Let’s take a moment to reflect on how amazing Donkey Kong Country 2 was

It turned 20 this month

Donkey Kong Country 2 turned 20 this month. To celebrate, current Rare Creative Director (since 1998!) is reminiscing on the game, tweeting out tons of concept art, as well as used and unused ideas. It really brings home how well-crafted Rare’s older games were, and how much love went into each and every release. It showed.

Diddy’s Kong Quest (which is not Diddy Kong‘s Quest by the way, a moniker that I used for almost two decades) had a major impact on me at release. Even though I was already a big Country fan because of the first game, I ended up playing the second iteration for weeks on end, enjoying both the solo and co-op elements. It played so well, and the levels were among the greatest seen to date in the platforming genre.

There’s a ton of great sketches and designs on Mayles’ Twitter, and if you’re a Country fan, I suggest checking them out.

Gregg Mayles [Twitter]