Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong 3 is the third in the DK Arcade series. Stanley the Bugman is the star this time, while Mario is nowhere to be found. Also unlike past DK Arcade games, this one is more of a shooting game.
Story
Donkey Kong has broken into Stanley the Bugman's greenhouse. He's hanging in the rafters stirring up nests of Buzzbees and Beespies, which will destroy Stanley's flowers in revenge. Armed with a can of fly spray, Stanley must destroy the bees and chase Donkey Kong away before he wrecks the whole greenhouse.
Gameplay
The game is very simplistic, requiring the player to gather points as the object rather than have any specific long-term goal in mind. There are three rounds, and once the player completes all three, he returns to the first. Throughout the levels are scattered various enemies: Buzzbees, beespies, queen bees which shatter into deadly pieces when destroyed, and creepy caterpillars. The bees attempt to steal Stanley's flowers, and the bees must be destroyed before reaching the plants. Donkey Kong himself hangs from two vines at the top of the screen. Spraying him drives him upwards and eventually off the screen to win the level.
Legacy
Donkey Kong 3 was not as successful as the previous two games, perhaps because its game structure is dramatically different. In the previous games, the player controlled a character who walked and jumped and climbed across various levels while avoiding obstacles. This game, to contrast, was more of a shoot-em-up comparable to Galaga.
Stanley the Bugman remains one of Nintendo's most obscure characters, and he never reappeared in any other games, although he does appear as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
As with the rest of the Donkey Kong series, it was ported to most of Nintendo's gaming systems, including the Game Boy Advance and the NES. There is also a possibility of it appearing on the Wii's Virtual Console.
Trivia
- This is the first Donkey Kong game without Mario who is in the spin-off Mario Bros. with his brother Luigi.
