Pros: Where DKC1 was about momentous forward movement, and DKC2 about adventurous exploration, DKC3 is about slower paced methodical platforming and mystery, with highly unique and surprising stage gimmicks! There's a bit more puzzle-centric gameplay to this one, and in my opinion, it's all the better for it!
Dixie Kong is the lead in this game, and after her all-star showing in DKC2, I'm happy to see her in the spotlight! She's joined by controversial cousin, Kiddy Kong, who brings back the tag-team balance from DKC1 as a heavyweight. And together, they evolve the tag-team mechanic of buddying up from DKC2, but because of the lightweight/heavyweight dynamic of Dixie and Kiddy, their moves are different, which encourages switching Kongs more often as a result. Dixie can toss Kiddy like a bowling ball, an offensive attack that she can even ride on top of, or toss him in the air for him to then come crashing down, breaking cracks in the ground found numerously across the entire game, which reveal several goodies and secrets. But Kiddy tosses Dixie more like in how the mechanic works in DKC2, where it helps with accessing higher platforms and items out of reach. This switching around to do different tasks contributes to the general theme of more methodical puzzle-centric gameplay this game has over DKC 1 and 2. And gets you playing as each Kong more often for real gameplay reasons, instead of artificial ones. (also Kiddy has a fun secret move where he can skip across the water, only really useful in one area, but you can do it wherever water surface is found, and it's just fun to do, heh)
And that methodical, more slow paced, puzzle-centric gameplay, is especially exemplified with the new animal buddy, and my favorite animal buddy, Ellie the Elephant. An adorable baby elephant and a multipurpose animal friend, who among many things can suck up barrels from afar, use them as a shield or toss them herself, has the ability to suck up and squirt water out from her trunk, she can swim on the surface of water itself, and she has the surprising ability of being afraid of mice (it comes in handy later, I promise!). She replaces Rambi the rhinoceros in this game, and that's a bold move by the team, but it's another element that highlights the direction of this game, no longer about charging ahead, but more about stepping back, thinking, and then taking action. One of my favorite stages in the game involves Ellie, Bobbing Barrel Brawl, a river stage that has you tossing barrels into the water where they'll float, to then use them as platforms to jump on top of and across the river, as to not get bitten by the hungry feedfish Nibbla below. Some of these platforming challenges involve you to suck up water, shoot an enemy carrying a barrel, for it to drop to the river below to act as a platform, or sucking up a barrel from a distance to clear the path. Even Squawks the parrot has a new purple variation that can lift and drop barrels, using this same method of gameplay! There's several of these moments where you'll come to stop, and work out the puzzle to advance forward. This game is full of them, and I love them! In fact, the DK coin in this game, is attached to an enemy's shield in every stage, and in many of these stages, you have to figure out a way to kill this enemy from behind using a steel keg, to gain access to the coin. Methodical, more slower paced, puzzle-centric gameplay. That's DKC3!
And the stages keep throwing new ideas at you, or twists on familiar formulas. Some very fun and creative stages that I enjoyed were Ripsaw Rage, where a giant two-man saw is forcing you upwards a redwood tree as it's actively being sawed in half. Low-G Labyrinth, a pipe maze stage where your movement is slowed, but your jump gains extra height. Kong-fused Cliff, where you're climbing a single rope upwards, well, I should say wick, as the bottom is on fire burning the rope, forcing you to climb! I could go on and on, but you get the gist! Fun ideas that really put the fire underneath ya, and have you playing with the conventional mechanics you've come to learn through the series in twisted and new exciting ways!
The boss battles are also much more methodical, and it starts with the first boss, Belcha the giant sentient barrel. It's a "push you off the side of the stage" type of fight, and you have to figure out how to push this giant barrel dude off of the edge before they do it to you... and to do that, you gotta observe their attacks. They spit out normal sized barrels that roll across the ground, what do you do with that? Jump on the barrel, break it open, then comes out... a bug? What do you do with that now!? You figure out you can grab the bugs after you knock them onto their backs with a jump, and then you'll put the pieces together, to throw those bugs back into Belcha's mouth, causing them to munch it down and burp, which sends the giant barrel boss backwards! The whole boss can't even hurt you, it's just a big puzzle! And this, once again, exemplifies the more thoughtful approach to gameplay theme running through the game, and I love it!
Another boss I'll highlight, because it's such a fun surprise, is Bleak the snowman. Now, throughout the game there are Swanky Kong tents, which let you play a minigame of hit-the-target, which is a behind the back game, where you move left and right, and throw little ping pong balls onto targets that pop up in the background. Hit all the targets, win a bunch of coins and bananas. Okay, cool, seems like a distraction that's completely independent from the main platforming game, right?... WRONG! These minigames train you, unbeknownst to the player, for a boss fight coming ahead, where you whip snowballs at an evil Snowman for the entire battle, using the exact same Swanky Kong minigame engine. Tutorials in disguise! It's so cool and surprising! I love this design direction, it delights over and over again!
And the theme of mystery and surprise, getting you to think, running through the undercurrent of the game, is also part of the story. You see, in this game, K. Rool is not the big bad boss, no, it's a new guy, named KAOS... And when he showed up, DK and Diddy mysteriously disappear. I won't spoil things, but again, you come to find things aren't what they seem! A fresh take on the formula, and it stars the surprising duo of Dixie and Kiddy, a female led adventure, better than the rest!
Through the adventure, there's another major player in the game that kept me captivated, and that is the overworld. The worldmap in this game rivals the worldmap in Super Mario World, full of exploration, secrets, and yep, surprises! In fact, the water portions of the overworld are free roam, you aren't tied to a path, so it creates a greater sense of a world you're exploring, and thus, more immersive and alive than ever before. Even lets you, in moments, choose the order in which you enter different worlds of the game, for a more non-linear style of play. And littered throughout this overworld are secret caves, and villagers known as the Brothers Bear. A family of bears that run shops, give you tips, spread secrets, and help with puzzles to advance you through the game, as well as getting you to find all of the banana birds (they're the weird little doo-hickies hidden in all the secret caves throughout the world, awarded by winning a game of Simon, funnily enough). These bears are full of character, dialogue, and fun trading sequences. A delight for sure. Also on this overworld, is Funky Kong's new shop, a rental store where as you progress through the game, Funky builds you new vehicles to access more of the map. Boats, Hovercrafts, Jetskis, this alone is fun as a game, as you can move through the waters finding more secrets! Heck, the entire hidden final world of this game, is only accessed via a secret maneuver you have to perform with one of these boats, a secret you learn from one of the Brothers Bear. It all connects, and again, aligns with the theme of mystery, surprise, and methodical puzzle-centric gameplay of DKC3. I love it. And getting all of the DK coins in this game, gives you one of my favorite final rewards in any game, a new vehicle from Funky that allows you more freedom of movement that's extremely cathartic, and even grants you access to all of the Banana Birds, which results in the true ending of the game. It's a Eggs-cellent!
Cons: One major con, I do have to address, is the music isn't quite up to par with DKC1 or 2. It's not bad, but it doesn't come close to the awe of either of those games. No track in this game will have your jaw on the floor, like say, Aquatic Ambiance or Stickerbush Symphony did. But that isn't to say there are no hits, I loved the water track, the cliffside track, and I especially love the moody overworld and map music, which composed by Evelyne Novakovic, is really quite mesmerizing. David Wise took a backseat, and didn't compose any stage music for this game, so that's probably a reason why there's less iconic tunes, though if you'd like, he did compose the GBA version of this game with an entirely brand new soundtrack. In some ways it's better, in some ways not. But I like that two soundtracks exist for this game nowadays. Pick your favs! Another little nitpick is the art direction. There was a new team that worked on this game, and the new art style is really hard to pinpoint... Unlike DKC 2, there's no say "pirates" theme, or anything like that, it's more mysterious I spose, which works well enough.
Also... once again, you can't play as Donkey Kong. But hey, at least this time we got the lightweight/heavyweight balance back! Kiddy Kong is fine by me! Anyway, DK would've taken the spotlight away from Dixie, I think it's cool she got her moment to shine with this game!
What it means to me: When I first saw this game show up in Nintendo Power, I admit, I was confused! Kiddy Kong?? Who?? Why? Replacing DK again? And Diddy too?? Clearly I didn't get it yet. But then, I saw Ellie the elephant, and this may be a little bias, but elephants are my favorite animal, and an elephant animal buddy was the animal buddy I had wanted most ever since DKC1... And it turned out they were everything I wanted! So it gave me an open mind, and getting used to the changes did take some time, but once they worked their way in, oh man, this game became the most immersive DKC adventure yet, and it quickly moved up the ranks to my favorites! Nowadays, I do prefer the momentous forward movement quick-paced gameplay of DKC1, it's just more fun on replays, but DKC3 is still a game I come back to again and again, I love it so much, and it's underrated as hell. Yeah, I think this game is better than DKC2, I really do, and I hope this review touches upon why I feel that way!
Dixie Kong is the lead in this game, and after her all-star showing in DKC2, I'm happy to see her in the spotlight! She's joined by controversial cousin, Kiddy Kong, who brings back the tag-team balance from DKC1 as a heavyweight. And together, they evolve the tag-team mechanic of buddying up from DKC2, but because of the lightweight/heavyweight dynamic of Dixie and Kiddy, their moves are different, which encourages switching Kongs more often as a result. Dixie can toss Kiddy like a bowling ball, an offensive attack that she can even ride on top of, or toss him in the air for him to then come crashing down, breaking cracks in the ground found numerously across the entire game, which reveal several goodies and secrets. But Kiddy tosses Dixie more like in how the mechanic works in DKC2, where it helps with accessing higher platforms and items out of reach. This switching around to do different tasks contributes to the general theme of more methodical puzzle-centric gameplay this game has over DKC 1 and 2. And gets you playing as each Kong more often for real gameplay reasons, instead of artificial ones. (also Kiddy has a fun secret move where he can skip across the water, only really useful in one area, but you can do it wherever water surface is found, and it's just fun to do, heh)
And that methodical, more slow paced, puzzle-centric gameplay, is especially exemplified with the new animal buddy, and my favorite animal buddy, Ellie the Elephant. An adorable baby elephant and a multipurpose animal friend, who among many things can suck up barrels from afar, use them as a shield or toss them herself, has the ability to suck up and squirt water out from her trunk, she can swim on the surface of water itself, and she has the surprising ability of being afraid of mice (it comes in handy later, I promise!). She replaces Rambi the rhinoceros in this game, and that's a bold move by the team, but it's another element that highlights the direction of this game, no longer about charging ahead, but more about stepping back, thinking, and then taking action. One of my favorite stages in the game involves Ellie, Bobbing Barrel Brawl, a river stage that has you tossing barrels into the water where they'll float, to then use them as platforms to jump on top of and across the river, as to not get bitten by the hungry feedfish Nibbla below. Some of these platforming challenges involve you to suck up water, shoot an enemy carrying a barrel, for it to drop to the river below to act as a platform, or sucking up a barrel from a distance to clear the path. Even Squawks the parrot has a new purple variation that can lift and drop barrels, using this same method of gameplay! There's several of these moments where you'll come to stop, and work out the puzzle to advance forward. This game is full of them, and I love them! In fact, the DK coin in this game, is attached to an enemy's shield in every stage, and in many of these stages, you have to figure out a way to kill this enemy from behind using a steel keg, to gain access to the coin. Methodical, more slower paced, puzzle-centric gameplay. That's DKC3!
And the stages keep throwing new ideas at you, or twists on familiar formulas. Some very fun and creative stages that I enjoyed were Ripsaw Rage, where a giant two-man saw is forcing you upwards a redwood tree as it's actively being sawed in half. Low-G Labyrinth, a pipe maze stage where your movement is slowed, but your jump gains extra height. Kong-fused Cliff, where you're climbing a single rope upwards, well, I should say wick, as the bottom is on fire burning the rope, forcing you to climb! I could go on and on, but you get the gist! Fun ideas that really put the fire underneath ya, and have you playing with the conventional mechanics you've come to learn through the series in twisted and new exciting ways!
The boss battles are also much more methodical, and it starts with the first boss, Belcha the giant sentient barrel. It's a "push you off the side of the stage" type of fight, and you have to figure out how to push this giant barrel dude off of the edge before they do it to you... and to do that, you gotta observe their attacks. They spit out normal sized barrels that roll across the ground, what do you do with that? Jump on the barrel, break it open, then comes out... a bug? What do you do with that now!? You figure out you can grab the bugs after you knock them onto their backs with a jump, and then you'll put the pieces together, to throw those bugs back into Belcha's mouth, causing them to munch it down and burp, which sends the giant barrel boss backwards! The whole boss can't even hurt you, it's just a big puzzle! And this, once again, exemplifies the more thoughtful approach to gameplay theme running through the game, and I love it!
Another boss I'll highlight, because it's such a fun surprise, is Bleak the snowman. Now, throughout the game there are Swanky Kong tents, which let you play a minigame of hit-the-target, which is a behind the back game, where you move left and right, and throw little ping pong balls onto targets that pop up in the background. Hit all the targets, win a bunch of coins and bananas. Okay, cool, seems like a distraction that's completely independent from the main platforming game, right?... WRONG! These minigames train you, unbeknownst to the player, for a boss fight coming ahead, where you whip snowballs at an evil Snowman for the entire battle, using the exact same Swanky Kong minigame engine. Tutorials in disguise! It's so cool and surprising! I love this design direction, it delights over and over again!
And the theme of mystery and surprise, getting you to think, running through the undercurrent of the game, is also part of the story. You see, in this game, K. Rool is not the big bad boss, no, it's a new guy, named KAOS... And when he showed up, DK and Diddy mysteriously disappear. I won't spoil things, but again, you come to find things aren't what they seem! A fresh take on the formula, and it stars the surprising duo of Dixie and Kiddy, a female led adventure, better than the rest!
Through the adventure, there's another major player in the game that kept me captivated, and that is the overworld. The worldmap in this game rivals the worldmap in Super Mario World, full of exploration, secrets, and yep, surprises! In fact, the water portions of the overworld are free roam, you aren't tied to a path, so it creates a greater sense of a world you're exploring, and thus, more immersive and alive than ever before. Even lets you, in moments, choose the order in which you enter different worlds of the game, for a more non-linear style of play. And littered throughout this overworld are secret caves, and villagers known as the Brothers Bear. A family of bears that run shops, give you tips, spread secrets, and help with puzzles to advance you through the game, as well as getting you to find all of the banana birds (they're the weird little doo-hickies hidden in all the secret caves throughout the world, awarded by winning a game of Simon, funnily enough). These bears are full of character, dialogue, and fun trading sequences. A delight for sure. Also on this overworld, is Funky Kong's new shop, a rental store where as you progress through the game, Funky builds you new vehicles to access more of the map. Boats, Hovercrafts, Jetskis, this alone is fun as a game, as you can move through the waters finding more secrets! Heck, the entire hidden final world of this game, is only accessed via a secret maneuver you have to perform with one of these boats, a secret you learn from one of the Brothers Bear. It all connects, and again, aligns with the theme of mystery, surprise, and methodical puzzle-centric gameplay of DKC3. I love it. And getting all of the DK coins in this game, gives you one of my favorite final rewards in any game, a new vehicle from Funky that allows you more freedom of movement that's extremely cathartic, and even grants you access to all of the Banana Birds, which results in the true ending of the game. It's a Eggs-cellent!
Cons: One major con, I do have to address, is the music isn't quite up to par with DKC1 or 2. It's not bad, but it doesn't come close to the awe of either of those games. No track in this game will have your jaw on the floor, like say, Aquatic Ambiance or Stickerbush Symphony did. But that isn't to say there are no hits, I loved the water track, the cliffside track, and I especially love the moody overworld and map music, which composed by Evelyne Novakovic, is really quite mesmerizing. David Wise took a backseat, and didn't compose any stage music for this game, so that's probably a reason why there's less iconic tunes, though if you'd like, he did compose the GBA version of this game with an entirely brand new soundtrack. In some ways it's better, in some ways not. But I like that two soundtracks exist for this game nowadays. Pick your favs! Another little nitpick is the art direction. There was a new team that worked on this game, and the new art style is really hard to pinpoint... Unlike DKC 2, there's no say "pirates" theme, or anything like that, it's more mysterious I spose, which works well enough.
Also... once again, you can't play as Donkey Kong. But hey, at least this time we got the lightweight/heavyweight balance back! Kiddy Kong is fine by me! Anyway, DK would've taken the spotlight away from Dixie, I think it's cool she got her moment to shine with this game!
What it means to me: When I first saw this game show up in Nintendo Power, I admit, I was confused! Kiddy Kong?? Who?? Why? Replacing DK again? And Diddy too?? Clearly I didn't get it yet. But then, I saw Ellie the elephant, and this may be a little bias, but elephants are my favorite animal, and an elephant animal buddy was the animal buddy I had wanted most ever since DKC1... And it turned out they were everything I wanted! So it gave me an open mind, and getting used to the changes did take some time, but once they worked their way in, oh man, this game became the most immersive DKC adventure yet, and it quickly moved up the ranks to my favorites! Nowadays, I do prefer the momentous forward movement quick-paced gameplay of DKC1, it's just more fun on replays, but DKC3 is still a game I come back to again and again, I love it so much, and it's underrated as hell. Yeah, I think this game is better than DKC2, I really do, and I hope this review touches upon why I feel that way!