SNES: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995)

Diddy and Dixie Kong approach a checkpoint barrel.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is was released in 1995 by Rare and is the sequel to Donkey Kong Country. The game's titular character, Diddy Kong, is tasked with rescuing the series's titular character, Donkey Kong, from Kaptain K. Rool and his horde of Kremling baddies. The game features single player, two-player cooperative, and two-player competitive game modes.

The game primarily differs from its predecessor in that Donkey Kong, a slow and strong ape, is replaced with Dixie Kong, a quick and agile monkey. This makes the gameplay feel fast-paced, as both of the playable characters are lightweights. However, Diddy and Dixie control and play differently. Dixie is equipped with her magical ponytail which allows her to glide slowly through the air and avoid dangerous obstacles below. Furthermore, she holds barrels and other objects above her head, which makes defeating overhead enemies significantly easier. Diddy is slightly faster and jumps slightly higher. However, he holds barrels directly in front of him, which makes defeating overhead enemies more challenging.

Cranky Kong giving away some freebies.

Diddy's Kong Quest involves players traversing numerous levels in eight diverse environments, including a pirate ship, a haunted forest, and my personal favourite, an amusement park filled with bees. The players encounter a diverse cast of friendly animals, such as Rambi the Rhino and Rattly the Rattlesnake, who help the Kongs overcome an array of challenges. There are several varieties of coins scattered throughout the levels. These coins must be collected to buy additional lives, purchase hints, and even save the game beyond the first time at any save location. This contributes to the increased difficulty of Diddy's Kong Quest over the original Donkey Kong Country. The game is markedly difficult and, with saving being a limited resource, you may be required to either spend time collecting lives in advance or repeating a handful of levels following a game over screen. There are several levels which feel like gauntlets in their difficulty and length.

Diddy's Victory!

Diddy's Kong Quest's is a difficult and frustrating game at times. However, with enough persistence, beating the game can be a very rewarding experience. The game is mostly fair to players (except for the Gusty Glade level -- which is absolutely unfair), but there are several locations which almost require players to die at least once to learn the layout of the level. Nonetheless, the gameplay is fun, the music is fantastic, and beating a level is awesome.

While the game is argued by some to be the best of the Donkey Kong series, Donkey Kong Country 1 and 3 may be better entry points for someone new to either the Donkey Kong series or even retro gaming. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is a worthy game for anyone seeking a rewarding challenge in their gaming library.

SNES: Megaman X (1994)

Megaman X was the first game in the Megaman series developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo. The game was released in North America in 1994 and builds on many of the elements which made earlier Megaman games popular. Megaman X is an action platforming game which allows the player to navigate through several stages in any order.

The game features character upgrades, both essential and optional, which make certain challenges easier to overcome. When the player defeats a boss at the end of a stage, they are rewarded with a new weapon flavoured in the style of that boss. These weapons are useful for defeating other bosses and experimentation of these weapons on various enemies is almost essential. However, it becomes somewhat cumbersome when encountering a new boss to cycle through every weapon, fire a shot, and observe the effect before finding an appropriate weapon. Some of the weapon-boss interactions appeal to your Pokemon sensibilities, such as the icy penguin boss being vulnerable to fire, while some are much less obvious, such as the shield and tornado attacks being more effective against the watery octopus boss than electricity.

I struggled with wall-jumping in the final stages until I discovered the player can performing a long wall-jump by pressing the jump and dash buttons simultaneously. Additionally, the final boss stage of the game required several hours to complete. I could defeat the first few bosses almost flawlessly, but stumbled on the final boss and had to repeat the previous bosses many times.

Megaman X is a very fun and rewarding game which holds up well today. The graphics are wonderful and the music is very enjoyable (you may even find yourself humming some of the tunes). The stages are varied and their bosses are full of personality. The progression system rewards the player's exploration and you might discover new secrets in additional play-throughs