Donkey Kong Land III

Donkey Kong Land III is the final game in the Donkey Kong Land series. This game is based upon Donkey Kong Country 3, just as the preceding Land games were based on their Country equivalents.

The game was first released in English for the Super Game Boy, then released in Japan for the Game Boy Color with upgraded graphics. There is no official GBC version in International versions, although fans have made a translation patch.

Everything mentioned here is assumed to apply to both the Game Boy (International) and Game Boy Color (Japanese) versions of the game, unless stated otherwise.

Unused Super Game Boy Function
Super Game Boy packet with bit set to  automatically switches to the default Super Game Boy palettes and is unused since palettes are disabled, ergo the command is unused. Rare could have originally intended to simply have the palettes switch back as done with Donkey Kong Land. Game Genie code will enable palettes.

Glitched Rattly


Rattly the Rattlesnake (from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Land 2) is partially playable in this game by hacking, though he is glitched. He is playable by using GameShark code. If both Kongs are present, a Rattly icon, left over from Donkey Kong Land 2, will appear on the bottom right of the screen just like any other animal friend would. When first entering the level, the code doesn't completely refresh the sprite (until a bonus stage is entered or exited), which means that Dixie or Kiddy will still be playable instead of Rattly. However, some of Rattly's functionality is still here, such as:


 * Being able to safely jump on enemies that the Kongs can't jump on, such as Zingers or Bristles
 * Bouncing higher than the Kongs do when jumping on enemies
 * Being unable to climb or swim

When entering a bonus stage with this GameShark code, the sprite refreshes to Rattly, who is glitched. Rattly doesn't actually appear as there are no such sprites here; instead, he is replaced by an immobile purple puff ball sprite that is used for other things in the game, such as explosions or when the Kongs get hit by enemies. The only way out is to wait until the bonus stage runs of time, then press Start + Select to exit the level.

It is likely that Rattly is only present as leftover code from Donkey Kong Land 2, since both games run off the same engine. It is unlikely that Rareware ever intended for Rattly to be playable in this game, since Rattly isn't playable in Donkey Kong Country 3 either (and likely isn't even programmed in the game).

In the prototype International ROM, the Kongs will not turn into an immobile puff ball; instead, the game will lock up, and the only way to fix it is to turn the game off.

Rattly Barrel
A barrel for Rattly also exists in the game! To see it, go to ROM offsets - (in the retail English ROM), - (in the prototype International ROM), or - (in the Japanese ROM) and change this to. This will turn all Enguarde Barrels into Rattly Barrels. Upon entering the barrel, the Kongs will turn into the glitched Rattly.

Rocket Run
Among the unused tracks is Rocket Run, essentially an 8-bit version of Rocket Rush stage music of Donkey Kong Country 3. It is not known what this music would have been used for, however, since Donkey Kong Land 3 has no equivalent of Rocket Rush.

Though no known GameShark code exists to change the music, it is possible to hear it by hacking one of the bytes in the level headers – for example, changing offset ( in the Japanese version) from  to  will change Red Wharf's music to Rocket Run. More information can be found here (International version) or here (Japanese version), as well as here (International versions).



Leftover Tracks from DKL2
There are also five leftover tracks from Donkey Kong Land 2: Token Tango, Boss Bossanova (unused the first time!), Klubba's Reveille, Donkey Kong Rescued, and Titular Tableau. Unlike Rocket Run, these five do not contain pointers, so pointers must be hacked in.

These songs still exist due to the way that DKL2 handled the memory all the music. In DKL2, most of the songs resided in ROM bank 1 (offsets -), but not all songs could fit into this bank due to the amount of space that they took up. Due to the way that the Game Boy's memory works, when these songs were copied into RAM, they would end up at - in RAM.

The other five songs: Token Tango, Boss Bossanova, Klubba's Reveille, Donkey Kong Rescued, and Titular Tableau, needed to be placed in another part of DKL2's ROM -- - in the International version; - in the Japanese version (in all versions of DKL3, the data is located at -). In order to load this into RAM, a function is called at (in English DKL2),  (in Japanese DKL2),  (in International DKL3), or  (in Japanese DKL3) to load the songs when necessary. In both DKL2 and DKL3, the five songs exist at - in RAM.

The function is only called on specific screens, such as boss stages, whenever the songs needed to be used in DKL2. The reason why the function is not always called is because this same area of memory is often used for other things as well -- for example, in non-boss stages, the memory is used to store decompressed map data (which starts at in RAM), and the map data is almost always large enough -- if not always -- to reach  in RAM and beyond.

In DKL3, while the songs in bank 1 (ROM offsets -) were all replaced with new songs, the other five songs were left intact, and the code to load them still exists, and is still called on certain screens, despite it being completely unnecessary in this game.

Here is a table of RAM-based pointers that each song uses. The endianness in this table is adjusted for readability, but note that unlike most of the game, these pointers are little endian, so you have to switch the two bytes when using a hex editor.

In the music pointer table of DKL3, some songs have "blank" pointers; that is, they point to data that results in silence. Therefore, by going to the following addresses, the pointers above can be added back in (note that only five of these need to be edited):

After adding the pointers back in, going to ROM offset (or  in the Japanese version) and changing the value to one of the values in the table above will change Barbos Bastion's music to one of the leftover songs from DKL2.

The song tempos still need to be fixed, though. The tempos can be found starting at address and adding the appropriate music ID (e.g. for song, its tempo is found at ). Here is a list of the correct tempos that each song uses:


 * Token Tango:
 * Boss Bossanova:
 * Klubba's Reveille:
 * Donkey Kong Rescued:
 * Titular Tableau:

Keep in mind that when hearing these songs, after going to one level, the game will add to the music index value until the game is turned off, so these songs can only be heard if you go to the level with the hacked music when you first turn the game on.

This patch (which should be applied to the Japanese version) restores all the leftover songs from DKL2, and assigns a different one to each of the boss levels (except K. Rool's Last Stand, since there are six boss levels but only five leftover songs). It also disables the functionality to add to the music ID number, so you don't have to keep turning the game off to hear each song.

Unused Sound Effects
By going to ROM offset in the International version (alternately,  in the prototype English version, or  in the Japanese version) and changing its value, the sound effect that is heard from collecting all the stars in any Collect the Stars bonus stage is changed. Depending on the value changed, various unused sound effects can be heard:


 * : The Kong Token sound effect from Donkey Kong Land. This was also unused in Donkey Kong Land 2.
 * : The tire sound effect from Donkey Kong Land, as well as certain barrels in Donkey Kong Land 2, such as the ones in Krockhead Klamber.
 * : The KONG letter sound effect from Donkey Kong Land, as well as the banana bunch sound effect from Donkey Kong Land 2 and Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color).

Unused Text
There are a few unused strings related to Bear. These strings exist in both the International and Japanese versions of the game.

Addresses: (International),  (Japanese)

This text string takes place right after the string where Bear asks the Kongs if they want to play the card game, so this text presumably would have appeared if the Kongs said no to his question. In the final game, Bear doesn't say this and instead skips to the next question (where he offers the Kongs hints on certain levels).

Addresses: (International),  (Japanese)

This appears right after the string where Bear asks the Kongs if they want to teleport to another world. Presumably, he would have said this if they said yes. In the final game, he says nothing before the Kongs use the teleport.

Addresses: (International),  (Japanese)

This appears just after the unused string above. Presumably, Bear would have said this if the Kongs tried to use the teleport before defeating the first boss (since teleporting would be useless). In the final game, Bear doesn't even offer the teleport before defeating the first boss.

Leftover Graphics from DKL2
DKL3 has some leftover graphics from DKL2, which consists of animated tiles for certain stages, including the ship hold, ice, lava, ship deck, dungeon, and roller coaster stages. The leftover tiles start at in all versions of DKL3. These tiles have no use in DKL3, and are thus unused.

Unused Level Bit
Each level contains flags to determine whether a level is cleared, secrets have been found, etc., which is stored in in RAM for File 1,  for File 2, and  for File 3. The most significant bit stores whether Dixie or Kiddy completed a level for the first time (0=Kiddy; 1=Dixie), similar to some other Donkey Kong games. However, in this game, this information is never used, and is likely a leftover from DKL2 where Diddy's and Dixie's icons would show up on the map, depending on who beat the level first.

Inaccessible Blast Barrel
In the screenshot to the right, there are various barrels at the end of Whiplash Dash. The Bonus Barrel to the right (inside the wall) is invisible, as well as three of the Blast Barrels: The one that points down, towards the invisible Bonus Barrel; the one below the Bonus Barrel (pointing diagonally, up and to the left), and the one to the left of that one, pointing left.

The downward-pointing Blast Barrel above the invisible Bonus Barrel in the wall is used to reach the barrel pointing up and to the left. Since Bonus Barrels do not appear in Time Attack mode, the Blast Barrel was added below it -- if the Kongs attempt to access this bonus in Time Attack mode, this barrel is used to prevent the Kongs from falling to their death by launching them up and left, back to the floor above and into the exit. However, the Blast Barrel to the left of the one pointing up-left is not accessible at all. It appears as though the diagonal Blast Barrel was originally going to launch left instead of up-left, but this may have been changed at the last minute. It is also worth noting that these bottom two Blast Barrels in the wall did not exist in the prototype ROM.

To access this invisible Blast Barrel, use a hex editor and go to ROM offsets - (or - in the Japanese version). Change this to. Now, when starting Whiplash Dash, the Kongs will be placed just above this otherwise inaccessible Blast Barrel -- just move a little to see it.

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.

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.



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.

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. All that remains in the Japanese ROM are the tiles for the animated graphics (starting at ) -- the code to animate the maps was removed completely.

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

Jetty Jitters demo
J1klkkPVrdI If 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 in the Japanese version, and increasing it to  (some other values up to  will also work). Alternately, disabling double-speed mode will also fix the demo (this can be done by going to ROM offset and replacing the byte string with ) -- 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 to, but are never displayed in-game. Additionally, the code to display the last time was removed completely.

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 and ) pointing to the same text (at ); both are used, and the one that is used is random.

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 ; points to )!

The Lost World Bug
Axk1nyNmZGM In 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, K. Rool will 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 making K. Rool always appear whenever trying to enter the Lost World, so the 35 DK Coin check will always occur as well.

K. Rool's Last Stand is unaffected by this glitch in all versions of the game, as K. Rool always appears when attempting to enter the level no matter what.

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 title screen changed from "Donkey Kong / Land III" to "Donkey Kong Land / III", with the Kongs and "Press Start" text moved down slightly. Interestingly, the v1.1 logo resembles that of the European box.

In Tundra Blunda, the width of the level was extended from 215 tiles to 218 (where each tile is 32&times;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.