Sadly thats the case, I hate it, why Retro keep doing this?, Returns was already unplayable for me thanks to that awful waggle to roll bs, this is less offensive but still pretty bad ughhh.
I don't think you can get to it until after you collect every KONG letter for each level in World 2.
I feel your pain.
Easy trick, if you jump on the first large owl at the beginning of the level three times he will give you a balloon. It prevented me from ever decreasing my life count
I consider Windmill Hills to be a near-perfect level. Jumping and rolling across the turning windmills is an absolute joy. There are bits where you go in and out of the background, or where the camera shifts dynamically as you whiz past windmill vanes, set them spinning or ricochet from one to another. There's that great vertical passage about halfway through, the one with the springy platforms, followed by the lift you can skip altogether. And the music takes an already lively stage and infuses it with such infectious charm. Simply amazing.
No joke, I was JUST about to post this. I think part of why I love it so much (though I haven't beaten DK Island yet) is how despite being a new track it uses a ton of synths and sounds that would be right at home in DKC2, though even the composition itself is really catchy.
