We’re wrapping this journey up today by taking on what seems to be the final world, Kaos Kore. A rematch with Kaos is imminent… Looks like our goal is in sight with that big gothic castle!
Kiki plays Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, part 7
But first, Konveyor Rope Klash, which introduces us to the last new biome for this game; the jungle. This is yet another level with horizontal ropes, they pull us in different directions, so it’s our task to make it across without bumping into the enemies in our way.
This gets quite intense as we go along. It seems from here on out Donkey Kong Country 3 means business.
On the way to the next stage we meet Baffle, the quite literal crypto bro. He’s having trouble cracking a code and hints at some form of “reflection”. We’ll help him soon enough, but for now, let’s move on.
This is Creepy Caverns, a level centered around these ghost barrels that phase in and out of existence in different positions. We need to learn their patterns so they’ll propel us in the right directions.
As if that wasn’t enough, sometimes barrels appear in places where they’ll hurt us. Best be on alert!
These blue guys continue making life tough for us…
Eventually we find Squitter, who we need to zigzag through a vertical tunnel of fizzling ghost barrels. Quite an intense section, the L+A trick is a life saver.
Here’s another part where we can swim around freely, there’s a barred pipe opening that looks mighty conspicuous. Also, that lake with the waterfall is definitely a skull.
Fun fact: You can actually ride down the waterfall, weee!
Let’s go back to Barter for no particular reason.
He’s suddenly trying to sell the mirror we gave him back to us… It might come in handy, so we’ll bite.
If we revisit Barter now, he’s straight back to his old dishevelled look. The message is clear; never go without a mirror!
Anyway, back to Kaos Kore.
Returning to the house of Baffle, he will ask us for the mirror. Seems the code was written in reverse. We need to “make an eight at the two stones”.
Revisiting him, he’ll now taunt us with backwards messages.
Well, there are two stones right there in the water. However, making an eight here is more akin to an eternity symbol. Does this have potent philosophical relevancy to the skull shape of the lake and waterfall? Like the endless river, death is a constant. Is that a god damn memento mori in my Donkey Kong game? YOU BETCHA!
To the surprise of no one, behind the sewer grate lies yet another secret cave with yet another banana bird for our collection.
Onwards to Lightning Look-Out, one of the more controversial levels of the games. Here we will be navigating a raging thunderstorm, actively dodging a never ending barage of lightning strikes.
This level has become a bit notorious for its sudden difficulty spike, however this IS the final stretch so I think the developers were remiss for having a stage where you need to be a bit more careful. As the name suggests, we need to look out for the lightning. It will flash before striking down, so if we remain careful we can reliably dodge it. No good will come from rushing recklessly. Dixie’s barrel grab will also give us a free strike and airborne enemies will act as shields.
A nice touch is that staying in the water is a real bad idea. One strike of lightning anywhere in there and you’re toast!
Time to visit old Wrinkly again.
69 bonus coins, nice.
She mentions Cranky once more, let’s see if we don’t bump into him today…
Here’s a fun and quirky one, Koindozer Klamber. After hunting down an entire game’s worth of Koin enemies, we’re suddenly in their natural habitat. That means aggressive Koins everywhere we go! If we don’t watch out, they’ll pummel us down the nearest pit.
They’re still shielding themselves as diligently as usual though, so we can use this to our advantage for making platforms and sidestepping these goons.
There are some precise jumps in this one, and it definitely is a finicky skill to learn, but once it clicks this level is super fun. I love it!
Towards the end, we unceremoniously stumble into a regular green Koin holding our mandatory DK pog. Seeing this guy after meeting all of his violent brothers is equal parts jarring and a relief.
We move straight on to the final level, Poisonous Pipeline. This one is HATED by a lot of people because of its audacious twist – in the poison water your controls are reversed! A move that’s probably more annoying than actually difficult. It feels like this sort of design thinking has completely died out with time, although I do think we needed some actual implementations before people could collectively agree it’s maybe not a fun idea. Bad examples create consensus! Thank you for being so uncompromisingly experimental, Donkey Kong Country 3.
Perceptive Kong fans may draw a parallel between the purple water in this level and the purple gas clouds from the final boss in Donkey Kong Country 2 that also reverse your movements. This is seemingly a Rare staple. Back in the 1984 ZX Spectrum classic Sabre Wulf, you can pick up coloured flowers to get special effects. The purple flower reversed your controls! What an oddly specific callback…
If anyone has trouble with this one, I have two hot tips. First off, turn the controller upside down. It’s a bit silly, but it practically makes this a straight-forward swimming level. The second is to NOT use Enguarde. You don’t need him for any secrets, and his up and down directions are not reversed, which just creates more confusion. Usually I just go as normal, though. Before long my brain simply rewires to the control shift. You’ll notice how gentle the obstacles are placed and how blatant the secrets are. The bonus barrels really are just sitting around openly. One of them asks us the daunting task of swimming around in a circle. If anything, Rare were overly accommodating when making this.
The hardest part of the level is trying to jump out of the water at the end, as our controls are immediately reverted back when we’re out of the drink. This one always takes some fiddling for me.
Onto Kastle Kaos and the final showdown, oh boy!
Kaos is back for vengeance.
Hmm… Who’s feet are those behind the curtain?
Once more, Kaos changes head. This time to a pipe with disgusting eyeballs. Let’s get rid of this tin can once and for all.
After a suspiciously easy battle, the remains of Kaos are lifted away and the real man behind the show is revealed: Baron K. Roolenstein!
We get the earth shattering reveal that K. Rool has a wife. I’ve long dreamed of a potential Donkey Kong Country game where she takes over as the true final boss after getting annoyed at her husband once more failing with his evil plans. It would be fun!
And a Scooby-Doo reference.
Dixie talks in this scene, by the way. An exceedingly rare occasion. She has the tone of a sassy teenager. On point!
The ensuing battle takes on many different phases. Essentially, we pull levers in the ceiling to dispense barrels that we throw in K. Roolenstein’s back. For the first part of the battle, we’ll be doing just that.
Next up, we need to avoid the electric beam by the floor and jump between levers to spawn another barrel.
After this, we must hop on a little platform that floats back and forth beneath K. Roolenstein to grab another lever for yet another barrel.
In the final phase, the electricity phases in and out, so we must find the right timing to grab a lever, get the barrel and run to safety before something can hurt us.
We’ve learned a lot about electrocution today.
Upon defeat, K. Roolenstein blasts off with his jetpack and the husk of Kaos drops down again. Out tumbles Donkey and Diddy Kong! Looks like they had been brainwashed and were providing precious computing power to the robot.
Diddy underlines that you can always rely on Dixie Kong. They both express how impressed they were at her for saving them! However, Donkey innocently brings up Cranky Kong…
Speaking of the devil, Cranky takes a break from wasting his money on the Swanky Sideshow to pop in and clarify that he is in fact NOT impressed. What a prick!
Annoyed at Cranky’s indifference, Dixie and Kiddy promptly get ready to beat the shit out of him as the screen fades to black. The end!
We conclude on a peek inside Dixie’s photo album, showing all the friends and enemies she made along the way.
This includes some nice special renders of all the bosses!
As well as ones for the Brothers Bear. Notice how they all have names beginning with B. You don’t suppose Banjo is part of the same family? Also, we never met Boomer…
Our heroes, everyone!
Onto the credits. A big thank you to all the peeps who made this game!
Got a Kool Kong rating!
Well, that’s it. But there’s more stuff to do in Donkey Kong Country 3. Sights left to see, threads left hanging! What about the flower Bramble was looking for? Where is the Lost World? When will we see Funky’s ultimate ride? Where are all the banana birds? I’ll probably get to all of this stuff, but at this pace it might not happen before January. We’ll see. Hang tight, fellow Kongs!