Collection essentials #52: Donkey Kong 3 (NES)

 

The third Donkey Kong game is the most obscure of the trilogy and a bit of an odd one. Mario is out of the picture, and in his place is a generic-looking panicked dude named Stanley who Nintendo wouldn’t bring back. That was probably a mistake. The gameplay is completely different, and really not even a platformer at all. This is closer to what one would call a “tower defense” game…well, plants instead of towers in this case.

Stanley is a gardener whose plants are at the bottom of the screen, and for some reason Donkey Kong has decided to destroy Stanley’s garden and has teamed up with the local insects to accomplish this task. Donkey and the insects will slowly descend and try to take Stanley’s plants, and you as Stanley must move back and forth and shoot bug spray to ward them off. You clear a level and get a bucket of points if you manage to push Donkey Kong all the way to the top of the screen.

Donkey Kong 3 wasn’t as successful as the first two and Nintendo probably shouldn’t have deviated from their formula so drastically. Donkey Kong as a series would be dormant for a whole decade after this game. But I actually think Donkey Kong 3 is really fun! The gameplay can get pretty challenging and hectic. Easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. I think two-player simultaneous play could have been really fun, so that’s a bit of a missed opportunity. But I definitely consider this an essential. 

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