Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
1996 · Platform · SNES
About Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996) is Rare's pre-rendered SNES platformer in which Dixie Kong and her baby cousin Kiddy search the Northern Kremisphere for the missing Donkey and Diddy.
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in Depth
Shortly after Diddy's Kong Quest, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong vanish in the Northern Kremisphere, a fictional take on northern Europe and Canada. Dixie Kong sets out with her younger cousin Kiddy, using Funky Kong's vehicles to get around. At Kastle KAOS they destroy a robot thought to lead the Kremlings, only to find it was controlled by Baron K. Roolenstein, King K. Rool under a new name, with Donkey and Diddy inside powering it. Collecting bonus coins and cogs later reawakens the volcanic island of Krematoa and reveals his submarine, the Knautilus.
The pair cross 8 worlds and 48 levels of platforming, swimming and on-rails action, with returning barrels, bonus levels, DK coins, animal friends and multiplayer. Dixie slows her fall by spinning her ponytail, Kiddy bounces across water, and either can throw the other to break cracked floors or find secrets. Each level's DK coin is held as a shield by a Koin, beaten by bouncing a steel barrel off the wall behind it. The overworld is open to explore by speedboat and hovercraft, and thirteen Brothers Bear give hints, items and services in exchange for Bear Coins. New animal friends include Ellie the elephant, who sprays water from her trunk, and Parry the parallel bird, who flies above the Kongs collecting out-of-reach items.
Making Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Rare began work shortly after Diddy's Kong Quest, again turning pre-rendered 3D animation from Silicon Graphics workstations into 2D sprites. It was released in North America on 18 November 1996, in Japan days later and in Europe that December, selling 1.7 million copies in Japan and 1.12 million in the US. It averaged 83 per cent on GameRankings: Nintendo Magazine System called it "king of the Kongs" with the "most detailed, beautifully animated Super NES graphics", GamePro saw it as a worthy swan song for the SNES, and Computer and Video Games called it the "pinnacle of achievement for the Super NES", while AllGame and Next Generation felt it offered "more of the same". It was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2005.
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Trivia
- Tim Stamper returned as director, with Andrew Collard and Paul Weaver designing.
- Eveline Fischer composed most of the music, with extra tracks by David Wise.
- Typing "Merry" on the file select screen turns the bonus levels Christmassy.
- It sold over 3.5 million copies, though its release two months after the Nintendo 64's launch may have hurt sales.
- EGM named it runner-up for SNES Game of the Year, behind Tetris Attack.
