Dr. K's Waiting Room

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In 1981, Shigeru Miyamoto and his team at Nintendo R&D1 created Donkey Kong, an arcade title that introduced gamers to two of Nintendo’s most recognisable characters: Mario and Donkey Kong. To celebrate everyone’s favourite King Kong knock-off, I’m dedicating a few days this week to gaming’s most famous ape!

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Released: 18 December 2020
Originally Released: 18 November 1996
Developer: Rare
Also Available For: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console), Nintendo Wii U (Virtual Console), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

The Background:
After establishing themselves in the United States with the financial and critical success of Donkey Kong, Nintendo captured the home console market. While Donkey Kong was still relevant during this time, legendary British developers Rare reinvigorated the cantankerous ape with their Donkey Kong Country series (Rare, 1994 to 1996). Debuting in 1994, the first game pushed the SNES to its limits, reimagined Donkey Kong for a new generation, and became the third-bestselling game on the SNES. After garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews, Donkey Kong Country was quickly followed by a purposely tougher and less linear sequel that was also critical and commercial hit. Emboldened by their success, rare fast-tracked a third game, using the same pioneering technology to convert prerendered graphics into 2D sprites and seeing Dixie Kong joined not by the titular ape, but her baby cousin! Although Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! sold over 3.5 million units worldwide, the impending release of the Nintendo 64 is said to have impacted sales. Reviews were largely positive, praising the improved visuals and the expanded gameplay mechanics, though criticising the lack of innovation compared to is predecessors. Like the last two games, Donkey Kong Country 3 was ported to the Game Boy Advance (to some criticism) and featured on Nintendo’s online services, such as this version for the Nintendo Switch.

The Plot:
When Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong suddenly disappear in the Northern Kremisphere, Dixie Kong teams up with her baby cousin, Kiddy Kong, to brave the forces of the robotic KAOS and rescue their family.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Just like the last two games, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is a 2D, sidescrolling platformer that utilises 2D sprite conversions of pre-rendered graphics. Like in the second game, Donkey Kong is entirely absent and no longer playable, and this time his nephew joins him on the bench to allow Diddy’s girlfriend, Dixie Kong, to take the spotlight. As ever, you have three save files to work with and three game modes: you can tackle the adventure alone, tagging between Dixie and Kiddy with -, team up with a friend for two-player simultaneous co-op, or go head-to-head with your friend to see who can play better. Donkey Kong Country 3 retains the same controls and fundamental mechanics of its predecessors, meaning you’ll be jumping and swimming with B, attacking with Y, teaming your Kongs up or grabbing barrels with A, and throwing both with Y. Each Kong plays a little differently, with Dixie being lighter and faster and Kiddy being slower and heavier, and also has a different method of attacking. Dixie retains her ponytail twirl (which also allows her to glide across gaps to greatly aid platforming) while Kiddy rolls ahead and can skip across the surface of water (though his stunted jump makes him more of a liability). You must smash DK barrels to spawn your partner if they’re lost because, without them, you’ll lose a life the next time you’re hit. However, you can once again accumulate extra lives by grabbing various colourful balloons, collecting 100 bananas, finding the four KONG letters, in every stage, and playing Swanky Kong’s Sideshow mini game. To play this, you’ll need silver Bear Coins, which are also hidden in stages, while larger, golden DK Coins are earned by defeating the tricky Koin Kremlin hidden in each stage (usually by finding innovative ways of chucking a metal barrel behind them). Those hoping for new in-game power-ups will again have to settle for the odd invincibility barrel (I literally encountered one in my playthrough), and you must still manually save at Wrinkly Kong’s save cave (though the Nintendo Switch’s rewind and save state features largely make this irrelevant).

There is a far greater emphasis on collectibles in Donkey Kong Country 3, with more hidden items scattered throughout every stage and a family of bear brothers on hand looking for you to bring them special items (which allow access to additional areas on the overworld), often awarded after defeating bosses, offering hints, or selling you items. As you explore each stage, you’ll inevitably find secret hideaways or special barrels that’ll blast you to a timed bonus challenge in these, you must collect stars or green bananas or defeat all onscreen enemies against a strict time limit to earn one of the special coins, or even a Cog. Additional barrels will blast you across the environment (sometimes right into bottomless pits or enemies if you’re not careful), rocket you about, or shield you from enemy projectiles when climbing ropes. Dixie and Kiddy can again call upon a few animal friends to aid them, transforming into, riding, or being joined by them depending on the level. Enguarde, Squitter, and the parrots Squarks and Quarks return from the last two games and function the same (cutting through water, spitting webs, flapping about, and firing peanuts, respectively) alongside three new “First-Class Friends”. Ellie the elephant is the primary addition, though I found her to be a poor substitute for Rambi. She’s smaller, slipperier, and isn’t much use except in certain situations where you need her water spitting technique. Parry was similarly disappointing, simply flying above you and collecting items or defeating certain enemies, and Nibbla was a constant threat since it will take a bite out of your Kong if you don’t swim near enemies and keep it fed. Funky Kong also returns and, this time, builds various vehicles for you to use to navigate the main map. You start out with a motor boat, but soon upgrade to a hovercraft to pass over rocks, a turbo ski to traverse waterfalls, and eventually a gyrocopter, though you’ll need to search high and low and replay each stage to collect everything needed to build these vehicles, which also open up new areas of the map for you to challenge new levels, meet new bears, or discover Banana Fairies.

While bottomless pits and thorny mazes weren’t as prevalent this time around, and Donkey Kong Country 3 generally seemed much easier an experience (as long as you’re not going for 100% completion), it’s still a tough game. Hit boxes are quite large, both Kongs are quite clunky to control, and it’s easy to slip off platforms or down pits even when on stable ground, much less the snowy landscapes and moving platforms you’ll find. Ropes were emphasised far ore than barrels, with you hopping to ropes, clambering up them, or being dragged along by them, all while avoiding Buzzes. Minecarts are gone this time, replaced by a few fun, high speed toboggan challenges, though you’ll still encounter the odd dark, murky level (requiring you to hit special fish to light up the area or use overhead lights). you’re essentially defenceless when swimming, as ever, unless you switch to Enguarde, and vats of molten steel, toxic gunk, or lightning bolts will cause you to rethink your jumps. In “Krack Shot Kroc”, you must hide behind metal shields to avoid an offscreen sharpshooter; you’ll be bouncing off barrels fired by Bazuka Kremlins to cross gaps, and must contend with poisonous water that reverses your controls in “Poisonous Pipeline”. Occasionally, the game switches to a quasi-third-person perspective to have to you toss coconuts or snowballs at targets, you must defeat Sneeks in giant wheels and grab overhead pulleys to open doors, and outrun a gigantic ripsaw in “Ripsaw Rage”’s autoscrollers chase. Some stages see you at risk of falling or looping around by dropping through trapdoors, many contain moving wooden platforms, and occasionally hop up moving or temporary platforms or to barrels to progress to the end goal. It’s all very familiar, though with a largely reduced challenge in terms of onscreen hazards. The game’s quite generous with 1-ups and chances for extra lives, but you’ll definitely want both Kongs on hand, and to favour Dixie, since you’re often tasked with making tricky jumps past, through, or over troublesome enemies and it can be easy to screw up your jump and drop down a pit.

Presentation:
Donkey Kong Country 3 retains the same presentation as the last two games, though even I, someone who’s never been the biggest fan of the franchise’s aesthetic, have to admit that it’s probably the cleanest, best-looking game of the trilogy. Though there’s no introductory story, there’s a fair bit of text as you chat with your allies or are taunted by enemies, and Dixie and Kiddy have a decent amount of personality. Both have idle poses and fun reactions to being hurt or left alone, though the end of level celebrations are gone and basically all of the sound effects are recycled from the last two games. Kiddy might be a fun, childish little soul, but he’s janky as anything to control, which hampered his utility in my opinion and I would’ve liked to see him have a more memorable playstyle to differentiate him from the other Kongs. The title screen is far better than before and there’s more emphasis on exploration here, with new areas opening up as you explore the larger overworld and non-playable characters requiring specific items to unlock additional areas or map features. However, there isn’t much to differentiate the three basic vehicles you acquire. I would’ve liked to see a submarine to access an underwater world or a drilling machine to burrow into a mine, rather than limiting them all to water traversal. The music has taken a hell of a downgrade this time around, too. Sure, it’s decent enough but there’s nothing as memorable as the first game and I just found it to be jaunty noise rather than fun earworms. Similarly, Donkey Kong Country 3 employs a similar approach to its stages as the last two games, with a handful of areas being recycled throughout your adventure. You’ll be hopping past a pier, exploring drainpipes, traversing an underground cave, and swimming in murky coral reefs, with the odd jungle and dungeon thrown in for good measure.

I found few of these to be that interesting, to be honest, or different from what came in the last two games. There are some fun background effects at times, such as the time of day changing or a snowstorm raging, or some areas being seeped in darkness. Donkey Kong Country 3 employs colour palettes to give the illusion of variety, changing vast of molten metal to toxic gunk or giving gigantic, hollowed out trees an autumnal glow. I quite liked these latter areas, to be fair, which see you jumping between branches, navigating claustrophobic trees, and outrunning that aforementioned ripsaw. Snowy peaks, with their frigid cabins and snowmen, were also fun, if few and far between, and I did like the cliffside stages, where waterfalls loom in the background and must be moved behind or clambered up using barrels and such. Rather than battling through mines, you’ll be dropping down trapdoors and opening doors in mills; the jungles are full of ancient ruins and raging thunderstorms; and dodging snipers in factories. As mentioned, there are loads of vines and ropes this time, which I definitely prefer to thorns and loads of pits, but everything just felt a little played out for me. while Donkey Kong Country 3 performs really well and looks great for what it is, there were some instances of slowdown and odd hiccups that took me out of the game, and it definitely felt like the game was struggling to justify itself at times and needed more new gimmicks to impress. Indeed, while the game emphasises collectibles on the save screen and in the Brothers Bear’s dialogue, this feels like an afterthought when you’re playing and couldn’t been played up more, like presenting you with unique visual challenges to get what the bears are looking for or Funky’s last piece of scrap.

Enemies and Bosses:
While Dixie and Kiddy are facing a new enemy this time around, you’ll still be dealing with the remnants of the Kremlin army. And “remnants” is a good way to describe them as these guys are far more stripped down this time around, consisting of a regular grunt who just walks about, a spring Kremlin who can give you a boost with good timing, and a larger blue one who’ll shrug off your regular attacks. The Bazuka variant caused me a bit of trouble as it was tricky timing my jumps to bounce off their barrels, while the Kopter Kremlins could be as annoying as the Buzzes, mechanical wasps that hover or swoop about right in your path. Kremlins also hide in barrels this time, clambering on ropes, tossing explosives, or trying to push you down pits, not unlike the Koindozers (who you can trick into giving you a boost). Little crocodiles, dung beetles, rats, and sliding penguins must be hopped on or avoided, you’ll use hopping spider platforms to reach higher areas, and must take cover behind half barrels when Minkeys toss their acorns. Red porcupines spin at you, an invincible swarm of bees incessantly chase you in “Riverside Race”, and various marine animals (from voracious Bazzas, spiny Lurchins, and clown-like Kocos) lurk in the water. You can pop Booty Birds to grab collectibles, dodge fireballs fired from the background by Karbines, and carefully position yourself so lightnign strikes your enemies rather than you! each stage naturally ends in a boss battle, though you get different rewards depending on which boss you’re fighting, two are recycled in the game, and one takes the form of a snowball fight. This is actually one of the more innovative bosses as Bleak pops up from behind snowy ridges in the fore-, mid-, or background tossing snowballs or firing a spread from his top hat. This can be a tricky boss due to the Kongs’ hit boxes and how small the target is you must hit, but it hints at how Donkey Kong Country 3 could’ve used its new mechanics to help it stand out (like, why not have a toboggan race against a boss?)

The first boss you face is Belcha, a giant barrel who spits out barrels and tries to force you down a pit. Immune to conventional damage, you must break open its barrels and toss the bugs that emerge into its mouth until you force it down that same pit. I quite liked Arich, the giant spider that awaits at the end of Kremwood Forest, purely because it was visually very interesting. You must dodge Arich’s erratic movements and venom spit to hop on its back and grab the barrel sitting there, then toss this into its face, which is quite tricky due to the spider’s gigantic size. Squirt was easily the most frustrating boss since you must fight it while riding Ellie, sucking water from Squirt’s waterfall and spitting it into the creature’s eyes when they pop out. However, Squirt fires a continuous stream of water that’s incredibly difficult to fight against, meaning it’s very easily to slip to your doom. Barbes wasn’t exactly a cakewalk either. Fought underwater, while using Enguarde, you must charge into the Lurchins it spawns to then attack its weak spot, but the timing is tricky and its so big and fills the screen with spines that I struggled quite a bit. You battle the malicious tin can robot KAOS twice, once in Mekanos and then as the penultimate boss. In both fights, you must dash beneath it, avoiding its jet burst, and bop its head using the propeller-like blades that emerge from its body. KAOS defends itself with boxing golf fists, its laser-firing head, and a missile barrage, though barrels turn the tide in the second fight. Once you defeat it, King K. Rool (in the guise of mad scientist Baron K. Roolenstein) attacks in a multi-stage battle. You must dash beneath him as he hovers about, grabbing barrels to toss at his butt, while avoiding the electrical bolt he fires, hopping to pulleys, and using stationary and moving wooden platforms. While this is a troublesome fight, it’s not too bad to get the hang of with liberal rewinding, though a much tougher rematch awaits if you unearth Krematoa.

Additional Features:
Every time you save your game, you’ll get a glimpse of you far you’ve progressed and how many collectibles you’ve found. When you finish the game, you’ll be played on a high score table according to completion percentage and be granted a title by Cranky Kong, as well as being treated to a roll call of the game’s enemies and characters. If you want to hit 100% completion, you must reload your save and go searching for KONG letters, defeat Koins for DK Coins, and collect Bear Coins, to say nothing of acquiring the different items for the Brothers Bear and Funky Kong. While the skis patch are easily acquired by defeating bosses, you must buy the mirror, trade it for a wrench, and hunt down presents and other trinkets to access bonus areas. Some of these house Banana Fairies, with the legendary Banana Queen being rescued if you find all the DK Coins and acquire the gyrocopter. By using the turbo ski, you can bring Krematoa up from the depths and tackle its five additional, challenging stages, including a tougher rematch with Baron K. Roolenstein. There are various mini games and challenges to tackle not just in each stage, but at Swanky’s Sideshow, a few fun cheats you can enter by renaming your save file, and of course the usual save states and rewind features when playing this version. If you’re playing the Game Boy Advance version, the game comes with an autosave, a new seventh world, additional collectibles, and graphical and mechanical tweaks to the stages and bosses for an additional challenge.

The Summary:
There isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!, it’s just not especially innovative or memorable and does little to stand out against its predecessors. The game is simply more of the same, with a noticeable reduction in the moment-to-moment difficulty while still being challenging, though largely because of how clunky the Kongs can be and the cheapness of the hit boxes and enemy placements. I wasn’t a big fan of Dixie Kong in her debut title but she was my go-to character here as Kiddy Kong is just a useless lump, barely utilising his incredible strength and existing simply as a health bar for me. while the visuals are the best they’ve ever been for the series and things have been expanded, particularly on the overworld, I wasn’t exactly blown away by the game’s environments, which either borrowed to heavily from the last two games or didn’t live up to expectations. While the enemies were largely forgettable, I did enjoy the big, colourful, unique bosses that challenged you to think about how to damage them, though the massive hit boxes and awkward controls made them an uphill battle. I was disappointed that the animal friends were so mediocre and that the soundtrack wasn’t more memorable, and that the game didn’t place greater emphasis on the collectibles. I simply aimed to finish the game and still hit 50% by the end, and felt no urge to help out the Brothers Bear or grab every DK Coin. Donkey Kong Country 3 continues the traditional of the franchise, but it really feels like this was a game that was made simply for the sake of it, with nothing really jumping out at me as being especially appealing or on par with the first game. Yet, it’s s visual treat and a fun little challenge, so I don’t want to be too harsh, but there’s really no reason to play this one over the last two unless you’re really itching for some more DK action.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!? Do you think I was too harsh and were you more impressed by the game’s visuals and mechanics? What did you think to Kiddy Kong and Ellie? Did you help all the Brothers Bear and snag all of the game’s collectibles? Which of the bosses was your favourite and what did you think to the game’s difficulty curve? Which of the Donkey Kong Country games is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Donkey Kong’s anniversary this year? Whatever your thoughts on Donkey Kong Country, leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Donkey Kong content.