This allows the player to see upcoming off-screen enemies and hazards. Other Super Nintendo platformers like Super Mario World have the ability to move the camera forward a few inches by hitting the R-shoulder button. And while Donkey Kong Country 3 is still a worthy 2D platformer, its field of view is one of the reasons it doesn’t achieve the excellence of the first two games. It’s a recipe for tedium and frustration for the player, and makes the game feel more confining. This is a baffling design decision by Rare, and seems like a way to artificially make the game harder instead of using pacing and level design to improve the game. As a result, the difficulty level goes up while the fun-factor goes down. The Donkey Kong Country games are hard already without zooming in the field of view, making it more difficult for the player to see where they’re going and what’s going on in the level. This makes it harder to see off-screen enemies and other hazards, and makes the game more difficult as a result–artificially so.Īs a result of the player’s limited view, dying because of off-screen enemies you can’t see is a constant issue that plagues Donkey Kong Country 3 all throughout. Dixie Kong, Kiddy Kong, and all the enemies are larger on the screen than in the first two games. For whatever reason, Rare saw fit to shrink the player’s field of view. Donkey Kong Country 3: A Flawed Gem Dixie and Baby find a bonus-level barrel.ĭonkey Kong Country 3’s biggest flaw is its field of view. And while an appreciated feature, it doesn’t change the actual gameplay when you’re in a level. You can explore around in Funky Kong’s vehicles to look for secrets in the overworld. However, the only real innovation that Donkey Kong Country 3 brings is its explorable overworld. It introduces levels that run up-and-down, instead of the standard left-to-right that make up almost all the levels in the original game. It also brings gold coins and DK Coins into the gameplay recipe that you use as currency to save your game, play trivia mini-games, and access shortcuts. (1995)ĭonkey Kong Country 2 isn’t just a horizontal game like its prequel either. Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in ‘Donkey Kong Country 2’. Dixie’s float mechanic also changes up the gameplay. The original Donkey Kong Country gets tons of praise for its breakthroughs in graphics and sound, but perhaps doesn’t get enough credit for the gameplay innovations it brought for its time.īeing able to switch between two different characters on the fly, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, the use of animal buddies, blast barrels, mine karts, numerous bonus levels, the roll/jump mechanic that becomes essential to get some of those elusive KONG letters and hard to reach bananas, extensive swinging and climbing, and more, all serve to give Donkey Kong Country its own distinct flavor.ĭonkey Kong Country 2 refines and expands on the original game by allowing you to use Diddy and Dixie Kong to pick up and throw each other to hard to reach locations. Dixie Kong and Baby Kong at a save barrel. But not so much that it makes the Super Nintendo offerings obsolete. Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Wii U are arguably the better games. They’re 2D platformers that, by today’s standards, might not be as impressive as they were in the mid-’90s when they first released. The difficulty has been a turn-off for some who criticize the games for being graphics over gameplay. Because of this, the games tend to be divisive among some gamers. The Donkey Kong Country series has a history of being graphically impressive, but difficult 2D platformers. As a result, Donkey Kong Country 3 flew under the radar for many compared to the first two games. The exception being that this time, its release was dwarfed by the launch of the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64. It’s everything the first game is, and regarded by many as the best entry in the Super Nintendo Donkey Kong Country trilogy.ĭonkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble followed a year after that in November 1996. Rare instantly became a darling for Nintendo fans and went on to become one of the most successful video game developers of the ’90s.ĭonkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest followed a year later. Maybe most importantly, it put British developer Rare on the map. The game was a breakthrough in graphics and sound technology for console games, and was a giant seller for Nintendo. The original Donkey Kong Country is credited for saving the Super Nintendo Entertainment System from being upended by the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s.
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