List of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! glitches
This is a list of glitches in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural.
All versions
Backwards Kongs glitch
In any bonus stage where the player has enough room, the player should press 
and quickly press 
then 
. If done correctly, Dixie or Kiddy will be seen walking backwards as the bonus stage fades out. It can only be done the first time in a bonus stage.
Character swap glitch
In mountain levels like Krevice Kreepers, the player should find a cliff platform with a rope that the Kongs can climb across and get to the very edge of the rope without falling off the ground onto the rope and use select to switch out Dixie for Kiddy. When the animation for the swap occurs, Kiddy will pick up Dixie and let go of her over the rope and she will fall to the depths below until she hits the ground and the screen will rise up briefly and then return to normal.[1]
Ellie riding a barrel glitch
In any level where a Steel Barrel is a throwable item and where Ellie is available, the player should use Ellie to throw a keg against a wall and jump onto it. She will be hopping on it to keep her on the barrel, the player should press 
or 
and Ellie should be seen standing on the keg while it is rolling, like how the Kongs can do so.
Falling Kongs glitch
In the level Barrel Shield Bust-Up, the Kongs need go to the last bonus stage (to grab 15 bananas). There, Dixie or Kiddy should go to the left, until they exit the tree. Then, if they jump, they will disappear very fast upward. Holding 
+ will make them suddenly fall off the screen top repeatedly.
Height readjustment glitch
On several occasions, the Kongs can be positioned lower on the terrain than usual. One example of this can be seen by taking Ellie to a rope in Lakeside Limbo, by using the "Riding Ellie in Lakeside Limbo" glitch. Once positioned below the rope, the player must jump and fall onto Ellie repeatedly, until the Kong takes a weird (sitting) position above Ellie. This will reposition Ellie and the Kongs. Barrels that are picked up will also be floating in front of Ellie / the Kongs. By jumping off Ellie, the Kongs can be seen adjusted to a lower height.
Another example is in Konveyor Rope Klash. After traversing the first gap in the level, the player must lure the nearby Knocka closer to the left edge of the platform. Next, Kiddy must pick up Dixie and throw her upwards, just as the Knocka runs towards Kiddy. Immediately after, Kiddy, while still in the air, will bounce of the Knocka and must be controlled to land on the conveyor rope to the left. Dixie should land on the ground after Kiddy grabs onto the rope, which causes Kiddy to be pulled away from the rope and positioned lower on the terrain. In this state, it is also possible to avoid Knockas by ducking.
Swapping the playable Kong, grabbing a rope, losing a life, or clearing a level fixes the glitch.
Kastle Kaos glitch
This glitch can only be done in level Kastle Kaos. To do this glitch, the player has to wait until the right moment after beating KAOS but before Baron K. Roolenstein comes out and use the Team up throw. The timing is very tight. If done correctly, K.Rool cannot hurt the player even if he is waving his hands erratically after getting hit, while electricity cannot hurt the player either until they use the team up throw on the platform then Dk Barrel stays but the boss fight continues as normal.[2]
Knocka palette glitch
Unlike Klobbers from the previous game, Knockas cannot be destroyed while in the state of hiding in their barrel. Instead, whenever a Knocka is damaged while hidden in its barrel, it will instead have its palette glitched to a darker green appearance with a green-painted mouth. This can be done by damaging a hidden Knocka with a barrel or with Squitter's webs, which can be done in levels such as Tidal Trouble and Tyrant Twin Tussle.
Additionally, this glitched palette can also be seen briefly whenever a Knocka is picked up before they are rotated to its side view.
Knocka running backwards in barrel glitch
This glitch occurs in levels like Tidal Trouble or certain others where the player can find Knocka and have enough space to do this. Once the player has found a Knocka, they need to make sure to have just one. The player needs to have Knocka chase them a bit and jump quickly behind him before he turns. It might need to be done twice but once it happens, the player should see Knocka running but with his hands and feet backwards with the barrel facing the Kongs. If he is jumped on, he will go back into his barrel and the glitch is fixed. Another way to do this glitch in Tidal Trouble is when the player sees the second Knocka on the bridge above, then they must get off and underneath it before the Knocka falls off now the player can transform into Enguarde if they want since that animal buddy barrel will be in the way and now the player should get to the end of the bridge underneath and then just wait there while on top Knocka is going crazy and he should be moving close to the beginning of his bridge and occasionally the player will see it bumping its backside on the end and body position shifts in its barrel while he is facing forward.
Koin's Burst Balloon glitch
In the level Bobbing Barrel Brawl, Ellie should grab a TNT Barrel near two red Buzzes. The player needs to guide Ellie up to the Koin of the level. Ellie must drop the TNT Barrel in the Koin, who will reveal a black and white 3-Up Balloon. Normally, this balloon is hidden in a sensitive area of the ground, below the Koin, and will be in the correct palette if Ellie drops the TNT Barrel without the Koin.
Life loss glitch
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.
Miscolored Buzzes glitch
The Kongs must go to Rocket Barrel Ride. Near the G Letter are two Buzzes and a Rocket Barrel. The Kongs need to use it and fall in the hole. When they approach the Buzzes again, they will be red and yellow.
Pass without Ellie glitch
In Bobbing Barrel Brawl, Kiddy (with Dixie) must go to the Auto-Fire Barrel, but not touch the Ellie's Barrel. Instead, Kiddy must touch in the little ravine before it. After doing that, Kiddy needs to grab and throw Dixie to the right, making her pass above the barrel and falling in the other side. The Kongs can then complete the stage without Ellie.
Pass wihout Toboggan glitch
In Tearaway Toboggan, the player needs both Dixie and Kiddy. With Kiddy, the player should roll down to the Buzz and jump to be hurt by it. Dixie will become playable and should head in the direction of the toboggan, taking care to not enter the Auto-Fire Barrel above it. Dixie does not need to walk in the toboggan and can pass through the level normally. Additionally in Demolition Drain-Pipe if playing as Dixie, it is possible for the player to avoid the hidden Auto-Fire Barrel and slightly fly away from the toboggan to be able to land onto the ground.[3]
Quawks stuck in wall glitch
At the start of Buzzer Barrage, the player needs to have both Kongs going into the level, since the DK Barrel at the start is necessary to perform the glitch. After transforming into Quawks, the player must position him underneath the opening at the entrance of the level while holding the DK Barrel and facing right and set the barrel down. The player must then fly up above the DK Barrel and grab it again. Quawks will be hoisted up into the wall of the level but still be able to move.[4]
Rickety Koin glitch
In many levels, it is possible to attack Koins even with the DK Coin in front it. The player must grab a Steel Barrel, take a Koin to a place where it is not visible in the screen, and throw the barrel in the Kremling's direction. The player needs to leave after the Steel Barrel is not visible, and the barrel will defeat the Koin. This can also be done in the Game Boy Advance version.
A possible explanation is that Koins are facing right by default when they are loaded into system memory on the edge of the screen, off-screen. Because it is facing the wrong way to block the Kongs and Animal Friends, it needs to turn around, but it does not have enough time, so the Steel Barrel defeats it.
Another possible explanation could be after the Koin loads, it intersected the Steel Barrel behind its shield rather than have the shield block the Steel Barrel in front of it, so it registers a defeat rather than a block, so it had no chance to block due to a quirk in the programming logic that could not account for such a situation.
Riding Ellie in Lakeside Limbo glitch
To do this glitch, the player needs to go to the location where they find Ellie in the level and release her from her crate as usual, then the player should have Dixie jump just slightly above Ellie while holding Kiddy, and throw him against a nearby wall. After that, Dixie will be on Ellie and the player should make her jump onto Kiddy and wait until they go back to the wall where they would normally find the enemy Kobble on top and jump off Kiddy. Now the player can go through most of the level with Ellie than just that section. If the player goes into the water with Ellie, odd sounds would be made as Ellie was not supposed to be actually swimming in the level. Also while riding, if the player goes to the second bonus level and jump on one of the platforms before going in, Ellie will be briefly frozen (and she still can be controlled) the player will have to have Ellie slowly fall into the water and then she will be swimming casual again. Interestingly, this is the only level where Ellie will not react in fear and turn around and run away every time she sees a Sneek, despite being musophobic.
Rocket Rush glitch
This is a very rare in-game occurrence that happens in the level Rocket Rush. The player continues playing the level like normal until getting to the end where the Kongs get ejected out of the Rocket Barrel. They will be warped into a glitched beginning of the level Doorstop Dash with the Cavern Caprice theme playing instead of Mill Fever. The Kongs cannot climb ropes, and certain items and obstacles are missing, such as levers, DK Barrels, etc. If playing Rocket Rush for the first time when this glitch occurs, the player cannot use "Start" and "Select" to escape the level, requiring them to reset. [5]
Spinning Dixie glitch
In Lakeside Limbo, Kiddy and Dixie should stay in a wood under a bridge near the second Bonus Barrel. Kiddy and Dixie need to team up (with Kiddy holding Dixie) and jump left to water. Before they touch the water, Kiddy must drop Dixie, throwing her to the right. Dixie will jump to the other side of the wood and when Dixie touches water, she will stay spinning.
Standing on rolling Keg glitch
To perform this glitch, the player must have Dixie. The player must then go to Lakeside Limbo or any other level where a Steel Barrel can be found and picked up. and get to the area where the Koin is. After the player defeats the Koin, they must grab the Steel Barrel and throw it against the wall so that it bounces off the walls and continuously rolls. The player must then jump and use Dixie's ponytail twirl and land on the keg while still holding Y. If done correctly, Dixie will be standing on the rolling keg as if it were a normal platform. It can also be done with Kiddy if the player has Kiddy throw Dixie upward and lands on the barrel then he will be seen sitting down idle while it rolls. Another way to do it with Kiddy is if the player waits on a ledge until the barrel comes by below then tries to roll onto it.[6]
Waterfall clips
Behind waterfall clip
While playing any level with a waterfall as Kiddy, the player should find a ledge behind a waterfall where they can throw themselves off. Once Kiddy is thrown and Dixie is in front of the waterfall, he will return to the player, but he will be behind the waterfall, and if the player presses select to play as Kiddy, he will fall behind the waterfall until he lands on something.[7]
Waterfall corner clip
In the level Tracker Barrel Trek, Dixie must stay at the left corner of the first waterfall, then, switch to Kiddy. Kiddy will fall down the abyss, even if there are not any holes.
 Waterfall Glitch - How the glitch works. | File info 0:07 |
Japanese
Bleak skip
The battle against Bleak can be skipped by losing a life on purpose, then pausing on the correct frame during the death jingle. If done correctly, the player will be automatically taken back to K3's overworld map, and the game will proceed as if the player defeated Bleak. However, doing this prevents the player from obtaining Bleak's Bonus Coin and, by extension, 103% completion of the game, since the game will think the player has already defeated Bleak and give out bear coins as rewards for defeating him.[8]
SNES, Wii U, Nintendo Switch Online
Creepy Caverns glitch
Warning! Performing this action may corrupt your game's save file.
This glitch can be done in Creepy Caverns. To activate this glitch, the player needs to get to the point in the level where Koin is and knock him out then they need to continue onward until the find a Knocka behind two Red Buzzes. Jump down with the Knocka following, then jump on him and carry the Knocka back using Kiddy until a small ditch can be seen next to a Red Buzz and the Boo Barrel next to it. Once the Knocka is dropped into this ditch, it will begin to behave erratically, instantly going back inside of its barrel when it hits the wall on the right in the ditch due to the limited space for the enemy. The player can further interact with this glitched Knocka with the steel keg nearby, which can cause additional glitches.
If the steel keg is dropped onto the Knocka while it is hidden, the Knocka and steel keg will freeze while it will endlessly make the hit effect with the Knocka. This in turn overloads the sprite table, causing the on-screen sprites to flicker and the game to lag. In this state, the steel keg and Knocka is intangible.[9][10] If the rolling steel keg touches the Knocka's limbs (such as its feet or arms), the game will jump to arbitrary code, often causing the game to freeze and possibly corrupting the SRAM, resulting in save data loss or game corruption upon restarting the game. This arbitrary code execution can lead to a screen with an array of tiles, the game's credits, or the irregularity/anti-piracy error screen. If the Steel Keg is quickly picked up before the Knocka's feet or arms touches it, the Knocka's limbs will usually be missing as the sprite table is still overloaded and there is not enough space to load these sprites. Its limbs will show up again once the Knocka hides back and runs again. Unlike most enemies, the glitched Knocka will immediately despawn if it goes off-screen instead of after a short distance.
| Creepy Caverns glitch - How the glitch works, arbitrarily jumping to the game's anti-piracy screen. | File info 0:10 |
This glitch is fixed in the Game Boy Advance version.
SNES
Bear Coin fireball glitch
In the level Fire-Ball Frenzy, the player must be after the checkpoint where a bear coin is on a platform with a Karbine blasting fireballs is at. The player has to jump at a precise moment to collect the coin where the Karbine blasts a fireball from its cannon at the same time. If done correctly, the fireball hits the ceiling of the level and the sound effect of a fireball hitting a platform occurs, then it falls out of the scene. This can only be done once per visit to the level.[11]
Gyrocopter glitch
After a player unlocks the Gyrocopter they should go to any secret cave in the Northern Kremisphere that they can go to with it while holding for speed then hold + at the same time while also holding above the secret cave that was found. If done correctly, the Gyrocopter will have a brief shaded out appearance. This can only be done once per save file.[12]
Water Squitter glitch
Warning! Performing this action may corrupt your game's save file.
To perform this glitch, the player needs to go to Pot Hole Panic and reach the section where Squitter's crate is. The player should not collect any items once they are on Squitter and head to where the letter G and Red Buzz is. The player should then bounce on the Kopter until they are sandwiched between the ceiling and the Kopter, causing an excessive amount of hit effects. Once done, the player should shoot as many web platforms and projectiles with Squitter. This in turn overloads the sprite table, causing sprites to begin to despawn. Once Squitter is unable to shoot any more webs and the hit effects have fully disappeared, the player can then go back to the left to where the Blast Barrel is. The player should keep shooting webs along the way. If done properly the Blast Barrel should not load, and the player can bring Squitter down to the water section.[13]
It is recommended to have only one Kong before doing this glitch. If there are two Kongs, the game will jump to arbitrary code when the second Kong touches the water, causing the game to attempt arbitrary code execution and likely crash, possibly modify the SRAM, and possibly jump to another screen including the irregularity/anti-piracy error screen. The player can eject from Squitter before touching the water if they have two Kongs to avoid crashing, but the game will still crash when the lead Kong tries to mount on Squitter underwater as soon as the second Kong changes from a standing to swimming position. When on the water, Squitter functionally acts similarly to Ellie, floating on top of the water. However, if dismounted, Squitter will sink to the bottom. While underwater, jumping out of the water, or pressing or , Squitter will change into a copy of the lead Kong with Squitter's palette. Squitter will be unable to shoot webs as the sprite table is still overloaded (and even when some sprites are unloaded, he can't shoot webs when jumping out of the water). In several cases, this will put the player in an inescapable situation, and the only way out if the player has not completed the stage beforehand is to restart the console. This glitch only occurs on the SNES version due to the different way the game processes sprites in the Game Boy Advance version.
GBA
Flying with KAOS glitch
In the boss stage Kaos Karnage, the player has to wait until the boss's helmet starts to shoot lasers. When KAOS is stationary, the player should switch to Dixie and jump off the second platform and hover close to the boss's head and land on its body, but not to where they bump into the head, and stay on. Dixie Kong will be in her falling animation while in this state. To get her off, the player can move on the control pad or press start to pause and select to exit the level.[14]
Krack-Shot Kroc Bonus Level glitch
During the second Bonus Level where the player assumes control of Kroc's aiming cursor, there is a glitch where if a fireball is shot at the lower-left edge, the lead Kong takes damage, resulting in the Kongs losing at the Bonus Level. Even after collecting the Bonus Coin, it is still possible to lose the challenge if a fireball is shot at the same location.
Pass No Animal Sign with Enguarde glitch
In levels with Enguarde such as Dingy Drain-Pipe, the player should have the Kongs get on Enguarde and ride him until they find the No Animal Sign and then proceed to ride him under the sign. Alternatively if the player used an Animal Barrel to transform into Enguarde, the same thing applies, but the glitch does not always work.[15]
External links
References
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6EdxRLnkHE
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAVvJqHlRIU
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=totJu7OUpmE&t=12s
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIHq_N5I_3M
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqJdrH3GgoE&t=156s
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJcmepclpxE
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keYSYDJBXu4
- ^ Justin-credible (September 15, 2016). Donkey Kong Country 3 - Bleak Skip (Japanese version only). YouTube. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwDQ_GL23o
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsDIAswpSGM
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNnIGR4wNNgthe
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ycf9ITVX0
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laQNcS_wdE8
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WnJjoePqQI
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVFSNm72koQ