After a successful adventure in
Donkey Kong Land and in proving himself as a hero in
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest,
Rareware brought
DKC2 to the
Super Game Boy in
Donkey Kong Land 2 in 1995. The game borrows heavily from its
Super NES cousin as it uses the same plot (
Donkey Kong has been kidnapped) and characters.
Diddy Kong takes over the main hero and
Dixie Kong appears as the sidekick. They retain their moves from the 16-bit version, although their wonderous animation didn't make the transfer.
The levels are mostly the same as DKC2, although in a truncated format. Animal friends (such as Rambi and Enguarde) are also along for the ride, although they can be tricky to work with thanks to the Game Boy's limited controls. I'm pleased to say that the collision detection problems that plagued Donkey Kong Land have largely been resolved, making the game much more fair to play.
Items and bonuses also carry over from DKC2, including banana coins, Kremcoins, and the DK Hero Coin. The game is also saved automatically after each level, thereby doing away with the awful K-O-N-G collecting from DKL.
While not a spectacular game, the title is a fun way to kill some time and is, in my opinion, the best of the portable DKLs. Rareware should be commended for being able to generate those wonderous rendered graphics on the small screen. The game would later spawn a sequel, Donkey Kong Land 3.