DKC2: Ten Year Celebration

PLEASE READ: You have no idea how much time I spent on this picture. Countless hours went into this. I worked harder on it than I've worked on a single picture in ages. So PLEASE full-view it, for my sake and yours. The pic looks so much better that way, and I want you to get as much detail as possible. Thank you very much.

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Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was released on December 1st, 1995. This means that tomorrow, December 1st, 2005, marks its ten-year anniversary. DKC2 is my favorite DK game, and one of my favorite games ever. I have a lot of memories with this game. It's hard for me to believe it's been around for a decade already!

So I decided to do something to commemorate this special event. Back at the beginning of November, I started an art project of massive proportions to honor this game. Well, after a month of hard work, I am finally able to present it to you. Unfortunately, I didn't have the space or time to put in absolutely every character. As you can see, none of the NPC Kongs are in it... because frankly, I just suck at monkeys, and I had a hard enough time with the two main characters. I didn't want to make Cranky, Wrinkly, etc. look bad. And not all the Kremlings or other enemies are in it, because I just didn't have the time... or the room up there. But I am extremely pleased with the end result, and it's one of my favorite pictures that I've ever done... ever. It's definitely my masterpiece of fanart. Some of my friends, like *CubieJ could tell you how crazily excited I was about this thing. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

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Small notes: I can't draw K. Rool's gun, so I drew him holding Kleever. Because Kleever is cool. Even though K. Rool's gun kicks butt, I didn't want to do it injustice, and I had to fit Kleever in there somehow.
The Klinger's a girl. Uhh... just in case you wanted to know. I just thought she should be one
Squitter is HARD TO DRAW. Took me forever to make him.
The starry background...? Well, I thought it was pretty. Oh, and I couldn't think of anything else. <_<'
If you want to see a REALLY BIG version of this pic, with lots of detail, go here: [link]

DK characters belong to Nintendo. But they were created by Rare, and though they don't belong to them anymore... Rare deserves the credit.

----OPTIONAL LONG READ AHEAD!----

Anyway... what makes DKC2 special to me?

Well, I first played this game about eight or so years ago. I was very young... about six years old. I had already played DKC and I owned DKC3. I was fascinated by both those games... but there was something extremely special about DKC2. When my family rented it from the local movie/game store for the first time, I fell instantly in love with it. Something about the game just captured me. The levels, characters and enemies were all fascinating to me. My family and I played it together (because I wasn't exactly the best gamer back then, and couldn't do much on my own)... but in the three or so days we had it, we didn't get too far. In fact, I remember that we got stuck on Bramble Scramble.

So the time came to turn it back in. And... I was heartbroken. I liked the game so much that I didn't want to see it go. I don't think I'd ever gotten so upset over a game before. But when my dad took it back to the rental place, I was almost crying. And I wasn't one of those spoiled kids that cries until they get what they want, either. I just... loved that game.

A few days later, my mom picked me up from school, and I found a surprise in the car. They had bought me DKC2. I was overjoyed and very thankful.

Here I am, years later. I still own that game, and I am still playing it to this day. It's probably the SNES game I've replayed the most. It's really special to me. I can pretty much name you all the levels in order, and list where their bonuses and DK coins are located. I can name you every good guy and bad guy without even thinking. Through the years, I went from finding the game extremely hard when I was young, to being able to beat the whole thing with hardly a challenge these days. But even though it's no longer hard for me, it's never stopped being fun.

DKC2 remains my favorite DK game, because there are so many things about it that are just... perfect. It was the best in the DKC series, by taking the great things about DKC and building and improving upon them. The music was superb... every track was great, and it remains one of my favorite game soundtracks. The levels were beautiful and had some creative and crazy design... from deadly roller coasters to giant beehives. The bonuses and DK coins were fun to hunt for, and keep you interested even after you've beaten the main game (as does the Lost World). Not only that, but the game had humor and pure fun.

I also really like the characters of the game. I always liked Diddy from DKC, and Dixie (from my DKC3 experiences) was my favorite Kong, and one of my favorite video game characters period back then. Putting them together into one game was great. They were the perfect team. The animal buddies were also great. But one thing that really fascinated me was the enemies. Kaptain K. Rool instantly because a favorite character for me. I guess I was always destined to have some freaky love of pirates, because I fell instantly in love with the pirate Kremlings. And as many of my friends know, I'm a dedicated Kremling freak... well, this is the game that turned me into that. This is the game that made me think the enemies were awesome... that made me wonder about them... why they hated the Kongs, how they acted, what they were like. And sometimes I wonder whether the love of crocodiles I have today comes from this liking, or whether it's just a natural liking (like my cat obsession). But anyway, now that I've developed my Kremling liking, I can truly appreciate DKC2, because I feel that the game is about THEM more than anything else. DKC was about the Kongs... DKC2 is about the Kremlings. It's their island, their life- the Kongs are merely on a mission there. Looking back at the game now, it's very interesting to me.

So anyway... the point of all this was to say that DKC2 is a really special game to me. It's probably the first game I truly fell in love with. If not for this game, I probably wouldn't be here at all. It really inspired me as a kid, and I don't know why. It's because of this game that I'm such a dedicated DK fan, and if I hadn't played it as a little kid, who knows how I might be different. I probably wouldn't even be into games so much at all. I played a lot of games when I was very young, but this one probably impacted me the most (except for maybe Super Mario World... my first game ever). It might seem crazy that this game had such an effect on me, but it did.

So happy birthday, DKC2! This game deserves the best!