The Super Guide from the previous game is absent and is replaced by an expanded shop, run by Funky Kong, offering various support items such as temporary invincibility. Filling up a 'Kong-POW' meter allows Donkey Kong and his partner to perform a special move which defeats all on-screen enemies and converts them into items depending on the partner. Cranky, in a similar mechanic to the DuckTales video game, can use his cane to bounce on dangerous surfaces such as spiky thorns and reach higher areas and defeat certain enemies the other Kongs cannot. Dixie has the ability to spin her ponytail into a propeller and slowly descend through the air, with an initial boost in height at the start, allowing her and Donkey Kong to fly up out-of-reach platforms or items.

Along with Diddy Kong, who returns with his barrel jet pack for crossing large gaps, two additional characters are added Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong. Like the previous game, players primarily control Donkey Kong who is assisted by a companion, who either provide additional abilities to Donkey Kong, or can be controlled individually by a second player. Controls are similar to the previous game, with the addition of being able to pluck items from the ground and pick up and throw stunned enemies, and various controllers can be used with customizable controls.

The game continues on from the side-scrolling platform gameplay of the Donkey Kong Country series and sees Donkey Kong and his friends traveling through seven different islands in order to defeat the Snowmads. Player one controls Donkey Kong, while the second player controls Diddy Kong or one of the other two Kongs, in a standard level.

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