Comparing the Boss Battles of the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy Part 2: Donkey Kong Country 2

Both the original Super NES version and the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2 are solid games, and the latter adds a great deal of changes and new features. Among the changes included were some of the strategies and other features in boss battles. Unlike the GBA port of Donkey Kong Country, however, the battle strategies were largely unaltered, but in some cases, the fights were not quite identical to those found in the original version. There was even a brand new boss included in the remake that was a surprisingly good addition. In this, the second part of my comparison of the boss battles in the various versions of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, I shall compare the bosses in both versions of Donkey Kong Country 2 and tell you which version I prefer.

Krow: The first boss of the game is this vulture who drops eggs on Diddy and Dixie. However, the eggs can be used against him, as our heroes can throw them at him to cause damage. Eventually, Krow will hit the crow's nest, causing eggs to fall down. Sometimes, they will land at the bottom of the screen, and can be used to attack Krow. Four hits is all that is needed to finish him off. The basic strategy remains the same for the GBA remake, but there is a change in Krow's death animation in that his ghost flies out of his body, foreshadowing your battle with it later in the game. Even if it gives away a cool twist, the new death animation alone makes the GBA version slightly better, although both versions are fun, if a bit easy.

Kleever: Initially, this animated sword is held by a fiery hand deep in the lava. It shoots fireballs at you, and you must avoid them until a cannonball falls from the sky. You can then use the cannonball to hit Kleever, who will get really angry and try to slice you as you use hooks to get to the other side of the arena. Eventually, Kleever will come to life and attempt to cut our heroes in two. You will need to use cannonballs and race from one side to another until Kleever is defeated after a total of six hits. The GBA versions adds a thunderstorm in the background for a more dramatic effect and makes it a bit tougher to avoid Kleever. Also, when Kleever is defeated, the Kongs stay still in the SNES version, but can move around in the remake. The slightly tougher, but still fair, battle in the remake makes the GBA version preferable in this case.

Kudgel: Big and intimidating, this Kremling will begin by stomping the ground where Diddy and Dixie stand. Unless they jump when Kudgel lands, they will be stunned, and may end up being struck by his club. Eventually, TNT barrels will appear, and our heroes can use them to hit Kudgel. Eventually, the muscular Kremling will leap over the Kongs, still landing hard on the ground and speeding up as the battle progresses. A total of six hits from TNT barrels will put a stop to Kudgel's wicked ways. While the Game Boy Advance version offers a somewhat better earthquake effect from Kudgel's landings, it also falters by having his death scene go a bit too fast. The SNES version of the death scene was a bit slower and better, and thus it is the superior fight.

King Sting: For the first time, you fight a boss as an animal friend; specifically, Squawks the parrot. The enormous bee flies around his hive, and you must use Squawks' eggs to strike his stinger. After two hits, he will become invulnerable and fire stingers in every direction, and will do the same thing after two more hits. After the first six hits, he will shrink and surround himself by other bees, which must be defeated quickly before they reappear. Then King Sting will be just like a normal bee, only it takes three more hits to take him out. In the GBA remake, the bees that come to protect him appear immediately, while the original SNES version created a delay and made you wonder why the king cannot be hit at that time. The remake also had you hit the king four times instead of three in the last part of the battle and accelerated his death animation. The SNES version of the fight is therefore better on account of being as suspenseful as it was epic.

Kreepy Krow: The ghostof Krow returns for one last act from beyond the grave, and he has a bunch of smaller vultures to aid him. Most of them are ghosts, but hitting a solid vulture causes a barrel to appear, and it can be used to hit Krow (if a ghost can be hit). As you climb up to pursue Krow, eggs will come flying in various directions to try and hit you. Also, more vultures are sent out to attack you in later phases of the battle. After only three hits, Krow's ghost will explode and die (if a ghost can die). For the remake, fewer vultures attacked you and the death scene was not as dramatic as before. Thus, the SNES version of a battle once again reigns supreme.

Kerozene: In the original version, the Stronghold Showdown level was merely a cut scene showing Diddy and Dixie briefly reunited with Donkey Kong, only for K. Rool to take him away again. The Game Boy Advance port actually featured a showdown against Kerozene, a big and powerful Kremling. He would start by throwing swords at you, and you would use cannonballs to knock them down. Then the battle really started, as Kerozene would breathe fire in multiple directions, and you would have to avoid it while attacking him with cannonballs. Making the battle more intense was that he would pound the ground with his fists and breathe fire at a faster rate as he took damage. For his final assault, he would breathe fire so that it would cover the entire castle roof. Only by standing on his fists would you be safe. Hitting him one last time here would require crucial timing, as otherwise you would still be hit by the flames while Kerozene was falling down, and possibly lose a life though you had technically won. Even so, adding an epic boss battle to Stronghold Showdown makes the GBA version of the level a huge improvement.

Kaptain K. Rool (First Time): K. Rool proved to be no mere pushover this time. He would first shoot cannonballs onto the floor, and then skate back and forth before trying to use his vacuum-like gun to suck you in. By picking up a cannonball and throwing it at the captain, you would cause the gun to fire, causing him to take damage, but also forcing you to avoid the cannonball as it came hurtling straight towards you. Sometimes, the cannonballs had spikes, and you could not pick them up until they had been retracted. Soon, a DK barrel would appear in case you lost one of your apes, and in the next phase, K. Rool would fire cannonballs that sailed towards you or over your head, bounced at various heights, and swirled around in wide arcs.

After three more cannonball attacks, another DK barrel would appear if you needed it for the final phase. Here, K. Rool would fire shots that, if they hit you, would either freeze you, make you jump more slowly, or reverse your controls. K. Rool would then skate across the floor at faster speeds, fire cannonballs, and suck you in, but as long as you avoided the shots, you could still easily avoid most of the attacks. Following three more cannonball hits, the last of which hit him later than the others, K. Rool would be knocked down, only to get back on his feet as the Kongs freaked out. Luckily, Donkey managed to free himself and punch K. Rool so hard, he would fall off of his ship and land in the water, where he would become shark food...or would he?

The Game Boy Advance version somewhat butchers the battle in a few ways. First, instead of the Kongs panicking immediately upon seeing K. Rool beating up Donkey, their reaction is a bit delayed, making the scene seem a bit less dramatic. The explosion that occurs after each time the captain is hit is not as comical as before, the vacuum seems a bit slower, and some cannonballs are easier to avoid than they were before. Later in the battle, when K. Rool is supposed to skate towards you at various speeds, he actually does so at the same rate each time, though he still turned invisible as he went. After this and his next attack, he shoots a cannonball instead of having it magically appear, making it a bit tougher to hit K. Rool without getting hit yourself. Also, the reverse direction curse lasts for a shorter amount of time, though K. Rool tries to suck you in at a slower rate.

Rare really dropped the ball at the end, however, when they actually trick you into thinking that there will be a new phase in the battle by having a DK barrel appear, and the Kong no longer freak out when the captain stands up again. Donkey still manages to break loose and punch him, but when K. Rool lands in the water, he does not seem to get eaten by sharks. Instead, he is shown hiding in Crocodile Core, the final level of the game. That was supposed to be meant as a surprise for players who finished all of the Lost World stages, and having it spoiled here is quite a disappointment. If Rare was going for an improved battle here, they failed miserably, and thus, the SNES version is the clear winner here.

Kaptain K. Rool (Second Time): Somehow, K. Rool managed to get away from the sharks long enough to reach the Lost World, and after comically firing fish out of his gun, the real battle begins. I sort of use the term "battle" loosely because it mostly consists of avoiding K. Rool's shots and cannonballs, some of which are tough to avoid without expert jumping skills or Dixie's helicopter spin. Eventually, you get a cannonball, and it takes only one hit to defeat K. Rool and send him into the generator, causing the entire island to shake. This leads to the dramatic ending in which Crocodile Isle sinks into the water, but K. Rool manages to escape, laughing maniacally, which hints at his return in Donkey Kong Country 3. While the battle strategy for the GBA version was pretty much unchanged (about the only change was having K. Rool suck you in a bit faster than in the original version), the scene after the battle was butchered in that you are no longer awarded a DK coin at the end and the tremor stops pretty quickly. Clearly, the SNES version was more dramatic, and thus it is preferable.

This time around, I preferred five of the battles in the Super NES version of Donkey Kong Country 2, and three of the fights in the Game Boy Advance port. Rare tried to improve the battles somewhat while keeping the strategies for defeating them mostly the same. However, the battles in the SNES version seemed more epic, and made Rare's meddling with them seem pointless. Rare did succeed in making the fight with Kerozene into an exciting one, and I wish they had done the same with Kroctopus in the port of the third game. Speaking of which, I shall soon write the third and final part of this series, in which I compare the battles featured the both versions of Donkey Kong Country 3. For now, check these battles out if you can, and see if you think the same way about them as I do.