A Fine Ending for a Fine Series

Author's Rating:

Pros: Beautiful environments Solid gameplay Deep main game Engaging

Cons: New soundtrack might alienate some fans of the original Not much new content

The Bottom Line: 
A must buy for those who loved this game on the SNES and for those too young to remember it.

Author's Review
Donkey Kong Country 3 almost takes a step back in this series of Super Nintendo ports. DKC3, while loaded with solid platformer gameplay and the most beautifully rendered environments in the series, doesn’t add as much new content as the previous two games did. Fans of the SNES game might also be upset to hear that the original soundtrack has been scraped. Nevertheless, DKC3’s gameplay and graphics are enough to push it over the edge and into your GBA.

DKC3 takes DKC2’s story one step further, by having K. Rool, the evil lizard king, kidnap both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. With Dixie Kong’s much beloved partner Diddy out of the picture, this long haired female monkey will have to team up with her beefy, toddler cousin Kiddy Kong. This odd pairing of strength and speed will have to work together in the Northern Kremisphere in order to find their lost friends. They will have to go through an aggressive forest, a highly polluted factory, the highest mountain in the land, an all new watery world Pacifica, and five other unique areas.

DKC3 features gameplay that would make even the most die-hard platform fan cry tears of joy. While jumping, throwing of items, and rolling are the basic techniques in the game, the game takes it one step further. With the addition of the animal friends making their third appearance in the series and the ability to team-up making its second appearance, Rare adds more depth without sacrificing its simplicity. With the help of two new animal friends (Ellie the elephant and Parry the parallel bird) and three making a return (Enguarde the swordfish, Squawks the parrot, and Squitter the spider), the Kongs will have lots of help to get past all the lizards, porcupines, razor bees, psychotic fish, and more. At home, the Kong’s extended family returns. Swanky, Funky, Cranky, and Wrinkly all make a return. Funky will build vehicles for the Kongs that allow then to travel over the lands, Swanky and Cranky will offer minigames that award bananas, and Wrinkly will just basically sit back and relax.

One change in gameplay is that the over world is more open. With Funky Kong’s vehicles, players no longer have to follow a set path like in the previous two games. Players can interact more with the over world by accessing B. Bird caves, opening gates, and more. To advance in the game, the player will have to trade with some bear brothers to acquire new items for vehicles and more. This interaction is a nice change from the set path system. Nevertheless, once players get into the level areas, the path system once again takes over. There are five to six beautiful levels, a Swanky level, a Cranky level, a Brothers Bear, a Banana Bird cave (more to come on B. Birds), and a boss level. The levels range from a barnhouse to a boardwalk to vertical cliffs and get progressively harder. Though the final worlds are challenging, they are a breeze compared to DKC2’s last worlds. The bosses range from a Kong-eating barrel to a giant barnacle to a demented waterfall.

As a plat former, DKC3 has to have collectibles. Players will collect bananas, bear coins, life balloons, bonus coins, DK coins, K.O.N.G. letters, and Banana Birds. Bananas, life balloons, and K.O.N.G. letters are work to increase the players life total. DK coins are basically a gauge of player’s skill, as they are often hidden. Bonus coins are used to access a deeper part of the game and Banana Birds are used to unlock the final ending. Missing from DKC3 is the photography system used in the previous games. Players could collect CG art from the game by defeating or interacting with those enemies. Without this, the game feels incomplete when compared to the previous two games. With less collectibles, the game loses a significant amount of replay value.

The time trial/game plus mode from the previous two games is missing. These two great features added hours of replay value and were a neat spin on the original game. DKC3 does feature three minigames, but these aren’t as engaging as the minigames in the previous games were. While beating them helps to achieve the real ending, they only have to be beaten once and are thus useless after that. The first one requires that the player help Cranky Kong block all the porcupines coming his way. Swanky Kong’s minigame forces Dixie to collect 90% of the stars laid out in a continuously moving pipe. The final minigame features Funky Kong’s vehicles in races, battles, and two other missions. While on par with in the quantity department, the three minigames are not as fun as the previous minigames in DKC2 and DKC. I grew tired of these minigames rather quickly.

Donkey Kong Country has come a long way graphically. DKC3 has the most unique, best rendered environments in the series and maybe even on the GBA. The GBA is a stronger system than the SNES (Thanks for the info Carlos) and it certainly shows. The environments are richly textured and no detail is left bland. From the waterfalls to the cliffs, every environment is highly detailed and beautiful. I lost a couple of lives just because I was too busy looking at the surrounding environment. The environments and environments take on a more serious and detailed look than its predecessors. The sheer beauty of the environments can attribute to this. The creature renders are more serious as well. No longer are the Kremlings (lizards) cute looking and helpless. The Kremlings and the other creatures take on a much more serious and refined look. DKC3 surpasses its predecessors in the graphic department by taking on a more serious role and working much more detail into it.

The soundtrack in DKC3 can be a double edged sword. Even though the original soundtrack fit the environments well and had the classic DKC feel with the fun sounds, Rare decided to dump it for a brand new one. While the previous soundtrack used more guitar and a couple banjos to create a more northern feel that fit the locale really well, the new soundtrack is more techy and upbeat. At first, the new soundtrack feels alienated from the game, but after a while, it grew on me. I eventually forgot about the old soundtrack. Fans of the original may feel alienated and uncomfortable with the new sound. The sound effects were left untouched thankfully and are as sharp as ever. From grunts to item collecting to the soothing sound of the waterfalls, no sound effect is out of place. The sound, while being hard to swallow at first, will grow on all who play the game fully.

Donkey Kong Country 3, while not adding as much as its predecessors, is still has the deepest main game and the best environments. DKC3 is the most engaging game of the series thanks to the outstanding environments and solid play. Although the new soundtrack might leave fans of the original uncomfortable, it will grow on all who play. Though DKC3 signaled the end of this great series, it was an amazing end to an amazing series.