About King Kong 2

What is it?

It's an actiony/RPGy/adventurey game released by Konami for the MSX. Think the Legend of Zelda, but with more RPG features (experience points, leveling up, etc.)

Uh... MSX?

The MSX was a personal computer that specialized in gaming that was popular in Japan back in the 1980s. Many notable games were released on the MSX, including the first two Dragon Quests, the first Final Fantasy, some Adventures of Lolo games, the Hydlide series, etc., but today perhaps it's most known for the Konami games released on it. Castlevania, Contra, Metal Gear, Snatcher and many other series got MSX releases by Konami.

What about King Kong 1?

The game's title is a bit of a misnomer, since there is no Konami game called "King Kong". Instead, this game is based on the 1986 movie "King Kong Lives", which was known as "King Kong 2" in Japan. There is another game released by Konami based on "King Kong Lives", a Famicom game where you control Kong himself which has even less to do with the movie on which it's based.

Well, I don't have an MSX! How do I play this?

You can emulate this just like you can emulate any other system, you just need an MSX emulator and a King Kong 2 ROM. Since the emulator will most likely emulate the MSX in its entirety, and not just its game-playing capabilities, there'll probably be an option to load a game cartridge after the emulator is already running, so fire up the emulator, load up the King Kong 2 ROM and have fun!

But the game's in Japanese!

Well, the game was never released in any English-speaking country, so what do you expect? There is an English translation you can download. Just beware, since there are two English translation, the older of which is based on a French translation, and is pretty inaccurate and the other is a bit better (and much more accurate). The one at ROMhacking.net is the one you want.

How do I play?

Since your emulator'll be emulating an MSX keyboard as well, you play just like you would on a real MSX console. You move around with the Arrow Keys. You attack and make selections with the Space Bar. You use items with Shift. You can pause with F1 and reach the menu with F2. SIMPLE, HUH?!

Leveling up?

Each enemy gives a certain amount of experience points. Every 100 experience points, you level up, your max HP goes up by 10 and you get a tiny bit stronger. Once you reach certain levels, weaker enemies stop giving experience consistantly. Pretty simple stuff.

Can I save?

Not conventionally. Your best bet is to use emulator save-states. You can continue infinite times, though, just hit F5 at the Game Over screen. Be quick about it, though, because if you take too long, you forfeit your oportunity to continue altogether!

Why should I rest? I'm not tired!!

Some huts offer you rest, either for 150G, Meat or Sandals. Resting completely refills your HP and adds 20 MP, but can be rather pricey, as you can see. The exception is the hut near where you get the Dorian Fruit that accepts Meat, which is pretty easy to come by, but you don't regain any MP from resting at that hut.

Leech Sashimi? Boiled Mountain Worm? EEEEYYYYYYUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!!

Uh... yeah. There are three huts that sell food. The first sells Boiled Bug for 50G and Warthog Meat for 100G, the second sells Leech Sashimi for 50G and Boiled Mountain Worm for 100G, and the third sells Salty Slug for 10G and Sealouse Miso for 50G. Any of the 50G offerings do absolutely nothing, while the 100G offerings restore a variable amount of HP, but it's not usually worth the money. Eating the Salty Slug for 10G actually cuts your Life in half, so definitely don't eat that! It's probably best to ignore these "restaurants" altogether.

That'd be REALLY KEWL if the game had multiple endings!

It does! There are three endings, depending on a few certain factors. You get the best ending if you beat the game in under 365 days, and you continue less than 33 times. You get the normal ending if you beat the game in less than 365 days and you use 33 or more continues. If it 365 or more days to beat the game, you get the bad ending, regardless of how many times you continue.