Floodlit Fish

Floodlit Fish is the twenty-eighth level in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and the third level of Razor Ridge.

Summary
Much like Glimmer's Galleon from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Floodlit Fish is a very dark underwater level. At the start of the level, Dixie and Kiddy are transformed into Enguarde the Swordfish by entering its Animal Barrel, and they remain as Enguarde until reaching the No Animal Sign at the end. Gleamin' Breams are the main enemy of the level, and Enguarde must stab them to illuminate the area. The light emitted by a Gleamin' Bream slowly fades, causing the level to become dark again. Enguarde must quickly stab each nearby Gleamin' Bream to ensure he can view the path ahead. Lurchins are another common enemy in the level, and they are either dormant or swim through narrow, vertical paths.

A few times in the level, Enguarde has the option of taking more than one path. The paths which diverge from the main path lead to items such as KONG Letters, Bananas, or a Bonus Barrel. Like the other underwater levels, Floodlit Fish ends with a cave area, which is where the Kongs encounter the Koin and the Level Flag.

In the Game Boy Advance remake, due to early Game Boy Advance units lacking a backlit screen, Floodlit Fish was made brighter. As a result, Enguarde is not required to hit any Gleamin' Breams to see his way through the level. Additionally, both Bonus Levels in the remake are illuminated entirely.

Layout
At the start of the level, the Kongs will swim around the bend and enter an Animal Barrel laid in their path. It will turn them into Enguarde the Swordfish, who will need to light up the area with a Gleamin' Bream to the right and travel through a twisty pathway. After avoiding countless Kocos around him, the fish will find another Gleamin' Bream to the left of the first Lurchin, who can help light up the darkness. Moving forward, Enguarde should head down the narrow passageway and follow a few banana trails to the right. Not following these trails can also take the hero to the letter O. Swimming to the south into the depths of the lake, the swordfish will maneuver around some Lurchins and hit the nearby Gleamin' Bream. Once the area is lit, Enguarde will continue on and swim down a long pathway, with a pair of Lurchins right above him. At the bottom of the path, he should move through the rest of the coral reef and travel to the left, entering an area full of Lurchins. Once he gets out of this part of the level, he will find the Star Barrel, as he nears his way down the path.

About halfway into the level, Enguarde will pass a Gleamin' Bream and trudge between the groups of brightly colored coral. He will soon meet some Lurchins in his path, whom he can avoid by swimming into small alcoves on the side of the path. Eventually, the fish will find the letter N and swim to a trail of bananas in the top-left corner of the maze-like area. Curving along the path, he will soon head downwards and dodge a school of Kocos. After passing a DK Barrel, Enguarde will head south again between two pairs of Lurchins and enter a different area. There, the Animal Friend will make his way around another bend and continue moving south, surrounded by countless numbers of Lurchins. Hovering downwards in a straight pathway, the fish will avoid more Lurchins with the use of small alcoves and soon find a fork in the road. Both ways will take him through a U shaped road, though the left passage will have the letter G in it. Falling south at the meeting of these two paths, Enguarde will soon find himself maneuvering around many Lurchins, still trying to move downwards. Eventually, he will enter a safe area and pass a No Animal Sign, which will turn him back into the Kongs. After that, the monkeys will need to swim into a small cave. In this cave, they will blast through a Barrel Cannon to land near a flagpole. Raising the flag on the pole will end the level.