In the Kong’s latest chapter, Dixie Kong returns home to find that Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are missing (What a shocking development. - Ed). Dixie is left to unravel this mystery, while being forced to drag along her oversized baby cousin, Kiddie Kong. The two characters contrast each other’s abilities exceptionally well, allowing for a fascinating new outlook onto the originally dry Donkey Kong Country formula. In the previous titles the differences between the two characters were minimal, strength and speed being the deciding factor, but each character this time round has their own abilities that help gamers proceed through the difficult situations presented throughout the game. For instance, Dixie is profound for her fast speeds, ability to hit enemies and ability to swiftly hover across huge gaps thanks to her lovely blonde locks. In comparision, Kiddy’s immense weight helps break open loose cracks in wooden floorboards, and he uses his strength to toss Dixie to great heights.
Abnormal little creature, isn’t he?
The game’s core gameplay mechanics remain unchanged from the original in the series. Gamers will still need to acquire bananas, defeat baddies, jump platforms, fly through barrels and collect the notorious K-O-N-G letters, while trying to also find the hidden items throughout each level. While the basic premises of the game has been left unchanged, Donkey Kong Country 3 not only manages to duplicate what the previous titles were able to do, but also manages to better it by offering one of the most fascinating entries in the series.
While Donkey Kong Country 3 still follows a strict linear path, the game does provide gamers with a bit more flexibility in how they reach each level. The pair can now travel land-to-land thanks to Funky Kong’s vehicles, which also allows gamers to find hidden areas and reach new heights. While their primary focus is to get gamers from area A to area B, the GBA incarnation now allows gamers to participate in several mini-games featuring Funky’s vehicles, as well as some others featuring Cranky Kong and another mini-game that plays similar to Sonic 2’s tunnel racing. While none of these mini-games push the limits of the handheld, they are extremely entertaining, creative and do well to break up the sometimes-intense action of the main quest.
The most notable differences between the two versions are the addition of the entirely new area, Pacifica, and a very questionable two-player mode. The new area is fantastic and manages to extend the experience considerably, offering a rewarding new experience. However, the not-so-hot multiplayer aspect of the game is beyond terrible, in fact, it isn’t even mentioned on the game’s box. Basically, the game has one gamer playing as Dixie while the other is Kiddy. Once someone switches characters or dies, the game will pause allowing gamers to swap the GBA over to their friend. The idea of multiplayer in Donkey Kong Country is fairly questionable to begin with, but this feature is quite pointless altogether. There is also a new trade quest where gamers will collect items and swap them to members across the land.
The game still retrains it’s humourous charm, offering a number of quirky one-liners. Gamers will come across a number of familiar Kong members, as well as a number of new loveable additions, each presenting their own unique humour to the table.
One of the main issues with the previous two re-releases was that the games never managed to capture the true image of their SNES counterparts, due to the handheld’s smaller screen. Unfortunately, Donkey Kong Country 3 still suffers from the same issue. The game does look a tad watered-down compared to the original SNES classic, losing its touch by producing some sub-par backgrounds and details on characters. While the third title is by far the most appealing out of the three, it still suffers from the identical problems that the others did.
The Kong mayhem continues
On a much lighter note, the music throughout the game still retains its original flair. The tunes are nicely composed, and sound considerably nice coming out of the GBA’s speakers. While not as memorable as some of Donkey Kong’s other tunes, Donkey Kong Country 3 still offers a uplifting and fulfilling musical score suited for each level.
Donkey Kong Country 3, unfortunately, still suffers from a lot of the issues that the previous two titles managed to suffer from, making the game, once again, fall short of it’s original mark even with the welcomed new additions. Regardless, Donkey Kong Country 3 is still an enjoyable and fulfilling title that does a significant job at producing one of the best titles for the handheld during the Christmas break.
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