There's a lot of love for Donkey Kong and there was little doubt that it wouldn't make the 1001 list. The Donkey Kong Country series was the game series to show the world that sprites didn't have to be constructed from scratch - that pre-rendered animations could be cut up, frame by frame, spritified, and stuck into a 2D platformer in order to be replayed back through direct interaction from the player.
It's not the original Donkey Kong Country that makes the list, though, nor Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, but the final entry, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, with your favourite characters nowhere to be seen.
The 1001 list calls this the biggest and most fully featured, but does that mean it's better?
Frustrations
In a word, no.
DKC3 plays like the previous instalments, and there's nothing much wrong with that, to be fair. If you like platforming and collecting bananas and enjoy seeing animals riding other animals, then DKC3 isn't half bad. It's more of the same, and - up to a point - that's fine.
But I just didn't give a damn about this game. It might have been the characters, who aren't as cool as Donkey and Diddy. More than that, Kiddie Kong outright sucks as a fat baby, no matter how easy he is to pick up and hurl with Dixie's hair.
Having two characters that move differently makes perfect sense, but when one is moderately spritely, and the other is unexpectedly weighty, you might find yourself dying to the simplest of obstacles on the earliest of levels, and let's just say that I know someone who found this to be a problem and they didn't proceed with the game thereafter.
Throws and jumps and rolls and character switching and animal riding do at least keep you on your toes, but players have been doing so for three games now, and it's not the most obvious problem that DKC3 has going for it.
You see that Nintendo 64 there? That's not a nod to the future, but to the present. DKC3 was competing with its launch and as I've been following along with this more-or-less chronological list through video gaming history, I've been seeing glimpses of the future, which is now, of course, my distant past, and it's having quite the impact on some old titles.
The more I've played, the more I want to play new and different, or at the very least, noticeable tweaks and improvements that would influence control schemes or gameplay mechanics. Yet here I am, faced with DKC3, and it doesn't feel good enough.
Fun Times
I think it's clear that DKC3 has been chosen to sum up the entire DKC series, but I'd only know that if I had prior knowledge of that series, which I do. I've played the first two games a lot more than DKC3, and enjoy them a whole lot more too, even with the additions that come along in this outing.
Levels, as expected in a 2D platformer, are largely linear, but the overworld isn't quite so. You're able to navigate to different areas that will open up over time, allowing you to complete levels in whatever order you want. It's not fully open, of course. In fact, it's probably more closed off than you might imagine, but you can at least explore the world a little bit, rather than follow the path from points A to B. Though you do that too...
Final Word
I've played so little of DKC3 that I shouldn't be writing about it, frankly, but it's bored me so much that I just have to force it out of my system and crack on with something more interesting - even if that means a distraction in the form of the original game.
Is it a terrible game that you should avoid? Of course not. Are there better places to jump into the series? Well, yes. Definitely. But that's a personal preference... one that many players agree with.
That all sounded so vague, didn't it? How about this. If I were to sit down, distraction-free and focused on Donkey Kong Country 3, I would have an alright time. If that's what floats your boat, then great, give it a shot. But you should think about playing a Nintendo 64 instead. Wrinkly Kong seems to be impressed by it...
Wrinkly Kong. Christ almighty.
Fun Facts
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has apparently not sold as many copies as DKC3, and this is a fact that needs to be changed, and quick.
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, developed by Rare, first released in 1996.
Version played: SNES, 1996, via emulation.
Version watched: SNES, 1996 (Games Done Quick, The Geek Critique)