Best Donkey Kong Country title?

[MyNameIsVince]

DKC 1 may have more nostalgic value to me (I was one of those that got that DKC video tape), but IMO DKC 2 is the best of the series. It did all that the first game did, and expanded upon it without deviating too much from the gameplay. DKC 3, while still good, starts deviating with more stuff to collect. I do like the map system in DKC 3 though.

But yeah, for me DKC 2 hits the right notes. Gameplay, replay value, music (best overall), graphics, etc.

Oh yeah and a shout out to the first DKL game for helping me get through dealing with my mom's pregnancy with my brothers.

[AznKhmerBoi]

^ Think about it, I think i enjoyed 1 more than the rest because of the team. Diddy and Donkey Kong was just more enjoyable to play with than the others.

[Zing]

Well, I went from borderline hate for DKC to it being one of my favourites.

I have played through DKC (90%), DKC2 (92%), and am currently about 50% through DKC3. So far, I would have to give the nod to DKC2. The first game was fun and has great music, but the secrets feel arbitrary. You have to make blind jumps occasionally and things are just a little too obtuse. In the second game, the secrets are in more logical locations, and there are enough "hints" (a banana trail, etc) to lead you to them. DKC3 feels too easy. The secrets are pretty obvious and the game overall is rather easy.

I do have DKC Returns, but I am only up to the second world and haven't played it in months.

[Zing]

I forgot about this thread!

I have since completed DKC3 103% and I have decided this is the best one in the series. Two weeks ago, I wrote about it on Nintendo-Age.

[ZeroAX]

You make very good points. I always forget how much I enjoyed the puzzles in that game.

[MumboJumbo]

DKC 2 all the way! DKC was a masterpiece, but 2 improved on it in every way. That by itself is an amazing feat.

[Dylan]

I forgot about this thread!

I have since completed DKC3 103% and I have decided this is the best one in the series. Two weeks ago, I wrote about it on Nintendo-Age.

I'm glad to see somebody defending DKC3, it's a great game. I have some thoughts about why I see DKC2 as superior, though.

On the question of strength versus speed between characters, I honestly found that dichotomy in these games to be flawed from the beginning and consider it a step backwards in DKC3. As a player I found mobility so much more useful than "strength" that there was really no point in considering using the heavy characters. Sure Kiddy could carry objects faster, but that's still a relatively small portion of the game. The majority of the time in these games you were navigating areas covered in enemies, and Dixie's quickness and ability to hover as a fail-safe made her simply better suited to the majority of challenges in the game. DKC2 did it best in my opinion because both characters had good mobility, putting them on more equal terms for use (although I still found Dixie preferable because of the effectiveness of her hover). Something to consider is that in these games your other character also serves as your health meter, so it was always frustrating to lose one of your gameplay assets for getting hit. In DKC2, this was toned down by the aforementioned balancing of mobility.

Overall, I agree on your other points. The overworld and its interactivity were great. Puzzle solving was a lot of fun. However I will say that I found the level theming and music in DKC2 to be superior (though this is arguably subjective). In fact, I found the music in DKC3 to be the weakest in the series (not to say that it's bad at all, just that it's not as good as the previous games). DKC3 is a great game, but I would say that it still has its own flaws.

[BurningDoom]

I forgot about this thread!

I have since completed DKC3 103% and I have decided this is the best one in the series. Two weeks ago, I wrote about it on Nintendo-Age.

I'm glad to see somebody defending DKC3, it's a great game. I have some thoughts about why I see DKC2 as superior, though.

On the question of strength versus speed between characters, I honestly found that dichotomy in these games to be flawed from the beginning and consider it a step backwards in DKC3. As a player I found mobility so much more useful than "strength" that there was really no point in considering using the heavy characters. Sure Kiddy could carry objects faster, but that's still a relatively small portion of the game. The majority of the time in these games you were navigating areas covered in enemies, and Dixie's quickness and ability to hover as a fail-safe made her simply better suited to the majority of challenges in the game. DKC2 did it best in my opinion because both characters had good mobility, putting them on more equal terms for use (although I still found Dixie preferable because of the effectiveness of her hover). Something to consider is that in these games your other character also serves as your health meter, so it was always frustrating to lose one of your gameplay assets for getting hit. In DKC2, this was toned down by the aforementioned balancing of mobility.

Overall, I agree on your other points. The overworld and its interactivity were great. Puzzle solving was a lot of fun. However I will say that I found the level theming and music in DKC2 to be superior (though this is arguably subjective). In fact, I found the music in DKC3 to be the weakest in the series (not to say that it's bad at all, just that it's not as good as the previous games). DKC3 is a great game, but I would say that it still has its own flaws.

The strength aspect comes into play because some enemies require 2 hits from Diddy and only 1 hit from DK. And even more useful is when there's enemies that Diddy can't hurt at all, and DK can. It really messes up your rhythm in the game when Diddy goes flying off some invulnerable enemies while DK could just keep bouncing along.

[Dylan]

The strength aspect comes into play because some enemies require 2 hits from Diddy and only 1 hit from DK. And even more useful is when there's enemies that Diddy can't hurt at all, and DK can. It really messes up your rhythm in the game when Diddy goes flying off some invulnerable enemies while DK could just keep bouncing along.

I disagree, I never found it to be much of a hassle to just hop over the muscle gators. Armored enemies are also kind of sparse after the first DKC.

[SamuraiMegas]

Guess what? I like DKC3.
And it's the first and only SNES CIB game I own.
So to annoy/be different
DK3.