Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is the third game in the Donkey Kong Country series, and the most ambitious with its more open overworld. It's also the most polarizing of the SNES trilogy, especially in regards to the soundtrack.

Sub-Pages#

Prerelease Info Bugs

Unused Sprites#

Kracka#

Kracka, the red version of Knocka in a TNT barrel exclusive to the GBA version, was actually created for the original game. All of his sprites are present, along with an alternate red palette for the normal TNT barrel sprites which would have been used if he was picked up and thrown.

Kuchuka#

There is also a purple palette for the normal barrel sprites, which suggests that Kuchuka could be picked up and thrown at one point. In the final version, Kuchuka cannot be carried or defeated by any means.

Kopter#

Unused sprites of Kopter taking off, standing idle, and being defeated. The defeated sprite was later used in Donkey Kong Land III. In Donkey Kong Country 3, Kopters are always flying and there is no way to defeat them.

KPlat#

An unused platform. An unused palette at FD54C5 appears to be the best fit for it, giving it a green, metallic appearance. This palette is referenced in the sprite palette pointer table immediately following the entries for Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong. The platform's hitbox size and position parameters are all zero, hinting at it being intended for a cutscene. The internal name associated with the hitbox data is KPlat. All of this information points to this platform having an association with KAOS. It also looks to be the proper size to come out of KAOS's body through the head opening. This may mean the captive Kongs were planned to make their grand entrance emerging from KAOS on this platform, instead of just dropping in from the top of the screen.

Map Sprites#

A sprite which is meant to overlap the entrance to Arich's Ambush in the Kremwood Forest map. In the final version, the entrance is always dark.

Changed Sprites#

Unused	Used

Squawks' "hurt" sprite from Donkey Kong Country 2 is present here as well, although the sprite that replaced it isn't actually new: in any DKC2 level with Squawks or Quawks, grabbing onto the bird or being hurt by enemies causes the bird to briefly display this animation frame. The sprite was restored in the GBA version.

Unused	Used

An unused version of Baron K. Roolenstein being electrocuted exists in his set of compressed sprites (the final sprite is in the standard uncompressed set of sprites). This early sprite has straighter, stick-like fingers. Likewise with the Squawks's sprite, this frame was also restored in the GBA version.

Unused Levels#

This game has a handful of unused stages and empty level slots, which can be loaded with the PAR code 7E00C0:??, where ?? is a value for a level mentioned below.

Level 00#

Level ID 00 is a copy of Doorstop Dash with the palette from Squeals on Wheels, the Cavern Caprice music, and no objects other than a lever where the first door is. It is possible to encounter this level in normal gameplay from a wrong warp glitch in Rocket Rush - enter the level with one Kong, open the DK Barrel, swap Kongs before entering the rocket, then reach the end of the rocket segment in one attempt to warp to here after exiting the rocket. Doing this while having completed Knautilus will result in the level gaining a glitched red tint. It is impossible to leave the level; not even Start + Select will let you out, so the only way out once you get here is to restart the console.

Level 0E#

Level ID 0E is a Floodlit Fish copy intended for being used on Dixie's Photo Album at the credits of the game. Entering this level outside of the credits will result in the player spawning as a Skidda with a glitched palette near the bottom right of the screen with no way to exit aside from restarting the console. If entered during the Gleamin' Bream portion of the photo album credits, it will run correctly, but the Gleamin' Bream and the picture after it is taken will also have glitched palettes.

Level 14#

Level ID 14 is an early version of Bobbing Barrel Brawl that starts midway into the level. The player spawns as Ellie. Only a few objects within the area the player spawns in has objects, including a single Knik-Knak, a single Krimp, a simple barrel puzzle with a Nibbla, and the TNT Barrel with the Red Buzzes if the player backtracks. There is a prize hole that is present in the final level, but in this version attempting to bust it open with a TNT Barrel does nothing. It is possible to exit the level via Start + Select if the final version of Bobbing Barrel Brawl was completed beforehand, otherwise the only way out is to restart the console, as the level has no End of Level Flag.

Null levels#

Level IDs 01-07, 17-19, and 4E-4F are null levels that had their data removed in the final game. They all cause the game to crash at a grey screen if loaded. Given the first two ranges of the levels are within the cutscenes for Dixie's Photo Album in the credits and the K. Rool ending chase, they were probably originally used for the former. The latter range is grouped just before the bonus levels, presumably as filler slots.

Level ID 4E is the only level in the pack that has some sort of data, where it appears to be a copy of Buzzer Barrage with no objects other than an unknown object.

Unused Sounds#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There's a handful of sounds that are unused; but the game seems to have poor documentation of the sound effect IDs. Extract them, then investigate the unused sounds properly that way.

Use PAR code B7EC85:?? on the US version to replace the banana collecting sound with one of these sounds, where ?? is the ID of a sound. Do note that sounds with an ID above 60 requires being in the correct type of level in order to load the correct sample to play properly.

18: A low-pitched version of the sound when a Kremcoin appears.

Internal Level Order#

The level order appears to have been shuffled late in development, as the internal ID order does not match the final game's progression.

The most notable changes are:

• Squeals on Wheels and Murky Mill swapped places. This change had been documented in Nintendo Power #90 when the game was still in development.
• Bobbing Barrel Brawl was intended for KAOS Kore, while Lightning Lookout took its place in Kremwood Forest.
• KAOS Kore's internal order is almost completely different, with only Creepy Caverns and Poisonous Pipeline in the same locations. In addition to Bobbing Barrel Brawl swapping places with Lightning Lookout, Konveyor Rope Klash replaced Koindozer Klamber as the area's first level.

Klubba's Dialogue#

Present at 0x3779E9 in the ROM in all versions is most of Klubba's dialogue from Donkey Kong Country 2.

u have plenty of.
lives!
Now 'ear this, landlubbers! Me
name is Klubba an' to cross me
bridge is gonna cost yer many
pieces o' eight!
 An' if yers don't pay up, I'll
    run yer through like the
  scurvy dogs ye are, A-harrr!
It costs 15 Kremkoins to cross
over, mateys
Splice me mainbrace, it's the
    monkeys! I hope yers got 
   enough booty this time, or 
      ye'll walk the plank!
 Shiver me timbers! Where's me
 loot? Cos if I don't get none,
  ye don't cross over, mateys!
  Scurvy chimps ahoy! C'mon ye
  yellowbellies. Try an' cross
 Klubba's bridge without payin
          I dare ye!
   Let's see yer dubloons, ye
           mangy apes!
 A-harrrr! 'Tis the flea ridden
  gorillas again! Pay the toll,
  or ye'll suffer a plenty, I
          promise ye!
 Avast there! Touch me horde o'
  gold 'ere, an' I'll slice ye
             in two!
  Stop right there ye scummy
 swabs! Step on me toll bridge
  an' I'll throw ye overboard!
 It's twenty lashes wi' the cat
    o' nine tails for ye if I
  don't get me booty this time,
         y' filthy apes!
 Ye'll 'ave t' find me more n'
         that to pass!
 That's not enough, y' banana-
 scoffing, scummy landlubbers!
   Ye'll taste me club if ye
      don't get some more!
  Try that again an' it's Davy
 Jones's locker f' ye! A-harrh!
   What's wrong with ye? Our
  bonus rooms must be too hard 
   for y' flea bitten chimps
            t' find
 Har! Har! Har! Y'must be jokin
 if I'm gonna let ye across fer
        t

Hidden Background Detail#

In-Game	Background

In Swanky's Sideshow, the barrel that Swanky Kong stands in has bananas sitting on the top of it. While Swanky's sprite mostly covers up this detail in-game, the corner of the bunch can still be seen over his left shoulder.

Sound Test#

US/Europe	Japan

Press L, R, R, L, R, R, L, R, L, R on the file select menu, then enter MUSIC as a code. You can then select music and listen to it accordingly.

Anti-Piracy#

US/Europe	Japan

Many of the same anti-piracy routines seen in the previous game (and also in Killer Instinct) are present. However, there's no evidence currently that the Checksum Verification and Reset Vector Verification routines exist in Donkey Kong Country 3. Game Genie code DF1D-4ADD will activate the anti-piracy measure in any version of the game.

Failing any of the below tests will display the above unauthorized device message on bootup.

Note: The console's RAM is mostly random on boot and can result in a false positive for the Stack Test and RAM Tests. To account for this, an error message will be displayed first:

US/Europe	Japan

Behind the scenes, the hex string 0x2863292031393936 (translates to ASCII (c) 1996) is copied to both $06A3 and the beginning of SRAM (battery-backed memory used to hold the save game data).

Ten seconds powered off is necessary for the contents of RAM to decay. If these tests fail again on the second boot (using the string saved in SRAM to determine if it's the second try), then the anti-piracy message is shown. However, if the tests pass, the hex string 0xF49272EE77A6E78A (translates to ASCII ⌠Ærεwªτè using the CP437 character set, appears to be a stylised "Rareware") is copied to $06A3 instead; if this string is detected at startup, the anti-piracy checks are skipped and the game boots normally.

Boot State Test#

Almost immediately after booting, the Emulation Flag and Direct Page register are examined. The console already being in Native Mode and/or the Direct Page register containing a non-zero value fails the test, as these are evidence that another program (e.g., a backup unit menu) was running before the game had a chance to boot.

Stack Test#

If the Reset Vector was at the top of the stack, the test fails. This is explained in more detail in the following section.

RAM Tests#

The beginning of RAM (range $7E0000-7E1FFF) is searched for three types of fingerprints left behind by the unauthorized devices. The two jump tests, along with the stack test mentioned in the previous section, are looking for the various methods that attached hardware can use to switch from its programming to that of the game cartridge.

Jump $4C#

Checks for operation $4C????, where ???? is the Reset Vector.

Indirect Jump $6C#

Checks for operation $6CFCFF, an indirect jump.

Incrementing RAM Pattern#

Checks for the incrementing 32-byte string $60-7F (i.e., 60,61,62 ... 7D,7E,7F). This includes lowercase ASCII characters "a" to "z."

SRAM Size Test#

If the game detects 0KB of SRAM, this test is failed. Normally, the cartridge has 2KB of SRAM, but this anti-piracy routine will not be executed if this amount is increased (this is a typical anti-piracy routine in SNES games).

Region Errors#

US/Europe	Japan

If the game detects it was an NTSC copy inserted into a PAL system or vice versa, these error messages will appear on boot up. Notice that "game pak" is misspelled as "game pack". Also, even in the Europe release, it still attributes Nintendo of America instead of Nintendo of Europe.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

US/Europe	Japan

The US and European title screen continues the tradition of going from one Kong to another; The developers went from Donkey Kong Country to Diddy's Kong Quest to Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. In Japan, the game continues the Super Donkey Kong naming convention and, therefore, is known as "Super Donkey Kong 3: Mysterious Kremis Island."

References#