Donkey Kong Land III was 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, DKLIII was the semi-sequel to Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! And also like the other games in the DKL series, DKLIII was enhanced for the Super Game Boy and was packaged with a "banana yellow" cartridge.
DKLIII had 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 was 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). DKLIII also marked 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.
Trivia
- Donkey Kong Land III 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 III 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 colour. This version was not released outside of Japan.
Kids to Adults
