Donkey Kong 3
Most people have heard of Donkey Kong and its sequel
Donkey Kong Jr. But few people know of the third game in the
trilogy. This game has become the forgotten step-child of
Nintendo. For some reason, they have pushed this game into
oblivion along with its star. For reasons that I do not know,
Mario does not star in the third Donkey Kong game. Instead of
the famous plumber, we get Stanley the Bugman. Poor Stanley
figures that he has made it to the big time. He gets to star
with one of Nintendo's biggest stars, Donkey Kong. But instead
of becoming famous, he is lost in the Twilight Zone.
The gameplay of Donkey Kong 3 is simple
enough. As Stanley the Bugman, you must spray Donkey Kong in
the butt with a can of bug spray. Why you need to shoot an ape
in the hiney with bug spray is unknown. But it sends him up his
vines and if you get him to the top, he gets his head stuck in a
beehive, which ends the level. But old Donkey Kong has some
tricks to stop you. First, he shakes the hives and sends angry
bees at you. Then he throws what looks like coconuts at you.
And if he reaches the bottom, you are done. But if you get him
to drop the super powerful bug sprayer, you can really send him
flying upwards.
(One of the many level
designs, not that much different)
While the levels are very similar, the
gameplay is actually pretty fun. Besides trying to get Donkey
Kong up, you also have to contend with different bugs. There
are typical bees that will sting you if they touch you. There
are some kind of grenade like bug that if you shoot it, it sends
shrapnel flying. There are bugs that get in your way and you
cannot kill with the normal bug spray. But if you shoot them,
they will be stunned and get in your way.
Another part of the game is the pots of
flowers at the bottom of the screen. You start with five pots
and you have to watch because bees will pick them up and fly
away with them. If you lose all five plants, you lose a guy.
So you need to not only shoot Donkey Kong but also watch your
plants. But the good news is that if you keep all five plants,
you get a big bonus. And this is a quick way to increase your
score.
(In the end, the game is
like Donkey Kong here, down for the count)
I must say that the music in the game,
while not bad, is not exactly memorable either. It is decent.
The sound effects are good but not memorable. The whole game is
pretty much decent. While I like the basic idea and I think
Stanley is a pretty good dancer (let's see Mario keep up with
those dance moves), the game just does not jump out at you. At
its core, it is a galaxian type game but with Donkey Kong.
Maybe that is the reason why Mario bowed out of the game and
went on to do Mario Bros. But you still have to feel sorry for
poor Stanley. He cannot help that he was put into a mediocre
game.
This is just a review of the arcade machine.
If you are looking for the actual arcade machine, you may want
to check out ebay. Click below to see if you can find this
game.
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