Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

"Ten reasons why I like cheese..."

Seeing as how my reviews are getting double the hits that they usually do (2 each, both of them mine), I am churning out another one. This is for the tragically underrated Super Nintendo Game, Donkey Kong Country 3, Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. Living in the shadow of it's predecessors, DKC3 is a fabulous game that really should not go ignored...

STORY: 5/10
Well basically, there is no story at all. We get no opening cinema, we get no story in the instruction manual, no nothing! We kind of figure things out as we go along! It's kind of stupid. We go through the whole game. We finally reach and beat K. Rool, and those Donkey and Diddy just appear! We had no idea that they were captured in the first place! You also have to rid the world of that K. Rool, help the Banana Birds, and collect coins and boat parts for Funky Kong. So really, the story wouldn't be so bad... had they given it to us.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
Very good graphics, actually. Nothing too spectacular, but great. The levels and characters are all very well done. Dixie Kong's hair and bubble gum are quite realistic. However, the overworld is a bit unrealistic and cartoonish. I would say that the bosses are the most well designed, but the levels stand out the most. There are superb backgrounds, and everything looks great! The graphic's main problem is that it fails to step out of the shadows of the first two games, in terms of graphics. But this does not change the simple fact that they are quite good.

AUDIO: 9/10
Yes, yes. Very good audio, both sounds and music. You have to admit, the audio for Donkey Kong Country, the first one, was a bit muffled. The composition and sound effects were very good, but didn't sound as good as they should have, due to limited system capacities. You can tell Rare really put a lot of work into this to make real quality audio. As for the actual music and sound themselves, they are extremely good. Upbeat levels are upbeat, fast levels are fast paced, and etc. And the sound is all good, there are the standard yelps when someone defeated, and much much more. Seeing as how I am running out of things to say, I'll just stop talking now.

CONTROL: 10/10
Honestly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these controls. Everything is executed flawlessly, and there was not a single instance in which something went wrong due to controls. Every animal buddy is great too, and the level controls are handled perfectly. In the levels, with a few exceptions, you use the control pad to move, the B and Y buttons to attack, accelerate, and jump. You can also press the Select Buttons to switch between characters (and see a humourous animation in the process). There is also a neat tossing move that you can do when you have both characters, using the A button. Finally, you can do Dixie's standard hair-gliding move, which is sure to come in useful.. You might have a little trouble in the overworld controlling your boats, but that has nothing to do with the controls and will be entirely your fault! Oops, I didn't mean that!

GAMEPLAY: 10/10
''Yep, it's that good! You travel through the levels, like any Mario game, and at the end of each stage, you are allowed to progress onto the next, and so on and so on. However, most of the stages are quite complex, and it often isn't a matter of getting to the end. Also, each level has a theme which I personally feel is a good idea. After about 35 levels, you reach K. Rool, or Baron K. Roolenstein as he likes to be called. I won't spoil anything, but afterwards, you have to open up the Lost World and take him on there! Problem is, you have to collect every single Bonus Coin in the game to buy bombs. Even when you finish this world, it's still not over! But I've talked enough. Underneath all the potential frustration, and it's thin sheet of replay value, there lies an extremely fun game. And isn't that, what video games are all about? Now, we will analyze the games slightly weaker points...

ORIGINALITY: 4/10
Heh, every game today is ripped off another, as my dad says. The original Donkey Kong Country used the Mario engine, in which you try to beat the levels, and collect everything that you can along the way to get extra lives. Same feel. Well, like I was saying, Donkey Kong Country Two expanded on the original, in you have to collect Bonus Coins, the concept was expanded. In DKC3, it's a new world, but seeing as how it comes after two other games, and the skeleton of the game is off Donkey Kong Country 2, I feel as if I have said enough. But who really cares about originality?

DIFFICULTY: 9/10
Well, it's not that the whole game is that difficult, its just that you have to collect absolutely everything to fight the final boss! Every Bonus Coin (A whopping 85, you have to find them and beat the bonus game), 40 coins (not well hidden, but you must defeat an enemy to get it), and 15 Banana Bird (hidden in various caves all around the world). Which turns some people off. And seeing as how some of these bonus games and coins are extremely tough to collect, that seems rather unfair to some. I however, enjoy the longitivity this game has to offer...

REPLAY VALUE: 3/10
Well, seeing as how you must collect everything the first time through, there is very little left to do after you have beaten K. Rool. You can replay the bosses, and any level and bonus game that you want, but that's it. There are no optional sidequests to finish up or anything! Of course, you could play it again, but it just isn't the same the second time, so where's the fun in that?

I hereby award this game a 8.7/10 (rounded to 9)

Despite the negative points that I list above, the gameplay outweighs everything. A good addition to your Super Nintendo collection, assuming you can still find a copy of this game somewhere. I would buy it straight away if you haven't played Donkey Kong Country 2 before hand. Rent it first otherwise and see what you think. Good night.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/17/01, Updated 12/17/01