Donkey Kong Land III

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Donkey Kong Land III

Developer(s)	Rareware
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release date(s)	September, 1997 January 28, 2000
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Media	4-megabit cartridge

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: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. 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.

DKL3 has probably the most unique storyline out of the other Donkey Kong Lands. 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 in the credits runs a casino, but based off 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 (see Donkey Kong's animal buddies). DKL3 also marks the only time in a Rare Donkey Kong game where neither Donkey Kong nor Diddy Kong actually appears.

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.

The game's title screen in the Japanese version of the game. It was released for the Game Boy Color, allowing the game to have more colors.

[edit] Bosses

At the end of each world there is a boss you have to defeat to advance to the next world. Here is a list of the bosses that appear on the game:

Cape Codswallop: Barbos the sea Lurchin
Barbos is a large version of the enemy Lurchin. Players have to turn into Enguarde the Swordfish in order to defeat her. Barbos would spit three Lurchins at you. In order to attack Barbos, you have to her with one of the Lurchins. You have to get three Lurchins in to Barbos's mouth to defeat her.

Primate Plains: Bleak
Bleak is a large snowman who shoots snowballs from the top of his hat. You have to throw barrels at Bleak four times to kill him. His shots become more unpredictable after each hit.

Blackforest Plateau: Arich
Arich is a large spider boss. He will stay at the top of the screen and fire small balls that bounces off the walls. Once he bounces around, you have to attack him by jumping on top of him.

Great Ape Lakes: Kaos
Kaos is a robot made by K. Rool. Players have to wait for his blades to appear, jump on them, and then jump on his head, where he will be damaged. However, you are sometimes knocked of his blades by his arms that would come out and punch you off. Once attacked, he descends and swerves back and forth.

Tin Can Valley: K. Rool
The game's final boss. On this game, K. Rool has got a rocket pack that makes him fly. He fires electric beams at you. You can hurt him with barrels that appeares. However, when you hit him, he will bounce around uncontrollably. His attacks become harder to dodge as the battle progresses.

The Lost World: K. Rool
K. Rool appears again after getting all the DK Coins. He is tougher than before. He still shoots electric beams, but he also throws bombs too. He uses these weapons interchangeably and unpredictably. As before, you have to hit him with a barrel to damage him.

[edit] Trivia

Donkey Kong Land 3 originally had a subtitle called The Race Against Time. This was dropped before the actual release, probably to allow it fit in better with the other (subtitleless) Donkey Kong Land games.

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.