Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is a 1996 platformer for the SNES made by Rare, and the final game of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy.
After the defeat of Kaptain K. Rool and the destruction of Crocodile Isle, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong decide to take a nice long vacation to celebrate the defeat of their arch enemy. But one day, the boys mysteriously vanish after going out to explore DK Island, and after waiting a few days for them to return, Diddy's girlfriend Dixie assumes the worst and heads out to look for them. Her search would eventually take her to the quiet, tropical paradise of the Northern Kremisphere, where DK and Diddy have been sighted. But looking for them won't be easy, because the Kremlings have set up shop here, and are operating under the orders of a new leader: K.A.O.S, a powerful robot. Luckily, Dixie's had plenty of experience fighting the Kremlings thanks to her last adventure, and with her gigantic, powerful baby cousin Kiddy Kong by her side, she's ready to teach that tenacious pack of crocodiles a lesson in pain!
The game featured better graphics than its predecessors (it is a gorgeous game), but also made several changes. It had a broad, cartoon-like art style that disappointed many fans of the previous games' realism, and instead of a piratical/nautical theme, it featured motifs from the Industrial Revolution. It even took some musical and aesthetic cues from James Bond (Rare was also working on Golden Eye 1997 at the time).
While it's a lot more divisive than the first two games, it still has a loyal following to this day. Sadly, this game was overshadowed by the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 at the time of its release, which contributed to it getting less exposure than the preceding games in the series.
Tropes used in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble include:
- Art Evolution: This game features a much broader, cartoonier art style than its predecessors. It's a point of contention for many fans of the series. Retro Studios more or less perpetuated this style in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
- Artifact Title: While this isn't the first game where Donkey Kong is kidnapped, the fact that this is the second Donkey Kong Country game in a row where this has happened set the series' reputation as a trilogy where you only play as the hero in one game in stone.
- Attack Its Weak Point: To hurt Lurchin enemies, Engarde has to stab them when their soft, squishy innards are exposed. The same goes for the boss version, Barbos.
- Badass Adorable: Dixie Kong is as cute and tough as ever, and Kiddy Kong is also quite the asskicker despite being a toddler.
- Bamboo Technology: All of Funky's inventions.
- Bee Afraid: Especially when those bees have buzzsaws built into their bodies. And along with the aforementioned Buzzes are a swarm of invincible red bees that will relentlessly chase Dixie and Kiddy through Riverside Race.
- BFG: Humongous bazookas are the weapon of choice of Bazukas, and are capable of shooting all kinds of things at the Kongs.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: There's Buzz, the obligatory bee enemy, as well as Knick Knack, flying beetle enemies that are another common hazard. Friendly spider Squitter also makes a return from the second game, and an even bigger, meaner spider named Arich is the boss of world 2.
- Blackout Basement: The stage Floodlit Fish. It's a dark coral reef stage, and all illumination comes from bio-luminescent fish.
- Crosshair Aware: The Krack-Shot Kroc, an unseen enemy that shoots fireballs at you. Luckily, the crosshairs stay still for a second right before each shot is fired.
- Elite Mook: Krumple, this iteration's version of Krusha. Dixie is completely powerless against him, but Kiddy can trounce him with a Goomba Stomp.
- Everything's Better with Penguins: Not this time. Lemguins are enemies, and irritating ones at that.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Bleak the Snowman, a maniacal snowman who pelts you with snowballs, and the boss of K3.
- Evil Laugh: The evil snowman Bleak laughs a lot during his boss fight, especially when you hit him. Probably overlaps with Laughing Mad since he laughs the hardest when he dies.
- Fetch Quest: You're often sent on these by the Brothers Bear, who will give you items to deliver to the other brothers, usually rewarding you with Banana Birds or unlocking the way to their hiding places in the process.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Funky Kong is portrayed like this. He'll use discarded items the Kongs pick up to create vehicles for them to travel around in, from a simple motorboat to a helicopter.
- Gasshole: Belcha, the boss of Lake Orangatanga and a gigantic living barrel. As his name would tell you, he burps a lot, specifically when you feed him one of the barrels he spits at you. To defeat him, you have to keep feeding barrels and let his burps propel him backwards until he falls into a pit.
- The Goomba: Sneek and Kobble, which are this game's obligatory easy rodent and basic Kremling enemy respectively.
- Harder Than Hard: Available via a secret cheat code. It removes all checkpoint barrels and DK barrels from the game, but allows you to attain up to 105% completion, the title of Immortal Monkey, and a Cranky Kong trophy on your stats screen.
- Helpful Mook: Your Nibbla companion in Fish Food Frenzy is a friendly enemy that will eat any of the aquatic enemies you swim by. Unfortunately, that's where his helpfulness ends, because he's a burden who will bite Dixie or Kiddy if he eats too many Lurchins, and he will go out of his way to eat them while it can be a real pain to get him to eat the clownfish that calm him down. Oh, and if he doesn't eat anything for too long, he'll still attack you. It's no surprise that this stage is a candidate for That One Level status.
- Hijacked by Ganon: K.A.O.S isn't the real leader of the Kremlings, but a proxy for Baron K. Roolenstein/King K. Rool. When he's defeated a second time, K. Rool will jump out and fight you himself.
- Human Cannonball: Returns from the previous game, but only Kiddy can pick up the barrels.
- Interface Screw: Remember the purple liquid Kaptain K. Rool shot out of his musket in the previous game? The one that reversed your controls? In this game, there's a stage called Poisonous Pipeline completely filled with it. It's the final stage before you get to Kastle KAOS. Have fun with that.
- King Mook: Barbos, the boss of Razor Ridge. A giant version of the smaller Lurchin (urchin) enemies.
- Lighter and Softer: While Donkey Kong Country 2 wasn't exactly the pinnacle of darkness, this game's visual style and tone harken back to the brighter, more carefree first game.
- Live Item: The Banana Birds.
- Living Battery: K. Rool uses Donkey Kong and Diddy as such, forcing them to fuel the robotic KAOS.
- Minecart Madness
- Nintendo Hard: It wouldn't be Donkey Kong Country if it didn't make you want to pull your hair out. Notoriously fun stages include Lightning Look-Out, Poisonous Pipeline, Rocket Rush and Kong-Fused Cliffs.
- Powerup Mount: The animal buddies, as usual, including newcomer Ellie the Elephant.
- Ring Out Boss: Belcha. Squirt is an interesting variation, as he tries to ring you out by shooting jets of water.
- Smug Snake: Cranky Kong is very cocky when you face him in a carnival game, and for good reason since he can easily beat you if you're not bringing your A-game. But if you win, he flips out and take his anger out on the offending Kong.
- Sore Loser: When you beat Cranky in Swanky's carnival games, he'll throw a hissy fit and either pelt you with a baseball or chase you out of the tent.
- The Spiny: Bristles, a hedgehog mook that can also curl up into a ball and roll into you. Buzzes are also the "dangerously spiky bee enemy" instead of the previous games' Zingers.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: None of the original Kremlings or animal mooks from the first two Donkey Kong Countrys~ make a reappearance here. In their place is an entirely new army of baddies, a handful of whom share more than a few of their predecessors' characteristics. Some examples:
- Throw a Barrel At It: Used to damage mooks, break open chests, and in this game, get DK coins from aptly named Koins.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Swanky Kong, now a carnival barker instead of a gameshow host, is a lot friendlier to the Kongs when they lose his games than when they failed his quizzes in the second game.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Rocket Rush, the final stage of the game, contains next to zero platforming. Instead, you control a faulty old rocket as it rises to the top of the volcano Krematoa. You have extremely limited fuel, so a single mistake usually means death.
- Unique Enemy: Loads of them. Some Mooks have entire stages dedicated to them, only to disappear entirely once you beat said stages.
- Visual Pun: The Koco enemies are fish wearing clown makeup. Or in other words, clownfish.
- Volcano Lair: Krematoa, the secret hideout of KAOS and K. Rool.
- You Dirty Rat: Sneeks, which are the uglier, meaner-looking successors to the Neeks from the second game. Ellie the Elephant is terrified of them, and will run away at a breakneck pace when she sees one.