History YMMV / DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest

{{Fanon}}: The hand that is holding Kleever... is revealed to only be an effect; Kleever itself is the boss. However, after the GBA remake that included a new boss Kerozene, and considering Kerozene is even using [[DegradedBoss smaller Kleevers]], made some fans to speculate that Kerozene is the one holding it under lava. Other fans think it diminishes Kleever as the boss and takes the away the awesomness of the sword itself being the boss.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJr'' in several ways. Both focus on Donkey Kong's younger sidekick having to rescue him after being captured and both feature a heavier focus on vertical platforming and climbing mechanics. The real kicker? Diddy Kong was originally meant to ''be'' Donkey Kong Jr. before Nintendo ordered Rare to change his name.

** The very rare black Klobbers, who take away one of your lives every time they collide with you. Note that they don't ''kill'' you while doing this. As such, if you're really unlucky and encounter one in a confined space, you can end up losing ''dozens'' of lives, especially if you're not quick to escape and capture them back before they float off. Even worse if you get harmed by a normal enemy or stage after having your lives knocked down to one -- enjoy that GameOver screen!

** The black Klobbers, who take away one of your lives every time they run into you. Note that they don't ''kill'' you while doing this, meaning that if you're really unlucky and encounter one in a confined space, you can end up losing several lives.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: It's easy to miss because you're busy dealing with the level's hazards, but the background in Lockjaw's Locker is actually a fully 3D ship deck that changes your angle of view depending on your vertical position in the level. This was pulled off on the Super Nintendo, but it wouldn't look out of place in a UsefulNotes/PlayStation 1 game.

* GoodBadBugs: When playing through any of the honeycomb levels, if Diddy and Dixie use their pair up mechanic, they won't end up being tethered to the floor by the honey and can walk around freely.

** In Rambi Rumble, right after an [[NightmareFuel extremely tense]] chase by King Zing, there's a BonusLevel right before the No Rambi sign. Said bonus level is ''painfully'' easy, consisting of flat hallways of enemies that Rambi can just effortlessly charge through.

** At the ranking screen when completing the game, you can see [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] as the top three heroes, while [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's shoes]] and [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim Jim's gun]] are lying near a trash can labeled "No Hopers". The jab at Sega after the company's jab at Nintendo with their infamous "Sega does what Nintendon't" advertisements is funny enough, but it becomes cruelly funnier seeing this after knowing how much the ''Sonic'' franchise [[AudienceAlienatingEra has suffered]] in its later years. And once Sega went third-party, Sonic would end up in official Nintendo games such as ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. [[HarsherInHindsight It's a bit sadder]] in Jim's case, since his series would be reduced to relative obscurity after a poorly received [[VideoGame3DLeap jump to 3D]].

* GameBreakingBug:
** Sort of. The third level of the [[BrutalBonusLevel Lost World]], Klobber Karnage, has a series of rotating barrels that the player must manually position and time correctly. Simple enough. However, as many younger players found out the hard way, playing this level in an older emulator (such as zsnes) makes these barrels spin infinitely no matter what the player does, making the timing much more difficult (although it's still possible to complete the level this way). This makes an already NintendoHard level veer straight into FakeDifficulty. Thankfully, the Virtual Console versions (and most modern emulators) don't have this problem.
** The infamous [[https://donkeykong.fandom.com/wiki/Castle_Crush_Glitch Castle Crush Glitch]], which was long believed to be capable of bricking cartridges and corrupting emulators. The truth is no SNES glitch can do this as all cartridge, console, and emulation software is stored as tamper-proof ROM. It can certainly seem like it though, as the glitch going particularly awry can create an SRAM (save file) with erroneous values, making the game load to a glitched-out state every time. This is easily fixed on an emulator or virtual console (wipe the save data externally), but a bit beyond the ken of a casual user when it comes to cartridges (open it up and remove the save battery to initialize the SRAM chips, then reassemble).

* EvenBetterSequel: Of the three ''Donkey Kong Country'' games released on the SNES, this is considered the best one by a large margin. It has tighter controls, better graphics, and even more gameplay variety than the original.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the game where the collectathon traits of Rare's platformers started to kick in. The first game had four collectables, but all of them were geared towards extra lives, so you weren't required to get them to get the max completion percentage or the good ending. This game added in three new coins on top of the four prior items and you needed all the Kremcoins to get the best ending. There was some restraint in that Kremcoins were the only ones you needed for completion percentage, outside of Hero Coins collected in the Lost World. But the third game required you to get all of its unique collectables for the best ending[[labelnote:*]]You need the Bonus Coins to access all the levels, you need to open up all the levels to get all the Hero Coins, you need all the Hero Coins to get all the Banana Birds and there are two purchasable items for 55 Bear Coins to get two of said Banana Birds.[[/labelnote]]. This would culminate in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' and its huge number of items, each requiring a specific character, that would be looked down upon by players.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the game where the collectathon traits of Rare's platformers started to kick in. The first game had four collectables, but all of them were geared towards extra lives, so you weren't required to get them to get the max completion percentage or the good ending. This game added in three new coins on top of the four prior items and you needed all the Kremcoins to get the best ending. There was some restraint in that Kremcoins were the only ones you needed for completion percentage, outside of Hero Coins collected in the Lost World. But the third game required you to get all of its unique collectables for the best ending [[labelnote:*]]You need the Bonus Coins to access all the levels, you need to open up all the levels to get all the Hero Coins, you need all the Hero Coins to get all the Banana Birds and there are two purchasable items for 55 Bear Coins to get two of said Banana Birds.[[/labelnote]]. This would culminate in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' and its huge number of items, each requiring a specific character, that would be looked down upon by players.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: This is the only DKC game to be entirely scored by one person, Creator/DavidWise, and it is rightly considered his ''magnum opus'', even over his also-impressive contributions to the first game:

** King Zing continues the trend of hornets being tough bosses, mostly because you play as Squawks, who is one of the hardest animal buddies to control. You have to shoot at his stinger (which is very tricky due to it being located on his underside and Squawks' AbnormalAmmo being affected by gravity) six times, all the while trying your hardest to avoid getting hit by his stinger projectiles and him running into you because of how difficult Squawks is to control. But it doesn't end there — then he [[AsteroidsMonster splits]] into regular-sized Zingers, the last of which you have to hit three times while it homes in on you.
** [[spoiler: Kreepy Krow, the ghost of the first boss Krow]], mainly because you have to avoid his [[spoiler: deceased]] minions diving at you before you can even attack him, and when you hit him, he flies away and you have to climb up after him, dodging several lightning-fast cannonball shots from every angle. You best hope you don't lose Diddy Kong before you have to take on the climbing sections, otherwise you're in for a heavy heaping of pain.

** The first level that's reasonably likely to give a beginner player trouble is Red Hot Ride. Not surprisingly, it's the first gimmick-heavy level in the game, where your platforming skill takes backseat to how well you manage to control yourself while on those darned hot air balloons.
** Glimmer's Galleon. The stage is completely underwater and there's no Engarde anywhere to give you a means of offense or defense. It's also nearly pitch dark, illuminated only by a cone of light from the titular animal buddy.
** Web Woods. It's one of the longest levels in the game, possibly longer than the infamous Bramble Scramble; you have to play 90% of it as Squitter the Spider, a character that gets hurt if he jumps on ''any'' enemy, and traverse extremely long {{bottomless pit}}s using Squitter's quickly-vanishing spider webs while avoiding tough enemies like Mini-Neckies and Kannons. You also have to leave two specific Kannons alive and use their projectiles to break open the door to a ''diabolically'' hidden bonus room ''and'' get a prize from the end roulette... one of which is the DK Hero Coin. Meaning that if you miss it, the level is beat and you have to go through the whole thing again for another shot.
*** It should be noted that Web Woods is one of only two levels (Mudhole Marsh being the first) in which the end-of-level roulette features a DK coin, and, unlike every other prize on the roulette line-up, it only appears VERY briefly each cycle, barely half a second. So your timing has to be absolutely PERFECT to nab that damn coin.
** Bramble Scramble can be incredibly infuriating if you don't take extra care with your jumps, since all the walls are covered in deadly spikes. Not to mention, it is a ''very'' long level and you'll be begging for a checkpoint before long.
** Animal Antics. A long level where you play as the cast of animal buddies. Not that bad until we're in a Bramble scenario with Squawks and there's ''a lot'' of wind throwing you right at the spikes. If you don't master the controls, you'll die. A lot. Have fun.
** [[RiseToTheChallenge Toxic Tower.]] Especially the first half where you're playing as Rattly, and even the slightest mistake will flat out kill you. The segments with Squawks and Squitter aren't any easier, as fooling around for too long will cause the toxic waste below to catch up and quite possibly spell your death.
** Gusty Glade, where even the slightest wrong move can spell certain death at the mercy of the heavy wind mechanic, à la ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels''. Getting the secret Rattly doesn't make the stage all that much easier, as his hops still need to be timed with the wind, and he's lost at the halfway point of the stage.

* SequelDifficultySpike: This game is considered to be harder than both its predecessor and its sequel. While the tighter controls and more responsive jumping are certainly welcome, ''DKC2'' also has a number of gimmick levels that are considered very tough. Many of these -- such as Toxic Tower and Gusty Glade -- have you play more-or-less exclusively as an animal buddy, which are relatively hard to control in comparison, and there's quite a few such gimmick levels late in the game.

* SequelDifficultySpike: This game is considered to be harder than both its predecessor and its sequel.

* EsotericHappyEnding: The GoldenEnding - in terms of both canon and meta. [[spoiler:Crocodile Isle's destruction is treated as the ultimate SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for the Kongs; however, along with the InferredHolocaust, this also means that many beloved levels are gone as well.]]

* FranchiseOriginalSin: This is the game where the "collect-o-thon" traits of Rare's platformers started to kick in. The first game had four collectables, but all of them were geared towards extra lives, so you weren't required to get them to get the max completion percentage or the good ending. This game added in three new coins on top of the four prior items and you needed all the Kremcoins to get the best ending. There was some restraint in that Kremcoins were the only ones you needed for completion percentage, outside of Hero Coins collected in the Lost World. But the third game required you to get all of its unique collectables for the best ending [[labelnote:*]]You need the Bonus Coins to access all the levels, you need to open up all the levels to get all the Hero Coins, you need all the Hero Coins to get all the Banana Birds and there are two purchasable items for 55 Bear Coins to get two of said Banana Birds.[[/labelnote]]. This would culminate in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' and its huge number of items, each requiring a specific character, that would be looked down upon by players.

** At the ranking screen when completing the game, you can see [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] as the top three heroes, while [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's shoes]] and [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim Jim's gun]] are lying near a trash can labeled "No Hopers". The jab at Sega after the company's jab at Nintendo with their infamous "Sega does what Nintendon't" advertisements is funny enough, but it becomes cruelly funnier seeing this after knowing how much the ''Sonic'' franchise [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 has suffered in its]] later years. And once Sega went third-party, Sonic would end up in official Nintendo games such as ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. [[HarsherInHindsight It's a bit sadder]] in Jim's case, since his series would be reduced to relative obscurity after a poorly received [[VideoGame3DLeap jump to 3D]].

** The infamous [[https://donkeykong.fandom.com/wiki/Castle_Crush_Glitch Castle Crush Glitch]], which is even more of a literal example than usual, as performing it can not only potentially corrupt save data, but even '''brick the entire cartridge''' (this extends to emulated ROM files as well.)

** At the ranking screen when completing the game, you can see [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] as the top three heroes, while [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's shoes]] and [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim Jim's gun]] are lying near a trash can labeled "No Hopers". The jab at Sega after the company's jab at Nintendo with their infamous "Sega does what Nintendon't" advertisements is funny enough, but it becomes cruelly funnier seeing this after knowing how much the ''Sonic'' franchise [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 has suffered in its]] later years. And once Sega went third-party, Sonic would end up in official Nintendo games such as ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. It's a bit sadder in Jim's case, since his series would be reduced to relative obscurity after a poorly received [[VideoGame3DLeap jump to 3D]].

** At the ranking screen when completing the game, you can see [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], and [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] as the top three heroes, while [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's shoes]] and [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim Jim's gun]] are lying near a trash can labeled "No Hopers". The jab at Sega after the company's jab at Nintendo with their infamous "Sega does what Nintendon't" advertisements is funny enough, but it becomes cruelly funnier seeing this after knowing how much the ''Sonic'' franchise [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 has suffered in its]] later years. And once Sega went third-party, Sonic would end up in official Nintendo games such as ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. It's a bit sadder in Jim's case, since his series would be reduced to relative obscurity after a [[PolygonCeiling poorly received jump to 3D]].

** The original SNES version is the only game in the series where you have to pay to ''save your game.'' Sure, it's only 2 Banana Coins, but if you're broke and on your last life, hope you can quickly revisit a level and get a coin without getting killed. The option to use Funky to fly to an easier early-game stage (which tend to be full of Banana Coins and extra lives) is there... but Funky also charges you for his services. At least you're safe if you've used him once before since he only charges you the first time. It becomes even worse if you save before a boss, as besides Krazy Kremlamd, you'll need to go through a fair number of stages before you can reach Wrinkly Kong, and getting a game over entails having to fight the boss all over again, on top of all the stages from the last attempt.