Partridge Senpai's 2019 Beaten Games:Previously:
2016 2017 2018* indicates a repeat
1.
Night Slashers (Switch)
2.
Bye-Bye BOXBOY! (3DS)
3.
GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Xbox 360)
4.
Katamari Forever (PS3)
5.
Detention (PS4)
6.
Donkey Kong 64 (N64) *
7.
OctoDad: Dadliest Catch (PS4) *
8.
FlintHook (Switch)
9.
God of War (PS4)
10.
God of War HD (PS3)
11.
Tiny Barbarian DX (Switch)
12.
God of War 2 HD (PS3)
13.
Starlink (Switch)
14.
Shin Gundam Musou (PS3)
15.
Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (DS)
16.
Banjo-Kazooie (N64) *
17.
Super Mario 64: Rumble Edition (N64)
18.
Mario Party 3 (N64) *
19.
Paper Mario (N64) *
20.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) *
21.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC) *
22.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) *
23.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) *
24.
Yoshi's Island (SNES) *
25.
Super Mario World (SNES) *
26.
Super Mario RPG (SFC) *
27.
Kaeru No Tame Ni Kane Wa Naru (GB)
28.
Final Fantasy VI (SFC) *
29.
Final Fantasy IV (SFC) *
30.
Final Fantasy V (SFC)
31.
Final Fantasy III (Famicom)
32.
Mother 2 (SFC) *
33.
Mother 3 (GBA) *
34.
Hebereke (Famicom)
35.
Donkey Kong Country 2 (SFC)
36. Donkey Kong Country 3 (SFC)
Didn't quite have the DKC itch out of me yet (and still might not
) so I decided to postpone my "current" games a little longer and do a full 103% run of DKC3 for the first time. Like with DKC2, I have beaten the game before, but never a full run of all the bonus coins, DK coins, and banana birds until this time. I have been somewhat converted over to the school of "DKC3 is the best of the original trilogy", but still think DKC2 is a fantastic game. DKC3 is largely a somewhat more polished version of that game. It took me about 5 and a half hours to do on the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console.
In refining the DKC2 formula of a more meta-goodie-focused DKC, DKC3 does a much better job than 2 of designing levels and barrels that all fit well with each other. None of the bonus rooms or DK coins (which themselves are now a special enemy and not just another coin lying around) feel unfairly hidden, and the challenges you have to do to get them all feel better thought out and interesting than in 2 where a good handful of them feel like filler. The roster of animal friends have also received a slight change again, as Rattly the snake has been completely removed (while he was fun, I feel 2 really exhausted his potential), and the purple Skwaks the parrot who in 2 could only descend as well as not spit eggs can now both fly upwards as well as pick up barrels. Finally, the overly invincible (yet very fun) Rambi has been replaced by Ellie the Elephant, whose water spitting mechanics and fear of mice have her as the star of many of the more unique levels.
DKC3's best points, as far as the series go lie in these refinements and uniqueness of levels. Very rarely do two levels feel much alike in this game, as each one tries to do something in a way you've not yet seen. Sometimes it falls flat and is a bit miserable, like the rocketship level or Ellie's stampede level, but most often it provides a new challenge in an interesting way, like Ellie's mouse-avoidance level or the level where you need to keep a hungry fish fed behind you. This extends to even the boss fights, which also break beyond the mold of the more typical "dodge and smack with barrel" that 2 had mostly carried on from 1. All this on top of a really well thought out difficulty curve really do make the general quality of 3 stand above the other 2 original DKC games and puts it definitively as one of the best platformers on the system for me. Where 2 was as much of a sequel as it was a re-imagining of what DKC could be as a franchise, 3 is everything a sequel should strive to be in how it succeeds in innovating on the good ideas and paving over the not-so-good ideas and mundanities of its predecessor.
But no game is perfect, and neither is DKC3. In trying to innovate so hard, it does occasionally fall flat in some quite annoying ways. This mostly lies in the occasional gimmick that doesn't work quite right, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, as sometimes that drive to innovate struck on an idea that just didn't work as well as it needed to in its execution. That problem is most present in the final boss and secret final boss fights, which rather than feeling like tests of platforming skill and timing like they do in 2, feel like boring memorization tests with battle mechanics not always very clearly explained.
The other source of this also comes up with something I mentioned in the DKC2 review in the inherent problems with making a game with two main playable characters. Kiddy (or as he's amusingly called in Japanese, "Dinky") is a clever re-imagining of a "heavy" kong like DK was in the first DKC weaved into the throwing and partner mechanics expanded on in 2. However, this also just gets in the way of playing the game quite often. Dinky largely succeeds in feeling like a worse kong to be stuck with than Dixie, as he not only can't hover but also isn't faster like Diddy. He's also worse than Diddy in that he's physically larger, and the issue with the kongs being less pixely and more-animated makes Dinky's hitbox really difficult to judge compared to Dixie's, and this can make some of the trickier boss battles and enemy dodging really frustrating at times. They also made it so that Dinky's throws do the platforming leap like is done in DKC2, but Dixie's throws slam Dinky onto the ground to both attack enemies and break open the very occasional floor-hidden secret (not unlike slamming into the ground from a great height can do in DKC1). It's a neat idea, but the throwing for height is used SO much more often that it just makes it annoying to have to switch between the kongs so often.
Edit: Another important thing I forgot to mention; this game has very noticeable slowdown where DKC2 does not. The waterfall levels are quite pretty with how you can go in front of and behind the falling water, but if you have more than one or two enemies on screen while one is on screen, the game is gonna start to chug. It doesn't happen too often, but one bonus room in particular is made FAR harder because you're fighting against both the slowdown and the challenge of the room itself.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. DKC3 isn't a perfect game, but it's still a fantastic one. Even its biggest problems are still minor at best, and barely get in the way of an otherwise very fun experience. If you like SNES platformers, this is definitely not one to overlook.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me