Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble Rare Retrospective

With the final instalment in the SNES Donkey Kong Country trilogy came the decision to change the faces behind the scenes, to strive for a fresh angle by handing over control to new designers, artists and programmers. The structure would remain essentially the same, but a host of new features were to be added to differentiate Rare’s 16-bit swansong from its forebears.

To begin with, the traditional variation in the balance of lead characters was honoured, and Diddy was nudged aside by the formidable bulk of little cousin Kiddy Kong (a name that finally won out over votes for Dinky Kong, Baby Kong, Tiny Kong, DJ Kong and Bibby Kong). This marked a return to the one-big-one-small gameplay weighting of the original DKC, but it was also careful to exploit later twists such as the different effects of one character throwing another in various directions. Funky, Swanky, Wrinkly and Cranky also returned in established roles – as transport provider, bonus game operator, game saver and general pain in the neck respectively – and the Brothers Bear were introduced as the heralds of a new adventure game element, revolving around the finding and delivering of items to key locations before further progress can be made.

The landscape and enemies changed again, too, with the action having moved over the course of the series from DK’s home turf, via the Kremlings’ territory, finally out into a much wider environment that encompassed all the lands immediately surrounding DKC. Another twist was the increased interaction this new world offered, with prime locations on the world map leading into separate sub-maps for Dixie and Kiddy to navigate. A host of unfamiliar native creatures were invented to run wild in these parts, providing an unpredictable accompaniment to the new breed of Kremlings and their mysterious new master…

In addition to the basic RPG element, a literally new angle was offered by the game’s 3D sections, in which the player hurls missiles into the screen with the aim of hitting either drop targets or a boss character. In Swanky’s bonus levels, a noteworthy performance earns you Bear coins which become part of the Brothers’ ongoing series of puzzles. But there are other coins than this to collect: both the Bonus coins, won during hidden sub-levels throughout the main game, and the DK coins, earned this time around by defeating Koin the armoured Kremling, must be amassed and spent wisely if the game’s full ending is to be seen. Secrets play a bigger part in this third instalment than ever before, with the mysterious Banana Birds also saving their revelations until the game’s final moments. There’s far more to completing DKC3 than simply getting from the first level to the last!

The continuous improvements being made to the ACM system, coupled with new and enhanced compression techniques, mean that in Dixie’s Double Trouble the Kongs and their surroundings look better than ever. Despite this and the dearth of fresh 16-bit titles in recent years, however, this third game’s release was even more subdued than the last. During its first showing at the E3 show in June 1996 it was overshadowed by the excitement surrounding the N64’s launch and received relatively little press, but in spite of these setbacks it has proven itself a suitable end to the trilogy and a more than worthwhile game in itself, cheerfully merging old and new to keep this ground-breaking series alive. And November ’97 finally saw the Kong’s SNES swansong bounce across to Game Boy, completing the trilogy on both formats: to date 600,000 copies of this version alone have been produced.