When I was a kid, Donkey Kong Country blew me away. When I
finally got back from being blown away, Donkey Kong Country 2 blew me away even
farther. Then, a third game came out! I am ashamed to say though that I never
owned a physical copy of that game (fun fact, me and 2 of my friends each owned
2 of the 3 games so we had two complete sets between the three of us. I would always
just borrow it from one of them); today I’ll be playing it on the Wii Virtual
console. Here’s Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble originally
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The game starts off in a similar manner to the last one, but
this time K. Rool (now under the moniker of Baron K. Roolenstein) has kidnapped
both Donkey Kong and Diddy. He did this by building a giant robot, which
introduces us to our theme for the game: the first one was a tropic island,
then we had pirates, here, it’s mostly technology. There’s not as much done
with it though, but that keeps it from clashing with the jungle setting.
Once Dixie arrives, she is asked to take care of the toddler
Kiddy Kong, her sidekick for the game. Now, I want to talk about Kiddy Kong, as
his character perfectly represents this game. Kiddy Kong is big and strong and
reminds players of Donkey Kong. But much like this game in regards to the first
Donkey Kong Country, he’s actually a more childish version. That’s where we run
into a problem with this game; it seems too “child-friendly”. The bad guys look less menacing (they’re big
and puffy) and everything is a lot brighter. There is nothing wrong with a game
aimed at a younger audience, but when it’s the third installment of a series,
you invite the comparison, and too drastic a change becomes a negative aspect.
The fact that Kiddie is big actually adds a lot to the game
play. Beyond just returning some old elements omitted in Donkey Kong Country 2,
it makes things interesting with the piggy back system. This means that while
playing as Dixie, you can throw Kiddie to kill tougher baddies and break
through certain areas. Playing as Kiddie allows you to throw Dixie farther, just
like in the previous game. So, which Kong you play as makes a more significant
impact in this game.
Another BIG change is that you can now freely enter and exit
worlds. Before you had to visit Funky Kong or beat a boss, but this time you
can come and go as you please. This is because there is now a big amount of over
world exploring to do (rare in 2D side-scrollers like this). Any time you’re in
the water (which is a lot, since the map is laid out like a series of island),
you have free control of movement. Instead of just going to the next
destination, you can adventure around, see what hidden secrets you can find and
unlock things to get the full 103%. As you play, you’ll be given vehicles to
overcome certain obstacles, and the fun of exploring really kicks in.
Now, as fun as over world exploring is, you wouldn’t want to
get to the next level if they weren’t fun to play. Again, the common complaint
is that the game is more child-accessible, so it’s also easier. You don’t seem
to have to master the skills and timing of the game as much (which is good for
me, the button layout on a GameCube controller make this hard to play).
However, the game makes up for it by having some really creative levels. My
favorite parts of this game include climbing up a tree being cut in half, an
underwater level where you need to keep feeding a fish that’ll eat you
otherwise and one where you play as Squitter the spider while someone keeps
shooting at you. These gimmicks are rarely repeated, plentiful and memorable. I
applaud the creativity of this game.
I think the Donkey Kong Country series can be compared to a
lot of movie trilogies; the first game was amazing, really set things up and
made us want more. The second one gave us more and improved it. But the 3rd
one is weakest overall. (And like some movie trilogies, it even has the recent
reboot). However, Donkey Kong Country 3 isn’t a bad game. At the time, people
might have passed it up due to it being too easy or because the Nintendo 64 was
already out, but it really shouldn’t have been. It’s easier, it’s more
childish, the 103% ending is very anti-climactic, but it’s still a Donkey Kong
Country game on the SNES and still has every good aspect that implies. Though
this would be the last game to carry the “country” name for a while, Rare would
make one more home console platforming DK game. And as a matter of fact, with
the over world adventuring, it’s easy to see how this game led to it. But,
that’s a review for later. I give Donkey Kong Country 3 for the Super Nintendo
9 levels out of 10.
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