While the second Donkey Kong Country game was a noticeable improvement over the first, the third SNES installment in the series, Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble, feels more like an attempt to revisit that success, instead of improve upon it. And, like in most cases when a company tries doing that, it just isn’t the same. It’s a good game that provides both fun and challenge, but it’s just another high-quality platfomer, as opposed to an essential one.
It does give off a great first impression, even if it does so in a questionable manner. One thing I didn’t like about Diddy’s Kong Quest was just how similar its two heroes were. Sure, Diddy was a bit quicker, while Dixie could spin her hair like a helicopter to glide through the air, but both apes were small. In the original game, Donkey Kong was large and powerful, capable of dispatching large, powerful enemies with his jump, providing a notable difference that’s missing when both protagonists are the same size.
Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble brings back the “big/small” dynamic; however, instead of simply bringing back Donkey Kong, they played the “Well, he got kidnapped again…and this time, Diddy also was!” card in order to introduce Kiddy Kong — a very large child. Why did they invent a new character instead of bringing back the known commodity? Who knows, but at least Rare brought back the size difference, making it consistently feel like your choice of character for various challenges has actual meaning.
Credit: Rare/Nintendo
Credit: Rare/NintendoAlso, this game has a sort of pseudo open-world feel to it. By which I mean there’s a world map which you can traverse to get to its lands. On your home island, Funky Kong allows you to use his boat and by advancing through the various lands, you’ll be able to upgrade it in order to reach previously inaccessible places. I mean, this game is almost as linear as the first two, but Rare at least put effort into disguising that by giving the illusion of a decent-sized world to explore.
The action still is intuitive, with both Kongs capable of dispatching most enemies by either jumping on them or somersaulting into them. Well, with Dixie, the latter motion is more like spinning her hair into them, but same concept. In many levels, you’ll be able to free an animal helper and use it to help in progressing farther. Enguarde the swordfish is a must-have in underwater levels, as it provides your best way of dispatching hostile marine life, while Squitter the spider is able to create web platforms to cross vast chasms and Squawks the parrot can both fly and, depending on its color, either spit projectiles at foes or pick up barrels to drop on them. New to the game is Ellie the elephant. While the sight of mice will cause her to run, she is very handy in levels with water, as she can suck up that liquid with her trunk and spew it at foes.
The action is still pretty tough, with late-game levels often being extremely difficult to get through. And if you want the best ending, good luck! There is a secret eighth world that can be accessed after the game has been completed, but to progress through it to the true final boss, you’ll have to collect all the bonus coins scattered throughout the game. Early in the game, this is pretty easy. Most bonus barrels are located in plain sight, are easy to access and contain challenges that a reasonably competent player should be able to easily complete. As the game progresses, though, those challenges get tougher and getting to those barrels becomes far more of a challenge. Many of them are hidden and/or require you to do some tricky maneuvering under less-than-ideal circumstances.
There are other collectibles, as this game came out during the time when platfomer designers were realizing they could potentially add to their games’ appeal if they gave skilled players additional goals other than simply clearing levels and beating bosses. By doing a number of “Simon Says” mini-games and working with a large number of bear siblings, you can find a large family of birds; while each level also contains a DK coin that can only be obtained by finding a way to eliminate the enemy possessing it — often easier said than done, as that creature uses that coin as a shield to protect his front at all times.
Credit: Rare/Nintendo
Credit: Rare/NintendoI’d like to say that this is the biggest and best Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo, but one thing keeps it a bit behind the second installment. Way too many levels in this game revolve around one particular gimmick and, especially late in the game when the action is at its most fierce, those gimmicks can lead to more frustration than enjoyment. One stage has you constantly ascending up a series of ropes that are on fire, keeping you on the move constantly in order to not be caught by the flame. While enemies descend from the top of the screen, often giving you very little time to react. Later on, you have a lightning level. A small flash will appear at the top of the screen and soon after, a big blast will cover that area. This happens constantly, with the lightning seemingly alternating between hitting right where you’re at and striking just in front of you in case you’re trying to move quickly through the level. Oh, and there’s a lot of water here and you know what happens when electricity hits that stuff. Needless to say, that level was pure hell.
There’s also one where you travel through a maze of pipes where the atmosphere is such that you move slowly and have really floaty jumping and a really painful one that’s loaded with shielded enemies determined to bounce you off ledges to your death. And don’t get me started on the final level of the seventh world. It’s one of a number of underwater levels in this game, but this one’s water is poisoned in a way that inverts your controls, so you have to push right on the pad to move left and vice versa. There are a lot of fun challenges in this game, but some levels just seemed designed to diminish my enjoyment of things. I mean, all three SNES games in this series had their moments that had me reevaluating life decisions — like that damn late-game Toxic Tower level in the second one — but they seemed more pronounced down the stretch in this one.
But, hey, at the least, you can say that Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble has what it takes to challenge just about anyone, while also looking great for a 16-bit game. It’s definitely a worthy addition to the series that I had a lot of fun working my way through. I just didn’t think it was as good as its immediate predecessor because the gimmicks attached to certain levels made them annoying slogs to get through. But I can only be so negative about a game that has you take part in a snowball fight against a malevolent snowman, so this one does deserve a recommendation!
