Donkey Kong Land III

Not to be confused with the game it's based off, Donkey Kong Country 3.

Donkey Kong Land III
North American boxart of the game Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy.
Developer(s)	Rareware
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Main Development Staff	Designers: Gary Richards Huw Ward Writer: Leigh Loveday Composer: Eveline Fischer
Platform(s)	Game Boy, Super Family Computer/Super Nintendo Entertainment System via Super Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 3DS
Release Date(s)	Game Boy October 27, 1997 October 30, 1997 Game Boy Color January 28, 2000 Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console May 7, 2014 (GBC version) October 30, 2014 (GB version) February 26, 2015 (GB version)
Genre(s)	Platformer
Ratings	ESRB: Kids to Adults
Mode(s)	Single player
Media(s)	Game Boy ROM Cartridge, Game Boy Color ROM Cartridge
Input(s)	Game Boy Buttons, Game Boy Color Buttons

Donkey Kong Land III is a platformer game developed by Rareware and released by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1997. It is the third and final entry in the Donkey Kong Land trilogy. Like its predecessors, it was a follow-up to the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy, in this case the game Donkey Kong Country 3. Like the other games in the Donkey Kong Land series, Donkey Kong Land III was packaged with a yellow Game Boy cartridge and was compatible with the Super Game Boy for Super Family Computer/Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

The game was not released in Japan until 2000, where it was released only for the Game Boy Color and was called Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong (ドンキーコングGB ディンキーコング&ディクシーコング, Donkī Kongu Jī Bī: Dinkī Kongu & Dikushī Kongu in Japan). This version features a new default color scheme, but it lacks some animations from the Game Boy version.

The GBC version of the game was re-released on the Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console in Japan on May 7, 2014. The Game Boy version was also re-released through the Virtual Console on the Nintendo 3DS in Europe on October 30, 2014, and in North America on February 26, 2015.

Story

Shortly after the events of Donkey Kong Country 3, Dixie and Kiddy Kong are informed of a contest taking place in the Northern Kremisphere to find The Lost World. Donkey and Diddy Kong set out to find it and, Dixie not to be upstaged, sets out too with Kiddy Kong. Their adventure would take them in new parts of the Northern Kremisphere, however with familiar enemies and bosses.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this game is heavily based off Donkey Kong Country 3 where the player controls either Dixie or Kiddy Kong at a time and must get to the end of a stage successfully and pull down the Stage Flag. Dixie retains her Helicopter Spin ability from Donkey Kong Land 2 and Kiddy can use some of his special abilities from Donkey Kong Country 3, mainly being able to jump on enemies. Although the stage outlines are different, many enemies from Donkey Kong Country 3 return unchanged, and are defeated in similar ways.

Characters

Allies

Dixie and Kiddy Kong return as the main protagonists, but there are notably less allies than before. Only Wrinkly Kong and a lone Brothers Bear literally named Bear made it into the game.

• Dixie Kong
• Kiddy Kong
• Wrinkly Kong
• Bear

Animal Buddies

Artwork of Squawks the Parrot.

All of the animal buddies return from Donkey Kong Country 3, except for Parry the Parallel Bird and Quawks the Parrot.

• Ellie the Elephant
• Enguarde the Swordfish
• Squawks the Parrot
• Squitter the Spider

Enemies

The enemy cast is carried over from Donkey Kong Country 3, meaning there is a large enemy roster. Only ones that did not return are Gleamin' Breams, Koindozers, Kroc, Kuff 'n' Klout, Nibblas and Swoopies.

• Bazzas
• Bazukas
• Bristles
• Bounty Basses
• Booty Birds
• Buzzes
• Karbines
• Klasps
• Knik-Knaks
• Knockas
• Kobbles
• Kocos
• Koin
• Kopters
• Krimps
• Krumples
• Kuchukas
• Lemguins
• Lurchins
• Minkeys
• Nids
• Re-Koils
• Skiddas
• Sneeks

Bosses

Only five of the bosses return from Donkey Kong Country 3, the two that did not are Belcha and Squirt.

• Barbos
• Bleak
• Arich
• KAOS
• K. Rool

Items and Objects

Most items are carried over from Donkey Kong Country 3, and function similarly.

• Bananas and Banana Bunches return from the previous games, unchanged. A banana bunch is worth ten bananas and collecting 100 of them gives an extra life.
• Extra Life Balloons return as well, with Diddy Kong's face on them, oddly. They are displayed as hearts at the bottom of the screen.
• Bear Coins act much like Banana Coins from Donkey Kong Country 2. They are the main currency of the game, needed to pay Bear.
• Bonus Coins are the basic Kremkoins of Donkey Kong Land III. Bonus Coins are found at the end of each Bonus Stage.
• DK Coins return from Donkey Kong Country 3. Collect them by defeating Koins, but now not all water stages have a ground area so they are found in a secret underwater location.
• K-O-N-G Letters are found in each stage, and collecting all four spells "KONG" and gives an extra life.

Barrels

Artwork of Steel Keg.

• Wooden Barrels make their usual appearance, they are simply regular barrels that roll when thrown and can be used to defeat most enemies.
• DK Barrels also make their usual appearance, summoning a lost Kong.
• Steel Kegs are needed to defeat Koin, by bouncing them against a wall and making Koin face the opposite way of the incoming Keg.
• Warp Barrels act as secret, well hidden ways to teleport to the end of the stage very quickly.
• Animal Barrels, when entered, turn the Kong into the animal on it.
• Boo Barrels are a type of autofire barrel that randomly appear and disappear, per being a "ghost". They appear in every Cave stage.

Worlds and Stages

The overworld map of the Northern Kremisphere in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

Cape Codswallop, the first world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 1 - Cape Codswallop

1. Red Wharf (Boardwalk)
2. Seabed Shanty (Coral)
3. Ford Knocks (Boardwalk)
4. Total Rekoil (Mill)
5. Koco Channel (Riverbank)
6. Liftshaft Lottery (Mill)
7. Barbos Bastion

Primate Plains, the second world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 2 - Primate Plains

1. Coral Quarrel (Coral)
2. Minky Mischief (Trees)
3. Jetty Jitters (Boardwalk)
4. Black Ice Blitz (Snow)
5. Riverbank Riot (Riverbank)
6. Miller Instinct (Mill)
7. Bleak Magic

Blackforest Plateau, the third world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 3 - Blackforest Plateau

1. Rocketeer Rally (Waterfall)
2. Vertigo Verge (Mountains)
3. Polar Pitfalls (Snow)
4. Surface Tension (Riverbank)
5. Tundra Blunda (Snow)
6. Redwood Rampage (Trees)
7. Arich Attack

Great Ape Lakes, the fourth world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 4 - Great Ape Lakes

1. Jungle Jeopardy (Jungle)
2. Footloose Falls (Waterfall)
3. Deep Reef Grief (Coral)
4. Karbine Kaos (Factory)
5. Simian Shimmy (Trees)
6. Rockface Chase (Mountains)
7. Krazy KAOS

Tin Can Valley, the fifth world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 5 - Tin Can Valley

1. Tropical Tightropes (Jungle)
2. Clifftop Critters (Mountains)
3. Rickety Rapids (Waterfall)
4. Bazuka Bombard (Factory)
5. Ugly Ducting (Pipe)
6. Stalagmite Frights (Cave)
7. K. Rool Duel

The Lost World, the sixth and final world in the game Donkey Kong Land III.

World 6 - The Lost World

1. Whiplash Dash (Pipe)
2. Kuchuka Karnage (Factory)
3. Haunted Hollows (Cave)
4. Rainforest Rumble (Jungle)
5. Barrel Boulevard (Factory)
6. Ghoulish Grotto (Cave)
7. K. Rool's Last Stand

Differences between Game Boy and Game Boy Color versions

When this game was ported to Game Boy Color, there were some changes made to the game, most of which are graphical changes. Unlike many other ports, such as the Game Boy Advance versions of the Donkey Kong Country games, there are few changes made.

• The game is now exclusively for the Game Boy Color (therefore, it is not playable on a Game Boy or Super Game Boy. To make this further known the cartridge is a transparent Game Boy Color cartridge). As a result, it is now in full color, as opposed to the monochrome color that would be seen on a Super Game Boy.
• The game language is Japanese instead of English.
• The title screen is slightly redesigned.
• The world maps are no longer animated: water is now static, Wrinkly Refuge and Sheepy Shop no longer have lights flashing inside, mills do not turn anymore, and smoke stays still.
• When there is text on screen, the text shows up on the screen one character at a time, as opposed to the entire text showing up instantly.
• In the Time Attack screen, the most recent time is no longer displayed.
• Bear has only one animation frame now.
• Due to the game being on a Game Boy Color, there is less slowdown, which is noticeable in a few cases, such as in Clifftop Critters. The lack of slowdown reduces possibilities of losing lives unfairly where the screen could not keep up before if the player fell down with many sprites on the screen.
• The credits have been updated to include the staff from Nintendo whom helped with the Japanese translation. Also, the credits are still in English, despite being a Japanese game.

Cheat Codes

All of these following cheats are done in both versions of Donkey Kong Land III, except for the being defeated part in the stage Jetty Jitters demo cutscene which is exclusive to the Game Boy Color version.

• Pressing "Down", "Down", "Up", "Left", "Right" will grant the player fifty lives.
• Pressing "Up", "Up", "Down", "Left", "Right" and "Start" at the title screen will send the player to the screen of the Memory Match minigame from Sheepy Shop. This version, however, is only for practice.
• Pressing "Left", "Left", "Up", "Down", "Right", "Left", "Left", "Down", "Up", "Right" unlocks all of the stages in the game excluding the stages of The Lost World. It, however, does not unlock any collectibles like Stop Watches, Bonus Coins or DK Coins.
• Pressing any of the following buttons: "Left", "Up", "Down", or "Select", causes the demo cutscene (after waiting for the music on the title screen to end) to play a different stage instead of Jetty Jitters, depending on how many times any of these buttons are pressed.
  • One time: stage Rickety Rapids
  • Two times: stage Whiplash Dash
  • Three times: stage Deep Reef Grief
  • Pressing any of the buttons a fourth time cycles back to the default stage Jetty Jitters. Note that in all of these gameplay cutscenes, the Kongs will be defeated eventually, except for the stage Jetty Jitters in the original Game Boy version.

Glitches

See also: Donkey Kong Land III/Glitches

Gallery

Logos and Boxarts

North American logo of Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy.

North American boxart (back) of Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy.

European boxart of Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy.

Japanese boxart (front) of Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong for Game Boy Color.

Japanese boxart (back) of Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong for for Game Boy Color.

Game Screens

Title screen (version 1.0) of Donkey Kong Land III on the Super Game Boy for SNES.

Title screen (version 1.1) of Donkey Kong Land III on the Super Game Boy for SNES.

Japanese title screen of Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong for Game Boy Color.

Game Over screen of Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy.

Game Over screen of Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong for Game Boy Color.

Trivia

• It is unknown why the GBC version of the game, Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong and Dixie Kong (Dinky Kong is Kiddy Kong's name in Japan), was not released outside of Japan.
• Initially, Donkey Kong Land III had a subtitle called "The Race Against Time". Prior to release, the subtitle was removed, presumably to allow the game to fit in better with the other Donkey Kong Land games, which (unlike the SFC/SNES games) have no subtitles.^{[citation needed]}
• Despite its title, Donkey Kong does not appear in this game. This makes it the only Rare's Donkey Kong game where Donkey Kong does not make any physical appearances (however he is mentioned in the game's instruction booklet).
  • Diddy Kong makes an appearance in the game, however his only appearance is on the Extra Life Balloons. He is also mentioned in the game's instruction booklet.
• The game's soundtrack consists of 8-bit re-orchestrations of the music from the game Donkey Kong Country 3. However, the track "Frosty Frolics" does not appear.
• Several elements from Donkey Kong Land III were later used for the Game Boy Advance version of the game Donkey Kong Country 3, such as automatically getting DK Coins from defeated Koins.
• The 1.0 and 1.1 versions of the game Donkey Kong Land III have different title screens (see Game Screens in the Gallery section above). The version from 1.1 resembles the European logo for Donkey Kong Land III and Dixie and Kiddy Kong's sprites, along with the "PRESS START" message, were shifted slight downward.
• Currently, the game Donkey Kong Land III marks the final official appearance of Kiddy Kong in the Donkey Kong game series.