Donkey Kong 3

Donkey Kong 3

European arcade flyer
Developer(s) Nintendo
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Shigeru Miyamoto
Producer(s) Gunpei Yokoi
Composer(s) Hirokazu Tanaka
Series Donkey Kong
Platform(s) Arcade, NES, PC-88, FM-7, e-Reader, Virtual Console
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Fixed shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (at 4.0 MHz)
Sound chip: Dual Ricoh 2A03 (at 1.79MHz)
Display Raster, 224 x 256, vertical orientation

Donkey Kong 3 (ドンキーコング3 Donkī Kongu Surī) is the third video game in the original Donkey Kong series by Nintendo. It was released near simultaneously for the Family Computer and arcade, and later released in America on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. The game was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in North America on July 14, 2008 and in Europe on January 9, 2009. Although it is a sequel, this title is a radical departure in gameplay from previous titles.[1] Donkey Kong 3 was also the first game to bear the current Donkey Kong logo (although the logo in the game was green instead of red).

Story

Stanley (スタンリー Sutanrii in Japanese) is a bugman. Donkey Kong has taken refuge in his greenhouse and it is now up to Stanley to stop the ape from stirring up any more insects that will soon destroy his flowers. Stanley saves the flowers by spraying bug spray on Donkey Kong.[2]

Gameplay

Screenshot of Donkey Kong 3 (arcade version).

The game is a shooter which incorporates ideas from Space Firebird, an earlier Nintendo arcade game, and adapts them into a new setting.

Donkey Kong hangs from vines at the center of the screen, and the player-controlled Stanley the exterminator runs and jumps on platforms beneath him. Stanley can fire bug spray at both Donkey Kong and insects flying around the levels. A level is completed by continually using bug spray on Donkey Kong, forcing him to the top of the screen, or by killing all of the bugs. A super spray can on the vines falls down when Donkey Kong is sprayed past it. The super spray only lasts for a limited number of shots, but it pushes Donkey Kong upward at a much faster rate, making it easier to complete the level. It only appears at the start of each life.

The insects are buzzbees, beespies, queen bees (which shatter into deadly pieces when destroyed), creepy caterpillars, butterflies, beetles, moths, beebombs and vine eaters. Some of the flying insects attempt to pick up the flowers at the bottom of the screen and carry them away. This decreases the bonus at the end of the round.

There are three levels which repeat in a fixed sequence.

Critical reception

Computer and Video Games said that the game's "fast action and superior sound effects" made Donkey Kong 3 a "sure hit" in arcades.[2]

IGN gave the Virtual Console version a 6.0 out of 10, describing it as a "radical departure" from the previous Donkey Kong games, calling it "repetitive."[3]

Legacy

Game & Watch Donkey Kong 3

Stanley the Bugman made an appearance in an episode of the Donkey Kong segment of Saturday Supercade titled "Greenhouse Gorilla", as well as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Hudson Soft ported Donkey Kong 3 to the Japan-only NEC PC-8801 and FM-7 in 1984. This version featured new backgrounds.

A Multi-Screen Game & Watch title, which is similar to Donkey Kong 3, is entitled Greenhouse.

A VS. Series Game & Watch version of the arcade game has different gameplay. In this version, player one controls Stanley the Bugman and computer player (or player two) controls Donkey Kong in a duel against each other using exterminating spray cans to move the bees to the other side of them to make the bees sting their opponents. Players can only hold up to three amounts of spraying liquid in their spray cans. On one player mode, the higher player one as Stanley scores, the faster the spraying liquid on the side of computer player as Donkey Kong drops. A version of this game was included in Game & Watch Gallery 4 for the Game Boy Advance, but featuring Mario in place of Stanley and a Boo and a Fireball in place of the bees.

References

  1. ↑ Donkey Kong 3 VC Reviews
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Donkey Kong Swings Back." Computer and Video Games. February 1984. p. 50.
  3. ↑ "IGN Donkey Kong 3 VC review". Retrieved 2008-08-27.

External links