Thoughts on Donkey Kong Country 3

[Runa216]

drbunnig said:

Having replayed the entire trilogy on the SNES app, I'd say it's definitely the weakest of the three (although still good). I've no idea how I fully completed this back in the day with no save states or anything, as there are some very frustrating parts. Something about the controls felt a little off for me too... I just don't think either character handles as well as DK or Diddy.

I got 105% on the game on the SNES when it came out before I ever got the guide. No online guides, no paperback guides, I only heard about Tufst and Hardr codes to make the game more challenging (Removing all mid-level barrels and removing all DK Barrels), and got 103% otherwise. I was very, VERY proud of that fact. IT's probably the only game I've ever played that I got 100% on without ever looking at a guide or walkthrough. I needed help with DKC1 and DKC2. 

It was really easy to figure out once I realized that...every level followed a pattern. 1 bonus stage before the halfway barrel and 1 after. (Only 2 levels in the entire game broke this trend, one was the first level in the bonus world, where two of the three bonuses are at the very beginning of the level, with one at the end. One other level has the bonus barrel right at the halfway point so it could be argued that it still fulfilled the requirement.) 

But honestly, I felt DKC3 was overall the best of the SNES trilogy. it had the most levels, the most to do, the best and most creative level design, and the most exploration and freedom. sure, its art style isn't as good as 2 or even 1 (though I still absolutely love it) and the soundtrack is a step down from 2 or even 1 (though I still absolutely love it), I think it's overall the best in terms of design and gameplay. 2 had the best art and sound design, 1 was easily the weakest overall. 

And I genuinely don't understand the kiddy hate. I mean, it's easy to just pretend it's DK. Aesthetically he's unappealing, but gameplay-wise the balance between strong and slow vs small and nimble is objectively superior to the virtually identical nature of DKC1 and the 'everything's basically the same but Dixie can glide' from DKC2. 

All three of them are collectively tied for #4 on my favourites of all time list (1 for nostalgia, 2 for art and sound direction, 3 for gameplay), so it's not like I hate or dislike any of them, I just think they got progressively better from one entry to the next, with 2 and 3 being neck and neck from a gameplay and design perspective.