Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
Donkey Kong 3 fascinates me. The original 1981 Donkey Kong is rightfully regarded as one of the medium’s most important texts, the work that put Nintendo on the map, and is regularly referenced in its sequels and pop culture. While its direct followup, Donkey Kong Jr., may not share that lofty level of prestige, it still holds a firm place in Nintendo’s oeuvre. But very few people seem to care about the series’ third installment. Until I began using the internet, everyone I knew, at best, was only barely aware of Donkey Kong 3‘s existence; it was an enigma.
Super Smash Bros. Melee’s trophy of Stanley the Bugman, Donkey Kong 3’s protagonist, was the first time I learned any concrete details about the game. It just left me more curious! (Image: Nintendo)
Donkey Kong popularized the concept of jumping in an action game, laying the groundwork for what became the platformer genre. It also has ladders Mario can climb, a concept Donkey Kong Jr. built upon; its headliner could move up or down vines or chains at different speeds. Beating either game also rewards you with an actual ending before they loop back to their opening stage; that was unique in an era full of endless space shooters and maze-crawlers. Donkey Kong and, to a much lesser extent, Jr. were revolutionary, and while I wasn’t alive during their heyday, people I know who were venerate them.
When I finally got to try Donkey Kong 3 a decade ago, I swiftly understood why it doesn’t share its predecessors’ acclaim—it’s a radical departure for the series. Now, Stanley does walk and hop along a small cluster of platforms; there is that bit of mechanical continuity with the earlier games. But jumping is deemphasized and overshadowed by 3’s big innovation: shooting. Yes, this is a shooter where Donkey Kong summons bugs our young exterminator must spray. 3’s altered control scheme reflects its change in focus; pressing the A or B button shoots Stanley’s spray, while jumping is relegated to pressing up on the D-pad (dropping down platforms is done by pressing down). Plus, Stanley can only jump straight up, where Mario and Donkey Kong Jr. could also leap left or right.
Stanley starts with three lives and gains an additional one upon reaching 50,000 points. You’re given a “perfect” bonus at the end of each stage if none of your flowers are taken. (Image: Nintendo)
Five flowers sit along the ground, and if a bug reaches one, it’ll grab it and flee. If you can spray it before it exits the screen, the flower descends back down. Unsurprisingly, touching a bug swiftly kills Stanley, and the pests grow more ferocious and numerous as you progress through the game. Most simply fly down the left or right side of the screen. Others have gimmicks: some crawl, are faster, take two hits to kill, or shoot projectiles. The “yellow greenhouse” stages have these annoying worms that crawl horizontally, are invulnerable, and freeze when hit; they exist solely to shield their master. Donkey Kong occasionally retaliates against Stanley by tossing coconuts, but his minions are the real threats. For what it’s worth, there’s more variety here than in, say, Space Invader.
Anyway, Donkey Kong looms over every level, and hitting him with Stanley’s spray gun causes him to recoil upwards. When the gorilla smashes his head against the ceiling or a giant beehive, you clear the round and advance to the next one. Naturally, Donkey Kong will climb downwards while you’re blasting his grunts. If he drops down onto the ground or if you run out of time, you lose a life, so carefully alternating between spraying Donkey Kong and his bugs is partially where the game derives its challenge from.
Like other NES games, there’s a harder difficulty available. You can play both difficulties with a friend, alternating to see who gets the higher score. (Image: Nintendo)
A power-up, a Super Sprayer can that offers a strong but temporary boost to Stanley’s gun, dangles on Donkey Kong’s vines, and he’ll knock it off as he climbs. Once it lands on the ground, it’ll stay there until Stanley grabs it or he dies, which adds a small layer of strategy; do you need it now, or is it worth saving for later? Still, while this tool is perfectly fine and useful, it is less exciting than the mechanically unique items from the previous games (there’s a reason the Hammer remains a Smash staple).
Unfortunately, Donkey Kong 3 quickly grows stale. The platforms Stanley runs along change position, the environments change color, the hazards increase, and… that’s it. And there are only three arenas in total! It’s a stark, unfavorable contrast to the original and Jr.; they have four levels each, and clearing an obstacle course in them rewards you with an entirely different one. Hey, exterminating insects isn’t fun, so at least the monotony of Stanley’s greenhouse-guarding gig feels honest.
Although his NES sprite is hideous, I do like Stanley’s white and blue color scheme. Unsurprisingly, the arcade version of Donkey Kong 3 looks much better. (Image: Nintendo)
Nintendo released a modified version of Donkey Kong 3 for the NES a year after the arcade one, and both have been re-released over the decades (to be clear, this review is predominantly based on the NES version, which I own on my Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U… for some reason). A few Mario spin-offs, Game & Watch units, WarioWares, NES Remix, and the Super Smash Bros. series pay tribute to this quarter-guzzler. It also scored a Japan-only sequel.
Unsurprisingly, though, its impact on the brand is minimal. Former Nintendo affiliate Rare’s franchise-redefining Donkey Kong Country openly drew from Donkey Kong and Jr.—it inherits their title characters, whose barrel-tossing and vine-climbing gimmicks inform Country’s gameplay—but nothing from 3. Retro Studios, however, gave its “blue greenhouse” stage an inconspicuous nod in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It’s a small, appreciated gesture that helps affirm that Donkey Kong 3 does have a place in the greater Kong canon.
The NES version of Donkey Kong 3 loses some baddies and animations. Nothing as crippling as losing a whole level like in the NES version of Donkey Kong, but reach for the arcade version of DK3 if possible. (Image: Nintendo)
And Donkey Kong 3 does carry value. Visually, both versions are respectable (the malformed blob that is NES Stanley aside) and their namesake ape is as animated as ever. The black backgrounds also ensure that the colorful characters and items always remain readable. Stanley’s plant-protecting duty exemplifies the franchise’s nature-loving themes (elements like the dystopian factories of Country and Land III further this). Donkey Kong 3‘s audio is also okay, even evoking a nice sense of anxiety at its best (regrettably, though, none of its jingles are memorable). And though I’d sooner spring for its forebears or, say, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong 3 can be fun in spurts.
Donkey Kong 3 also came out in 1983, which was an experimental time for Nintendo and the industry as a whole. Several sequels of yesteryear diverged heavily from their predecessors, notoriously including Nintendo’s own Super Mario Bros. 2 and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It’s easy to frown upon Donkey Kong 3’s unorthodox direction today, but I respect it for trying to push what Donkey Kong games could be. Likewise, even if Stanley’s an uninteresting blank that history’s forgotten, I welcome his inclusion, especially since it upholds the pattern of each arcade game starring someone new (coincidentally, Rare’s Country trilogy does something similar; each one features a different headliner).
In the arcade version, Donkey Kong plummets down after hitting a beehive and Stanley celebrates by doing a dorky dance. None of that’s kept in the NES one, sadly. (Image: Nintendo)
And if nothing else, there is a neat weirdness to Donkey Kong 3; a game like it would never release under the Donkey Kong umbrella today (though the series has continued releasing experimental entries; the Aughts were notorious for them). Yes, Donkey Kong 3 isn’t especially engaging; I’d even argue it’s the second weakest mainline Donkey Kong game (Donkey Kong 64, for my money, wins the gold crown handily). Outside the rare Easter egg, it will never influence the series going forward, either. But I’m glad it exists, and part of me wonders how its formula and protagonist would have evolved if Nintendo kept them around.
The arcade-era Donkey Kong ages into Country’s aptly-named Cranky Kong. Although he vividly remembers Mario and Pauline, he never mentions Stanley. Maybe Cranky doesn’t respect him, or maybe he’s just senile and forgot? (Image: Nintendo)
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