As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #45, February 2008.

The fifth and final remaining Arcade Classics Series NES title is also one I've been dreading to take a look at.  While it's not necessarily a bad game, it is an extremely mediocre title.  When I envisioned the NES'cade column, the main point was that I could write about arcade conversions that I enjoyed or were at the very least interesting and non mainstream.  The occasional poorly ported game was something that would burn me out with the Titles of Tengen column, so NES'cade would be a nice change.  That all goes out the window with this installment of NES'cade.  With that we are brought to Donkey Kong 3, an unorthodox departure from the gameplay formula of the previous two games in the Donkey Kong series.  Rather than featuring the further exploits of Mario and the title ape Donkey Kong, the third game takes a step to the side and the player instead takes on the role of Stanley the Bugman.  This time Donkey Kong has invaded Stanley's greenhouse, hanging from the rafters, and stirring up nests of insects to eat Stanley's flowers.  An exterminator by trade, Stanley grabs his bug spray gun and attempts to rid his greenhouse of the attacking swarms and the giant ape.

Released on the Famicom shortly after the system's launch, it was yet another easy to distribute title in the United States during the early days of the NES.  The main reason for this being that absolutely no localization was required or performed.  The ultimate objective of the game is based upon high scores alone, as there is no continuing progression level to level as with the previous entries in the series.  The screens change slightly between stages but the basic objective and set up remain exactly the same, things just get faster with more and varied enemies on the screen.  Each stage begins with Donkey Kong hanging from the rafters and preparing to stir up the hives to send bugs down to capture Stanley's flowers.  Bugs stream from the hives and head downward, attempting to shoot or collide with Stanley on their way to the flowers at the bottom of the screen.  Caterpillars crawl out from the sides of the screen and stop once shot, eventually changing direction.  More than anything they exist to block shots and create dead space on the platforms as touching a caterpillar will result in the loss of a life.  Donkey Kong himself isn't much of a threat with the exception of the few stages where he throws down coconuts.  There are two ways to complete each level:  either by killing all the insects or forcing Donkey Kong to the top of the rafters with shots from the spray gun.  This means Donkey Kong can pretty much be left ignored as he never leaves the rafters or gets down low enough to come into contact with Stanley.  However when an opening is created in the insect cover, quickly driving Donkey Kong to the top of the screen can be used as a fast way to end the stage and pick up a higher time bonus.  Forcing Donkey Kong upward is also the only way to cause a more powerful spray gun to drop down when it is present.  The stronger spray gun can destroy any insect including the caterpillars and will make Donkey Kong climb faster but it only lasts for a limited time.

It's hard to fault the NES port for anything than being a conversion of a unpopular game because in terms of a port it does everything near perfectly.  Control is spot on with the directional pad replacing the joystick.  Both buttons B and A are used to shoot blasts with the bug spray gun.  The visuals appear to be ripped directly from the arcade with only a slight loss in resolution and background detail on the NES.  All characters and items look exactly as they did in the arcade with near perfect duplication of the original sprites.  Even though Donkey Kong 3 in the arcade used a vertical display, the perspective change is perfectly executed, as are the subtle corrections in enemy flight paths and characteristics.  Instead of the screen being stretched out, the trees on the sides of the screen are lengthened, basically letterboxing the vertical display between them.  This allows for a near exact duplication of playfield size.  Audio is almost exact, the audio hardware in the arcade cabinet is probably very similar to the NES sound hardware.  All the sound effects and musical tunes make the jump onto the NES, the cartridge sounds just like the arcade cabinet.

Here we have a rarity, a wonderful recreation of the arcade original but of a game not all that many people enjoy.  If you did happen to enjoy Donkey Kong 3 in the arcade you'll love the NES port as it's as perfect as you could get on the hardware.  As with all the Arcade Classics Series titles the game is extremely polished and a solid entry into the arcade library on the platform.  It's a shame the game itself isn't a better title to begin with but again if it's a game you enjoy then by all means you should own the NES version.  I've always felt Donkey Kong 3 was the weakest of the entries in the Arcade Classics Series but given the other games in the series, that's nothing bad at all.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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