There's no question that Donkey Kong Country 2 improves upon its predecessor in numerous ways. Diddy and his new partner, Dixie, have a few new abilities, including a team-up attack, which give players so much more to do. There are minigames all over the place that provide frequent breaks from the regular run-and-jump levels, and the graphics and music are richer and livelier than they were in the first Donkey Kong Country. One so-called improvement, however, may turn just as many people off of this latest DKC game as are turned on by it, and that's the game's tough-as-nails degree of difficulty.

Rambi is one of the many animals that Diddy and Dixie can piggyback onto.

This is the sort of game for people who enjoy clawing their way to the end of a level. Each of the game's 52 levels is packed with ambushes, surprise pitfalls and traps, and lengthy sections where you have to exercise pinpoint skill when jumping between tiny ledges or vines while suspended above bottomless chasms. Midway through one mine cart level, for instance, after you've jumped over a dozen gaps and activated switches to open a handful of doors, you discover in a split second that some switches actually shut doorways instead of open them. Surprises like this are par for the course in Donkey Kong Country 2. You discover a surprise (likely losing a life in the process), add it to your mental map of the level, restart from the checkpoint, and try to make it farther next time. The same holds true for the bosses as well, as they change their behavior once or twice before succumbing to Diddy and Dixie's attempts to bonk them on the head.

Aside from the steep difficulty, Donkey Kong Country 2 has everything in it that a platform game ought to have. Diddy and Dixie can run and jump, of course, and knock out enemies by pouncing on their heads or by barreling through them with a cartwheel attack. Whichever character you aren't controlling is the one that tags along behind the one in front. You can swap between the two by tapping the select button, and there are actually a few reasons to do so. Diddy can run faster and jump farther, while Dixie has a higher vertical leap and can float for short periods. The duo can also join forces and perform a team attack in this game, something that DK and Diddy couldn't do in the first Donkey Kong Country. Tap the R button and the lead character will pick up and carry the straggler. You can move around freely with the other character in tow and throw it at things by pressing the A button. This team move lets you grab items, activate switches, and pounce on enemies that would normally be too far away.

Diddy and Dixie also act as a health indicator of sorts. When the lead character runs into an enemy or gets hit by a projectile, you'll automatically switch to the one bringing up the rear. You can usually recover the character you lost by grabbing a monkey barrel up ahead in the level, which, in addition to collecting extra lives (by gathering bananas, balloons, or K-O-N-G coins), is one of the many ways you can rack up multiple chances to get through some of the game's tougher challenges.

Many levels fall into the "run to the right, jump over gaps, and avoid enemies" school of level design, but there are quite a few that have you going back and forth and climbing higher. The process of just getting to the exit is wildly different in every level, thanks to the mixture of different enemies and environmental hazards. Similar to the first Donkey Kong Country, the levels in DKC2 incorporate tasks like swimming, riding in mine carts, flying on top of a parrot, or swinging from vines. In DKC2, however, some levels are entirely devoted to these tasks. Riding on top of and controlling friendly animals also comes into play with new animals, such as a spitting spider and a high-jumping snake, which join the rhino, swordfish, and parrot from the first game. Also, some levels are just plain unique--like one where you're constantly getting stuck in honey, so the only way to move is by jumping.

The team-up throw lets you grab hard-to-reach items.

Diddy and Dixie don't carry weapons, but they can use a variety of different barrels to their advantage. There are barrels that you can pick up and toss, some of which reveal bananas and coins when you break them. There are a variety of cannon-type barrels that can launch you up ahead. Some have timers attached, some rotate on their own, and some you can aim by pressing the directional pad. If you see a barrel floating in a swamp, you can land on it or ride it without falling into the murky water below. There are barrels that mark checkpoints, barrels that give Diddy and Dixie temporary invincibility, and barrels that unleash one of their animal friends. Every level usually has a bonus barrel or two in it that will take you to a timed stage where you have to defeat all of the enemies in order to earn a valuable coin.

The menagerie of enemies in this latest game is quite vast as well. There are evil lizardlike kremlings that aimlessly walk on land, take after our heroes when they notice them, or toss barrels and shoot cannonballs at them from afar. Some forest animals, such as giant rats and sharp-quilled porcupines, also seem to have developed a dislike for the primate pair. There are airborne enemies, such as spiky bees and vultures, which fly in set patterns or swoop toward Dixie and Diddy when you get too close. Underwater, you'll find yet another set of enemies, generally piranhas, eels, and puffer fish. In all, there are probably three-dozen regular enemies. At the end of each of the game's eight main worlds, you'll fight a boss character for one of DK's coins and the right to move on to the next world. The bosses aren't necessarily large or awe-inspiring, but their attack patterns are complex enough to require good memorization skills, and they're usually fairly lethal until you figure out just how to toss barrels at them safely without winding up on the receiving end of a projectile or a swoop-style attack.