Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
Also known as: Super Donkey Kong 3: Nazo no Kremis-tou (JP) Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo Platform: SNES Released in JP: November 23, 1996 Released in US: November 18, 1996 Released in EU: November 1996 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has regional differences. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a prerelease article

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.

To do: There's some prerelease content that was changed for the final game, including an idle animation for Kiddy Kong that was later used in Donkey Kong Land 3 (source).

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Prerelease Info

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.

Lurchin

Sprites of what appears to be a Lurchin revolving around something. In Barbos's Barrier, Barbos spawns two purple Lurchins at a time to protect her left and right sides. When the player defeats one, the other one moves over to protect the weak spot nearest to the player, which is where this animation would fit if it was used. In the final version, the Lurchin continues to use its defensive position as it moves in front of or behind Barbos.

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.

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.

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 inside of it. This detail can't be seen in-game since his sprite covers the bananas.

(Source: Ferrox)

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.

Regional/Revisional Differences

To do: There's a lot more. Your mission starts here. Also check the sgdq2016 run of this game

A few minor bugs and issues that were present in the American version were fixed in the Japanese and European releases:

• If you throw Kiddy against a steel barrel or a Koin, then jump into a body of water and switch Kongs underwater, Kiddy will warp to the top of the screen.
• The level Criss Kross Cliffs has much less red Buzzes than in other versions. There is also no Bazuka enemy at the beginning.
• Pot Hole Panic has considerable lag issues near the end, which were fixed in the European/Japanese versions by some layout rearranging. The letter G of KONG and the last Bounty Bird were moved back, the banana bunch was removed, and the Kuchuka near the end was replaced by a Buzz.
• Belcha has an odd bug where his teeth can be separated from his main body, resulting in the boss fight glitching up completely and becoming unwinnable.
• In the Japanese version only, you can skip the boss fight against Bleak by dying and pausing just before the screen fades out to exit the level, which will cause the game to consider the boss beaten.

Missing "G"

US	Japan/Europe
	‎

Strangely, the US version of Rocket Rush does not have the G of "KONG" present. This was fixed in all other versions, including the GBA rerelease.

Title Screen

US/Europe	Japan

Anti-Piracy

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.

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:

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 (unknown meaning, but $72 and $77 are the ASCII characters for r and w, possibly for 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. Explained in more detail in the next 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-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 (the typical anti-piracy routine in SNES games).