DKC3 Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is a Platformer 2D video game published by Nintendo, Rare released on November 1, 1996 for the Super Nintendo.

This time around, help Donkey Kong's relatives save their island from the maniacal schemes of King K. Rool and his kremling henchmen once again. Dixie Kong is the game's hero, and her tagalong sidekick is her baby cousin, Kiddy Kong. 

Gameplay is still the same like its predecessors, generally involves jumping between ledges, climbing across vines, riding across moving platforms, and pouncing on or avoiding the various enemies that roam back and forth. There are also loads of bonus games and mini games scattered throughout each level.

Dixie and Kiddy function, for the most part, just like Diddy and Dixie did in the last game. You can still alternate between the two on the fly, both can jump, pounce on enemies, and pick up barrels--which can be thrown at enemies or used to smash switches and doors. 

When one character is hurt, they fly off the screen and the other has to handle the level alone until you recover the missing partner by finding and smashing a "DK" barrel. Dixie can use her ponytail to helicopter-spin in midair, while Kiddy has the ability to tuck and roll right through large enemies. The pair can also perform team maneuvers. Kiddy can pick up Dixie and toss her onto ledges. Dixie, meanwhile, can pick up Kiddy and throw him high into the air so that he'll smash through weak floors.

Level designs in this latest game give players more opportunities to interact with the environment than the layouts in the previous game did. Most levels employ the standard mix of platform jumping and enemy bashing, along with the series' trademark rope crawling and barrel cannons, but now there are also switches to pull, walls and floors to smash, small pools to jump into and swim in, and rocket barrels to ride in. 

There are a few forced scrolling stages too, involving mine carts, snow sleds, and rampaging crosscut saws. Riding on top of and transforming into animal friends once again comes into play. Players can trample kremlings and vacuum barrels with Ellie the elephant, swim and stab underwater enemies with Enguarde the swordfish, fly through the air as Squawks the parrot, create spider webs and tangle enemies with Squitter the spider, and guide a high-flying hummingbird named Parry.

The bosses at the end of each of the game's worlds also reflect a little more creativity than the bosses in previous DKC games did. One of the early bosses is a crab, which you have to hit in the mouth with barrels. Problem is, the barrels are situated on a ledge that's out of reach. In order to get to them, you have to jump on top of the boss, run across its back, and leap onto the ledge. Then, you have to carry the barrel to the bottom of the cave and toss it into the crab's mouth without getting pounced on. Taken together, all of these changes help make this third installment the most interesting of the trio, even if much of the actual gameplay is the same.