Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze - All Puzzle Pieces, Secret Exits & Kong Letters

[Want to see more guides like this? Subscribe to GuideRanx for daily new gaming guides.]

The collectible hunt continues as we enter World 2 of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Autumn Heights is a charmed mountainous island filled with fall delights like piles of dead leaves, snowy peaks, and charming villages full of angry little penguins. Once again, we’re delving into all the treasure locations — KONG coins, puzzle pieces, and secret exits leading to bonus levels.

Like the first world, you’ll find two secret exits, and a KONG bonus level. Find all the KONG coins to get the level, and the bonus levels tend to be just a little more difficult than the regular levels. They even have their own KONG coins to get. Well, all of them except the final bonus level. You’ll just find puzzle pieces (which are still cool) in those stages.

&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;

More Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze guides on Gameranx:

All Puzzle Pieces, Secret Exits & Kong Letters Collectibles | World 2: Autumn Heights

There are four K-O-N-G letters in each stage, and a variable number of puzzle pieces. Finding all the KONG letters will unlock bonus stages in the world.

Puzzle pieces unlock additional concept art in the “Extras” menu. Puzzle pieces are often in secret areas, rewarded for completing bonus areas, or given when collecting certain bunches of bananas.

Secret Exits are special exits to levels that take you to new, completely unique levels. If you’re missing a level in the world, it’s because you need to find a secret exit.

2-1: Windmill Hills

Puzzle Piece #1: Right at the start of the level, knock down the wooden logs and grab a barrel. Throw it at the target to the left of the starting point to enter a mini-game with a puzzle piece reward.
K Letter: Floating above an penguin enemy, low and between two spinning windmill platforms.
Puzzle Piece #2: Right next to the K Letter, grab all the bananas and bunches to make the puzzle piece appear in the center of the left windmill.
Puzzle Piece #3: At the next windmill, defeat all four penguins.
Puzzle Piece #4: Right past the first checkpoint, defeat the pig and open the barrel container. Grab all the bananas that pop out.
Puzzle Piece #5: A little further from the previous checkpoint, you’ll find a hanging bag. Grab a buddy barrel and toss it to crack open the bag with a piece inside.
Puzzle Piece #6: Continue a few steps right to find a plug in the wooden floor, and a floor you can ground-slap to drop through. Pull the plug and drop through the floor to get this piece.
O Letter: At the start of the vertical climb with spinning platform gears, look on the bottom-right gear. The O Letter is just floating there.
Puzzle Piece #7: At the top of the vertical climb, don’t jump into the cannon barrel just yet. Instead, bounce into the open doorway to the left and complete the mini-game.
N Letter: Very easy. Just on a platform to the right of the windmill with four bells.
Puzzle Piece #8: At the windmill with four bells, ring and break all four to make the piece appear in the center.
G Letter: It’s found at the end of the stage, when you’re being launched from a series of cannon barrels. Quickly launch yourself before the windmill wipes the G Letter away. Move fast!
Puzzle Piece #9: Right after the G Letter, time your cannon launch to collect the last piece attached to the windmill.

2-2: Mountain Mania

Puzzle Piece #1: Grab Rambi, then backtrack to the spiked floor earlier — there’s a rhino-rock you can smash to reveal a hidden area while standing on the spikes. Rambi is immune to sharp floors!
K Letter: Ahead, you’ll find a stack of four rhino-rocks. Don’t break them! Instead, jump on top of them then jump across to reach the flying K.
Puzzle Piece #2: Beneath the four rhino-rocks, there’s a secret wooden floor you can drop through to enter a mini-game.
Puzzle Piece #3: Later, you’ll reach two wooden platforms above a spike pit. Jump on the platforms and grab all the spinning bananas before the scaffolding sinks too low.
O Letter: Floating above the first swinging crate.
Puzzle Piece #4: Ring the three bells past the O Letter on the wooden towers to make the piece appear inside the third.
Puzzle Piece #5: During the volcanic event chase, stop at the first barrel container and open it.
N Letter: After swinging on the crate, find the letter at the end of the very next platform.
Puzzle Piece #6: Grab all the bananas and banana coins while escaping the volcanic event.
Puzzle Piece #7: Ahead, there’s another small gap with a burning blue penguin. To the left, there’s a barrel container you can crack open.
G Letter: Past the two fat penguins, there’s a cave-like platform with a roof. Bounce off the enemy here to collect the letter before the platform collapses.

2-3: Horn Top Hop

Puzzle Piece #1: At the very start of the level, grab the first enemy and hop up the slowly falling leaves. Bust open the bag to the left of the leaves.
K Letter: Floating above the very first big blowing horn.
Puzzle Piece #2: Above one of those fire-shooting pigs, climb the green grass ceiling up and left to find a hidden puzzle piece alcove.
O Letter: Past the first checkpoint, you’ll eventually reach three horns blowing three leaves — jump high above the penguin that bursts into flames.
Puzzle Piece #3: To the right of a fat penguin, there’s a secret cave you can jump into that leads to a mini-game.
N Letter: In the area with the blowing horns and green grass that DK can cling to on the ceiling, find the N Letter floating between the patches of grass.
Puzzle Piece #4: Past one of the pig checkpoints, there’s a big pile of leaves to the right. Clear them out and wait for the horn to blow out a puzzle piece.
G Letter: A little further ahead, you’ll find three horns with enemies popping out. Wait for a non-helmet-wearing enemy to appear so you can bounce up and grab the flying G in the center.
Puzzle Piece #5: From the cannon barrel at the very end of the level, launch yourself into the secret area and collect all the bananas around the circle of green climbable grass.

2-4: Sawmill Thrill

Puzzle Piece #1: At the start of the level, go left and enter the tree. Climb up to reach the first sneaky piece.
K Letter: Jump from the four covered logs after ducking under the sawblades to get this letter.
Puzzle Piece #2: After the K Letter, ride underneath the next log to get a puzzle piece. Don’t jump on top of it!
O Letter: While moving through the giant logs that are sawed into, you’ll find a O Letter in the center of the third big log. You can reach it from the upper or lower path.
N Letter: After dropping into the water in a log, look under the second fat penguin — a letter piece will float up from underwater.
Puzzle Piece #3: In the log ride, you’ll eventually reach a cabin office with spikes underneath. Instead of ducking under the spikes, jump into the office.
Puzzle Piece #4: Ahead of that puzzle piece, you’ll continue along the water toward dry land and a fat penguin. Jump up and dive under water to reach a secret area to the right of the fat penguin. Complete the minigame to get the piece.
Puzzle Piece #5: Switching back to the minecart, wait for a platform with spikes on the bottom to appear. Jump on top of this platform (using the previous blocks) and jump from the edge to get the last piece.
G Letter: At the very end of the sequence where you’ll have to jump from one flying piece of track to the next while the buzzsaw chases you. Stay on the floating tracks as long as you can, the last letter is under where the tracks start up again.
Secret Exit: At the end of the level, after escaping the spinning sawblade and past the G Letter, you’ll reach a slope that leads to a string of bananas. DO NOT JUMP. Fall down into the gap and bounce off the fat owl to find a hidden path that leads to the secret exit.

2-5: Alpine Incline

K Letter: On the hanging platform right at the start of the level, two flying penguins will zip forward from the right. Use them like stepping stones to reach the letter.
Puzzle Piece #1: Grab all the bananas from the floating balloons (after riding the barrel cannon) as they appear in sequence.
Puzzle Piece #2: At the swinging vines hanging from the balloons, there are three fat puffins below. Bounce on their heads and get the banana coins to make a piece spawn.
O Letter: Found at the top of the balloon platform you’ll launch into the sky. Grab it before the platform deflates, and before you hop into the cannon.
Puzzle Piece #3: There’s a secret cannon at the first checkpoint. Bounce off the balloon to the right to get enough height to reach the secret cannon hiding in the balloons above the pig stand.
Puzzle Piece #4: Just beneath the floating platform with the barrel container. Duck and ride the moving platform to reach it.
N Letter: Just to the right, on another propeller platform.
G Letter: At the end of the level, you’ll have to cross a whole floor of bouncy balloons. Use the flying penguins to reach the floating G before hitting the exit.
Puzzle Piece #5: Continue past the level exit to find a secret mini-game in the balloons to the right.

2-6: Wing Ding

Puzzle Piece #1: In the interior tower, slap the door open and drop through the floor. Down below, go to the left corner to find a hidden area.
K Letter: At the zip-line sequence, you’ll ring a bell near the end and summon bananas that point you to the lower zip-line near the end. Ignore them! Stay up high to zip straight to the K.
Puzzle Piece #2: At the rocky cliffs, you’ll encounter an archer shooting fish. Use the fish to reach a raised platform (bounce off the fish arrows) to reach a hidden barrel cannon. Complete the mini-game to get the piece.
O Letter: In the second zip-line sequence, stay on the lower zip-lines and drop onto the fat flying penguin to grab the letter and bounce off his head.
Puzzle Piece #3: After getting launched through the window, reach the water fall with a nearby barrel container. To the right of the container, drop down to a hidden platform. It will break away to another lower platform with a mini-game entrance.
N Letter: On the third zip-line sequence, watch for a lower green line you can drop down to with this letter.
Puzzle Piece #4: After breaking through another window into a tower, you’ll find a white barrel cannon — don’t jump in yet! Instead, climb up to the platforms above and get in the hidden barrel cannon.
Puzzle Piece #5: In the collapsing bell tower, look along the right wall (near a penguin archer) and slap the floor to reveal a hidden alcove.
G Letter: On the right as you climb the collapsing bell tower. Look to the right when you’re bouncing up the canopies.

2-A: Crumble Cavern

Puzzle Piece #1: At the first wobbly teeter-totter rock platform, use it to reach the vines to the left. Jump to the platform on the left, using the hanging vines, to get the first puzzle piece.
K Letter: Ahead, this letter is between two vines. Jump up to the higher balancing rock to reach the vines.
Puzzle Piece #2: In the cave filled with cheese, grab an enemy and toss it at the hanging bag.
Puzzle Piece #3: Back before you actually enter the cheese cave, drop into the hole between the floor and the tilting rock. There’s a hidden cannon that will launch DK into a mini-game.
Puzzle Piece #4: In the sequence with multiple moving barrel cannons, collect all five lines / bushels of bananas when the cannon shifts from foreground to background. After getting all five, a piece will appear.
O Letter: After the cannon barrel section, you’ll find this letter above a hovering penguin enemy. Wait until you reach the second set of hanging vines — it’s right behind a fire-spitting bird.
Puzzle Piece #5: At the second cannon sequence, stick to the top level and look for a semi-hidden mini-game barrel at the top, slightly to the left of the main path cannon.
Puzzle Piece #6: After escaping the second cannon sequence, you’ll land on more teetering rocks. Get to the hanging vines, then climb up and look left to find a tricky puzzle piece.
Puzzle Piece #7: Cross the vines to reach another series of bananas in lines while you ride a cannon barrel. Don’t shoot into the exit! Collect all the barrels to make the piece appear.
N Letter: During the crumbling cavern escape, launch your cannon at the banana line.
G Letter: While riding the barrel cannon up the large rocky pillar, spinning around, you’ll see a bunch of bananas appear. The G is in the center. Launch at just the right time to get it!

2-B: Rodent Ruckus

Puzzle Piece #1: At the start, hop over the first bed of spikes and enter the hidden door under the wooden platform in the rocks. Complete the mini-game for a piece.
K Letter: On the rocket barrel, stay in the center and navigate so you can position yourself in the missing wedge on the rolling cheese wheel. It’s right past the first swinging cheese.
Puzzle Piece #2: After the spinning cheese wheel, you’ll find a rectangle cheese block. Past that, there’s a square cheese block — the piece is above it, so stay back until it is lowered into view.
O Letter: Stay on track and avoid the thrown cheese wedge. The letter is right in the center of the path.
Puzzle Piece #3: Further ahead, you’ll reach a cave that’s lit up with spotlights. Get all the bananas on the path with the first three spotlights.
N Letter: This one is tricky. In the dark path, after navigating the rocky cave obstacles, you’ll reach a large open area. Stay down, at the swinging lamp you’ll catch a glimpse of this letter that sits in the dark area.
Puzzle Piece #4: Right before the pig checkpoint stand, stay low to grab another puzzle piece in the dark zone.
G Letter: Pretty tricky! At the end of the spinning giant cheese wheel gauntlet, stay in the center and align DK with the missing section of the wheel so you can stay in (about) the center and collect the G. Easy to spot, but hard to collect.
Puzzle Piece #5: After escaping the giant cheese wheel, you’ll find the level exit. Jump right to find another flying platform with a puzzle piece.

2-K: Bopopolis

Puzzle Piece #1: Bouncing off the stationary birds, you’ll land on a far bird. Move left and get in the cannon, then launch to the first piece in the level.
Puzzle Piece #2: Move fast past the fish archer and jump to the tiny elevator platforms. The piece is being lowered, so move fast and jump under the platform before it gets too far down. Have Dixie Kong with you to make this part easier.
Puzzle Piece #3: You absolutely need Dixie ahead. After launching and bopping off bird heads, you’ll land on a pillar with a hanging platform to the right. The puzzle piece is directly beneath the platform. Jump under it and use Dixie to reach the safe platform.
Puzzle Piece #4: Later, you’ll land on a falling platform with a series of flying birds between burning blue enemies. Pause and wait until another bird zips up from below with this puzzle piece.
Puzzle Piece #5: At the spinning platform, you’ll have to move fast again. Launch and immediately drop down from the platform before the spinning wheel moves the enemy / puzzle piece off the map.