Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! (SNES)

The first Donkey Kong Country saw a new version of the gorilla Donkey Kong go on his first adventure, and the follow-up upgraded his monkey sidekick Diddy to the starring role. As a result, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Diddy’s partner Dixie would get to headline the next Donkey Kong Country game, but that doesn’t mean Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! was what people expected for a third entry. New designers and programmers were given the reins for this adventure while Evelyn Fischer took the role of main composer from David Wise, this new team with a new perspective on the series taking it into some wild and wonderful new directions. Ambition abounds in this third entry as the game constantly feels like it wants to try something new with a level or boss design, the shift perhaps a little shocking to players at the time as Donkey Kong Country 3 wants to chart its own course even if that means getting a little kooky and silly at times.

 

This particular primate adventure begins on a whim according to the manual, Donkey and Diddy heading off to the Northern Kremisphere for some exploring purely for fun. Dixie starts to grow concerned as their absence wears on though, and when she heads off to find them, she finds neither hide nor hair of her boyfriend and his buddy. Thankfully she does find a few familiar faces like the matronly old Wrinkly Kong and surfer turned engineer Funky, but these two apes come with new concerns as they warn of a new ruler of the crocodilian Kremlings called KAOS and foist the responsibility for taking care of Dixie’s toddler cousin Kiddy onto her. She’s even tasked with locating strange creatures called Banana Birds around the Kremisphere, the Double Trouble in the title perhaps not totally encapsulating the full breadth of responsibilities she has. Thankfully, Kiddy is fairly large and capable for a young gorilla, giving her a partner as she explores this new region in hopes of setting things right.

 

While Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is a side-scrolling platformer much like its predecessors, it also offers a great deal more to do outside of the challenging levels. Navigating the world map is a task in itself, the player sometimes given the freedom to travel the water-filled region with various vehicles Funky Kong whips up. More than just a way to get from place to place, there are extra activities to be found around the Northern Kremisphere such as hidden caves where you need to play a quick color memory game to get a Banana Bird, but the Brothers Bear may be the more interesting addition. Almost a dozen talking bears can be found around the region, each of them able to help you in some form. They might be interested in a trade where you can use an item earned somewhere else to get a Banana Bird, or they might end up providing clues on how to reach hidden places like the lost world Krematoa. Bear Coins found in levels can sometimes be used to buy hints or items, trading sequences giving you a little more to focus on than just clearing every level and boss in your path. It definitely adds some extra character to the location of this adventure and figuring out what a Bear wants can take some thought, the game getting a bit non-linear at times like how Brash Bear challenges you to beat a level in a faster time than him after you’ve already played it once before or how Blue Bear’s birthday gift can’t be found until after you’ve already found him moping about how no one remembered his special day.

A bunch of talking bears can sound a little cartoonish even in a series where we’ve seen apes previously take on various identities, Swanky Kong even back to host a new minigame where you can earn some Bear Coins by playing a ball toss game against Cranky. The world in general in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! feels a bit light-hearted and whimsical, whether it be a boss like Belcha the giant barrel who you defeat by making him burp hard enough to propel himself down a hole or a level like Skidda’s Row where the main danger is the fact the Kremlings you are up against are just sliding around back and forth on the ice unable to control themselves. Some music like the Stilt Village song in the game’s first level Lakeside Limbo has a jaunty and jovial air to it much like the Brothers Bear theme, and when one of the heroes is a toddler who will sometimes play with his pajama footies if left alone for a bit, it can all feel a bit silly. Luckily, the kookiness comes with a healthy dose of creativity, the levels in this adventure teeming with original ideas, strange but effective enemies, and enough design twists that it feels like you’re just as often discovering the wild ways the game can play as you are the deliberate secrets.

 

Dixie and Kiddy play similarly for the most part, both heroes quick and capable so that the game can afford to put tight jumps and cramped dangers together since you can find your way through them with a bit of skill. Dixie is distinguished most by her ponytail twirl though, the girl able to spin her hair like a helicopter to help cover more horizontal ground and ease into jumps if you need that extra insurance. She’s definitely the better Kong to have of the pair, but Kiddy has moments he is absolutely required if you want to get some of the extra goodies around levels. Sometimes this will be because of the team throw where Kiddy can toss Dixie up to somewhere high or Dixie can slam him onto some cracked ground to break it, but the weirdest skill Kiddy Kong has is the ability to skip across the water like a stone. This ability isn’t even adequately described in the manual and only really important in two or three instances. The manual even is the only place certain plot details are found, it feeling like this adventure is straining a bit against what it wanted to be and how much it felt it could say in game even with multiple characters to talk to, but you can still get a fairly full adventure even if you don’t know the gorilla toddler can bounce across the water’s surface.

 

Funnily enough, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! can convey important information elsewhere for a more complex element: the animal buddies. In certain levels you will either hop aboard or transform into a different animal entirely, and Ellie the elephant ends up quite a memorable addition with how many different uses she has. Not only can this elephant carry and throw barrels like the Kong duo, but she can suck them towards her from afar, suck up water to spray at far off enemies, and even has a fear of rats that causes her to uncontrollably charge should you run into them. The game adequately instructs you or demonstrates this all, the use of the collectible floating bananas otherwise meant for extra lives or guiding you throw a level even able to show the controls for such maneuvers to make Ellie feel natural to play. Other animal forms can be multifaceted too like Squitter the spider who can fire webs as an attack or build midair platforms as he pleases, and Squawks the parrot can spit coconuts on top of his gift of flight. Enguarde the swordfish feels a little simple just being the only means of attacking underwater but he’s still greatly appreciated for opening up such levels to having their own complex ideas like one where you have to use him to keep attacking Gleamin’ Bream that light up the absolutely gorgeous underwater coral reef you’re navigating, but Parry might be the strangest of the animal companions. Parry the Parallel Bird will actually fly above you and mirror your movement, the player having to plan their navigation right so they don’t accidentally kill him before he drops whatever special item will be your reward for keeping him safe.

Parry the Parallel Bird actually typifies a good deal of how level design is handled in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!. Dixie and Kiddy can only take one hit and must be found again in DK Barrels if they’re harmed and the levels will be difficult somewhat based on that fact alone, but a great deal of them lean heavily into one strong gimmick for their guiding element. Ripsaw Rage for example takes place within hollowed out trees, but the defining element is trying to climb up them as a saw gradually tears through them, threatening to take you out if you linger too long. Squeals on Wheels has you having to take out rats that power the mill through the wheels they run in, Lightning Look-Out has lightning periodically flash and then strike that you need to dodge on top of your regular enemy troubles, and some levels will be defined by a new enemy type like the Lemguins who will constantly come sliding out of a hole towards you so you need to time your jumps to clear their constant tobogganing. There are levels you get to ride a toboggan yourself, although some these can show the occasional downside of there being so many ideas at play. Toboggan levels have you traveling forward automatically and needing to time your jump, but despite there being multiple levels with this idea, most of them boil down to just making sure you leap before you hit the buzzsaw bearing cybernetic bees the game uses as a common hazard. A level that uses a subtler gimmick like hopping across barrels that gently drift down a waterfall tends to come out better handled than something with a more pronounced idea like the level where you need to hop into disappearing ghost barrels at the right time, the ghost barrels mostly just about getting the timing right across the same style of challenge repeatedly compared to the jumping challenges of those waterfall barrels getting complicated by new demands and situations.

 

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! can get gimmicky with its bosses even like the snowman Bleak who you face with the ball throwing minigame style originally from Swanky’s game, but the good news is even when something isn’t given the space to fully find its footing, these new ideas usually at least come out interesting and sometimes undeniably memorable and thrilling. Krack-Shot Kroc may be one of the best examples, a crosshair following you during the level where at first you just need to dodge its occasional shots but then as Squitter you’ll be traveling over hot molten metal on disappearing web platforms and need to plan movement much better to avoid those crosshairs. You even get a turn controlling themselves over in the level’s bonus game, and bonuses can often be a good spot for a gimmick to get a bit more mileage out of its design. To unlock levels in the game’s final world and face the true final boss, you’ll need to earn Bonus Coins, most levels having two of them hidden a bit off the beaten path. Whether its bashing all the baddies, collecting all the stars, finding the coin, or collecting the 15 disappearing green bananas, these bonus games can do a bit more to apply a gimmick since they’re aiming to do more than impede your progress, although if an idea doesn’t work the bonuses can make it a touch worse. One level has you climbing up a constantly burning rope, but the desire to find secrets can lead to you leaping off to the side often in search of goodies only to often be unrewarded or get hurt for trying. The DK Coin also provides something else to look for in levels, an armored Kremling called Koin needing to be defeated to earn these coins necessary for seeing the game’s ending. The Koin usually must be hit with a keg you must throw properly, there sometimes being an interesting puzzle involved in setting it up right, but most of the time it actually feels a bit like an afterthought, not quite the interesting complication bonus levels can be and often deliberately avoiding the level’s gimmick since Koin doesn’t fit into it well.

 

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! definitely works more often than it stumbles and there are plenty of legitimate challenges so it’s not all contending with whatever new mechanic is cropping up just for the current level. The soundtrack is a bit of an interesting mix this time though, aiming for atmosphere over memorable melodies quite often. This can lead to some beautiful songs that suit the journey well though, the main map screen music for the Northern Kremisphere having a nice mysterious air and this game’s aquatic theme is almost a bit foreboding which matches the sometimes fairly hostile waters you find yourself in. The factory levels though are mostly defined by the occasional growl of a guitar that sets the tone well but doesn’t otherwise have a strong musical direction, but you can still enjoy a song like the one for those waterfall levels because of the gentle mood setting it does. The look of the levels can find itself in a similar spot, many areas a wonderful sight to behold on the SNES with the degree of detail and care put into them, natural settings and a few more constructed spaces like piers all able to continue the series’s excellent mix of impressive visuals that also make the platforming feel like it’s taking place in a somewhat grounded world. It may have a Kremling who holds helicopter blades and spins really fast to fly back and forth, but it still tries to make it look like you’re leaping around a location rather than an obstacle course.

THE VERDICT: A cornucopia of ambition, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is constantly chasing new ideas for how to mix up its levels and action in little ways. You travel across a map with more to do than just picking levels, face gimmicks that inject some excitement into all the different levels, and face bosses that take more than just jumping on their head to knock out. It’s the kind of constant tinkering with basic mechanics that do lead to some levels being underbaked or even a touch annoying, but it also dishes out a constant feed of memorable moments. It’s a platforming adventure with character, and while toying around with so many new elements may mean its not wholly consistent, it is still a joy to keep seeing what’s up this game’s sleeves since it doesn’t go for the traditional sorts of platforming complications.

 

And so, I give Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System…

A GREAT rating. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is my favorite Donkey Kong game, and a great deal of that is tied up into how much I played it when I was young, about the time spent with my brother figuring out its secrets, and the wonderfully weird personality it has. I generally appreciate a game with great variety and a range of ideas even if they don’t always come together, but when I played through it for this review, I did have to try and view it without the cloud of nostalgia or personal attachment. For example, Koin as a concept sounds like a fun mid-level puzzle, but too often he’s thrown in without much consideration. I had to more closely consider an idea like the ghost barrel instead of waving it off. Fantastic games can have faults, but sometimes for all its ambition, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! also didn’t spend the time fleshing its ideas out to fully find their potential and that’s why it can’t quite hit my top rating. It still does wonderfully at many parts, most of the time imaginative bosses and levels can provide something unique but also twist it in a way that challenges you without making the new gimmick frustrating. The Brothers Bear and the layout of the Northern Kremisphere in general give the broader world a fun personality even if individual worlds maybe diversify so much they can struggle to have a cohesive identity. The final three worlds besides Krematoa blend together a bit in theming, but the levels keep mixing things up and the wiser choice was probably to keep playing around with fun concepts rather than try to concoct a range of stages to suit a single aesthetic. Animal buddies and bonuses do a lot to expand even a single stage’s potential rather consistently, and Dixie Kong continues to be an excellent heroine since her ponytail twirl gives you room to more carefully navigate tougher challenges in this generally slower paced adventure than the previous Donkey Kong Country titles.

 

Perhaps I should have just followed my heart and gave it a top score, it’s very close to its predecessor in terms of quality in many departments after all and it does clear the original Donkey Kong Country handily.  However, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is sometimes viewed as a black sheep of this trilogy, and while a good deal of that does come from the new tone and willingness to get strange, it probably would have pushed through and been just as beloved as the others if it was more consistent in providing thrilling challenges and effective new ideas. It can still outclass most platformers, but this new team had a year to figure out what to do with the series. Perhaps like the shift from Donkey Kong Country 1 to 2, if this team had been able to make a Donkey Kong Country 4, we’d see them be able to refine their rampant imagination into what could have been the best of the series. Regardless, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! is undoubtedly an excellent and distinct entry to go out on for the original trilogy that most players can look back on fondly like I still do despite having to think more seriously about the gameplay ramifications of whimsical ideas like Parry the Parallel Bird.