But this is probably the game where he found out he can’t work miracles. Is this the low point of Shigeru Miyamoto’s career? Actually, no. So the climax stage is just a short wave where you push DK’s head up into a beehive. But there was no way to implement a unique finale mechanic the way they designed Donkey Kong 3. The problem is that they wanted a “climax stage” like Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. This is what I mean by poor use of the main gameplay mechanic. Getting the bug spray in the first stage carries over to the second stage, where you can hit DK enough to beat that stage in a couple seconds.

There’s a powerful bug spray that, while it only works temporarily, carries over between stages if you have enough juice left in it. The one interesting mechanic of Donkey Kong 3, shooting a centralized, heavy target enough to push it past a goal, is just not well implemented. I was bitching the entire time, but they were always interesting. I genuinely disliked my experience playing Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., but, I was never bored playing them. (Okay, fine, maybe Wii Music.) Donkey Kong 3 is the “weird one” in the series, but it’s also one of the very worst Nintendo games ever made. I’m not a complete ogre.īut seriously, three levels Nintendo? Three? Until this point, I can’t remember playing a Nintendo-released game where it feels like they just gave up. All it has going for it is the hilarious idea of shooting bug poison up Donkey Kong’s bum. Between these and the caterpillars that serve no purpose but to block your attacks, Donkey Kong 3 really didn’t seem to have a vision for the type of fast-paced, white-knuckle gameplay that the genre required by this point. Instead of dealing with space bugs, you’re dealing with garden-variety Earth bugs in a greenhouse that attack in waves and sometimes just straight-up shoot you with a stinger with seemingly no visual or audio warning it’s coming. The aim here seems to have been to combine platforming with space shooting, but the platforming elements really aren’t a major factor in the game and the shooting elements leave a lot to be desired. How come it never comes up in the discussion of potential worst Nintendo developed titles? Because it’s pretty fucking sorry. Once again, Hamster has put together a well-emulated package that’s all for naught, because Donkey Kong 3 is a terrible game. For all we know, Donkey Kong’s coconut gun just fired in spurts and Stanley is about to be Bukaked on. The beauty of a screenshot is that you can’t tell that it’s Stanley the Bugman shooting DK here.

Donkey kong 3 levels