Objectively it's probably not the best game on this list, but I voted DKC2 because it left the biggest impact on me during my childhood. The music, the mood, the aesthetics of that game just stuck with me for some reason. Finding all the DK coins was also my favourite side quest out of all DK games.

Tropical Freeze followed by DKC2. I understand people saying that DKC set the mold for the Country games, but DKC2 simply plays better and has more content. It's an improvement in basically every aspect, even though DKC is still very good (and so is DKC3). But Tropical Freeze is insanely good.

DK64 for me. Nostalgia now at this point. And Lanky.

From the list Donkey Kong Bananza is my favorite. Also enjoyed DK94 (Gameboy puzzle platformer) a lot.

Maybe it's because of the sentimentality I have for the game, but Donkey Kong Country 2.

Never played the originals until the re-release but find them less enjoyable than the modern games just due to the controls. Probably should give them more of a go though.
Similarly Returns, which I did enjoy did have some frustrating bits due to the wonkiness of the control scheme, particularly the imprecise nature of the barrel rocket sections and the carts.
Tropical Freeze addresses all this so was far more fun.
Banaza however got really repetitive very quickly.

64 I only really watched someone at a holiday camp play. Still waiting for it to come to NSO to play it myself.

Ah, sorry to hear you've been having a rough time. Feeling any better now?

Maybe it's worth revisiting later down the road when you're in a better headspace, I've had games like that before where I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped cos I was depressed at the time, only to come back to them later and enjoy them much more.

Donkey Kong Country 2.

It took everything that was ground breaking about Donkey Kong country and dialed it up to 11.

Better pre-rendered visuals, better audio, tighter controls and thematically a very unique setting.

...RARE even used sprite scaling on a per-scanline basis to produce 3D-looking visuals on levels like lockjaw's locker background... The first game made me go "what the fuck" in regards to the visuals... And Donkey Kong Country 2 managed that same reaction, somehow... And no special chips were included in the cart, it's all done on base hardware. - All at a solid 60fps.

RARE was a stupidly talented developer in the 90s.



And we can't forget the banging music such as mining melancholy... The tunes used to sound great on my old 90's 7.2 surround sound system.

Yeah I’m good now. I was actually away from VGChartz during that period. Whenever the next opportunity opens (given I’m in the mood for some DK), then it’s DK time! I was veeery close to doing a runthrough during Christmas break, but Claire Obscur won.

Glad to hear you're feeling better. :)