DKC Atlas Forum

[TheIronBladeGamer]

Okay, before I get started, I just want to make it clear that I have nothing wrong with Donkey Kong Country 3. It's a great game. It's just a little...well, weird.

To start off my argument, I just want to say that Kiddie Kong may have been a poor choice for a secondary character. Why, you ask? He's a baby. That wears footy pajamas. As cute as his appearance may be, trying to compare him with Donkey Kong is just plain silly. Also, is Dixie babysitting Kiddie? This seems to be the case, but I may be wrong. Also, when Kiddie tries to piggyback on Dixie, she's getting crushed right under him! He must be a very heavy baby. I mean, his main ability is breaking holes in the ground by throwing him at them. I think that kind of emphasizes his weight even more.

Now, I'm going to move on to the enemies, but I do understand that while the enemies have changed from DKC1 to DKC2, They weren't changes that were too weird. First, they replaced the Kritters with Klomp. But they look almost identical other than the peg-leg. They also replaced Krusha with Kruncha. The thing with them is that they're equals. They're counterparts. I mean, their names are almost identical. They're just the words crush and crunch (very similar) with a K and an A. They're even the same color! But anyway, with DKC3 they added those, uh...
Skinny Kremlings. You know what I'm talking about.

Along with some other changes in the enemies...


Normal looking fish, then the clown fish thing.

Okay, animal buddies.


Rambi the Rhino (an awesome animal buddy and a buddy appearing in DKC 1 and 2) has been replaced by Ellie the Elephant, who is literally no stronger than Dixie or Kiddie, and has a special power of inhaling, and squirting water.

That's all I have for today, but I might add more later. Please post arguments or complaints.

[Gaz]

I'd have to say that Belcha is by far the weirdest thing about Donkey Kong Country 3. It's simply a giant barrel that spits out Knik-Knaks in a barrel. It also seems to have an endless supply of Knik-Knaks with it. And it's a living barrel with an unexplained history about why it's alive. I'm sticking with Belcha as the strangest part of Donkey Kong Country 3 (if you want to exclude Kroctopus...)

Image:

Spoiler!

[Super Luigi!]

You have to understand, TheIronBladeGamer, that Dixie and Diddy practically nuked the Kremling's home country and destroyed their life source in DKC2. When that happened, all Kremlings that managed to survive devolved and ended up looking like Kobbles. Koco is supposed to be a clownfish, hence why it looks like a clown. Finally, everyone knows that rhinos don't exist in the Northern (K)Hemispheres where there's seas of water. Elephants are much more common. Oh, and Gaz, Belcha can seem strange, but I think Bleak could compete with it. The Kroctopus never seemed like a true enemy to me either.

[TheIronBladeGamer]

I must've forgot about Belcha, he is pretty weird, and I think that Bleak is just as weird. Kroctopus...I don't even know what's the deal with him. I always saw him as an alien, or some sort of mutant creature. Still all pretty weird bosses. Definitely the coolest boss in that game is KAOS. That might be because I like robots, or that he kind of reminds me of a Dalek...

EDIT: I also forgot about the Chainsaw Bees. Which I think are awesome.

[Soniccuz]

I don't think Belcha is all that weird. Barrels are a motif of the series since the beginning. Having a living one is right up there with banana fairies/aliens, or heck dumb drum anyone?

[TheIronBladeGamer]

I thought Dumb Drum was cool...

[Phyreburnz]

Huh... I guess I never really gave a second thought to Dumb Drum.

I think a major difference is the creepy factor of Belcha... because it's like a living thing with eyes (bloodshot ones at that) and the crunching teeth.
Dumb Drum has red glowing eyes, but for some reason, I think it's way less disturbing than Belcha

Overall, as far as the boss fight goes, Belcha makes more sense. You throw the bugs, he burps, goes back and falls through the floor. Possibly something to do with Barron K. Roolenstein's need to experiment on things... Dumb Drum dumps enemies on you and when you kill all the enemies... he falls down and explodes? Weird... Why would he explode just because he ran out of enemies... and is there some giant monster holding him up to shake him out... Does he have a rubbery bottom so he bounces back up after he drops? Why am I referring to a metal can as "he?"

Big images for comparison, so I am using a spoiler tab

Spoiler!

[Lanky Kong]

Dumb Drum dumps enemies on you and when you kill all the enemies... he falls down and explodes? Weird... Why would he explode just because he ran out of enemies...

Ahem... hitting too many times the floor doesn't seems to be a deal for a chemical drum that throwns you enemies?

Chemics sometimes react to physic hits.

[Ribbedebie]

Sorry for this bump but I wanted to add my two cents!

From what I've heard, the reason the characters look so different is because a different team did the character designs. I'm not entirely sure if this is true but it would make sense. DKC became cartoonier as the franchise progressed, I noticed, and I'm not sure, but it may be that they got other people to work on the character designs. Just a thought, considering David Wise was largely unavailable for DKC3's soundtrack.

Or, of course, an in-universe explanation could be that since the Northern Kremisphere is far away from Crocodile Isle, the wildlife and Kremlings are a different kind than the ones we've seen before, adapted to the different living conditions. Kinda like a sub-species. The Northern Kremisphere as a whole seems a lot like Europe in terms of geography, so I've noticed. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Even the jungle levels seemed more like temperate forests. I'm not sure if all of it was intentional, but it is food for thought considering the change in enemies.

But yes, compared to the first game, especially, DKC3 IS weird. But charmingly so, I think.

[Markster]

DKC3 may be kinda weird, but I love the game!

[the_kong_br]

I think that from a technical point of view DKC 3 the best. You can see a development in the sequences. The two improved substantially compared to the first, the three improved less, but also demonstrated technical advances.

In the first game of the series, the rescue points were very poorly distributed. You were entering a world and locked in a phase. At some point during this phase, a rather challenging obstacle arose that required memorization and several attempts to get the correct timing. I would even say that in some cases they are attractive challenges. These parts have consumed many lives. The player to finally go through several game screens and go through these parts of the game was not rewarded. He had to keep playing more stages, not so difficult, but pressed for the account of lives consumed, until the save point appeared.

DKC 2 tried to balance that, making the first phases of the world less difficult until it reached the point of rescue. From there the phases are more difficult. It is also possible to observe that there is a progression of the level of difficulty, while there was imbalance in the first DKC.

In the third game you can save after any stage, so this made the game much easier on the one hand. But, on the other hand, it already allowed level creators to put players in more challenging situations without the pressure of fear of losing their whole lives. In fact, it's a game that seems easier, in fact, it's quite challenging.

(Important to note that in Donkey Kong Country 2 to save the game HAS TO PAY, while in DKC3 is free.)

The bosses of the first DKC are the poorest. They are completely one-dimensional, possess only a single attack and increase their speed and the pace of adaptation is damaged. In DKC 2 the bosses have more phases with more varied attacks. DKC 3 has managed to go further, the bosses are more varied still.

There was no post-match in DKC 1, it was added in DKC 2. But the most interesting is DKC 3. Also, the puzzles to find the DK coins are more interesting.

The overall design level of DKC 3 is the most creative and varied, DKC 1 is the poorest. DKC 1 is a difficult game in many moments, but this is because the barrels move or spin very fast, the train cart is very fast, or because many enemies appear unexpectedly coming towards the player without giving the appropriate reaction time. They are remnants of trouble addictions from a developer who recently made an unforgivable game like Battletoads. Already in DKC 2 and 3, each world seems to be really unique with its own mechanics. Animals are best used as well.

I would say that DKC 1 was a lab for the following sequences, although it is a really complete and finished product, there was still a lot to improve and fortunately Nintendo was able to improve. However, DKC 3 was not able to overcome the magic of the second game in the series, it is less nostalgic, the characters are not so charismatic, and despite the best finished graphics, it has not impressed the eyes as much as its predecessors. Even more, it was already the end of the Super Nintendo era.

[Super Luigi!]

Thank you for this detailed analysis, the_kong_br. I don't have much to add, but I still appreciate your wise words.