC1's mountain level is a great example. With DKC2, that is in some ways not the case. Giant bee hives, a pirate ship that's so massive that it takes up multiple levels, and a theme park... Just feels more goofy and "video-gamey" , which again is not a bad thing, just not as same as the way DKC1 gets me. In DKC1, you go through a jungle, cliffs and caves, a coast, a forest, mountains, etc. With the exception of Fear Factory, I feel like I could feasibly adventure through the world of DKC1 in real life, and for some reason that's just really cool to me. The opening of DKC2 with the ambient sounds and musical silence on the pirate ship also encapsulates that natural feeling too, so its not like DKC2 is devoid of that realism, I just think DKC1 did it better. The progressive continuity of play that you mentioned is also something I love about both games and further contributes to the realistic feel. Again, I want to make it clear that I don't think of this as a flaw with DKC2, it's just my weird non-gameplay related reasoning for preferring DKC1. DKC2 is still a lot of fun and I think it definitely outshines the first game with its music, graphics, bosses, and some of its levels. Like you said, it had the highest highs but also the lowest lows. It's that inconsistency which makes me far more motivated to do playthroughs of the first game rather than DKC2. That opening section in 2 is still so good though. Overall I feel that DKC3 did too little, DKC2 did too much, and DKC1 had the balance. Still, I'm not afraid to admit how much DKC2 improved on the first game in so many ways. Unfortunately, those gameplay flaws just bring it down for me and make it a lot harder to want to play 2 over 1

I don't know if you were being sincere, but I still popped off at saying DKC3 is the best in the series.

I mean, sure, skill issue. But you're never gonna tell me level themes are more varied in DKC1. As someone who plays the whole franchise often, I know how many dark and dreary caves are in DKC1. The rest, well, I've not had all the problems you've listed. And as someone who got good, Diddy is much more fun to play than Dixie, the gliding is dull. I like your channel, and I'll keep watch. 😂 P.S. I'm also the type of guy who absolutely didn't care about Celeste, even though I finished it.

Judging entirely by the gameplay footage: skill issue

Underskilled player ≠ Overrated game I beat this game when I wasn't even 10, in a cave, with a box of scraps. There are no excuses ...

The bee boss my complete breaking point, i just didn't get it for days

havent watched the bideo im ready to get mad

Super Mario World solos the entire DKC series just from the first level alone.

That one video featured toward the beginning titled "DKC2 is the greatest platformer of all time" only sung its praises and described Tropical Freeze as "Boring and uninspired". It made me physically cringe. So after revisiting DKC2 and watching this video, I can agree. I personally described it as "the most perfect a retro platformer can get", because it came from a time where other games of its kind have aged or have aspects that aged like milk. I knew it wasn't perfect, but I couldn't put my finger on it until now, so thank you. Edit: He hearted the comment but it took that away when I fixed the spelling. Thanks, KZfaq.

I've managed to beat this game 102% back in '96 when I was only 11 and it's not THAT hard, honestly,.. And I'm sorry but from some of your game footage, I definitely can see skill issues here...

I disagree

I think you're just a Dk 1 Fan BOY. You had some valid POINTS. but it's still the best SNES game of all time notice I said SNES and not donkey kong game. GOATED 🐐

aint this the freakin truth brother

damn your videos are great

This is a bad video. DKC2 definitely has faults, but this feels like hyper focusing on very minor nitpicks.

I always feel like my opinion of these games is out of line. I started with Tropical Freeze and I think that's quite good game (except for World 4), but I certainly wouldn't call it the best 2D platformer there is. Some time after I tried out Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 on Nintendo Switch Online because people love and praise this games so much. It's very much like other SNES-classics like Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger, and I adore these games ever since I tried them. But with Donkey Kong, I didn't get the appeal. It did not click with me at all. So much so that I never quite bothered with 3. My memory of my playing these games is foggy, especially of 2, and I think it might be due to how broken up my gameplay flow was due to savestating and rewinding (I'm sorry, but I could not be bothered to put up with some stuff these games pull). Maybe I just played it "the wrong way". As the cherry on top, I also don't really vibe with the soundtrack. Not a fan of Stickerb(r)ush Symphony at all. I'm really sorry, Mr. Wise.

Great vid man. Those save states are some straight ass and turned me away from the game honestly.

I never felt the difficulty curve ramped up unfairly in this game. This is also a game when there was some difficulty it wasn't frustrating, it just made me want to com back and try again. I'm also going to have to hard disagree with you saying this game is overrated. This is the best game in the Donkey Kong Country series, and probably the best platformer on the SNES (I can't think of one I've played that is better). I also loved hunting for all the coins, I love finding secrets. The bonus harder levels were awesome. Coins were everywhere as were extra lives and they weren't hard to come by. Saving shouldn't be an issue. I also really loved the haunted woods areas. The music and the vibe there was just so awesome. Possibly my favorite area in this game. I really felt they hit the perfect balance with this game, and then fell off pretty hard with the third. The third didn't look as good to me visually, felt a bit uninspired with the level design, anddddd... it had that stupid baby character.

skill issue

This is my favorite vido fame if all time😢

Get good, honestly this game isn't even hard I beat thus game many times as a kid I even beat it earlier this year

I think a game can have flaws and still be a masterpiece. I agree that the game is brutal and cheap, but I'd say it really starts with the castle world. Everything up to there is getting brutal, but not cheap, so it's a skill issue. Git gud scrub u suk lol It's possible I might have just been more prepared though, because I grew up playing Mega Man, so DKC2 is comparatively like crossing the street at a crosswalk with the walk signal, but people sometimes run the light. I think the music, atmosphere and solid level designs and premises make it a masterpiece despite its flaws toward the end and in 100%ing.

Dkc3 is just better. It's got supirior level design and secrets, and it doesn't become a little bs by the end. But that's just my opinion Edit: Just to be clear, I still like dkc2

… skill issue

You need mental help😢

Imo DKC1>DKC3>DKC2

No, goodbye.