SNES titles that Nintendo should add to its Nintendo Switch Online service

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Original North American Release Date: November 20th, 1995
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare

Video game sequels are generally expected to be better in quality than their predecessor, but Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest easily surpassed Donkey Kong Country in every single way. The game features much better level designs as well as a variety of new areas, including a swamp, a volcano, and even an amusement park! Rare made the decision to swap out Donkey Kong as a playable character, instead giving sidekick Diddy Kong his first starring role.

Diddy Kong is joined by newcomer Dixie Kong, each playing similar enough but Diddy is able to climb vines much faster versus Dixie Kong’s ability to “hover” using her long ponytail. Dixie Kong’s floating ability adds another unique layer of gameplay, as she can clear wide gaps much easier than Diddy. The two characters also give players the ability to pick-up and toss the other character, which is sometimes necessary in order to reach otherwise inaccessible barrels and items. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest also introduced some new animal buddies, faster gameplay, and a plethora of hidden worlds.

In order to appease more veteran gamers, Rare made the aforementioned hidden worlds accessible to players who collect enough “Kremkoins” in order to pay Klubba, the buffed-up Kremling who will let players access the “Lost World” for a fee. Completion-mined players could also attempt to collect all the DK coins scattered throughout the game, in addition to meeting other requirements, in case they wanted to overtake a certain Nintendo character’s “number one” ranking at the end of the game, thus achieving the game’s full 102% completion.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest features another amazing David Wise soundtrack, including the extremely pleasing “Stickerbrush Symphony” track. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest is notable in terms of sales because it sold over five million copies despite never being included in any SNES console bundle. Simply put, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest isn’t just one of the best SNES titles ever made, it definitely belongs in the conversation as one of the best platformers of all time!