Version Differences

This is a sub-page of Donkey Kong Land III.

Regional Differences#

When the game was released in Japan, the game was remade for the Game Boy Color and as a result uses full color. However, this wasn't the only change...

Title Screen#

The Japanese title is ドンキーコングGB ディンキーコング&ディクシーコング, which translates to Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong (Dinky is Kiddy's Japanese name). The title screen was consequently given a slight update.

International GB	Japanese GBC

Error Screen#

As the game is GBC-only, the following message is displayed if one attempts to play it on an original Game Boy. For obvious reasons, this appears nowhere in the English releases.

Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong
This cartridge is designed for use only with Game Boy Color. Please use a Game Boy Color.

Bear#

In the International version, the Bear sprite is fully animated. In the Japanese version, for reasons unknown, his animation was dropped to one frame. The tiles still exist from offsets 1F420-1F97F, but only the tiles from 1F420-1F53F are used in the Japanese version, while the rest are unused.

International GB	Japanese GBC

World Maps#

Similarly, the maps were animated in the International version with flowing water, rotating mills, smoke being emitted from factories, and blinking lights from Sheepy Shop and Wrinkly Refuge. In the Japanese version, all of these lost animation, resulting in a static world map. The graphics for all animated frames still remain in the Japanese ROM (starting at 7CF24), but only the first frame of each graphic is used. In addition, the code to animate the maps was removed, with the subroutine still present, but stubbed out, only consisting of a single "ret" instruction.

The September 2020 gigaleak revealed the reason for the removal: The Japanese prototype did not have enough space in the ROM to contain the subroutine, and it was not added back in the final version despite the ROM size being doubled to 1 MB. More details can be found on the Japanese prototype page, or the Notes page.

In the International versions of the game, the level names are centered. In the Japanese version, they are aligned to the left.

International GB	Japanese GBC

Jetty Jitters demo#

Watch on YouTubeIf you wait on the title screen without pressing Start, eventually a demo of a level will appear. Jetty Jitters is the default demo, seen when Left, Up, Down, or Select aren't pressed at all, either.

In the English version, the demo works as you'd expect, and the Kongs make it to the end of the level. The Game Boy Color has double-speed mode, which the Japanese version takes advantage of, causing timing differences between the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Due to this, the same demo desyncs at one point in the Japanese version, resulting in a glitchy demo (see right). This can be fixed by going to offset 530CF in the Japanese version, and increasing it to 0B (some other values up to 10 will also work). Alternately, disabling double-speed mode will also fix the demo (this can be done by going to ROM offset 016D and replacing the byte string with 00 00 00) -- however, this will also make the game significantly buggy and virtually unplayable.

Time Attack screen#

On the Time Attack screen, your most recent time is displayed on the bottom of the screen in the International version. In the Japanese version, this is no longer the case.

Interestingly enough, tiles that read さいごのタイム (the Japanese translation of "last time") appear in VRAM from 9580 to 95EF, but are never displayed in-game. Additionally, the code to display the last time was removed completely.

Similar to the case with the removal of world map animations, the Japanese prototype from the September 2020 gigaleak did not have enough ROM space to display the player's last time, and the code was similarly not added back in the final version despite the 1 MB ROM size.

International GB	Japanese GBC

Wrinkly and Bear dialogue#

One piece of dialogue of Wrinkly and one piece of dialogue of Bear was not translated, and removed completely.

In the case of Wrinkly, she randomly says one of two pieces of dialogue when greeting the Kongs in the International version. In the Japanese version, only the first piece of dialogue was translated; the other was cut. Interestingly enough, though, there are two pointers in the Japanese ROM (at B224 and B227) pointing to the same text (at 7E2B4); both are used, and the one that is used is random.

 WHY, IF IT ISN'T
 DONKEY - OR IS IT
 FUNKY? NO, DIDDY!

ドンキーじゃないかい?
あれファンキーかな?
いや、ディディーよ!

 TEA'S READY - I'LL
  SAVE YOUR GAME
WHILE YOU DRINK IT.

In the case of Bear, the same situation occurs when attempting to buy something without enough money. This time, however, only one pointer exists in the Japanese version (at B15E; points to 7E1C1)!

   SORRY CHIMPS,
 YOUR CREDIT WON'T
 STRETCH THAT FAR.

 UH-OH. LOOKS LIKE
 YOU'VE BLOWN YOUR
   BANK BALANCE.

およよ　ぎんこうにあったお金
全部つかっちゃったのか

The Lost World Bug#

Watch on YouTubeIn all International versions, a glitch exists that makes it possible to enter the Lost World without needing 35 DK Coins. In order to do this glitch, there are some prerequisites that need to be taken care of first:

• There needs to be a file that already has access to the Lost World, including the ability to enter it (i.e., K. Rool Duel has been beaten and at least 35 DK Coins have been collected).
• On the file where the player wishes to use this glitch, the Lost World must be accessible from the world map (Northern Kremisphere). This can be done by either beating K. Rool Duel, or using the level unlock cheat (on the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Left, Down, Up, Right). However, it is not necessary to be able to enter the Lost World successfully (i.e., for this file 35 DK Coins are not necessary).

Once that is taken care of, here are the steps to perform this glitch:

1. Upon turning the game on, choose the file where the Lost World is already unlocked per normal means.
2. Next, enter the Lost World and either press A + B + Select + Start to reset the game, or lose all lives. In either case, wait until the title screen appears.
3. Select the file where you wish to use the glitch (the level unlock cheat can be used if necessary).
4. Enter the Lost World. K. Rool will not appear! To be clear, by doing this, it is possible to enter the Lost World, despite not having enough DK Coins.

This glitch works because in the International versions, when successfully entering the Lost World, a flag is set at C5BF, which causes K. Rool to stop appearing upon subsequent attempts to enter it until the game is turned off. Since the 35 DK Coin check only occurs if K. Rool appears, this means that it is possible to enter the Lost World regardless of how many DK Coins are obtained. The Japanese version fixed this by resetting this flag at C5BF upon loading a save file, which makes K. Rool always appear whenever trying to enter the Lost World. Therefore, the 35 DK Coin check will always occur as well.

A variation of this glitch also exists for K. Rool's Last Stand, but the first file needs 42 DK Coins and exactly 6 watches in order for this to work (having more than 6 watches does not trigger the glitch). This variation likewise only works in the international versions, for similar reasons.

Miscellany#

• The Japanese version has noticeably less lag, particularly noticeable in Clifftop Critters and Redwood Rampage.
• The credits have been updated to include those responsible for the Japanese translation. (Interestingly, while most of the game was translated, the credits are still in English.)
• In the International version, when pausing the game, the screen darkens (excluding sprites, which do not change). In the Japanese version, the screen simply freezes without darkening.
• In dialogue, the text appears one kana at a time, instead of the entire text showing up at once (which is the case in the International version).

Revisional Differences#

Two International versions of Donkey Kong Land III were released. The 3DS Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online versions are based on international v1.1.

International v1.0	International v1.1

The title screen changed from "Donkey Kong / Land III" to "Donkey Kong Land / III", with the Kongs and "Press Start" text moved down slightly. While the v1.0 title screen is based on the American box art, the v1.1 title screen is based on the European one. While this change might seem like a regional difference, it is actually revisional, as both revisions are known to have been released globally on the Game Boy. It is unclear why the change was made.

International v1.0	International v1.1/Japan GBC

In Tundra Blunda, the width of the level was extended from 215 tiles to 218 (where each tile is 32×32 pixels), with the 96 new pixels adding a pit to the right of the steel keg at the very end of the level. This was likely done to fix a minor bug where if Kiddy was facing right, touched the right boundary of the level, and threw a steel keg, it would be stuck under the snow. The Japanese version also has this alteration.