Donkey Kong Land III

Donkey Kong Land III
Donkey Kong Land III box art
Developer(s)	Rareware
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Release	September, 1997
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player

Donkey Kong Land III is the third and final entry in the Donkey Kong Land trilogy of games for the original Game Boy. It was developed by Rareware and distributed by Nintendo. Like the other games in the series, DKLIII served as the portable follow-up to the bigger SNES Donkey Kong Country game that preceded it. In this case, DKL3 is both a port and a partial follow-up to Donkey Kong Country 3. Also like the other games in the DKL series, DKL3 was enhanced for the Super Game Boy and was packaged with a "banana yellow" cartridge.

A contest has begun with big prizes for the first person who discovers the Lost World. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have already taken off to find it, leaving a disgruntled Dixie Kong behind. Deciding to prove herself every bit of capable as them, Dixie once again partners up with her little cousin Kiddy Kong. Unfortunately, K. Rool and the Kremling Krew are also searching high and low for the fabled land. While never stated outright in the game, it's believed that the setting is in the northern part of the Northern Kremisphere, as the level archetypes are the same as in DKC3 (which took place in the Northern Kremisphere). While the levels have the same environments and the DKC3 bosses return, the worlds and stage layout are all unique.

Wrinkly Kong is the only non-playable Kong family member to make an appearance. A character simply titled Bear gives the player hints and can teleport them to another world (as well as host a card minigame), but judging from his appearance, it's most likely he's Bazaar Bear from DKC3. Animal buddies Ellie the elephant, Enguarde the swordfish, Squawks the parrot, and Squitter the spider all return. DKL3 also marks the only time in a Rare Donkey Kong game where neither Donkey Kong nor Diddy Kong actually appears.

Trivia

File:DonkeykonglandIII.png

The game's title screen as seen on the Super Game Boy. The stopwatch border is based on the stopwatches you could collect during gameplay.

• Donkey Kong Land 3 originally had a subtitle called The Race Against Time.

• When Donkey Kong Land 3 was released in Japan, it was actually reprogrammed for the Game Boy Color, under the title 'Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong and Dixie Kong' (Kiddy Kong is known as Dinky Kong in Japan). The game took advantage of the Game Boy Color's hardware by displaying the game in color. This version was not released outside of Japan, nor was it playable on a Super Game Boy.

External links

• Donkey Kong Land III at MobyGames