After the stellar Donkey Kong Country 2, people were wondering if the third game would be even more amazing. It was released very late in the SNES's lifecycle, so naturally it was expected that Rare would be pulling out all the stops.
In DK Country 3’s storyline, both DK and Diddy have been kidnapped. You're left with Dixie, from DKC2, who teams up with baby gorilla, Kiddy Kong. Kiddy plays similarly to DK in the first Donkey Kong Country, being heavy and slow with a rolling attack.
Most moves and features from previous games are back. There are barrels, you can get help from the other Kongs and Animal Buddies (Both old and new ones), there are team-up attacks (by piggybacking your partner) and a ton of collectibles, and the levels have a similar structure.
Probably the biggest addition is the overworld map, in which you can move around freely (there are no "set paths" you can walk on, you can literally go anywhere). This lets you access smaller maps that function more like those in the previous two games. Of course, you can gradually access more. On the overworld map you can also find secret caves and an entire secret world (see if you can find it!). Also new are the Brother Bears - thirteen bears who all live in various places (both on the overworld map and on the smaller maps). A large trade sequence between them eventually gets you access to even more secret caves.
The game's visuals are fantastic for the SNES, with very detailed backgrounds and effects on things such as water. However, most of the now familiar enemies from DKC and DKC2 have been replaced with new ones. Most of these act the same, but it's still a bit strange. The soundtrack isn't as legendary as the one from DKC2, but it does have some great songs. The GBA rerelease of the game replaced the entire soundtrack with a new one; what a shame!
Conclusion
Aside from the few new features, DKC3 is pretty much just like the second game. Many people haven't played this one, but if you liked the previous two, you won't be disappointed. One would argue that it's slightly worse than DKC2, but it is still very much worthy of your attention.
Comments 12
How long is this game, if completed casually?
^maybe eight hours, to get everything.
DKC3 has some deceptively RPG-style item-fetching, which barely requires going out of your way more than usual aside from bringing the items you win to a character. But it manages to get you into the DKC "world" more than the previous games and make things interesting.
Essentially, with this game, if they didn't think of it in the first two games, they got it into this one. Lots of cool, varied design concepts, one of my favorites being playing as the spider for the whole stage while dodging a targeting retical that fires toward the screen. Where DKC2 was the all-out epic, DKC3 ends the series with a more laid-back, "anything goes" cadence. I hate the product placement of the N64 in the game, which, I wonder, Rare may have been slightly more interested in while developing this game.
DKC1--still a good game--could be outright cumbersome; Rare didn't even learn some game-design 101 by then, such as: Do NOT hide secrets in what could be deadly pits! (trial and error nonsense) And art design with objects looking like they were floating in space looked awfully bizarre. DKC2 got completely straight-faced and even the ending was poetic.
But they all got style. DKC3 isn't as good as 2, with some hick-ups in their judgment of game design (like that last battle that makes no logical sense at all, nor is it fun figuring out how to do it). But it's still an incredibly enjoyable, distinct platformer. Fun ideas, middle-brow stuff. DKC2 and 3 are actually good enough to not make you say "I wish this was more like Mario" (even though it's one of many with mario roots). 8/10
For whatever reason, I played this again recently and was somehow glued to this and DKC2 more than I have been to a game for a long time. Pure fun.
Cool, thanks for the info Cally, just what I was looking for.
Cally, no matter how hard I try I can't make a comment as long as yours.
This may sound weird but 2 is the one i hate the most 3 is my second worst and one is best? ikd Why??
the remade version for the GBA was my very first video game
Great and underrated game. Not quite perfection like DKC2, but still a great game.
Where is Kiddy Kong now?
@polivar4
In our memories.
Funny that the review thinks it's strange that they replaced most enemies with new ones or new designs. You really start appreciating it after playing 4 NSMB games with same enemies, backrounds and musics. Though it's OK since this review was made in 2007.
I thought it was strange.. fight the same enemies for two games (a sense which builds a continuous world within the games, rather than disconnecting them) then throw new enemies in. Enemies that, over 80 or so levels, had never been seen.
In a game overview, it creates variety.
But maybe remember, alot of those NSMB enemies are enemies from over 20 years ago.
Nintendo's Mario games sell, not for a surplus of variety, but for a similar experience from a different viewpoint. Like with many Nintendo franchises, a primary tale is told and new stories are told by approaching that tale from a different perspective.
Take Metroid.
Metroid. Super Metroid. Zero Mission. Other M. Prime.
Same tale, completely different perspectives.
Zelda may be the only series that doesn't follow that exact mantra and it's cutscenes and fanaticism is evident of a much grander story.
DKC trilogy was, at it's most basic, a modernizing of Mario and Kirby with some Metroidvania foreshadowing.
It 'told a story' but really, it was Rare's attempt at turning DK to a hero after his early villainy, a move that completely reimagined the character.
The thing is, they couldn't make their vision fit DK's history and thus, the transformation.
Mario's history doesn't necessitate such a transformation.
His is a legacy that has spun off more successful franchises than any other could dare dream.
While the core games may have a certain feel to them, only one NSMB game has appeared per console / handheld. Versus two Galaxy games.
3 incredibly similar DKC games, 3 slightly different experiences.
Nintendo themselves have never created 3 such experiences for the same system in their history.
Nintendo creates a franchise and brings it to each new machine, as each new machine has significant differences over previous hardware.
Versus 3rd parties.
Capcom, Square, Naughty Dog, EA, Sony, Rare, Microsoft, Tecmo, Namco, Valve, Konami and so many others have ridden multiple sequels on multiple platforms.
How many gamers have owned a DS, a Wii, a 3DS AND a Wii U?
3D, motion control, touch capabilities. Each new hardware offers new things.
To be honest, I love this trilogy.
But Rare was a one trick pony on SNES to a fault. One game series.
And then, aside from Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie, they didn't really do anything significant on the N64, before they sank further into mediocrity with Microsoft.
I'd play this series again, I just don't enjoy giving money to Microsoft just because they own the burned out husk of a long dead, briefly great developer.
@Luffymcduck Well, I wouldn't necessarily say same enemies and backgrounds. Music...sure, but NSMB U definitely changed some things up a bit by applying some interesting new backgrounds, as well as added some new enemies. The first one is also quite different from the rest (even the physics, a bit), but I see where you're coming from though. I'd say NSMB Wii and NSMB 2 are the most similar when it comes to backgrounds and enemies, even though 2 has that coin craze aspect to it
In the end, what matters to me is the level design and new platforming experiences. I just care for more levels, presonally
How the heck do you switch characters in this game? 'Select' does not seem to work??
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