In the GBA version, there is a new boss of K. Rool's Keep, called Kerozene, who can be found in the level "Stronghold Showdown." In the SNES version, there was only a cutscene in this location which gave you a Kremkoin before taking Donkey Kong away.

At Cranky's Video Game Heroes, there are three ranks that a player can reach if they collect enough DK coins. The characters that have each rank by default are Mario, Yoshi, and Link. In the original SNES release of the game, there is a trash can in the bottom-right corner with a sign that says "No Hopers". Next to the trash can is Sonic the Hedgehog's speed shoes and Earthworm Jim's gun. The No Hopers section and these items are completely removed in the Game Boy Advance port of the game.

The level theme for Donkey Kong Country 2's mine shaft stages wasn't included in the game's official soundtrack album, leaving it without an official name for several years. The Game Boy Advance remake, which includes an unlockable sound test, simply refers to the track as "Kannon's Klaim", which is the name of the first level the track plays in.

In 2000, the fan website DK Vine created their own unofficial name for the song, "Mining Melancholy", which appeared to have ended up becoming the accepted name for certain uploads of the track online. However, it wasn't until 2024 with the soundtrack's release on the Nintendo Music streaming service that the song finally received an official name: "Kannon's Klanking".

The "starburst" effect that occurs when bouncing on enemies is usually meant to expand, but in the first two Donkey Kong Country games, they were mistakenly coded to contract instead. This issue was fixed in the third game and the subsequent re-releases of all three games on the Game Boy Advance.