Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!

After a widely praised and beloved sequel to Donkey Kong Country, Rare would soon set its sights on the N64.
But not before they would release another entry to close off the trilogy.
And as a result, we received the most polarising game in the whole franchise.
In my opinion, the game doesn't deserve most of the hatred thrown its way, even despite its blatant shortcomings, which mostly come from the level design itself. which vary in quality very greatly—from annoying levels that are overly dependent on gimmicks to mildly fun levels to some that are downright bad.
The new additions are also few and far between; the most notable would be:
A more expansive overworld that lets you travel about more freely and explore for bonus items and collectible birds was unnecessarily added, but it's still quite a neat addition.
A new playable protagonist, which everyone seems to hate—Kiddy Kong, who functions just as Donkey Kong did in DKC 1, with the exception that he can be thrown around by Dixie.

Overall, I think it's still a solid game, even despite failing to hold a candle to the greatness that was DKC 2.

The controversial reputation of Donkey Kong Country 3 is mostly undeserved. One could readily assume that it’s due to the natural occurrence of a third entry in a franchise showing signs of franchise fatigue, but you’d only be half right. DKC3 was released at an unfortunate time in late 1996, the launch year of the N64. Nintendo’s first landmark 3D console carried along an initiative that set a precedent for gaming for the foreseeable future. Nintendo insisted that 3D was the wave of the future and anything in 2D was inherently obsolete. Rare developed another Donkey Kong Country game for the SNES to round the franchise as a trilogy of games. Nintendo however moved on from anything having to do with SNES and it’s 16-bit glory, leaving DKC3 in the dust. Wrinkly Kong is even seen playing a N64 console in this game, a not-so-subtle advertisement for the new system and a way to make players in late 1996 feel like out of touch squares. Nintendo’s callous attitude towards the last few games in the SNES library might have had an impact on the general consensus of the last game in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. I consider it to be on par with the previous two entries, almost matching up to the quality of the first game. Naturally, DKC3 couldn’t have lived up to the standards of DKC2. The superb quality of DKC2 matched with its refinement of the Donkey Kong Country formula cemented itself as the pinnacle of the franchise. Like most franchises, the second entry proved to be the peak of quality. This usually leaves the third entry meandering about trying to recreate the magic of the previous entry, commonly faltering as a result. The developers made the smart decision to not piggyback too much off of DKC2 with the following game. DKC3 is a sequel that tries to form its own identity with its own unique properties. However, those unique properties are exactly what makes DKC3 such a divisive entry in the franchise.

Most third entries in gaming franchises tend to be more accessible to new players. While I find DKC3 to be easier than the first two games, the traces of accessibility aren’t outright noticeable. The direction of DKC3 seems like the developers had a younger audience in mind. The first two DKC games are appropriate for all ages, but there’s something about DKC3 that makes it seem more...infantile? This isn’t because one of the playable characters of the Kong duo is an infant, but we’ll get to his role in this game later. The colors, sprites, and soundtrack in DKC3 have a much lighter tone to them. The elephant animal buddy that replaces Rambi looks like a ripped design off of a blanket for a toddler. Furthermore, shall we compare the game over screens between all three DKC games? The first game shows Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong battered and bruised like they just returned from a street brawl. The second game shows Diddy and Dixie being locked up in a dark prison cell, appropriate considering they were infiltrating enemy territory. The game over screen of the third game is Kiddy Kong and Dixie pouting in a crib with “game over” being spelled out in colorful blocks. Kiddy Kong is obviously meant to be a young child, but is Dixie? Some claim that Diddy and Dixie are both children, but I always figured that they were a smaller race of ape compared to Donkey Kong. It’s something I hadn’t considered until Rare incorporated all of these more puerile touches in the game. Ultimately, these new tones are not detractors from the game as a whole. This is still a tried and true Donkey Kong Country game just like the others.

There is one looming detractor in this game that puts people off of it. I’ve mentioned him before: the irksome Kiddy Kong. At this point, the playable characters of Donkey Kong Country revolve like a band that’s been around for way too long. Not having Donkey Kong as a playable character in DKC2 was odd enough, but Mach 3 of Donkey Kong Country doesn’t even have any of the original playable characters from the first game. Once Dixie arrives in the new setting at the beginning of the game, series regular Funky Kong passes off Kiddy Kong onto Dixie, promising her that he won’t be a burden to her. This move here feels like Funky Kong just discovered he had an illegitimate son and he’s passing him off onto someone else like leaving it on someone’s doorstep. Kiddy Kong is just comparatively less of a burden to Dixie Kong than Funky Kong.

It turns out that Funky Kong was mostly right and Kiddy Kong’s presence is not a detriment to the game, or at least in terms of maintaining the gameplay of Donkey Kong Country. The pairing of Dixie and Kiddy Kong is a strange fusion of the dynamics from the previous two games. Kiddy Kong is much heavier than Dixie Kong, giving a direct dichotomy of gameplay like Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong from the first game. This is also implemented once in a while as there are bigger enemies that can only be defeated by Kiddy Kong’s weight. The throwing mechanic from DKC2 also makes a return and it’s a little awkward here. Since Kiddy Kong is heavier than Dixie, both characters cannot fling one another with the greatest of ease. Dixie Kong strains herself trying to launch Kiddy Kong and I can’t say I blame her, but the developers have incorporated something to keep this mechanic without too much of an imbalance. Throwing Kiddy Kong will blow open cracked foundations to reveal bonus stages or coins. It gives enough credence to the weight shift between the two characters, but I much prefer the equal sizes of Diddy and Dixie from the previous game. Kiddy Kong is an acceptable character in terms of gameplay, but everything else about him is very unappealing. If we’re going by Pokemon logic, everything becomes less cute the bigger it is. I’m not surprised by the fact that people were put off by a disturbingly huge baby, wearing a onesie with concerningly hollow leg space as the cherry on top of an agitating sundae. The fact that Kiddy Kong replaced both Kongs from the first game probably didn’t help matters with fans either. In the modern Donkey Kong Country games, every character from the franchise makes their return and is totally playable like a band reunion. Kiddy Kong debuted in DKC3 and never appeared again, giving him a Cousin Oliver status.

The animal buddies also have the same involved presences as they did in the previous game. Squawks, Squitter, and Enguarde make their return and get plenty of action. There aren’t too many new animal buddies, but the few that are new make me miss the ones that didn’t make it into this entry. Ellie, the animal buddy that I previously mentioned looked like a cherubic cut out of a child’s blanket, is the prime new animal buddy with the most screen time. She’s not a direct replacement for Rambi, but it feels this way nevertheless. Rambi was the most brutish of all the animal buddies, running down kremlings like a mack truck. Ellie functions similarly to Rambi, but her smaller stature and her cutesy design feels like a total downgrade from Rambi’s raw power. She does have a few unique abilities however. She uses her trunk to suck up both barrels and water to use as projectiles. It’s certainly different from the rampaging beast that Rambi was, but these new mechanics tend to be a bit awkward and compromise the pace of gameplay. She also has this infuriating mechanic where she bolts in the opposite direction at the sight of a rat. She’s a walking elephant stereotype. The other new animal buddy is a colorful bird named Parry. His nickname, “the parallel bird” entails exactly what he does; he hovers over the Kongs at a parallel angle, destroying enemies and collecting coins he runs into. He’s useful, but his role is very underwhelming compared to the other animal buddies. The same level of involvement from the animal buddies is just as present here. There are levels and bosses that are strictly designated to the animal buddies, fleshing out the gameplay and world as a result. The new animal buddies pale in comparison to the ones they’ve replaced, but at least the returning ones are the same as they always were.

The new setting of DKC3 draws inspiration from the world of the first game. Instead of offering a different, contained theme per level like in DKC3, DKC3 opts for a cohesive world with consistently themed elements throughout. The Kongs have trekked their way up to an area called the “Northern Kremisphere”, a sprawling place that is apparently inspired by the temperate climates of northern Europe and Canada. Instead of jungles, beaches, and ancient ruins, the Northern Kremisphere is composed of lakefronts, sawmills, and forests with towering redwood trees. There is also the occasional industrial level to signify the presence of the kremlings. Overall, the different setting presented here has a nice level of consistency and the presentation is up to the standard of Donkey Kong Country. The only problem is that the setting doesn’t make any sense. The jungle setting of the first Donkey Kong Country accommodated Donkey Kong because he’s an ape, an endemic species to that tropical setting. The more varied levels of DKC2 stray a bit from the jungle environments, but not enough where it feels completely removed from them. The only instance where one might see a monkey in northern Europe or Canada is if one escaped from either the zoo or a testing facility. This setting just doesn’t naturally fit the Kongs, unless these monkeys are eclectic urban outdoorsmen. The presence of the kremlings in this setting is also unfitting, but I suppose they are invading this land just like the Kongs. The peculiar thing that’s different about the enemies is that the zingers have been mechanized. There are green mechanical zingers that are easily defeated and red zingers that are practically impenetrable. These robotic zingers are the only indication of King K. Rool’s new identity as a mad scientist like he’s Dr. Robotnik with scaly skin and bloodshot eyes. I guess King K. Rool’s identity as a pirate wasn’t as concrete as I thought. King K. Rool is rather an eccentric madman with an army to back him. Considering the northern European influence of the setting, they could’ve fashioned him and the rest of the kremlings as vikings. Afterall, they are well-known pillagers like pirates, but they are more known to conduct their business in colder climates.

A unique feature to the Northern Kremisphere is that the world map is traversed through seamlessly without directly selecting a level. More areas of the map are progressively unlocked through Funky Kong expanding the potential of his floatation devices. The Kongs start with a simple raft that becomes a motor boat, then a turbo ski, and then a fully-fledged helicopter. It’s certainly different, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The levels are found in different corners of the map, but the levels are still progressed through in a linear fashion. I suppose it’s fitting because the difficulty in DKC3 is pretty inconsistent. There are difficulty spikes scattered throughout, but none of them reach the heights of “Mine Cart Madness” or “Poison Pond”. The erratic difficulty is due to the variety of gimmick-heavy levels throughout. The previous two games had level gimmicks, but DKC3 has so many of these that it’s obvious the developers implemented them to keep the third entry from seeming stale. The gimmicks of DKC2 were contained in each level. They were introduced in an early section of the level and grew in difficulty as the player progressed. Most gimmicks in DKC3 on the other hand appear only once in a level and the player doesn’t have enough opportunity to acclimate to them. Some of the harder examples of these gimmicks are the lightning strikes in “Lightning Lookout”, the anti-gravity in “Low-G Labyrinth”, the ravenous fish in “Floodlit Fish”, and the kremlings that push you off the ledges in “Koindozer Klamber”. While gimmicky level design may irk me, I have to appreciate the level of creativity the developers put into each gimmick. It’s not that these gimmicks don’t make for fun level variety. I would rather have had these gimmicks breathe a little more by incorporating them in more than one level, and maybe then they wouldn’t seem as gimmicky.

This level of creative variety works the best with the bosses, a facet of Donkey Kong Country that has never been it’s strong suit. The first game’s uninspired bosses were practically respite from the difficulty of the levels. DKC2 improved on the bosses ever so slightly, but was still guilty of implementing bosses that were far too easy and even incorporated a lazy reskinned boss. The bosses in DKC3 are my favorite bunch of baddies because none of them are like the other. Bosses like Belcha the Barrel are still easy, but the way the Kong’s defeat him is unlike anything in the series. The Kong’s have to feed him yellow bugs, propelling him further off the ledge with each giant belch per serving. Squirt is a boss fought entirely by Ellie the Elephant, and he looks like an HR Giger painting fused into the wall of a canyon. Bleak, my personal favorite boss, is an evil snowman that is fought like a ball-toss game at a carnival. King K. Rool’s encounter in DKC3 is completely different from the first two games, and that’s not because of his new mad scientist getup. His fight in this game is much more methodically paced, having the player patiently determine the right moment to hit him with a barrel instead of waiting for a moment of respite after swiftly dodging his attacks. It’s the least memorable King K. Rool fight of the three games, but I still have to commend the developers for their different approach. There is a part of me that wants to heavily criticize these bosses in tandem with DKC3’s emphasis on gimmicks, but the series was in dire need of variety in it’s bosses. This is the only aspect of DKC3 in which it’s faltering approach to variety gives it the edge over its predecessors.

With all of the factors that make up this game, one could assume that Donkey Kong Country 3 pales in comparison to the first two games in the franchise. While it does have many awkward elements like extremely gimmicky levels, a new setting that’s awkwardly implemented, and a protagonist whose presence makes people feel uncomfortable, this game is as exceptional as the other two. I appreciate the differences the developers implemented to make this game seem fresh given that this was the third game in a franchise all on the same system. If freshness is what the developers sought to convey, then the high points of creativity and variety is what makes this so. DKC3 feels like it’s own unique entry, and that’s more than I can say for most third entries that attempt to copy the previous games to preserve their glory. It still has the winning formula of solid platforming and magnificent presentation that makes the Donkey Kong Country series stand out above it’s contemporaries.

DKC 3 is kind of the odd one of the trilogy. It's not really talked about as much and reviews for it are lower than the first 2 games. Quite honestly, I don't think it's that bad, and in ways it is even better than the 1st game. The main gripe people have is the inclusion of Kiddy Kong, who replaced Diddy, which is kind of confusing since Donkey and Diddy are so iconic and this game has you playing as the 2 lesser Kongs but Kiddy pretty much controls like Donkey from the first game, but I do think Nintendo realized this since they retired Kiddy after this game. The level design is pretty average and its a lot easier and more casual than the previous games. The game really doesn't throw too many surprises at you and this game really doesn't get too difficult until the final World, not to say there aren't occasional tough levels, but its so much easier than the first 2 games, and even the bosses in this game are fairly easy for a change.

But you do have a lot return from the previous game, you have the animal buddies, similar enemies, the hidden collectibles, and the overworld map in this was a lot better since you could interact with it and explore things, and there are even times you can choose which World you want to do first. But what it makes up for in these aspects it does take losses in terms of level design and boss design. The levels in this game aren't really that memorable and while there are definitely unique ones, the levels just don't have the same magic feel the first two games had, and while I credit this game with having solid variety and trying new things with some of the levels, it doesn't quite hit the same high level.

But it's still a fun game and has more good than bad, and its even better than the first game in ways. Everything that you'd want from a Donkey Kong Country game is in this, and if it had slightly stronger level design and bosses, it could have been almost as good as the 2nd game. But as it stands, 3 is just sort of around the same quality as the 1st game.

You know, i think i've always preferred "Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!" more than "Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest". Not just because of the varying mechanics/elements between these two games but also personal nostalgia. The reason must be because i got "DKC3" as a christmas present back in the year 1996 when it was released. Somehow, i managed to skip "DKC2" entirely in its release year 1995 but finally got it later in 1997.

"Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!" used to blow my mind from the beginning of the game. Never before had i experienced such a game. The game's atmosphere was unbelievable due to its deep ambiance, sounds and graphical design. It was also surprisingly very relatable due to its northernmost landscape theme with mountains, lakes and conifer forests. After all, i've spent my entire life in Finland so the landscapes are pretty much the same here, minus the mountains. Kind of "exotic" to think that Rareware changed the jungle theme so drastically.

Like in "Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest" Donkey Kong has been kidnapped once again but so is Diddy Kong as well. Dixie Kong returns from the previous game as the main character but she brings along a new character Kiddy Kong the baby gorilla. In "DKC2" Diddy and Dixie were both equally nimble and lightweighted although Dixie can use her ponytails to hover for a limited time. In "DKC3" Kiddy is a heavyweight so each Kong's abilities are different, much like how it was in "DKC" with Diddy and DK. Kiddy can do somersaults and stone skip on water surfaces about three times in total. The ability needs some practice to master but it's a good ability to reach bonus barrels and hidden places. He also holds barrels in front of him whereas Dixie holds them upwards with her hair. When the Kongs team up Kiddy can carry and throw Dixie to higher places with relative ease but Dixie carries Kiddy slowly and can't throw him as far. However, Kiddy's mass can break hollow floors and Dixie can run on top of him when thrown forward. These ability changes are a fresh addition to the game.

I love this game's overworld design. In my honest opinion it's perfect in every aspect and probably my favourite overworld i've seen in videogames. Unlike in the other "DKC" games, this overworld isn't just about following specific routes to travel to different worlds. You can actually choose your movement when crossing water areas. Swimming, however, limits your progress quite a lot, so in order to progress further in the overworld the player has to visit Funky Kong's boat rental shack. At first, he only loans a wooden motorboat with a turbo and a horn. To get better vehicles, one must search specific key items, usually achieved by beating a boss from each world. Once the game has progressed enough the player can have an access to use a gyrocopter that makes every corner of the overworld reachable by flight. The overworld also includes secret places such as hidden Banana Bird crystal caves with a memory puzzle and even a very well hidden Lost World named Krematoa. Add a fantastic music in the background and the game's immersion becomes astounding. This blew my brains out back in the day because when i realised there can be an endless amount of hidden stuff anywhere. Come to think of it, the overworld's game design reminds me of Rareware's older game "Cobra Triangle", a motor boat NES game from 1989. I believe this must have been intentional, though. Like in other "DKC" games, the level design borrows lots of ideas from the "Battletoads" games surprisingly often.

Each world also has a versatile design with hidden areas, five basic levels and a boss, save caves, a Brother Bear hut plus Swanky Kong's ball throwing minigame tent with Cranky Kong as an opponent. From riverbanks to forests, underwater, caves, snowy mountains and even factories, this game looks very beautiful and feels somewhat mysterious to some extend. "DKC3" level design works mostly the same as in "DKC2": Each level has KONG letters lying around, usually two hidden bonus barrels and golden DK Coins scattered everywhere. With excellent level design and well hidden bonuses it keeps the player hooked. Some hidden world map areas can be accessed if you know where they are located, however, sometimes you'll have to come back later once these specific key items have been collected. Speaking of these "key items" i mentioned earlier, "DKC3" introduces a new group called the Brother Bears. A group of bear characters that provide you access to new places and can even give you hints. Some want bear coins, some want these special items that can be collected from the (over)world maps or by trading other items. You can check the game progress and inventory when saving a game at Wrinkly Kong's Save Caves. Completing levels in previous games was rather difficult because many people actually didn't know that having an exclamation sign in a level name meant every bonus level was 100% completed. However, in "DKC2" a DK coin icon was shown next to level name once it had been collected. In "DKC3" every new level now has a flagpole, decorated with a black flag with a letter "K" on it. Every completed level has either a pink or baby blue flag swinging on top of a pole, depending whether Dixie or Kiddy has finished a level. A golden flag means the DK coin has been collected and a fully swinging flag means all the bonus coins have been collected. These additions make bonus coin hunting a little bit easier than in previous games.

Some of the Animal friends such as Squitter the spider and Enguarde the swordfish make a return. "DKC3" also introduces new animals such as Ellie the elephant and Parry the Parallel Bird. For example Ellie is an expert with holding barrels and water with her trunk but she fears of rat enemies. In one level the game takes an advantage of this phobia mechanic and makes Ellie sprint uncontrollably to the other side of the level and every corner includes enemies or bottomless pits. Not all levels include animal friends but in some levels the animals are found from animal boxes or it can be possible to transform into one once the Kongs have gone inside an animal barrel. Some boss fights require to transform into an animal friend so make sure to master each one before fighting the big guys.

To some people "DKC3" may not be as groundbreaking as "DKC2" was, probably due to the fact that the third game might have felt like it may had been running out of new ideas. However, "DKC3" still provides a brand new game with a lengthy adventure and challenge, and as a SNES trilogy this series is definitely a must have and an excellent addition to the SNES library. Funny thing though, i used to complete "DKC3" first, then "DKC2" and then "DKC". That doesn't mean the third game is easy. It's tough as nails and it takes lots of time to master the game. Overall, "DKC3" has always felt special since the day i got it as a christmas present back in 1996.

Even today i still think this game is my all-time second favourite video game right after the original "Donkey Kong Country".

Years later "DKC3" was also released on Game Boy Advance but with drastic changes. The graphics (minus the character/enemy sprites), minigames and even the music was all different, an old boss character was replaced to a new one and so on. However, a completely brand new world with new levels was also added. Not other GBA "DKC" games were changed this much before when they got ported to GBA so it makes me wonder why change the game design so much. Not to be surprised i pretty much dislike this version quite a lot due to these massive game changes but i do have to admit i really enjoy the new world and its levels. The rest is debatable.

ABOUT THE MUSIC:
Before talking about the game's music, i've read that many people who criticize the SNES sound chip mostly note out the SNES games oftenly had a soundtrack with a lot of unnecessary reverb in their music. Capcom's games were probably the most notable example ("Megaman X", "Street Fighter 2"). With today's technology it is easier to create music but back in the day developers had to use a limited amount of memory to cram everything on a game cartridge. Fortunately, some developers managed to use this reverb effect as an advantage. The "DKC" trilogy is a good example and thanks to the wizards working at Rare the results were outstanding. Even today it's still shocking how good the music sounds even though SNES was just a fourth generation console.

The music of "DKC3" is one of my all-time favourite video game music soundtracks. It manages to add ambiance with a massive amount of unique sounding echoing bass structure in the background, making it sound grand, mysterious and even playful. Unlike in other "DKC" games, the music was mostly composed by Eveline Fischer with a minor help by David Wise. Fischer makes a surprisingly fine job and managed to compose music that can compete with Wise's work, although, she relies on ambient elements whereas Wise's music is more melodical. Overall, the music of "DKC3" was an instant favourite to my eight year old mind. Before that i never knew about the genre of "ambient music" but i've always enjoyed the music style. I remember listening to the overworld theme ("Northern Kremisphere") and the world map theme ("Submap Shuffle") nonstop without playing the game at all. Just sitting and enjoying the game world and thinking about all the millions of possible hidden places it included. The repetitive synthesizer melodies, low pitch drums samples and low bass ambient patterns are a irresistable immersion to the game and this "three element symbiosis" repeats in several other levels as well. Alongside, there's a hint of jazz and 90's dance music elements from the original "DKC" which makes the entirety more versatile, even playful. Some levels use radical electric guitar riffs as well. Speaking of guitar riffs, "Rockface Rumble" has an excellent mixture of echoed drums, double bass and guitar riffs that it matches perfectly when playing the game's mountain climbing levels. "Rockface Rumble" used to get stuck in my head quite a lot.

Funny thing though, some of the game's music was also scary back in the day. I remember muting the game when i was playing the "Pokey Pipes", the level with the low gravity mechanic. Also, the world theme of the lost world "Krematoa Korncerto" used to get stuck in my head and therefore i couldn't get sleep because of the harrowing atmosphere. If the music makes someone scared it definitely has achieved something, am i right?

Favourite tunes: "Northern Kremisphere", "Submap Shuffle", "Crystal Chasm", "Frosty Frolics", "Boss Boogie", "Treetop Tumble", "Hot Pursuit", "Enchanted Riverbank", "Water World", "Cascade Capers", "Nuts and Bolts", "Pokey Pipes", "Rockface Rumble", "Cavern Caprice", "Big Boss Blues", "Krematoa Korncerto", "Rocket Run", "Mama Bird", etc...

Definitely one of my favourite video game soundtracks.

[GBA Version]

I won't give this a version a formal review because my SNES review basically says it all, I'd just like to reiterate that I think this is the superior version of DKC3!

1. Because the soundtrack was completely remade and improved upon by David Wise alone,
2. Because they added an entirely new area and boss. Tons of value here for a handheld title that was innately cheap to begin with! :)

Sure this might be the least talked about DKC game, but don't be fooled, it's still a worthy addition to the series! There's nothing broken or wrong about this game so much as it's a lack of a strong identity or ground breaking design that keep this in the shadows of it's siblings (Also it launched just as the world was being introduced to the N64!). This game does have a solid motif, the Northern Kremisphere echoes a Nordic inspired country with mills, "stilt villages" and snowy mountain slopes (which is really neat!). But the motif sort of looses it's consistency later in the game when you start visiting generic jungles and factories and such. It's a stark contrast to the pirate infested amusement park dystopia that is Crocodile Island (from DKC2). Despite that, the art direction in this game is stunning, the "stilt village" and rocky mountain locations are particularly impressive visually and there's a lot of diversity within this world that keeps things feeling fresh even late in the game!

As far as level design goes Rare really kicked for some of the most ambitious levels in the series; like being chased up a tree by a giant ripsaw, or navigating a sewage pipe in zero G, or rock climbing as your ropes are burning from underneath you, and who could possibly forget the notorious lightning level! 0_o And for the most part each level comes through with a unique premise that makes this adventure full of surprises! I think from a technical standpoint the level designs can be a tad bit sloppy (i.e. spacing enemies too closely, off camera threats, and using bees a little too much...) But the general enemy designs in this game are pretty fun.... I did get a kick out of the kamikaze dudes wearing the explosive barrels and the dudes equipt with helicopter pants! I'll also say that it was a brilliant idea to opt with a top-down freely explorable overworld which is a step up from previous (and even later) instalments which had stiff/linear overworlds.

I can say without a doubt that the bosses in DKC3 are some of the best in the series! From an epic snowball fight with a killer snowman, to the flying robot rocket ship (with boxing gloves I might add). The buddies are back, perhaps a little less prominent than in previous games but there are 2 or 3 levels that showcase the new elephant buddy, and what I like about him is that you can suck in water or objects using your trunk and fire it back at enemies, twas very clever indeed! And even content wise, I'm pretty sure DKC3 is the longest of the original trilogy at 8 areas (important to note that the GBA version adds a 9nth area with an extra boss taboot!). There are also minigames and little side quests within the overworld that you can do if you so choose, so there's certainly tons of content here! ;D

The audio in this game is interesting, the SNES version touts a pretty ambient and dissonant soundtrack via Eveline Fischer and David Wise, which is ultimately pretty decent, but compared to the OSTs in previous DKC titles.... Nahhhhh! It's the GBA version that really runs away with the audio, with a completely remade soundtrack composed entirely by David Wise and it's just as colourful and tuneful as would be expected for the series (seriously; listen to the Waterfall theme!!!).

Donkey Kong Country 3 is a well made and meaty platformer with some of the most nutty and ambitious levels and bosses in the series. It may struggle with it's identity at times but it's still a worthy addition to the franchise! And as I eluded to earlier the GBA version has some extra bells and whistles that really make it an even more valuable experience, give this game a try if you love 2D platforming action! :D