Review Don Doko Don 2 - An unknown platform game

Happy Hive community day, first of all, I must thank all those readers who supported my previous small review, it was something really amazing for me, that makes me want to continue sharing other video game reviews, both famous titles and others not so well known, this time I bring you one that fits perfectly in the above, because it was not a very popular game in the West, it is Don Doko Don 2.

Many will wonder why I do not talk about the first Don Doko Don, the reason is very simple, his first installment was a game more arcade style, very simple where we must pass worlds with a static screen, with this I do not say it is a bad game, but if we compare it with the one we will see below, the change was really incredible.

Don Doko Don 2 was released as an exclusive for the Famicom in 1992, being a title very well received by Japanese players, thanks to different technical aspects that made it very addictive. Due to the fact that it was exclusive for this part of the world, very few in the West had the opportunity to play it at the time.

One of the ways in which this video game became known was by several Mario hacks, which eliminated the sprites of the original characters and replaced them with Mario, for this reason many will remember this game for a parallel game to the history of Nintendo's beloved character, however, it was really a hack of a cartridge exclusive to Japan.

What makes Don Doko Don 2 an excellent game is its style of gameplay, which is a 2D platformer that can move in different directions, very similar to Super Mario Bros 3, but in a simpler way. Here we control Bob, a dwarf with a cane that he uses as his main weapon, with which we defend ourselves from all the threats in its different levels.

The general objective is very simple, we must find a magic potion to return to normal a groom who was about to marry a princess, this was turned into a frog by a crow (something that makes no sense). In order to find the potion you have to go through different levels and face bosses.

Its gameplay is very intuitive, one button to jump, another to attack and the direction pad to move, also with the hammer we crush the enemies to grab and throw them, this way we can attack from a long distance, as well as protect ourselves against larger enemies.

In most of the levels in order to complete them we must find one or more keys, these will allow us access to the next area, in many situations we must go through all the scenarios very well, as the keys are somewhat hidden, after obtaining it we must go to the door that had the insurance to finish the area.

We can also find different types of hammers, one that allows us to throw the enemies further away, another with the ability to throw fire, or we can also find another one that has a ball that allows us to stun enemies. These will appear randomly in different chests, not always the same one.

We have a life meter which tells us how many attacks we can receive, the good thing is that we can increase it by grabbing a kind of blue squares, each certain amount will give us an additional point of life, increasing our chances of surviving in the different levels of Don Doko Don 2.

After passing different zones in the levels we have to face a boss, all of them are totally different and have unique attacks, so we must see their attacks and patterns in detail when we face them for the first time, but in general terms they are not very difficult to eliminate.

I consider Don Doko Don 2 a very addictive video game and very easy to play, its simple mechanics, a good design in its levels and its great challenge offer an incredible experience, if you have not played it I recommend it, for sure you will be very surprised for not knowing of its existence.