Video Game Ending Rants: Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance Version)

One of the factors that I consider vital for making a video game great is a terrific ending. Such endings can bring closure to a story, bring tears to the player's eyes, make them laugh out loud, or even offer hints at future adventures. However, there are times when an ending turns out to be not worth the effort at all, so much so that you would be better off watching it on YouTube and saving yourself the effort of playing the game just to see it. Case in point, the Game Boy Advance port of Donkey Kong Country 3, in which a perfectly good ending was ruined by the lack of any new twists and some tweaks that seemed rather questionable. Having played both this version and the Super NES original, I shall compare both versions and explain why the hand held version of the endings (both the standard ending and the best ending will be covered) is easily the worst of the two.

First, there is the standard ending, which you get to watch after you have defeated Baron K. Roolenstein in Kastle Kaos. The best new addition is having the baron in pain as he falls through the floor. Then Donkey and Diddy Kong tumble out of the mechanical monster known as KAOS, and it is revealed that they had been abducted and brainwashed into controlling the robot. This twist remains interesting, but from there it goes downhill. First Diddy's line of "I'm impressed!" has been reassigned to Donkey for some reason, resulting in a somewhat awkward transition of his next line, where he adds, "I bet even Cranky would be, after that performance."

When Cranky then shows up, Dixie and Kiddy dash to pulverize him. Cranky would turn around and sport glasses on his face, asking the Kongs whether they would really hit someone wearing glasses. In the original, the Kongs would continue to advance on him as the screen faded to black, while in the remake, the Kongs would stop just before Cranky turned around and just stay put for a few seconds without coming any closer to him. I feel that the first version of this part of the cut scene was much funnier because you get the sense that Cranky would get what was coming to him with the Kongs failing to heed his warnings. The remake made this moment far less humorous by having the Kongs stop, and thus the impression of his pending beating is much less profound. Additionally, instead of the upbeat tune that played in the first version, the standard boss theme is heard in the remake, and does not fit what should be a happy ending at all.

The worst change of the standard ending, however, was reserved for the next part of the ending. The original version featured a character parade, as its predecessors had, but this time, Rare had cleverly included the characters in Dixie's scrapbook. Pictures would be taken of the characters in action as opposed to simply having them march across the screen. In the Game Boy Advance version, however, there was no character parade at all. The photo album was not reused, nor was the parade presented in any other form. Instead, the standard ending segued straight to the credits, which for some reason took place in Donkey Kong's tree house from the first game. These credits scrolled faster than in either of the first two Donkey Kong Country ports, making the ending feel a bit rushed.

I had enjoyed the character parades in the Donkey Kong Country series, and was looking forward to how it would be done in the remake. I figured that it might be handled a bit differently given the new boss Kroctopus and the redesigned Bear Brothers (the original version had fully computer-rendered pictures of the bosses and bears). Imagine my shock when I realized that there was no character parade at all. At least the other ports had somewhat altered character parades, so why not this remake, as well? I suppose Rare was either lazy or trying to rush the game out before the Game Boy Advance would cease to exist, since even in 2005, interest in the system was gradually dwindling in favor of the Nintendo DS.

Now let us move on to the special ending, obtainable after collecting every last bonus coin, DK coin, and banana bird, as well as defeating the baron in his Knautilus submarine. First, you visit Wrinkly's Retreat on the overworld map upon saving all twenty birds (as opposed to fifteen in the original), and she tells the Kongs that they wish to take them for a ride. Not very different from the original version, though you can choose to wait until after the birds are rescued to defeat the baron for the last time, instead of having to beat him before you can save all the birds like in the SNES version. If you do it this way, the Kongs will automatically head to the retreat afterward, and then the birds will carry them as they fly through the air a bit faster than in the original, on their way to where their queen has been imprisoned.

From there, it is all downhill. For starters, the queen's rather majestic theme song has been replaced by the same theme heard in almost every area on the map that is not a stage or a boss battle. Sure, the song is upbeat, but it does not fit the action as well as the song in the original version did. After the birds free their queen, the original version added to the drama by having some sunlight shine down on the area as she thanked the Kongs for everything that they have done and vowed revenge against K. Rool. In the remake, the sunlight appears only at the end of the scene, thereby downplaying the dramatic mood considerably.

Then comes the chase scene, and Rare butchered it big time. The SNES version contained a nice, long chase scene, filled with anticipation as to whether the queen would catch up to the baron and fulfill her revenge. The length of the chase in that version made it dramatic, and the music that accompanied the scene fitted the action perfectly. For the remake, the chase has been shortened considerably, with the queen catching up to K. Rool in mere seconds, thus eliminating the drama. Additionally, the chase music (also heard in the Stampede Sprint stage), while still fitting, only plays for a few short seconds. If Rare was trying to create a more satisfying climax for the remake, they failed miserably.

Ultimately, the queen drops a giant egg on the Baron, trapping him inside for a good long while. Again, this sequence occurs much too fast in the remake...I guess Rare really was trying to rush this game out. Further meddling was done with Cranky's water skiing sequence that followed. Whereas the original version made an already funny display even more humorous by having Funky accelerate his boat and making Cranky wipe out, complete with a loud boom, the port has Funky going at the same speed throughout the sequence, and there was no sound that indicated that Cranky had wiped out. This downplay of the humor is quite a disappointment, and a great part of the ending is therefore ruined.

If all of this were not bad enough, the music that plays during this part of the ending in the remake is not fitting at all. The rather upbeat theme in the original is replaced by the music from the lake stages...which sounds more mysterious and not at all happy, even though the story had clearly reached a happy ending. Was Rare too lazy to come up with a song that did fit the ending, or at the very least use an existing tune that sounded more pleasant? This was clearly the final nail in the coffin, and the last bit of proof needed to conclude that the ending to the remake of Donkey Kong Country 3 was certainly not worth the effort, especially compared to that of the 16-bit version.

I have been a fan of the original version of Donkey Kong Country 3 for years, and that ending had just the right amount of drama and humor to make it worthwhile and give an incentive to find everything in the game. Here, Rare seemed to feel that they needed to fix what clearly was not broken, and in doing so, the best parts of the ending were ruined. On top of that, whether for lack of time or ideas, the ending did not even have any new twists at all. As much as I sort of disliked the new endings to the first two ports, at least Rare bothered to give them new twists. Here, however, we simply get a vastly inferior version of an ending that should have either remained unaltered or presented some interesting, if not necessarily good, new twists that would surprise even those who know the SNES ending by heart.

Personally, I feel that Rare was not really trying all that hard with this port, and the butchering of the ending proves it. The company in general seems to have declined a great deal since Star Fox Adventures, which is quite a shame. They used to make games that came complete with wonderful endings, but for this port, we have to settle for an altered ending that shows that Rare was no longer really trying at this point. If you want to see both endings without having to play the entire games, look them up on YouTube and prepare for disappointment, especially if you are a veteran of the SNES version like I am. A great ending has been ruined, and for that, Rare should be ashamed of themselves.