Part 1: Gangplank Galleon (With FreezingInferno)

01: Gangplank Galleon Blip

We're back on K. Rool's ship from the first game, and it got a lot bigger!! It's a fairly nice tutorial world that slowly eases you into what to expect. A lot of the enemies we see now we will see through the end of the game (especially the zingers) as well as level design elements (that's no pit of death! It leads to a bonus room!). I think gangplank galleon is one of two worlds where every level has a secret warp in it, so there's that I guess! Personally I find most of the stages ok at best, nothing that will blow you away but it's still a good start. It really hits the pirate theme on you early on.

Music

For the unitiated, this is where I nerd out a lot over music in a video game for children.

K.Rool Returns: aaaa this sends some hecka nostalgia chills down my spine. The part that starts 25 seconds in is just... no words for it. Press start.

Steel Drum Rhumba: I haven't really noticed till now, but this song is really gosh darn silly. Everything about it scream silly. It's let's be a bunch of lazy cats in the sun silly. You can't hate it, unfortunately since it's just the menu music it doesn't get that much complexity to it. It works.

Welcome to krokodile isle: A huge departure from the map theme in the first game. What was before an innocent jazzy tune is now a story of suspense and tension, foreboding battles and dangerous stages, only one pair of monkeys can stand up to such a difficult challenge! Holy moly kid me is ready to start this.

Klomp's romp: Named after the one legged kremlin enemy that is used as cannon fodder, klomp's romp is an excellent track that builds up nicely. You can say it's a sort of childish re-imagining of the final boss theme used in DKC. Not saying childish is a bad thing, if anything I love feeling like a kid again. I LOVE the ship noises, holy shit do you hear that creaking? You won't hear shit that good on a genesis I tell you, super immersive for its time.

Jib Jig: Very whimsical and lighthearted, easy listening which fits quite well with the level design. Gives the whole stage a lazy feel that I enjoy, it never gets too complicated, but that's because it just wants you to take your time and relax... later stages may violate the song's wish though...

Lockjaw's Saga: Feel these drums! First tune in the game that really has that danger feel to it. Expect to see more of that as we get farther into the game. I enjoy the trumpets and can easily imagine this being played in an orchestra... Well I can say that for any song in this game but this one especially! That being said, I am pretty meh about Lockjaw's saga. I think you can blame it on a bunch of modern shooty games these days trying to sound all orchestral and epic, so it kinda takes the wind out of you. Donkey Kong country 2 may have started a bad trend....

Swanky's Swing: I like the piano for this a lot, very jumpy. I honestly don't think a lot about this song, there's a fricken sweet remix with cool as heck guitars in the OCremix serious monkey business album tho. Check it out

Cranky's Conga: It's cranky's theme from DKC again, I like the monkey noises

School house harmony: This gives off such a school's out cartoon theme that I can only think about that one cartoon that had a movie I think it was actually called Recess school's out, they played it at my elementary school like every goddamn friday and i'm so sick and if i hear that one song about appleboy or something im going to ki-what am i talking about again????

FUNKY THE MAIN MONKEY: disco owns

Boss Bossanova: Good at what it does, fits in with every boss battle. Isn't so distracting so you keep focused on the boss, but you keep getting that "epic" feeling that DKC2 tries to have you feel.