Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

"A worthy final of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy"

Granted, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong´s Double Trouble did have a huge legacy to live up to. After all, Donkey Kong Country was not just a revolutionary game in terms of visuals, it was also one of the best Jump & Runs ever, even able to compete with milestones like the Super Mario series. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy´s Kong Quest was an even better game, having more levels, more creative ideas, better level design and improved visuals, and in my opinion, it even rivals Super Mario World 2: Yoshi´s Island. So, for the final SNES installment for this magnificent series, Rare had to face some extremely high expectations by millions of fans...and even though DKC3 does not entirely reach the brilliance of its two predecessors, it is still a AAA-grade Jump & Run every DKC fan will be pleased with.

The basic gameplay, though has not changed much. It´s still the same Jump & Run gameplay as in the last two games, and once again, it works wonderfully here thanks to the perfect controls, allowing you to get full control over the two protagonists, Dixie and Kiddy Kong. And he is probably the biggest addition to the gameplay. Instead of Donkey or Diddy, who have been abducted by some mad Kremling scientist according to the not-so-important storyline, Dixie´s baby cousin accompanies her on her quest to save her two friends. While Dixie still has the same abilities as in part 2, which means that she can use her hair in order to float over a long distance, has some great jumping abilities and is very fast, Kiddy Kong´s most notable feature is his strength and his weight, which allows him to defeat certain enemies Dixie normally would not be able to, and that also serves him in order to find some hidden bonus rooms in the levels, but on the negative side, he is pretty slow. However, having these two main characters with different abilities once again adds a good deal of strategy to some levels, since you have to switch between your characters and use the ability you need, and of course, in terms of teamwork, another feature from part 2 returns: Kiddy can lift Dixie up with his strength and throw her to a higher place you could not reach otherwise, for example, or over a chasm, but poor Dixie, on the other hand, can lift Kiddy only barely up, and instead of throwing him to higher places and platforms, she can use his weight in order to throw through breakable walls. Apart from your two main characters, you´ll once again receive help from your animal buddies in some levels, like Enguarde the Swordfish, Rambi the Rhino and Squawks the Parrot along with newcomers Ellie the Elephant and Parry the Parallel Bird, adding a lot of variety to the entire game design. The levels themselves have once again been created with a lot of creativity and imagination, adding a lot of fresh and new locations like mountainous areas ("Razor Ridge") or industrial world Mekanos. Another recurring aspect is collecting bananas for bonus lives and some well hidden coins for access to a bonus world, some of which you can now gain by trading items with the Brothers Bear, who you can find in each world. Speaking of worlds, they are once again placed on a map, only now, you can access them on foot or by using several boats, and you can walk over the world map freely before you enter a world, where each level is connected similarly to the first two games. In terms of gameplay, Donkey Kong Country 3 is full of surprises, and the game itself plays like a dream and offers some great Jump & Run fun fans of the series will certainly love, and it certainly qualifies as one of the best platform-games ever.

Once again, the visuals in Donkey Kong Country 3 are breathtaking for a SNES game, and they certainly represent the cream of the crop for the system. While the character renderings are rather similar to part 2, the enemies and locations are now even more detailed and realistic seeming, featuring some awesome animations for both heroes and foes as well, and the bosses, for example, are impressively done both artistically and visually. My favorite part, however, are all the hilarious details the designers at Rare put into the game, like the facial expressions of the heroes during certain situations, or the silly things they´re starting to do when you do not use the control-pad for a while, and the levels themselves are full of these graphical treats, especially in the background. Without a single doubt, DKC 3 features some of the best graphics of the entire 16-Bit generation and still holds up very well today.

Aurally, Donkey Kong Country 3 is not too exceptional, with most melodies modestly playing in the background without attracting too much attention, but still being motivating and enjoyable to listen to, with no track standing out in a negative way and always being fitting and appropriate. The sound quality of the pieces of music is excellent for a Super Nintendo game, making the entire game a treat to listen to.

In my opinion, Donkey Kong Country 3 does not entirely reach the high level of its predecessors. I do not know why, but no matter how brilliant this game might be, something seemed to be amiss. Something that made the first two to such milestone titles, but perhaps it is just my perception. Nevertheless, Donkey Kong Country 3 is an awesome Jump & Run that has not lost its appeal today and still beats most of its modern day competitors in terms of creativity, level design, ideas and fun by far. One of the best SNES games and one of the best Jump & Runs ever, a game no Nintendo fan should miss. A definite must buy!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/06