Donkey Kong Country 3 for Game Boy Adv Reviews by Gamers

The original "Donkey Kong Country 3" for Super NES is a magnificent game (possibly my favorite of the trilogy, in fact), so it's a shame that the people behind this GBA remake failed to carry over the same charm, fun, and sense of whimsy. The graphics and colors are gaudier and more cartoony now, and the controls are often awkward and imprecise. Some new mini-games have been added, but they're really not that great. Perhaps the greatest offender, however, is the audio. Not only did the designers see fit to add a new batch of annoying and unnecessary sound effects, but the entire musical score has been changed! The original version of "DKC 3" had some wonderful, memorable music, but all of that has been scrapped now, and replaced with new tracks that are thoroughly generic and unsatisfying.

If you've never played "DKC 3" before, don't let this mishandled remake shape your first impression. Even if you don't have a Super NES, you can download "DKC 3" on the Wii Virtual Console. Do that, instead of playing this.

My adventure with this game came to a merciful end when my save data got erased. I say merciful because I don't know how much more I could take at this difficulty!

It's not that the stunts you must pull off are really so difficult. I've seen worse. I did have some control issues or maybe I'm just not used to DK physics, and things on the screen were too small for comfort. Sometimes things would fall on me from the top of the screen and I'd be hit before I could even see them. I have a feeling this game is probably a little better to play on a console for these reasons.

But really, what makes this hard is that you can only take at most two hits before you die, and even after one hit you may be left without the Kong you really want to use. Add to that the rarity of DK barrels so you can get your other monkey back, and the great length of most levels, and you'll always be feeling the pressure while praying for the checkpoint or the end of the level. Dieing at the end of one of these levels is the worst! For me, at least, this game was more stressful than fun. It was probably just about to start getting boring too, as I was at the point where I'd have to spend time racking up extra lives just to survive the later levels.

If you can tolerate the stress or are just better at sidescrollers than I, there certainly is a lot to like. Just getting through the dozens of lengthy levels will take you long enough, and you can add on to the game's lifespan and challenge by getting all the bonus coins and banana birds and what have you. There is a good variety of level themes, hazards, and enemies to keep things interesting, not to mention the animal transformations to mix things up. The graphics are great; the music wasn't as awesome as I thought it might be but, not bad.

This game didn't meet my expectations at least on the handheld but is certainly worth a go for platforming fans. I may download it on the VC to see if that version is a little more user friendly.