I was 11, 12, and 13 (6th, 7th, and 8th grade; middle school years) when the respective classic DKC's first came out. I have fond memories of completing the original Donkey Kong Country with a good friend overnight back in the day and of trading off almost constantly trying to make it through the roller coaster stages in the second game, us yelling at the screen and cheering when we finally made it, of me and my cousin working together to memorize the Banana Bird cave puzzles with one of us remembering the first several inputs and other other the rest, stuff like that.

I still have my Super NES cartridges too. (Of course I still have like every game I've ever had before practically too and you should scope out how ridiculous my closets look at this point.)

Thanks for your contribution, Rol.

DKC3 is one of my favorite games of all time.

I had the entire trilogy in my childhood, and DKC3 is the one that I played and enjoyed the most, trying to find all the secrets. I really love it.

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. 

Hey, speaking of codes, let me throw this out there: I can't be the only one who found the codes in Dixie Kong's Double Trouble both the most numerous and easiest to implement. The timing allowance for the initial button presses on the file select screen is definitely more forgiving than in the first two games, which makes it easier to implement the game's codes. This has gotten me to use more of them more often. Like I always use LIVES and typically MERRY, COLOR, and often WATER either before or after the main adventure (the benefit of doing so after being that you get to impress everyone by saving your completed game with 69 Bonus Coins still miraculously in your pocket as though found a way to avoid paying Boomer, which just simply makes you the coolest), though I've rarely gotten lazy enough to use ASAVE yet since Wrinkly caves are all over the place and free anyway. I've used TUFST like twice, so not very often honestly. I just don't get enough joy out of a seeing my completion percentage increase to generally put myself through that much needless pain. Also the music test is easiest to navigate in DKC 3, I find. (Or I could just use YouTube, but where's the fun in that?) Anyway, codes. More varied, more easier to use. Another benefit of Dixie Kong's game.

I feel like DKC3 would be better regarded if it wasn't so overshadowed by its predecessors. Almost any 4th gen game would pale in comparison when put next to DKC2, or the impact DKC1 had.

Also, kinda random, but I absolutely love the Easter Egg where sometimes when you come to save Wrinkly Kong is playing Mario 64; seeing an N64 rendered in an SNES game and a 16-bit rendition of the Peach's Castle theme just tickles me.

When i originally played on snes, i enjoyed playing it and everything about it, but it was the weakest of the 3. now that I'm older, I actually appreciate it much more than i did, however it's still the weakest but that's a testament to how awesome the trilogy actually is in itself. can't go wrong with any of the 3

It’s usually my favourite of the three games to play if only because I usually play the three together, and that’s the last one.

What stands out to me in DKC 3 is the more advanced map and the northern setting. Both things appeal to me a lot. Level by level design is fun in all three games, although, I find DKC1 on the east side. I like all games fairly close to each other, otherwise; and I think 2>3>1 is fair, but I’d swap 2 and 3 for my personal preference.

Tiddy is better than Kiddy, but it doesn’t matter much since I use Dixie every chance I get.

It's interesting that this game still came to the SNES when by the time it released the N64 had been out for months. I wonder if they considered retooling it as an early N64 title during development, but decided not to because apparently Nintendo were all about showcasing the 64's 3D capabilities.

Quite an extensive read, and well said! I agree with much of this, though I don't put quite as much emphasis on the non-gameplay aspects of these games - outside perhaps the music, which I LOVE.

In short - DKC3 I've always felt was good, but never great. Especially when contrasted to DKC1 and 2, which are still two of my favorite games of all time. Both in their own way - 1 was the breakthrough and has a more simplistic and stylistic charm to it. 2 expanded on the solid formula with Dixie Kong, more elaborate, diverse level design, collectibles, super-tough "Lost Level" esque bonus stages, etc. It was the perfect balance of accessibility and depth. 

But by the third entry I felt Rare started to veer too far off in a gimmicky direction in certain aspects, and the gameplay had more needlessly tough, frustrating moments. And like you said, I found the Kiddie mechanics sluggish, bland, and aggravating at times. Even in 2, I preferred Dixie with the hair-twirling float move. But at least Diddy had the more quick and nimble (when he needs to be heheh) mechanics going for him. But Kiddie vs Dixie? No comparison. The music - which was a big part of the first two - was also more average for my money. The overworld map layout was a bit more dynamic, which was neat in some ways, but also a bit cumbersome. I prefer to avoid fluff and just get to the action whenever possible.

I'd even go as far as saying I prefered DKC Returns and (especially) Tropical Freeze to 3, since at least Retro's games had the simultaneous multiplayer going for them.

Still, given that this is one of the best platforming series ever in my book, even its WORST game is still quite good. I'll still probably ultimately play it on my Switch mainly for the novelty of handheld mode. And for the fact that Nintendo STILL hasn't released Mario RPG for the service yet.. Admitedly I never did play the game all that much and in fact never beat it, so many I'd appreciate it more if and when I log some more time into it and perhaps finally finish the game.