Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! is the third game in the popular Donkey Kong Country game series. It is the sequel to Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. It also has a semi-sequel for the Game Boy, Donkey Kong Land III, as well another sequel, Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. The game stars Dixie Kong and her little cousin, Kiddy Kong, as they travel through the numerous lands of the Northern Kremisphere in order to rescue Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong from the Kremling Krew and their new leader, KAOS.

A remake of the game was released for the Game Boy Advance on November 7, 2005 with new features, most noticeably six new stages and an all-new soundtrack specially designed for the Game Boy Advance sound system. Also, on December 24, 2007, the game was released on the Virtual Console for the Wii in North America. On December 25, it was released in Europe and Australia. The Wii Virtual Console release has since been delisted for unknown reasons until it and the Wii U version was released in PAL regions at the end of October 2014.

Storyline
Sometime after the events of Donkey Kong Country 2, both Donkey and Diddy Kong suddenly go missing. With the help of her cousin, Kiddy Kong, Dixie Kong travels across the Northern Kremisphere to search for them, while using Funky Kong's vehicles to sail over the water. Eventually, they reach Kastle KAOS, where they fight KAOS, at that time believed to be the new leader of the Kremlings. However, after it is defeated, they discover that the robot was being controlled by Baron K. Roolenstein. The Kongs fight the villain and finally find Donkey and Diddy Kong, who were being used to power KAOS.

The Kongs eventually discover the lost world Krematoa and meet the local, Boomer, who requests the Kongs to give him Bonus Coins in order to blow up boulders blocking the path of Krematoa. After finding all bonus coins and five gear cogs hidden in Krematoa, Dixie and Kiddy Kong give the cogs to Boomer, who then insert them in a machine in his shelter. The machine then causes the dormant volcano in the center of Krematoa to become active again, forcing K. Rool's personal submarine, the Knautilus, to emerge. The Kongs board the submarine and eventually meet Baron K. Roolenstein. They battle him a second time, but he escapes once again. Once the Kongs collect all of the DK Coins scattered around the world, they acquire the Gyrocopter from Funky Kong and soon find the Banana Bird Queen. She has been imprisoned by Baron K. Roolenstein, and can only be freed if her children, the Banana Birds, are taken to her. After rescuing the birds from several hidden Banana Bird Caves and completing a complex chain of deal for the Brother Bears inhabiting the Northern Kremisphere, the birds are united. They carry the Kongs to the queen and free her. In exchange for helping her, the Banana Bird Queen chases Baron K. Roolenstein out of the Northern Kremisphere once and for all.

Gameplay
Like the previous installments in the Donkey Kong Country series, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! follows a "tag-team" system. This way, the two playable Kongs follow each other through each level. The monkey in the front of the group is the one in play. If this Kong is hit by an enemy, he or she is injured and runs away from the small group. When this happens, the lone hero must watch out for all obstacles, as if that player is injured, a life is lost. Missing Kongs can be recovered from DK Barrels, but there are only a few of these objects in every level. When one of the heroes are freed from a DK Barrel, he or she goes to the back of the line and follows the other Kong. At this point, the monkey in the back does not go to the front of the line unless the ape in the lead is hit by an enemy, or if the player presses the select button on the controller.

Kong abilities
The object of the game is to reach the end of every level, however, this cannot be done without the apes using some of their trademark abilities. The two Kongs, Kiddy and Dixie, both have different special abilities, although their basic abilities are mostly the same. Both apes are able to swim, jump, climb, and move. They can use their jumping abilities to defeat enemies or cross gaps, and also use their climbing abilities to maneuver on the game's various ropes. When swimming, however, neither of these moves can be used. Another way to attack on land besides jumping is rolling. The attack can knock foes off of the stage easily, although some enemies, such as Bristles, are almost completely immune to this attack. Additionally, if the apes are to roll off of a ledge and jump in mid air, they perform a super-jump. The duo is also able to balance on moving Steel Kegs, which ram into foes are they ride on it.

As stated before, both apes have different special abilities. The most notable ability, used by Dixie Kong, is the Helicopter Spin, which Kiddy Kong is unable to perform. This move allows Dixie to propel through the air until she hits the ground. Although Kiddy doesn't have this move, his strength makes up for the loss. He can throw barrels much faster than Dixie, as well as defeat foes that his partner cannot defeat alone. Another advantage Kiddy has is how he holds objects such as barrels. While Dixie holds objects over her head, Kiddy Kong holds them in front of his body, protecting himself. Therefore, if an enemy is to hit into him as he holds an object, it is likely that the attack won't hurt him at all, and it defeats the foe instead. Although not used too often in the game, Kiddy can also jump on water a few times while rolling. This can help the heroes reach high areas atop the water.

There are also some moves that both Kongs are needed to use, such as the Team-up move. When using this move, one monkey picks up the other and puts them on his or her shoulders. Then, they can throw that Kong into enemies or into high areas. Because of Kiddy's weight, Dixie is hardly able to hold the large ape. As a result, she cannot throw him too far. However, if she throws him upwards and lets him fall onto the ground, the toddler can break through the ground and find hidden items. When Kiddy teams up with Dixie and carries her, he is able to easily maneuver around, as he is quite strong. He can also throw her much farther, although she cannot break through the ground. Additionally, when both Kongs are around, Dixie can throw Kiddy into a wall, causing the toddler to bounce back. When this happens, she can jump on him as if he were a Steel Keg and ram into most enemies.

Special areas
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! is filled with various special areas, where the heroes can meet the other Kongs and Brothers Bears around the island to help out.


 * Banana Bird Caves: Each of these caves contain a Banana Bird. However, the only way to get the bird is to hit a series of crystals in the right order.
 * Brothers Bear Cabins: There are several cabins in the game, one for each of the Brothers Bears. In them, the apes can talk to the bears and help them complete a trade to earn Banana Birds.
 * Funky's Rentals: This is where the apes can rent vehicles made by Funky Kong to travel through the Northern Kremisphere. He allows them to use his Motor Boat at the beginning of the game, but after the apes gather up special items for him, he is able to make a Hover Craft, a Turbo Ski, and a Gyrocopter for them to ride in. In the Game Boy Advance remake of the game, Funky hosts Bonus Games with some of those vehicles. If they are all completed, a Banana Bird is earned.
 * Cranky's Dojo: Exclusive to the Game Boy Advance remake, Cranky's Dojo replaces Wrinkly's Save Cave from the original version of the game. The heroes can meet Cranky Kong here and play a special Bonus Game for a Banana Bird at the price of two Bear Coins. The game involves moving Cranky Kong so that he can block the incoming Spinies.
 * Swanky's Dash: Another area exclusive to the Game Boy Advance remake replaces Swanky's Sideshow from the original game. At Swanky's Dash, Dixie Kong can play a Bonus Game for a few Bear Coins, where she must run through a pipeline, avoiding obstacles and trying to collect a certain number of stars. If the Bonus Game is completed, the apes earn some special collectibles.
 * Swanky's Sideshow: This is where the monkeys can play another special Bonus Game, exclusively found in the Super Nintendo version of the game. For a few Bear Coins, the apes can face Cranky here in a ball tossing Bonus Game.
 * Wrinkly's Save Cave: This area, only found in the original version of the game, is where the Kongs' game can be saved. One appears in each word, as well as in the overworld. Wrinkly is always found here, and she is either exercising, playing her Nintendo 64, or sleeping.
 * Wrinkly's Retreat: This area is located just before Funky's Rentals, where Wrinkly resides throughout the game. The Kongs' Banana Birds are kept here.

Items and objects
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! is filled with many different collectibles and objects for the apes to use. Below is a list of the main objects, as well as a brief description on them.

Brothers Bear items
The game features several items that must be traded between the Brothers Bears in order for the Kongs to collect all of the Banana Birds. They are required to trade if the heroes want to complete their adventure completely. Note that some items are earned from defeating bosses and do not need to be traded with the bears. Some items must also be traded differently in the Game Boy Advance version. Below shows the items and descriptions on them, as well as what the apes should do with the objects.

Barrels
Various barrels appear throughout the game. They are the main objects in the Donkey Kong Country series, and they have many different purposes. Below is a list of each barrel and a brief description on them.

List of levels
The game features many levels in which the heroes must travel through to complete the game. The apes have to get to the end of each level, excluding the secret levels in Krematoa, in order to meet Baron K. Roolenstein at Kastle KAOS and rescue Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Every level, excluding boss stages and Rocket Rush, have at least two or three Bonus Levels in them, which are hidden throughout the levels. Note that the following table lists the levels in the original order on the SNES version of the game.

Playable characters
The game features two main playable characters who team up to save Donkey and Diddy Kong. Below is the two characters and a brief description about them.

Supporting characters
Many other characters appear in the game to help out the Kongs. Below is a list of these supporting characters and a short description about them.

Animal Friends
As with every Donkey Kong Country game, Animal Friends appear to help out the monkeys. Several old friends return in Donkey Kong Country 3, such as Enguarde, Squawks, and Squitter, and several new ones appear, such as Ellie and Parry. Each friend helps the apes in a different way, but are only found in certain levels. Below shows the game's Animal Friends, along with their abilities and their first and last level appearances.

Brothers Bear
Throughout the game, the monkeys can find several cabins that are home to the Brothers Bear. Most of these bears are facing a certain problem, and the monkeys must trade items with them to help them and earn Banana Birds. The table below shows each of these bears and a description on them.

Normal Enemies
Many different enemies appear in Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, each with different ways of attacking and defeating ways of being defeated. The table below list these enemies, their attacks, and their first and last level appearances.

Bosses
A boss is encountered at the end of each world. Like bosses in other games, they are much stronger than normal enemies and take longer to defeat. The bosses in Donkey Kong Country 3 all have different weaknesses. The table below shows a list of the game's bosses and a brief description on them.

Port differences
There are many differences between the Super Nintendo version and the Game Boy Advance version.


 * Wrinkly Kong is now only located in Wrinkly's Retreat, which replaces the first Wrinkly's Save Cave from the original, between Funky's Rentals and Bazaar's General Store. Banana Birds are kept in this area.
 * Cranky's Dojo replaces all the other Wrinkly's Save Caves from the original Donkey Kong Country 3. At the dojo, the Kongs can play a Bonus Game to earn a Banana Bird.
 * The last level in Lake Orangatanga, Belcha's Barn, which takes place inside of a mill, had a factory background in the original SNES version for some reason. The background was changed in the Game Boy Advance version to a mill background to match with where the battle takes place.
 * In the original, the bonus barrels either shoot the kongs upward or make a warp sound and the "b" shrinks. In the GBA version, only the latter happens.
 * The original soundtrack of the game, which is notably darker in tone in most of the levels, has been replaced by a lighter-toned soundtrack composed by David Wise, who composed the soundtrack of the first two Donkey Kong Country games, but only had a limited involvement with the soundtrack of the third on the Super Nintendo, which was in majority composed by Eveline Fischer.
 * The Brother Bear, Barnacle, is relocated to Pacifica, while Bachelor, a new character that only appears in this port, now takes residence in Lake Orangatanga.
 * Anytime after completing Mekanos, the player can visit Bramble to earn a Banana Bird.
 * New objects, such as the box of chocolates, have been added to trade amongst the Brothers Bears. Some items must also be traded differently.
 * Like in the first two Game Boy Advance remakes for the series, the supporting Kongs have Bonus Games for the heroes to complete. Funky Kong has four new Bonus Games, although the types of games available depends on how many vehicles the heroes can rent, while Cranky and Swanky both have a single Bonus Game.
 * Swanky Kong wears the same attire that he wears in Donkey Kong Country 2, unlike in the original, where his outfit is different.
 * Dixie's Photo Album was entirely scrapped.
 * The game introduces the new area, Pacifica, which is the seventh world of the game, located between Razor Ridge and KAOS Kore. The world carries six new levels, as well as all new Bonus Level locations.
 * After beating Mekanos and Cotton-Top Cove, the player has the option of playing through either K3, Razor Ridge, or Pacifica to progress, although they all must be completed to beat the game.
 * Barbos has been relocated to Pacifica while Kroctopus, a new boss, now inhabits Razor Ridge.
 * The death and end-of-level music are removed. Music which is heard when the player loses a life only plays in the original SNES version, depending on the level.
 * The houses that the Brothers Bears live in, as well as the bears themselves, have been redesigned. Also, the same music is heard in every house and no longer changes according to the bear. (The music piece is also heard in Funky's Rentals, Swanky's Dash, and Wrinkly's Retreat.)
 * Arich now has a different battle theme than the other bosses. He shares this theme with Kroctopus. For some reason, both K. Rool battles use the same battle theme as the other bosses.
 * There are now five extra Banana Birds to collect, increasing the total to twenty.
 * The game also borrows several elements from Donkey Kong Land III, the original Game Boy counterpart to the Super Nintendo version. These include automatically getting the DK Coin after defeating the Koin.
 * Oddly, Blizzard is now a grizzly bear, as opposed to the original, where he is a polar bear.
 * The boss, Squirt, has more attacks and has been made harder to defeat.
 * When a DK Coin is collected, it tells the player how many more are left.
 * The world maps have been redesigned, and they show a closer view of the Kongs than in the original.
 * When Knautilus is unlocked in the Super Nintendo version, the background of areas in Krematoa turns red. However, this does not happen in the Game Boy Advance version.
 * The final level, Rocket Rush, has an increased difficulty, as red Buzzes damage the Rocket Barrel when touched, and there is no Star Barrel at any point of the stage.
 * The outside of Kastle KAOS is redesigned, and it no longer has a pink glow emitting from its highest tower.
 * Sneeks now make the same sound as Neeks from Donkey Kong Country 2 as opposed to their own sound in the original SNES version.

Development
For Donkey Kong Country 3, Rareware's management decided to hand the game to a new set of developers. The game's graphics benefited from new compression techniques and advancements done to the ACM process. .

Game Boy Advance version
As with the other Donkey Kong Country ports on the Game Boy Advance, the Donkey Kong Country 3 port was coded from scratch. Though the developers tried to be as true to the original version as possible, some changes were made to improve some mechanics and the level design. Ellie the Elephant's and the toboggan controls were specifically named by an anonymous Rare employee as elements the porting team tried to improve.

At one point, Eveline Fischer's original soundtrack was meant to be included alongside David Wise's score. However, time and space limitations prevented it from being included.

Dixie Kong's Photo Album
After Baron K. Roolenstein is beaten at Kastle Kaos, the player would automatically view this type of character parade at the end of the first part of the credits, showing most of the enemies and characters in the game.

Baron K. Roolenstein

 * "NOOO! What have you done? My wife's going to kill me! I used all of her best pots and pans to make him... And then you just cast him aside as if he were a stack of empty tins!"
 * "WHAT!? How dare you! KAOS was my ticket to world domination... And I'd have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
 * "Well, you may have roasted my robot, but I'M the master chef around here, and I reckon it's about time your goose was cooked!"
 * "What the blazes!? So, YOU'RE the one who's been scuttling my super secret submarine! This is the LAST time you'll spoil my plans! I'm gonna bash you good!"
 * "Right!!! Look out, you cheeky monkeys!"

Blue

 * ''"H-h-hello there, Dixie/Kiddy/Kongs, how are you? My name's Blue, p-p-pleased to meet you.
 * ''"You wouldn't have brought... Oh, I can see you haven't. Never mind.
 * "I-I'm afraid you're a little early for the party, Dixie/Kiddy/Kongs. That's if anybody bothers to come at all."
 * "I get lots of post you know, but it's all bills - not a single card."
 * "What's that red circle on the calendar? Oh - sigh - It's nothing of importance."

Beta elements
There are unused sprites in the game. They are sprites of Kracka (which were eventually used in the Game Boy Advance version) and unused sprites of Kopter (some of which were eventually used in Donkey Kong Land III).

The Kongs should go to Koindozer Klamber. They need to stay at the right of the Bazuka near the Koin. Kiddy must throw Dixie above the Bazuka's cannon, making her hop and fall in the abyss. The player can move Dixie and after this, Kiddy will appear.

In many levels, it is possible to attack Koin even with the DK Coin in front it. The player must grab a Steel Keg and take it to a place where Koin isn't visible in the screen and throw it in the Kremling's direction. The player needs to go after the Steel Keg out of sight. The barrel is seen defeating Koin.

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong Country: The game to which Donkey Kong Country 3 is a sequel. It has many similar gameplay elements and items.
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: A sequel to Donkey Kong Country and another game to which Donkey Kong Country 3 is a sequel. Many items and moves from this game are featured in its sequel.
 * Super Mario 64: Wrinkly Kong can sometimes be seen playing this game, as a remix of the Peach's Castle theme that plays from the Nintendo 64.
 * Donkey Kong 64: Some Kongs first appearing in this game, such as Lanky Kong and Tiny Kong, are seen in Funky's Bonus Games in the Game Boy Advance version.

References in later games

 * Donkey Kong Land III: A semi-sequel to Donkey Kong Country 3. It features the same music, level themes, and bosses from Donkey Kong Country 3.
 * Donkey Kong Country: In the Game Boy Advance version, if the player chooses the "One Player Hero" mode when creating a new file, Cranky makes a reference to the game's Banana Birds when he says, "Oh yes, next time you swap costumes, have a look in the mirror before leaving the shop. You look like a banana bird."
 * Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku: Barnacle, a Brothers Bear first appearing in Donkey Kong Country 3, reappears in this game.
 * Donkey Kong Barrel Blast: Kopter, an enemy from Donkey Kong Country 3, appears as a playable character in this game.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns: Rocket Barrels return.
 * Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: Water skipping returns.

Trivia

 * The game was placed 23rd in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.
 * The image of Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong in the Hovercraft in the Western box art of the SNES version is mirrored.
 * This is the only Donkey Kong Country game not to have a bird boss.
 * After defeating Kaos for the first time, Dixie and Kiddy use pipes as a short-cut to leave Mekanos, similar to the way pipes are used in the Super Mario Bros. series.