I’ll be honest, the third Donkey Kong Country isn’t exactly my favorite.  It’s a bit too cutesy, a bit too gimmicky, and…Kiddy exists.  With that said, this is still a pretty fun game if you don’t compare it to its predecessors.  As I recently replayed it for the purposes of research, I accumulated a nice, little list containing my favorite stages.  Gimmicky though they often are, these are the stages that did the best job helping me to forget Kiddy’s existence…

10: Bobbing Barrel Brawl – Starting off, we have a rather early level where you get to try out Ellie’s ability to shoot water from her schnoz.  Along the way, you’ll need to put barrels in the water to safely cross over or risk getting chomped by a rather hangry fish!  I dunno, it’s pretty fun, I guess…

9: Tracker Barrel Trek – Apparently I enjoy being able to squirt water from Ellie’s trunk, as this stage features the very same gimmick, with the copious waterfalls providing you with plenty of weaponized H20.  The one thing that makes this level even more fun than the earlier stage on this list are the barrels, which follow you around, making it impossible to miss and fall to your doom.

8: Blazing Bazukas – I always seem to enjoy factory levels.  Could be the background music swaying my opinion, as avoiding the many barrels being shot by these Kremlings’ bazukas should be more stressful than entertaining.  As dangerous as this stage is, I still find it to be a thrilling sort of peril that made this an easy choice for this list. 

7: Fish Food Frenzy – Remember how I said that this game was gimmicky?  (No?  Well…why weren’t you paying attention?)  Well, this stage is a great example of that.  Fortunately, it’s a rather fun concept, if not a bit unsettling.  The whole time, a hungry fish will follow you around.  As long as you keep it well-fed on clownfish, you should be fine.  But if it gets too hungry, or eats a few too many urchins, watch out because your usually docile pet will decide to nibble on you next!

6: Floodlit Fish – I don’t know what’s the deal with me and dark levels.  First, there was Blackout Basement in the first game, then Glimmer’s Galleon in the second.  And now we have Floodlit Fish, where Enguarde must navigate a dark underwater level where you must poke those yellow fish for temporary light.  I just find levels where you must proceed with care to be quite relaxing.

5: Tearaway Toboggan – The fast-paced snow toboggan levels are fun, albeit a bit stressful considering the need for quick reaction time.  I could have chosen Demolition Drain-Pipe, but Tearaway Toboggan’s snowy scenery seemed preferable to a…possible sewer.

4: Fire-Ball Frenzy – Another factory level that is far more fun than it has any right to be, Fire-Ball Frenzy has the Kongs avoiding…owls or some similar type of bird armed with cannons!  Although it’s a bit confusing at first to figure out where the fireballs are located in relation to the background or foreground, once you get the hang of things, this is a rather memorable level that I enjoy despite the challenge.

3: Poisonous Pipeline – In this flooded network of pipes, left and right on the controls have been reversed.  But don’t try turning your controller upside down because that only makes everything even more wonky (as no other buttons have been changed).  Although this level used to be quite confusing for me, I’ve since gotten rather adept at navigating these tunnels with reversed controls, making it surprisingly fun.

2: Krevice Kreepers – I recently heard people talking about how many of the stages in this particular game force you to stop and slow down a lot, unlike the first two games in the trilogy, in which a skilled gamer could run through most levels without much delay.  That might be why I enjoy Krevice Kreepers so, as you can actually move pretty quickly in this level.  And you’ll certainly need to be fast, as Krems in barrels like to patrol these ropes, and once they see you, they’ll use their impressive upper body strength to come after you!

1: Krack-Shot Kroc – Before I started making this list, I already knew this stage would be my absolute favorite.  For one thing, you get to play as Squitter the whole time, the absolute best of the animal buddies.  And two, well, there’s just something about avoiding the crosshairs of an unseen Kremling with impeccable aim that I find to be quite fun, even if it is a bit stressful.  There’s even a mini game where you get to take on the role of said Kremling and shoot all the enemies before time runs out!

It’s time to share your favorite levels from DKC3, dear readers!  The comments are open for your input!

DKC3 Title Screen from Official Nintendo Site