Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Super Nintendo) Review

Diddy's Kong Quest was a landmark in platforming action and is remembered as one of the greatest sequels on the SNES, along with the likes of Final Fantasy VI, Yoshi's Island and Super Metroid. It was darker, deeper and harder than the first game, and its rousing John Williams-esque soundtrack established Diddy's game as a reason to own a SNES. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble came out a year later and Rare sought to improve on what was basically platforming perfection at the time. Dixie's quest does manage to improve, experiment and ultimately succeed in most regards when compared to its predecessors, but at the same time also makes some pretty egregious misfires.

The silicon aesthetics established from the very first game is still here and is by far the most ambitious looking SNES game. Rare's artists put in an unprecedented amount of detail in all the graphics seen in Donkey Kong Country 3, and from start to finish it plays smoothly as ever, while having an earthier palette to distinguish itself from the more flamboyant Diddy's Kong Quest. There are some massive bosses that manage to fill the screen, and each of their designs has a strange menacing vibe to them. In general, DKC3 just feels moodier, thanks to its weirdly surreal and restrained soundtrack composed mostly by Eveline Fischer. The unconventional music might have put some fans off back in the day who were excited for another boisterous adventure, but as it stands today, it truly makes Dixie Kong's Double Trouble stand out more and feel more original, as well as offering a different kind of adventure.

One of the improvements that Rare implemented in Donkey Kong Country 3 was the best world map ever seen in a Donkey Kong Country game - even surpassing maps seen in the later games made by Retro Studios. DKC3 has areas that encourage free exploration that are not limited to following a node-based map. This overall world map has a wonderful meta game about it that requires a vehicle to get upgraded, which needs components finding, thanks to a barter system. The bartering introduced a cast of NPCs known as the Bear Brothers, and through a chain of trading, Dixie can upgrade her craft and expand her reach on the world map. Finding banana birds, DK Coins, tokens, and more, is a core component in order to see the true ending, and really proves to give a great formula a lot of replay value and variety.

Not all is congruent in Dixie's adventure, however, because Rare managed to make some horrible choices that probably seemed like a good idea at the time. One of the worst changes was replacing beloved animal buddy Rambi the Rhino with Ellie the Elephant. Ellie sucks. Ellie is the most obvious reason why most fans of these games generally have a low opinion of Donkey Kong Country 3 as a whole. The lowest point of the game is when Ellie is forced to be playable in levels that require her in several of the gimmickier stages. Kiddy Kong is almost as unlikable (although admittedly amusing) an addition, who seriously lacks the charisma of any other original Kong that Rare created. Kiddy is just not as fun to use as Diddy or Donkey is. He lacks anything that makes him unique or interesting, like the hover spin that Dixie does, or the super-fast mobility that Diddy has.

Some would say that Donkey Kong 64's collect-a-thon got out of hand, but little did those people know that it began in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. This game has a lot of hidden collectables hidden in the stages. DK Coins, in particular, can be a real pain to get, since sometimes they require a little trial and error, and in some cases, there is really only one try. Mess up, and the entire stage has to be replayed just for another chance to engage a sort of Rube Goldberg machination in order to earn the collectable.