1996, SNES. Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars
The trilogy finale follows a similar playbook to its predecessor by bringing the sidekick, Dixie Kong, to the forefront, as she tries to find out what happened to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who have disappeared. It appears a mysterious enemy named Kaos is responsible. And to help this time, her cousin, Kiddy Kong, joins the fray. Kiddy is more akin to Donkey Kong with his heavy weight, which can be valuable for breaking weak platforms or tossing Dixie, but he is an easier target.
The game’s other big change is a more open-world environment that allows the gamer a little more freedom in what they choose to do. There are different characters to encounter and you’ll need to do some side-quests for the final ending.
In terms of the fundamentals, this game has more water- and forest-based stages than the prior games and several industrial-style levels, as well. There is a decent amount of variety in the level design, though there are a few too many auto-scroller levels. The animals have had some minor changes with the biggest being Ellie the Elephant taking over for Rambi. She gets the most time out of all the new characters including a featured boss fight, but the others get their moment in the sun. Enguarde, in particular, gets a bounce-back after being underused in the second game.
In terms of the game’s overall design, it’s a little more balanced and fairer regarding difficulty. It has its moments down the stretch, but it isn’t quite as frustrating as DKC2 could be. The boss fights, again, aren’t the best, but there are some inventive ideas here with the K3 boss, in particular, being quite memorable.
It’s an overlooked title and some don’t like the style changes, but I find it a return to form in some ways and it works, overall, quite well and closes the trilogy on a high note.
0:00 Intro
2:04 Lake Orangatanga
17:30 Kremwood Forest
37:56 Mekanos
56:53 Cotton-Top Cove
1:17:30 K3
1:31:51 Razor Ridge
1:53:20 KAOS Kore
2:08:37 Final Boss
2:16:00 Credits
![](https://s2.save4k.ru/pic/zNejb1vEvCw/mqdefault.jpg)